Ebola: CDC Head Thomas Frieden sounds the alarm!

[armadillo]

Dr. Frieden on News Hour today sounded the Ebola alarm for USA today, and a subsequent google news search brought up plenty else.

 

Here is one link with other links enclosed that should be a wake up call to all of us.

 

http://investmentwatchblog.com/southern-california-hospitals-prep-for-ebola-cdc-issues-guidance-for-all-us-ems-personnel-over-100000-cases-expected-in-next-few-months/

[EastbayMike]

Wake up call? Not sure I follow your thought. Have we been asleep?

[bigvalboy]

This is from 2 months ago.

 

 

Dr. Piot, who discovered Ebola, discusses some reassuring facts about the spread of the disease, but then goes on to discuss other aspects that I find alarming. And now the CDC is reporting that the window of opportunity to contain the virus is rapidly closing.

[rvwnsd]

Dr. Frieden on News Hour today sounded the Ebola alarm for USA today, and a subsequent google news search brought up plenty else.

 

Here is one link with other links enclosed that should be a wake up call to all of us.

 

http://investmentwatchblog.com/southern-california-hospitals-prep-for-ebola-cdc-issues-guidance-for-all-us-ems-personnel-over-100000-cases-expected-in-next-few-months/

 

The headline on the Investment Watch blog is a bit misleading. The headline reads "Southern California Hospitals Prep for Ebola. CDC Issues Guidance for all US EMS Personnel. Over 100,000 Cases Expected in Next Few Months." The way it is stated implies that over 100,000 vases are expected in Southern California. Upon reading the blog post, one learns the CDC has called on hospitals across the US to prepare for possible Ebola cases. It has also provided guidance on signs that a patient could potentially have contracted Ebola. Later in the blog post, Kai Kupferschmidt, a writer for Science magazine, is quoted as saying the number of cases could reach the hundreds of thousands in a few months. Here is a direct quote from the Science article:

"...Alessandro Vespignani hopes that his latest work will turn out to be wrong. In July, the physicist from Northeastern University in Boston started modeling how the deadly Ebola virus may spread in West Africa. Extrapolating existing trends, the number of the sick and dying mounts rapidly from the current toll—more than 3000 cases and 1500 deaths—to about 10,000 cases by 24 September, and hundreds of thousands in the months after that. “The numbers are really scary,” he says—although he stresses that the model assumes control efforts aren't stepped up. "We all hope to see this NOT happening," Vespigani writes in an e-mail..."

 

Note that the "hundreds of thousands" of cases assumes efforts are not stepped up. Efforts are being stepped up. That's not to say the crisis is not real, but it is to say that the author and the physicist are being quoted out of context.

 

Based on the articles in The Daily Beast, Time, and the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Company); the head of the CDC, Dr Tom Frieden, is calling on both the private and public sectors throughout the world to send help to West Africa to contain the Ebola outbreak. Yes, the CDC is publishing guidelines for US hospitals to handle possible Ebola cases. That's their job. The CDC is not, as your post implied, sounding an alarm for the USA. Here is Frieden's answer to interviewer Jeffrey Browns' pointed question about what this all means for the US:

"...JEFFREY BROWN:

But given the interconnectedness that you’re talking to, what about the potential for a spread in the U.S.? And given this new alarm of how quickly this is spreading, what do you tell people tonight who are afraid here in this country?

 

DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN

: Well, given the large increase in cases that we’re seeing and think we’re likely see in the coming weeks, I would be surprised if we didn’t see other cases in other parts of Africa.

 

For the U.S., it’s certainly possible we will get someone here who develops symptoms of Ebola and may have Ebola. That’s a possibility. That’s why we have asked doctors working in emergency departments and elsewhere to be on the lookout for people who have been in an area with Ebola in the past three weeks, and, if they have fever or other symptoms consistent with Ebola, to isolate and test them.

 

That’s also why we have worked with about 10 states from around the country to have tests for Ebola up and available, so that they can be tested in a regional approach, so we’re prepared in this country.

 

Ebola doesn’t spread through casual contact. It doesn’t spread through the air naturally. The way it spreads is by physical contact with a sick person or their body fluids or someone who’s died from Ebola with their body fluids.

 

And standard infection control in hospitals has prevented spread of five cases of hemorrhagic fevers that have been in the U.S. in the past decade..."

 

This doesn't strike me as sounding the alarm for the US. It sounds like a measured and sensible set of precautions.

 

For the full transcript of the News Hour interview, follow this link:

 

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/ebola-proving-hard-contain/

 

This is a good lesson about why journalism still has an important place in society. This sort of drivel ranks up there with the National Enquirer and The Weekly World News.

[armadillo]

"Disease Detectives" and "trace tracking" were the words being thrown around on morning news.

Why in the world are flights coming into the USA from Liberia?

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/27/us-health-ebola-france-idUSKBN0GR16J20140827

[bigvalboy]

"Disease Detectives" and "trace tracking" were the words being thrown around on morning news.

Why in the world are flights coming into the USA from Liberia?

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/27/us-health-ebola-france-idUSKBN0GR16J20140827

 

 

Well didn't the President say "Highly unlikely"...we're past that. Too many questions, not enough answers from officials.

[Steven_Draker]

Why in the world are flights coming into the USA from Liberia?

 

There are NO direct american flights coming into the USA from Liberia and Sierra Leone. Passengers are "transiting" through Europe and the Middle East.

 

http://goafrica.about.com/od/africatraveltips/a/Direct-Flights-From-The-Us-To-Africa.htm

[armadillo]

Well now my beloved Governor Perry is involved (after Ebola victim was in contact with school children), the stock market is roiled, and now a possible 2nd victim. That is just this morning, this story has legs!

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/watch-live-gov-rick-perry-holds-news-conference-texas-ebola-n215976

[marylander1940]

one more reason for us to use condoms and remain negative, there's no such a thing as a free lunch, let's avoid preventable diseases like HIV and obesity, in order to leave money for others like cancer and ebola.

[bigvalboy]

Well now my beloved Governor is involved, this story has legs!

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/watch-live-gov-rick-perry-holds-news-conference-texas-ebola-n215976

 

Yes of course, flapping his gums to convince us all that there is "nothing to see here", that everything was done correctly, but we find out in the news conference that the patient went to the hospital, told the nurse he had been to Africa, and she failed to tell the doctor. He was then sent home with antibiotics. We now learn that young school children were in contact with him during the two days that he was at home, which means he was infectious. The children are now being monitored. Armadillo has a good point.

[armadillo]

And so it begins. If you haven't seen the movie (fictional!) "Contagion", you might want to put it on your NetFlix list.

 

"""DALLAS — Parents rushed to get their children from school Wednesday after learning that five students may have had contact with the Ebola patient in a Dallas hospital, as Gov. Rick Perry and other leaders reassured the public that there is no cause for alarm.

 

The patient, identified by The Associated Press as Thomas Eric Duncan of Liberia, arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20 to visit family. Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Zachary Thompson said county officials suspect that 12 to 18 people may have had contact with Duncan.

 

“Right now, the base number is 18 people, and that could increase,” he said. Thompson said more details are expected by Thursday afternoon. The number includes five students at four schools, Dallas school district Superintendent Mike Miles said."""

 

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/10/01/6165611/officials-say-only-one-ebola-case.html#storylink=cpy

[marylander1940]

"Obama wants to bring ebola to America to start an epidemic and a civil war"

 

Michael Savage

 

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/michael-savage-obama-wants-bring-ebola-epidemic-america-should-resign

[bigvalboy]

"Obama wants to bring ebola to America to start an epidemic and a civil war"

 

Michael Savage

 

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/michael-savage-obama-wants-bring-ebola-epidemic-america-should-resign

 

Well I think it was Ann Coulter who ensinuated that Obama wouldn't stop flights coming from Africa, because you know, those are "his" people, and he doesn't want to hurt their economy.

[Steven_Draker]

U.S. says may deploy nearly 4,000 troops for Ebola response

 

Washington (AFP) - The US military expects to increase the number of troops deployed to Liberia to fight the Ebola outbreak to nearly 4,000, up from a planned 3,000-strong force, the Pentagon said Friday.

 

About 200 soldiers are already in Liberia setting up a headquarters for the US mission, which is aimed at training health care workers and setting up medical facilities for international aid teams.

 

President Barack Obama earlier this month announced that about 3,000 troops would eventually head to West Africa to help with efforts against the deadly virus.

 

But the Pentagon said officials were looking at ramping up the size of the force if necessary.

 

"We project that there could be nearly 4,000 troops deployed in support of this mission, but we're obviously assessing the requirements on a daily basis. It may not go that high," spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.

 

He said an additional 1,800 US Army troops, including engineers, medical and aviation specialists, received orders to deploy to Africa in coming weeks.

 

 

This was in addition to 1,400 already headed to Monrovia this month, including the troops already on the ground.

 

The deployment will bring the total number of American forces in Liberia and neighboring states to 3,200, officials said.

 

There was also a small team of 26 troops in Senegal already in place, in case air evacuations are required out of Liberia, Kirby said.

 

Two Ebola testing labs in Monrovia managed by US naval medical staff are now up and running, Kirby said, and have already begun processing samples.

 

And a field hospital for infected medical workers is due to be open by October 18, he said.

 

Pentagon officials said the clinics, labs and other facilities being constructed and equipped by US troops will enable more doctors and workers from international medical charities to operate out of Liberia to help counter the Ebola outbreak.

 

The latest troop plans for "Operation Unite Assistance" were unveiled as a fourth American contracted Ebola in Liberia.

 

By far the most deadly epidemic of Ebola on record has spread into five west African countries since the start of the year, infecting more than 7,000 people and killing about half of them.

 

None of the soldiers stationed in the region would be in affected areas or treating patients, but the military was leaving nothing to chance, providing them with protective gear and training, Kirby said.

 

"Before they go, they're going to get trained, especially going to get trained on Ebola and what the disease is like, what it means, what it does," he said.

 

"While they're there, they're going to be constantly monitored on a regular, frequent basis."

 

 

source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-readies-4-000-troops-ebola-mission-192237771.html

[armadillo]

And you wonder how 'Patient Zero' got into US? Many more to possibly come.

 

(NaturalNews) The Ebola virus replicates in a stealthy manner; infected persons may not show any symptoms for up to 21 days. This allows Ebola to go undetected for up to three weeks, traveling with an infected person who literally becomes an oblivious host for the disease -- a mobile, breathing, ticking time bomb.

 

Just how many ticking time bombs could be traveling freely from Ebola stricken countries? According to federal data, roughly 13,500 people from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have visitor visas that allow them to travel freely into the United States as long as they show no symptoms of disease.

 

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/047116_Ebola_international_travel_West_Africa.html##ixzz3F97s7aKr

[rvwnsd]

Meanwhile, no one seems to be worried about tuberculosis, which is not uncommon any more and is more infectious than ebola.

 

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Tuberculosis-Reported-at-Local-High-School-277973071.html

 

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/10/02/ucsf-ebola-expert-ebola-is-not-as-infectious-as-influenza-tuberculosis-measles-and-other-airborne-diseases/

[Steven_Draker]

And you wonder how 'Patient Zero' got into US? Many more to possibly come.

 

 

Ebola in the US: More quarantines or border closings?

 

Ebola cases in the United States are raising questions about whether travelers from the stricken West Africa region should be quarantined until it’s clear they’re symptom-free.

 

Is America ready for “Ebola tourism?” the conservative Daily Caller wants to know. Sen. Rand Paul says the US should shut down flights from Ebola-stricken nations. Rush Limbaugh proclaims “Ebola is political.”

 

Understandable concerns about an Ebola epidemic have morphed into a vigorous, if at times less-than-helpful, debate about whether the US, and the Obama administration in particular, is doing enough to protect Americans from the viral fever that is ravaging parts of Africa.

 

A Liberian traveler, Thomas Eric Duncan, is being treated for the illness at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. His immediate family has been put under full quarantine and 10 others with whom he made contact are being closely observed for signs of the illness. A Kentucky family was put under precautionary quarantine on Friday as medical authorities tested a potential Ebola case.

 

 

The specter of Ebola in the US is testing the readiness of American public health officials, and at the same time taking on politically loaded meaning around whether the US should quarantine travelers from the stricken West Africa region until it’s clear they’re symptom-free.

 

As the crisis unfolded this week, a GOP Senate aide called the decision not to limit travel from Africa “a powder keg,” according to Fox News.

 

To be sure, invoking worst-case scenarios in the midst of a crisis may be less than helpful in containing any sense of panic in the US. But others note such questions are nevertheless important, because they’re at the forefront of many Americans’ consciousness as they follow developments in Dallas.

 

“I think we should be talking about these things [like travel bans]. It doesn’t mean we have to do them, but taking them off the table is not helpful,” Tevi Troy, a former deputy Health and Human Services secretary, told Politico.

 

One backdrop to the criticism is the Obama administration’s 2010 decision to scrap stricter quarantine rules first proposed by the George W. Bush administration in 2005, amid avian flu concerns. While it’s not clear those regulations would have been helpful now, they would have given US authorities more power to control potential passengers’ itineraries into the US. In rejecting the standards, the White House and civil libertarians called the proposed rules too onerous.

 

Moreover, the response in Dallas has been bumpy. Mr. Duncan was not diagnosed on his first visit to the hospital, and it was unclear as to whether his travels from Liberia had been flagged by hospital personnel. What is known is that he was sent home until he returned in an ambulance two days later, after being exposed to the public.

 

The Dallas apartment where Duncan was staying remained unsanitized for days as officials debated how best to quarantine the family and monitor others who may have had second-hand exposure. After a jittery week where cleaning company employees balked at sanitizing the apartment, the apartment was finally cleaned and the family was moved to a more comfortable four-bedroom home in a Dallas suburb.

 

Another simmering question is whether Duncan exposed weaknesses in airport screening by lying about not having contact with Ebola, perhaps in order to get to the US for medical care. (He had helped a stricken pregnant woman.) Whether others will try the same kind of “Ebola tourism” for American healthcare plies a poignant human dilemma, writes Dallas Morning News columnist James Ragland: “Do I want to lie and live – or do I want to be an honest dead man?”

 

For now, the US continues to expand its presence in West Africa, led by Centers for Disease Control airport testing and arriving US troops who will be put to work building much-needed treatment facilities for victims.

 

Shutting down air traffic from the region would be counterproductive, argued White House homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco, at a press briefing. She said CDC screening has already stopped dozens of potentially infected people from traveling to the US, and a ban would just make it harder to get medical personnel into the region to stop the outbreak at its source.

 

“I wish we could get to zero risk by sealing off the border, but we can’t,” CDC Director Tom Frieden told Fox News.

 

source: http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-us-more-quarantines-border-closings-152003810.html;_ylt=A0LEVyoZMzBUSTcAlO5XNyoA

[armadillo]

Why does Israeli news report this, and not our MSM?

 

 

First US Ebola Patient Dies

 

 

Thomas A. Duncan, who became ill with Ebola after arriving from West Africa in Dallas two weeks ago, succumbed to the virus today (Sunday), reports Reuters. Duncan was fighting for his life at a Dallas hospital on today after his condition worsened to critical, according to the director of the US Centers for Disease Control.

 

The Dallas hospital that admitted him did not recognize the deadly disease at first and sent him home, only for him to return two days later by ambulance.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/305795#.VDIg7L4-BhD

[rvwnsd]

...Thomas A. Duncan, who became ill with Ebola after arriving from West Africa in Dallas two weeks ago, succumbed to the virus today (Sunday), reports Reuters...

 

Reuters has not reported that the man died.

[Steven_Draker]

Why does Israeli news report this, and not our MSM?

 

http://www.thedailysheeple.com/israeli-news-announces-ebola-patient-in-dallas-has-died_102014

[armadillo]

With today's developments, there should be no widespread panic.

[rvwnsd]

With today's developments, there should be no widespread panic.

 

Are you referring to the development that the patient is alive and receiving experimental drugs to treat ebola?

[armadillo]

Are you referring to the development that the patient is alive and receiving experimental drugs to treat ebola?

 

I am referring to the fact that it takes 3 ambulances and a police escort to transport 1 nurse with Ebola to another hospital in Spain.

 

Again, there is nothing to see here.

 

http://www.breakingnews.com/item/2014/08/07/photo-motorcade-transporting-spanish-priest-with/

 

http://cache1.asset-cache.net/gc/456758902-police-escort-an-ambulance-that-carries-the-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7Qc%2Br7Ay%2BuqNbK0g2IAr9s8EoiiTbaFC4iOrYKjoeegmOQuiexkIx47krWpPCJW%2BvqQ%3D%3D

[Steven_Draker]

http://www.breakingnews.com/item/2014/08/07/photo-motorcade-transporting-spanish-priest-with/

 

Armadillo, the link you posted is outdated.

 

• The Spanish priest referred in the article (who got infected in Liberia) died on August 12th, just a few days after he was brought back to Spain.
   
  
• Then on September 22nd another priest - Manuel Garcia Viejo - was repatriated from Sierra Leone after he tested positive for the Ebola virus.
   
  
• In yesterday's news they're talking about a woman (a nurse assistant) who took care of both patients in Spain. That's the first known case of contracting Ebola outside Africa.

 

Spain has outbreak's 1st known case of contracting Ebola outside of Africa

 

A nurse's assistant is the first person known to contract Ebola outside of Africa in this outbreak

 

 

(CNN) -- A nurse's assistant in Spain is the first person known to have contracted Ebola outside of Africa in the current outbreak.

 

Spanish Health Minister Ana Mato announced Monday that a test confirmed the assistant has the virus.

 

The woman helped treat a Spanish missionary and a Spanish priest, both of whom had contracted Ebola in West Africa. Both died after returning to Spain.

 

Health officials said she developed symptoms on September 30. She was not hospitalized until this week. Her only symptom was a fever.

 

"We are working in coordination to give the best care to the patient and to guarantee the safety of all citizens," the health minister said.

 

An investigation is under way to find everyone the assistant may have had contact with while contagious. So far, there are no other known cases.

 

The assistant was one of about 30 health professionals in Spain who helped to treat the Ebola patients.

 

more: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/06/health/ebola-us/index.html

[armadillo]

Maybe I am outdated. To bring everyone up to date:

 

La Paz Hospital, Madrid (Photo Credit: Rubén Vique/Flickr)

 

MADRID — While Spanish Health Minister Ana Mato told the country to remain calm, confusion took place behind the scenes at La Paz Hospital, as medical staff reportedly followed protocol and are not sure how the nurse contracted ebola after treating the 75-year-old priest who recently died from infection.

 

The nurse, 40, who which is currently infected with the Ebola virus is reported to be stabilizing at this time as her friends, co-workers and family hope for the best. However, the Ebola virus, which has killed over 3,400 people in recent months, is vigilant and the condition of the infected can rapidly change within minutes.

 

All of this has official scratching their heads. In fact, Scott Newman reporting for NPR wrote:

 

“We know she entered the infected priest’s room twice — once to treat him and once after he died to collect some of his things,” said Dr. Antonio Alemany, a health officials from the regional government of Madrid. “As far as we know, she was wearing a protective suit the whole time and didn’t have any accidental contact with him.”

 

This is extremely disturbing to the medical community, because if protocol was indeed followed it’s possible that the virus has mutated and possibly gone airborne. The case is currently under investigation.

 

http://www.intellihub.com/airborne-nurse-infected-spain-said-wearing-protective-clothing-following-protocol/