Monday 27 October 2014

Ebola update - 10/26/2014

More exponential growth - and hopium from Obama

As Ebola Cases Top 10,000, Obama Says America Can "Beat" The Deadly Virus




25 October, 2014

Following the sad death of its first Ebola case, Mali's President has said he will not close his nation's border with Guinea, because "the incident showed it was impossible to completely seal his country."


Mali's neighbors, on the other hand, are shutting borders, as Mauritania tries not to become Africa's 7th Ebola-infected country. This brings, according to The WHO, the number of cases of Ebola to 10,141 with 4,922 dead (so far).


Americans should not worry though, for the 2nd week in a row, President Obama devoted his address to the subject of Ebola, explaining "basic facts" of how difficult it is to catch (despite the need to enforce mandatory quarantine for healthcare workers) and in 'USA USA USA'-esque language, explains how "Americans can beat" the deadly virus.
*  *  *
As Reuters reports, the death of Mali's first Ebola case will not prompt its to close its borders...


Mali will not close its border with neighbouring Guinea after a two-year-old girl infected with Ebola was brought across the frontier by her grandmother and died in Mali this week, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said on Saturday.

The girl travelled hundreds of kilometres through Mali - including a stop in the capital Bamako - on public transport, potentially exposing many people to the virus, before she died in the western town of Kayes on Friday.

Malian authorities have isolated 43 people, including 10 health care workers who had contact with the child in the town of Kayes, where she was taken for treatment, the W.H.O. said.

Keita said that the incident showed it was impossible to completely seal his country off from Ebola in neighbouring Guinea but said he remained calm as the girl's journey and potential contacts had already been traced.

"Guinea is Mali's neighbour. We have a shared border that we did not close and we will not close," he told France's RFI radio station.
But Mauritania closed its border with Mali... (via Xinhua)


Mauritania has closed its border with Mali, where an Ebola death was confirmed in the border area this week, a local health official told Xinhua on Saturday.

"The authorities of Nouakchott gave instruction to conduct the closing of the all terrestrial points of passage situated on the border," said Dr Limam Deddeh, physician chief of the border city of Kobonni.

The border closure, which came after the first confirmed Ebola death in Mali, was meant to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus to the local population, said the doctor.
But Americans should not worry... President Obama (and his new Czar) are "focused" on the fight against Ebola and for the 2nd week in a row, makes his weekly address about the deadly virus (which is not very contagious and nothing to be alarme about - aside from the need to mandatorily quarantine any healthcare worker entering the US)...

Having explained the "basic facts" of how difficult it is to catch (despite the need to enforce mandatory quarantine for healthcare workers), dismissing Rep. Peter King's warnings...


Rep. Peter King believes Ebola may be more of a threat than doctors are telling the public.

In an interview with Long Island News Radio last week, the New York Republican expressed his concern that the virus has mutated and become airborne, according to BuzzFeed.

You know my attitude was it’s important not to create a panic and it’s important not to overreact and the doctors were absolutely certain that this can not be transmitted and it was not airborne and yet we find out the people who have contracted it were wearing all protective gear,” King said.

King used the two nurses who were stricken with Ebola after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient diagnosed with the virus in the U.S., as a prime example of how doctors could be wrong about the way the virus is spread.

Listen, I don’t blame doctors or the medical profession for not being up to date on the latest mutation,” King said.

I mean, they should try to be and they should work at it but less I think they should be less definite when they make these pronouncements. That there is absolutely nothing to worry about, this can’t be transmitted airborne, that there’s nothing to worry about.”

His bottom line: Take the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s warnings about Ebola — that it is only transmitted through bodily fluids — with a grain of salt.
...and in 'USA USA USA'-esque language, Obama explains how "Americans can beat" the deadly virus.


Ebola Crisis: NJ Gov. Christie predicts quarantine will soon become ‘national policy’

October 2014 – WASHINGTON – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he has no second thoughts about enacting a 21-day medical quarantine on medical workers returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa. “I think this is a policy that will become a national policy sooner rather than later,” the Republican governor said on “Fox News Sunday,” emphasizing the population density of his state and the New York metropolitan area. “The fact of the matter is that the CDC protocol, is as Dr. [Anthony] Fauci admitted himself, had been a moving target,” Christi added, referring to an earlier interview on the same show by the director of the Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.


It was my conclusion that we needed to do this to protect the public health of the people of New Jersey,” Christie said.” [New York] Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo agreed, and now [Chicago] Mayor [Rahm] Emanuel agrees, and I think the CDC eventually will come around to our point of view on this. This is government’s job,” Christie said. “We have taken this action, and I have no second thoughts about it.” 


Mauritania closes border 
with Mali over Ebola fears – W. Africa cases three times higher than reported

October 2014 – MALI – Mauritania has closed its border with Mali to prevent the spread of Ebola, officials said on Saturday, high-lighting fears of further contagion in West Africa after a girl from Guinea died of the disease in Mali this week. Earlier, Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said that his country would not close its border with Guinea despite the girl’s case, which may have exposed many to the disease as she traveled hundreds of kilometers through Mali – including a stop in the capital Bamako – on public transport. Health experts are rushing teams to Mali to help try to contain the outbreak in the sixth West African nation to record Ebola this year. Senegal and Nigeria contained their outbreaks and been declared free of the disease but at least 4,922 people have died elsewhere, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.  Limame Ould Deddeh, chief medical officer in Kobenni, a town in eastern Mauritania near the Mali frontier, said the government in Nouakchott had sent orders to close all land crossings. Weekly markets had been suspended, he said. A second Mauritanian official confirmed the move. “Guinea is Mali’s neighbor. We have a shared border that we did not close and we will not close,” he told France’s RFI radio station.


Land-locked Mali relies on the ports of neighboring Senegal, Guinea and Ivory Coast as gateways for much of its import needs. There is little accurate data but border closures by West African states trying to protect themselves from the epidemic have had a crippling effect on regional economies. Keita said that the girl’s grandmother had made a mistake by going to a funeral in Guinea, where more than 900 people have died of Ebola, and bringing her back. “We are paying dearly for this,” he said. “But I think this will cause more fear than anything else. The case was quickly contained.” Ebola experts say the real death toll from the worst outbreak on record may be as much as three times higher due to under-reporting. Over 10,000 people have been infected by the disease but U.N. officials warn that figure could rise exponentially in coming weeks if the global response pledged does not swiftly translate into action on the ground. Diplomats and health experts say the Guinean girl appears to have had Ebola-like symptoms and traveled for four days before she was eventually diagnosed with the disease on Oct. 23. Ebola cases are contagious as soon as they show symptoms. The World Health Organization said that 43 contacts had been identified and isolated. But a Malian health official, who asked not to be identified, said authorities estimated that at least 300 people had been in contact with the infected child.

 –Reuters

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