Posted on 08/27/2014 10:53:13 AM PDT by Raebie
A third top doctor has died from Ebola in Sierra Leone, a government official said Wednesday, as health workers tried to determine how a fourth scientist also contracted the disease before being evacuated to Europe.
The announcements raised worries about Sierra Leone's fight against Ebola, which already has killed more than 1,400 people across West Africa. The World Health Organization said it was sending a team to investigate how the epidemiologist now undergoing treatment in Germany may have contracted the disease that kills more than half its victims.
"The international surge of health workers is extremely important and if something happens, if health workers get infected and it scares off other international health workers from coming, we will be in dire straits," said Christy Feig, director of WHO communications.
Dr. Sahr Rogers had been working at a hospital in the eastern town of Kenema when he contracted Ebola, said Sierra Leonean presidential adviser Ibrahim Ben Kargbo on Wednesday. Two other top doctors already have succumbed to Ebola since the outbreak emerged there earlier this year, including Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan, who also treated patients in Kenema.
Rogers' death marks yet another setback for Sierra Leone, a country still recovering from years of civil war, where there are only two doctors per 100,000 people, according to WHO. By comparison, there are 245 doctors per 100,000 in the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
"He wasn't in treatment centers normally," she said by telephone from Sierra Leone. "It's possible he went in there and wasn't properly covered, but that's why we've taken this unusual measure — to try to figure out what happened."
ping
Nope, nothing to see here folks. Move along now.
A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread
“Nothing to worry about. The public is not at risk. Your government would not lie to you.”
The World Health Organization said it was sending a team to investigate how the epidemiologist now undergoing treatment in Germany may have contracted the disease that kills more than half its victims.
Dr. Sahr Rogers had been working at a hospital in the eastern town of Kenema when he contracted Ebola, said Sierra Leonean presidential adviser Ibrahim Ben Kargbo on Wednesday. Two other top doctors already have succumbed to Ebola since the outbreak emerged there earlier this year, including Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan, who also treated patients in Kenema.
“He wasn't in treatment centers normally,” she said by telephone from Sierra Leone. “It's possible he went in there and wasn't properly covered, but that's why we've taken this unusual measure — to try to figure out what happened.”
Canada also announced late Tuesday it was evacuating a three-member mobile laboratory team from Sierra Leone after people in their hotel were diagnosed with Ebola. The Public Agency of Canada said none of the team members was showing any signs of illness but that they would remain in voluntary isolation during the 21-day incubation period.
While some local health workers have lacked proper protective gear, the teams from the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders are usually well-equipped and trained in how to use the protective suiting.
A team of two experts was sent Tuesday to investigate whether the case occurred through straightforward exposure to Ebola patients, or something else, said Feig, the WHO spokeswoman. She said the team is checking to see if there is an infection risk in the living and working environments that had not been discovered.
Thank you for posting those quotes...I hadn’t had time yet.
This is indeed VERY troubling.
Don't worry the third doctor will regenerate into Tom Baker...
Damn. I was too slow to post.
Good thing you were or you’d be on my ignore list also.
Thanks for the ping!
Doctor’s dying of Ebola is such a bad sign...
Bring Out Your Dead
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
So far the false positive rate is 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
Wow. If that's all it takes go ahead and drop me in there. I'm sure I'll be in good company.
“...or something else”
Yikes.
You’re Welcome, Alamo-Girl!
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