Posted on 08/03/2014 10:32:51 AM PDT by nickcarraway
e American doctor who contracted Ebola while working with an aid organization in Liberia appears to be improving, a top U.S. health official said Sunday, less than 24 hours after the doctor was admitted to an isolation unit at an Atlanta hospital for treatment.
Dr. Kent Brantly "seems to be improved from the reports we got earlier," Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Authorities and doctors are still closely monitoring Brantly, who is being treated at Emory University Hospital.
Ebola has no known cure and can be treated only with "supportive therapy," such as balancing the patient's fluids and electrolytes, monitoring vital signs and treating any additional infections, according to the CDC.
But Brantly may have an advantage because he was likely healthier before contracting the disease than African victims of Ebola, Frieden said. And the death rate of the outbreak that began in March is 60 percent, lower than the 90 percent rate in some previous outbreaks.
Brantly was flown in a containment-outfitted plane from Liberia to Atlanta on Saturday and then taken by ambulance to the hospital. Doctors and his family were encouraged when he walked the short distance from the ambulance to the entrance of the hospital, with the assistance of an aide, instead of being brought in on a stretcher.
The walking is a “terrific sign,” said Dr. Delos Cosgrove, president of the Cleveland Clinic, who added that the care Brantly will receive in the U.S. is better than what he would receive “anywhere in the world.”
Nancy Writebol, a second American infected with the deadly disease, is expected to arrive at Emory within a few days, according to Samaritan’s Purse and SIM, the charity organizations with which Brantly and Writebol were working in Liberia.
While Ebola is a “formidable enemy,” the CDC and health workers are being “meticulous” about ensuring that Ebola doesn’t become a threat in the U.S., Frieden said.
“What our role is, in public health, is to make sure that if an American is coming home with an infectious disease, we protect others so that they don’t spread it,” he said.
While Americans infected with Ebola have the option to come home for superior treatment, those suffering from the disease in Western Africa don’t have that option, and the outbreak is only getting worse.
More than 1,300 people have been infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia since the outbreak began in March, according to the World Health Organization. WHO estimates that 729 people have died from the disease during the current outbreak.
In the next 30 days, the CDC plans to send 50 public health experts to the three affected countries, Frieden said Sunday. “We do know how to stop Ebola,” Frieden said. “It’s old-fashioned, plain and simple public health.”
“Increased resources, in-country medical expertise, regional preparedness and coordination,” are required to get the “unprecedented” spread under control, Dr. Margaret Chan, the director-general of WHO, said in a statement. “The countries have identified what they need, and WHO is reaching out to the international community to drive the response plan forward,” Chan said.
I think the spread is due to the outbreak occurring near well traveled areas, so it simultaneously spread to neighboring areas....4 of them if I read it correctly.
In prior outbreaks they were able to isolate it from traveling or it isolated it’s self by occurring in a area where travel was not as prevalent.
I don’t believe this indicates any change in the virus. It just popped up in a different place, but with the same social customs of close contact with the sick or dead family members.
Standing on God’s Promises...
BIBLE PROMISES FOR THOSE WHO HELP THE POOR
Psalm 41
1 Blessed are those who have regard for the weak;
the Lord delivers them in times of trouble.
2 The Lord protects and preserves them—
they are counted among the blessed in the land—
he does not give them over to the desire of their foes.
3 The Lord sustains them on their sickbed
and restores them from their bed of illness.
God also promises protection from the plague in Psalm 91
Missed the comma
I had this pegged yesterday. If one or both of them survive, then it’s yeehaw! from this administration to throw open the door for every turd world disease to be flown into the US.
Funny how his family flies home without him for a wedding for his relatives and to meet a newborn nephew also on his side of the family. He was supposed to come so why didn’t he come with them? And BAM! the next day he’s sick but the CDC is glossing over the wife and kids maybe having it. Then we hear he’s fading fast yet he (or someone) is shown walking across GRAVEL in a Tyvek suit. Now, miracle of miracles, mere hours after getting to the US he’s improving.
"While Americans infected with Ebola have the option to come home for superior treatment, those suffering from the disease in Western Africa don’t have that option, and the outbreak is only getting worse."
That's just not fair, and we have to bring the infected to the U.S. so they can get better treatment. /sarc
It is the death rate of this type of Ebola that has been 90%, not the survival rate. According to this article the recent outbreak death rate is 60% but I have not seen that anywhere else.
Oh I am so relieved, with the death rate being only 60% just over half of us will die if these idiot doctors make a mistake instead of virtually everybody in the country. The arrogance is breathtaking!
If that were even remotely true we would not have a hunger issue or any other kind of issue in Africa.
Everybody would have died long ago.
My MIL improved greatly the day before the night she died. She sat up and ate solid food and talked for the first time in two weeks. That night she passed. Just saying.
Read about Zaire Ebola for the truth about the strain going around. There’s much effort to prevent panic and decreases in economic activity.
Good news. And God bless him for voluntarily putting it all on the line to help the needy.
We took care of my Mom at home when she became terminal. My stepfather, my two younger sisters and my younger brother were caring for her at the end and my sisters woke me from a nap in the chair to tell me Mom had passed. As you can imagine my sisters and stepfather were a mess. I went over to close Mom’s eyes and whispered I love you. Much to our surprise, since she had not been able to speak for a while, she said “I love to you too son” and then she was gone. Miss her still all these years later and have no idea how she managed to say that.
Sorry for your loss.
Appreciate that.
My point is they won’t tell us the truth about Ebola.
Oh, no doubt about it.
And that just makes me suspicious that something’s up.
I agree with that to a certain extent, but then lets look at it this way.
As the mortality rate drops, so does the threat. 90% to 60% is a vast improvement. One of three will now live, who would have been considered damned to die before.
People live out pretty normal lives now with AIDS. My take is that in time, the same will be true with Ebola.
Either the disease itself is morphing to a less threatening disease, or the medical community is learning better how to treat the people who contract it.
Give it three years and I’ll bet the mortality rate drops to about 30%. If it should spread to more advanced nations, I’ll bet the figure drops precipitously.
I don’t think the resources on the ground on the African continent are such that the disease is being met head on as it would be in the more advanced nations.
Actually when I first saw that this Ebola was 60% kill ratio I thought uh oh, this is bad”. It is the 90 % kill that holds ebola in check, the term is “burnout”.
This Ebola can spread far better.
Even with a working Obamacare, we do not have the ability to put the entire nation in hospitals in the hopes of saving half of us. There are not enough hospital beds for one percent.
I don’t disagree with the possibility that assessment is accurate. I’m not sure what the communicable figures are for people who have survived though. Is there a point where it is less contagious? I don’t know.
Does this thing become less and less of a threat, once it hits the more advanced nations? My take is that methods of combating the disease will improve dramatically in a short period of time.
The question is, how reckless will government officials be? Luckily, this isn’t going to be treated like a “homosexual” disease. That means we can return to sane procedures regarding isolating those infected to the point they are less of a threat to society at large.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.