Ebola on US shores

[GhostTX]

No worries!

A retired American doctor who was working with Ebola patients in West Africa returned to the United States -- and put himself in quarantine.

Dr. Alan Jamison volunteered in the Liberian capital of Monrovia this month as part of an international medical group. He returned to the United States on July 25, according to Medical Teams International, the organization he worked with.

MTI declined to discuss details of how Jamison traveled back to the United States, including whether he was on a commercial flight.

Jamison, 69, said he's had no symptoms of the deadly virus, but has been in seclusion since he returned to his hometown of Morristown, Tennessee.

He plans to be in isolation for 21 days, which is the incubation period for the disease -- or the time between infection and onset of symptoms.

"My last encounter with a patient who had Ebola was on July 19," he said. "I contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on my arrival ... and informed them I had been in West Africa and my history." The father of three said his daughter picked him up from the airport and dropped him at home, where he's quarantined himself and has had no contact with anyone since.

"I'm feeling normal and doing the typical things a person would do in their home," he said. " I have my family who can bring me food if I need anything, and they would not enter the house. They can leave items outside the home."
Ebola spreads through contact with organs and bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, urine and other secretions of infected people.

Patients are only contagious when they show symptoms, not during the incubation period, according to the World Health Organization.
"I was not concerned that I was contagious when I left Africa, and not concerned at this time because I have no symptoms of the disease," Jamison said.
...

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/02/health/ebola-doctor-quarantine/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[Strychnine]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ebola-terror-gatwick-passenger-collapses-3977051

Ebola terror at Gatwick as passenger collapses and dies getting off Sierra Leone flight


03 August 2014 11:30 PM By Rebecca Younger, Andy Lines


Staff tell of fears as jet from Africa is quarantined after the death of passenger who was 'sweating and vomiting' before she collapsed


Airport staff tonight told of their fears of an Ebola outbreak after a passenger from Sierra Leone collapsed and died as she got off a plane at Gatwick.

Workers said they were terrified the virus could spread globally through the busy international hub from the West African country which is in the grip of the deadly epidemic.

The woman, said to be 72, became ill on the gangway after she left a Gambia Bird jet with 128 passengers on board.

She died in hospital on Saturday.

Ebola has killed 256 people in Sierra Leone.

A total of 826 have died in West Africa since the outbreak began in February.

Tests were carried out to see if the woman had the disease.

The plane was quarantined as *officials desperately tried to trace everyone who had been in contact with the woman.

Airport workers faced an anxious wait to see if the woman had Ebola. One said: “Everyone’s just *petrified.

“We’ve all seen how many people have died from Ebola, especially in Sierra Leone, and it’s terrifying.”

Speaking of the horrific moment the passenger collapsed, the shocked staff member added: “The woman was sweating buckets and vomiting.

“Paramedics arrived to try and help her. The next thing everybody was there… emergency crews, airfield operations, even immigration.

“They closed down the jet bridge and put the aircraft into quarantine.

“They took everyone’s details, even the guy who fuels the aircraft.”

The plane carrying the woman came from Freetown in Sierra Leone – a country with the highest number of victims from the disease.

It stopped at Banjul in The Gambia before landing in Gatwick at 8.15am on Saturday after a five-hour flight.

Public Health England tried to allay fears of an Ebola *breakout in Britain.

It said the woman showed no *symptoms during the flight.

One *official added: “Public Health England is aware a passenger arriving on a flight from The Gambia that landed at Gatwick airport on Saturday fell ill shortly after disembarking.

"The passenger was taken to hospital and sadly died.

“In line with standard *procedures, tests are being undertaken to determine the cause of death.

“The patient’s symptoms suggest that Ebola is very unlikely but as a precaution this is one of the tests being undertaken.

"The patient was not symptomatic on the plane and therefore there is no risk of Ebola being passed on to either flight crew or other passengers.

“England has world class health care and disease control systems which are active permanently, *regularly tested and proven to be effective.

“As such, if the UK does see a case of imported Ebola, this will not result in an outbreak in this country.”

South East Ambulance Service confirmed it had dealt with the sick woman at the airport.

Communications chief Janine Compton said: “We attended Gatwick airport at 8.30am on Saturday to attend an adult female patient who was seriously ill.

"She was taken to East Surrey Hospital in Redhill where she subsequently died.”

A Gatwick airport spokeswoman added: “A passenger collapsed after disembarking a flight from the Gambia.

"She was treated by airport medical staff at the scene but died later in hospital. The cause of death is yet to be confirmed.”

At around 11pm on Sunday, the Department of Health said that tests for the deadly Ebola virus on the woman who died at Gatwick had proved negative.

There is no cure for Ebola.

Symptoms in the later stages include external and internal bleeding, vomiting and diarrhoea.

At this point the disease is highly contagious.

Victims have a 90% chance of dying, although doctors said in this epidemic the rate is 60%.

The outbreak began in the forests of eastern Guinea in February.

It quickly spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

A jump in the number of cases and the death toll has raised international concern and placed under-resourced health facilities in the West African nations under strain.

[SC457A]

This bugs me. The CDC should handle this fine, but I keep thinking of the Clancey book...

[Unicorn Jeff]

This is a distraction from something else...

[91CoupeMike]

This is a distraction from something else...

Lol everything is a damn distraction, we are a nation of people with ADHD.

[jw33]

[46Tbird]

Anyone that thinks this is going to shake out into some crazy outbreak is a moron.

Really man? This disease is 90% lethal and takes three weeks to incubate. Someone collapsing, vomiting, and dying as they get off an airplane is a dramatic scene, but think about the thousands of infected people that have travelled through that area over the past few weeks that were showing no symptoms at all. Those people are the ones to be concerned about.

I don't think the doctor landing in Atlanta is any particular reason to worry. Although I DO wonder why we saw the need to bring him to the US. Is he here for us to study?

[Denny]

Ya, it's not the doctor who is getting all the attention I'm worried about.

[YALE]

Really man? This disease is 90% lethal and takes three weeks to incubate. Someone collapsing, vomiting, and dying as they get off an airplane is a dramatic scene, but think about the thousands of infected people that have travelled through that area over the past few weeks that were showing no symptoms at all. Those people are the ones to be concerned about.

I don't think the doctor landing in Atlanta is any particular reason to worry. Although I DO wonder why we saw the need to bring him to the US. Is he here for us to study?

Really. It burns people down too fast, and doesn't have any significant asymptomatic carriers. As dangerous as it looks, there's a way bigger cholera epidemic going on in Africa right now, that will probably kill 10 times as many people, and don't forget that the good ol' flu kills half a million a year. The current count of ebola victims is what, 1,500-2,000?

[KBScobravert]

Really. It burns people down too fast, and doesn't have any significant asymptomatic carriers. As dangerous as it looks, there's a way bigger cholera epidemic going on in Africa right now, that will probably kill 10 times as many people, and don't forget that the good ol' flu kills half a million a year. The current count of ebola victims is what, 1,500-2,000?

I think the percentages in which the infected die along with no known cure other than them saying that a previously healthy person stands a better chance are the worst factors.

I am not going to search cholera or flu survival:death ratio but I bet it is much higher than ebola. Shit, maybe I will search now.

[GhostTX]

Really. It burns people down too fast, and doesn't have any significant asymptomatic carriers. As dangerous as it looks, there's a way bigger cholera epidemic going on in Africa right now, that will probably kill 10 times as many people, and don't forget that the good ol' flu kills half a million a year. The current count of ebola victims is what, 1,500-2,000?

True. Ebola transmission has to be spewed on you (more or less), and with our hygiene in the USA, it makes for "low risk" on transmission. Ebola basically liquifies your insides, and just is a sucky and painful way to go, which is why the drama.

Malaria kills nearly a million every year and nary a peep on it.

http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/malaria/en/

[KBScobravert]

True. Ebola transmission has to be spewed on you (more or less), and with our hygiene in the USA, it makes for "low risk" on transmission. Ebola basically liquifies your insides, and just is a sucky and painful way to go, which is why the drama.

Malaria kills nearly a million every year and nary a peep on it.
http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/malaria/en/

Malaria can be fought but the drugs are toxic on the body for long term use. I elect to take my chances in Afgh. That and caught in time, you can almost always survive Malaria.

[46Tbird]

Really. It burns people down too fast, and doesn't have any significant asymptomatic carriers. ... The current count of ebola victims is what, 1,500-2,000?

Yes, 2000 infected people. But the WHO is claiming that this particular strain seems "to be spreading in ways never seen before."

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136613-World-Health-Organization-Latest-Ebola-Outbreak-Moving-Too-Fast-to-Control

The article doesn't get too specific about that statement. But when the WHO is concerned, I'm concerned, especially when we have a virus like this moving through major hubs of international travel. I will continue to keep my hands off dead and dying people, just to play it safe.

[YALE]

Yes, 2000 infected people. But the WHO is claiming that this particular strain seems "to be spreading in ways never seen before."

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136613-World-Health-Organization-Latest-Ebola-Outbreak-Moving-Too-Fast-to-Control

The article doesn't get too specific about that statement. But when the WHO is concerned, I'm concerned, especially when we have a virus like this moving through major hubs of international travel. I will continue to keep my hands off dead and dying people, just to play it safe.

Fair enough, man.

[Strychnine]

Really. It burns people down too fast, and doesn't have any significant asymptomatic carriers. As dangerous as it looks, there's a way bigger cholera epidemic going on in Africa right now, that will probably kill 10 times as many people, and don't forget that the good ol' flu kills half a million a year. The current count of ebola victims is what, 1,500-2,000?

http://www.nature.com/news/largest-ever-ebola-outbreak-is-not-a-global-threat-1.15640?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews

Largest ever Ebola outbreak is not a global threat

Although the virus is exerting a heavy toll in West Africa, it does not spread easily.

Declan Butler
30 July 2014

Deadly Ebola probably touched down in Lagos, Nigeria, the largest city in Africa, on 20 July. A man who was thought to be infected with the virus had arrived there on a flight from Liberia, where, along with Guinea and Sierra Leone, the largest recorded Ebola outbreak is currently raging. The Lagos case is the first to be internationally exported by air travel and today the UK foreign secretary announced that he would chair a government meeting on Ebola. As long as the virus continues to infect people in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, there is a small risk of more long-distance exports of the disease. But, as Nature’s Declan Butler explains, Ebola does not pose a global threat.


Is it worrying that the virus reached the largest city of the most populous African country?

The World Health Organization still considers the Lagos case a “probable” infection because it has not yet confirmed that the 40-year-old Liberian man had Ebola. He was quarantined upon arrival at the airport and taken to hospital, where he died on 25 July. Assuming he had Ebola, if proper control measures were taken at the airport and at the hospital, the risk that health-care workers or others will become infected as a result of contact with him is low. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control classifies people sharing public transport with someone infected as having a “very low” risk of catching the virus. Healthcare workers and doctors, several of whom have now been infected and died as a result of caring for people in the current outbreak, are at much higher risk and the WHO advises that they take strict precautions, which greatly lowers the risk.


What about the risk of air travellers exporting the virus to other cities?

The ECDC also says the probability of an infected person getting on a flight in the first place is low, given the small overall number of Ebola cases. Moreover, functional health systems should be able to prevent onward spread from any exported cases. Overall, the World Health Organisation estimates that there is a high risk of spread to countries bordering those with existing outbreaks, a moderate risk to countries further afield in the sub-region, but that there is little chance of spread overseas. There is no reason to assume that an exported case — be it to Lagos, a city of 17 million people, or any other place — will spark new outbreaks, because Ebola is not highly contagious.


Wait, Ebola is hard to catch?

Though the strain of Ebola in the current outbreak appears to kill 56% of the people it infects, to become infected in the first place, a person's mucous membranes, or an area of broken skin, must come into contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, such as blood, urine, saliva, semen or stools, or materials contaminated with these fluids such as soiled clothing or bed linen. By contrast, respiratory pathogens such as those that cause the common cold or flu are coughed and sneezed into the air and can be contracted just by breathing or touching contaminated surfaces, such as door knobs. A pandemic flu virus can spread around the world in days or weeks and may be unstoppable whereas Ebola only causes sporadic localised outbreaks that can usually be stamped out.


So why is the outbreak continuing in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia?

In principle, it should be straightforward to bring an Ebola outbreak under control via public health measures alone, namely, identifying all people who have been infected and isolating them, monitoring all those that they have been in contact with for 21 days (the maximum incubation period), as well as promoting basic infection control measures. What's more, since people infected with Ebola do not infect others until they have symptoms, it is easier to trace their contacts than it is for some other diseases. Ebola is out of control in these countries because the sheer size of the outbreak is stretching response teams, and also because of local sociocultural factors.


What kind of sociocultural factors?

Local health authorities and international organisations such as WHO and Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders) are struggling to control the spread in these areas because of a lack of trust and cooperation among the affected populations. Doctors and health workers have sometimes been blocked from accessing affected places because of opposition from villagers who fear the medics will bring the disease. According to the WHO, not all people who are infected are getting or seeking care, and so are passing the virus on to family and other close contacts. Another major driver of new infections is that families are often continuing to perform traditional burial rites that involve mourners having direct contact with the bodies of the dead – and unfortunately all too often Ebola.


Is the size of the outbreak unusual?

It is larger than any other outbreak in recorded history. The WHO reports that as of 23 July, there were 814 lab-confirmed infections, including 456 deaths. If ‘probable’ and ‘suspected’ cases are included, these numbers rise to 1,201 infections, including 672 deaths — but some of these may have been caused by other diseases. Only 7 other of the few dozen past outbreaks have involved more than 100 cases, and before now, the largest outbreak was in Uganda between 2000 and 2001, in which 425 people were infected and 224 died.

Since Ebola first appeared in 1976, only 19 outbreaks have had more than 10 victims, and around 2,000 people in total have died from the disease. By comparison, malaria kills some 3,200 people a day, and diarrhoeal diseases some 4,000. Snakes and other venomous animals cause some 55,000 deaths a year — 27 times more than the entire number of people killed by Ebola in 38 years.


Are there any drugs or vaccines for Ebola?

There are no licensed drugs or vaccines for Ebola, although candidates are in development. New treatments would help reduce the high mortality rate of the disease – which has ranged in past outbreaks from 25% to 89%, with an average of around 62%. Jeremy Farrar, head of the UK Wellcome Trust in London, has argued for the use of experimental, unapproved drugs in the current outbreak. But other scientists have said that with distrust of health workers already hampering efforts to bring the outbreak under control, such measures could be counterproductive by creating suspicion and so further undermining trust.


What needs to be done to bring the outbreak under control?

Outreach, in particular involving local community leaders, will be vital to persuade people to trust health workers and to follow public-health advice. Authorities need to win over public trust, persuade people to bury their dead safely, and continue to step up local and regional efforts to trace and isolate people who are infected and their contacts.