Ebola and other Epidemics, Inadequate Healthcare Threatens Millions

[jimmy olsen]

Those poor nurses! 

Also, some rather odd English in this article
http://frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/news/2506-sawyer-s-final-hours-in-lagos-indiscipline-rage-strange

Former Finance Ministry Consultant who died from Ebola had an 'Indiscipline' Encounter with Nurses after being told he had Ebola; He denied making contact with any suspected case and ran amok when Medical Authorities at the First Consultants Hospital in Lagos tried to contain him; A last-ditch Evacuation effort was blocked by ECOWAS and the Nigerian government, FrontPageAfrica has learned

Looking to get to the bottom of Sawyer's strange ailment on the Asky Airline flight, which Sawyer transferred on in Togo, hospital officials say, he was tested for both malaria and HIV AIDS. However, when both tests came back negative, he was then asked whether he had made contact with any person with the Ebola Virus, to which Sawyer denied. Sawyer's sister, Princess had died of the deadly virus on Monday, July 7, 2014 at the Catholic Hospital in Monrovia. On Friday, July 25, 2014, 18 days later, Sawyer died in Lagos.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that the average incubation period for suspected cases or someone who has made contact with an Ebola patient is eight to ten days from exposure to onset of symptoms.  The range is from two to 21 days.  "That's why we recommend that contacts of an infected person go on a fever watch for 21 days," says Stephan Monroe, deputy director of CDC's National Center for Emerging Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases, at a briefing Monday.

'Against Medical Advice'

Since the first report surfaced in March, there have been more than 1,201 cases reported and unfortunately 672 deaths in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the CDC says.  "This is the largest Ebola outbreak in history and the first in West Africa.  It's a rapidly changing situation and we expect there will be more cases in these countries in the coming weeks and months. The response to this outbreak will be more of a marathon than a sprint."

Back in Lagos, authorities at the First Consultants Hospital in Obalende decided that despite Sawyer's denial, they would test him for Ebola, due to the fact that he had just arrived from Liberia, where there has been an outbreak of the disease with more than 100 deaths.

The hospital issued a statement this week stating that Sawyer was quarantined immediately after he was discovered to have been infected with the deadly virus. In addition, a barrier nursing was implemented around Sawyer and the Lagos State Ministry of Health was immediately notified. Hospital authorities also requested the Federal Ministry of Health for additional laboratory test based on its suspicion of Ebola.

FrontPageAfrica has now learned that upon being told he had Ebola, Mr. Sawyer went into a rage, denying and objecting to the opinion of the medical experts. "He was so adamant and difficult that he took the tubes from his body and took off his pants and urinated on the health workers, forcing them to flee.

The hospital would later report that it resisted immense pressure to let out Sawyer from its hospital against the insistence from some higher-ups and conference organizers that he had a key role to play at the ECOWAS convention in Calabar, the Cross River State capital. In fact, FrontPageAfrica has been informed that officials in Monrovia were in negotiations with ECOWAS to have Sawyer flown back to Liberia.

A text message in possession of FrontPageAfrica from the ECOWAS Ambassador in Liberia, responding to a senior GoL official reads: Your Excellency, the disease control department of the Federal Ministry of Health just contacted me through the hospital now, insisting that Mr. Sawyer be evacuated for now. Pls advise urgently."

LUTH Lab positive on Ebola

First Consultants said that it then went further to reach senior officials in the Office of the Secretary of Health of the USA who assisted it with contacts at the Centre for Disease Control and W.H.O Regional Laboratory Centre in Senegal. According to the hospital, the initial results from LUTH laboratory showed a signal of possible Ebola virus, but required confirmation.

The First Consultants statement noted that it was able to obtain confirmation of Ebola virus disease, (Zaire strain) after working with the state, federal and international agencies. Sawyer was pronounced dead at 6:50 AM Nigeria time, on July 25 and all agencies were properly notified.

Once the case was officially confirmed, the hospital was temporarily shut down and in-house patients immediately evacuated. Sawyer's body was subsequently cremated under W.H.O guidelines and witnessed by all appropriate agencies, according to the hospital statement. "In keeping with W.H.O guidelines, the hospital is shut down briefly as full decontamination exercise is currently in progress. The re-opening of the hospital will also be in accordance with its guidelines", the hospital said.

In the aftermath of Sawyer's death, both federal and state authorities in Lagos have instituted measures to curb the spread of the disease and quarantining all those who came in contact with Sawyer.

In total, Sawyer reportedly came in direct contact with 59 persons, 44 of whom were at the hospital he was taken to when he fell ill, according to the Lagos State government. The Lagos state government clarified in a statement Monday that Ms. Obi-Nnadozie, Nigeria's Ambassador to Liberia was not among the 15 people at the airport who had had direct contact with Mr. Sawyer before his death as was initially believed.

Ashes Returned to Liberia

However, it has been reported that Sawyer came in contact with three ECOWAS officials – a driver, a liaison officer and a protocol officer. Also in the list are two nursing staff and five airport handlers.

Dr. Jide Idris, the Lagos State Health Commissioner, told a news conference this week that 20 per cent of those that came in contact with the deceased had been physically screened. "The private hospital (First Consultants Medical Centre) was demobilized and primary source of infection eliminated. The patient has been cremated and the ash will be transferred to the Liberian government whenever the need arises. Decontamination process in all affected areas has commenced," Dr. Idris said.

In the aftermath of Sawyer's death, diplomatic, ECOWAS and medical authorities here are baffled over Sawyer's deception, especially armed with new information that his sister, Princess had died of the deadly virus and his denial. Finance Ministry sources in Monrovia are in quiet murmur over what they feel was a letdown by Sawyer for not being forthcoming with his peers he worked with.

The ministry has since been temporarily shut down and those who came in contact with Sawyer are on a 21-day forced incubation monitoring process. "All senior officials coming in direct or indirect contact with Mr. Sawyer has been placed on the prescribed 21 days of observatory surveillance," the ministry said in a statement this week.

FrontPageAfrica has now learnt that Sawyer exhibited similar indiscipline behavior during his sister's stay at the Catholic Hospital in Monrovia where she was taken because he noticed she was bleeding profusely and was later found to be a victim of Ebola.

'Indiscipline' Sawyer, EJS Says

Sawyer was seen with blood on his clothing after his sister's death and had earlier demanded that she be placed in a private room. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf cited indiscipline and disrespect as a key reason why Sawyer contracted the Ebola virus. She said his failure to heed medical advice put the lives of other residents across the nation's border at risk.

A disease which now claimed more than a hundred Liberians has now forced the Sirleaf-lead government to shut down the borders, schools and a host of other measures to ensure that the disease does not get out of hand, including a US$5 million initial contribution to begin the immediate implementation of this plan. "Our immediate strategy is to contain the spread, care for the afflicted with the goal of "No New Cases"," Sirleaf told the nation in an address Wednesday. FrontPageAfrica has learned that the Ministry of Health is requesting US$20 million to combat the disease.

In addition, the President has mandated that all non-essential staff, to be determined by the Minister or Head of Agency, are to be placed on a 30-day compulsory leave and Friday, August 1, is declared a non-working day and is to be used for the disinfection and chlorination of all public facilities.

"All borders that are to remain opened are to be directly supervised and controlled by the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization whose duties it shall be, working with the assigned health authorities, to ensure strict adherence to announce preventive measures including preliminary testing for fever. Without exceptions, all schools are ordered closed pending further directive from the Ministry of Education. All markets at border areas including Foya, Bo Waterside, and Ganta are hereby ordered closed until further notice.

But despite the measures put in place by Liberia, the effect of Sawyer's 'indiscipline has already taken a toll. ASKY, the Pan-African airline ASKY on which Sawyer flew, has suspended all flights to and from Monrovia and Sierra Leone as has other regional carriers, Arik Air and Gambia Bird dealing a huge blow to commercial aviation.

Linger Questions Over Behavior

Back in Monrovia, Samaritan Purse, the U.S. missionary group helping to treat Ebola patients is scaling down, announcing Wednesday, plans to evacuate nonessential personnel given the five-month-old outbreak is worsening as the fate of two Americans infected with the Ebola hang in the balance on hope and prayers.

For Sawyer, questions are lingering over his behavior, both at the Catholic Hospital in Monrovia and the First Consultants in Lagos and what led him to behave the way he did. More importantly diplomatic observers here are puzzled over his demise: The timing and behavior. A few persons who spoke to Sawyer, including FrontPageAfrica reported that he sounded fine hours before his death. It is unclear what pushed him to the wall and why?

As for the other eight members of the delegation that flew to Lagos, along with Sawyer, diplomatic sources in Lagos confirmed to FrontPageAfrica Wednesday that they were all checked and told to report to the Ministry of Health in Monrovia upon their arrival. It is unclear how close they were to Sawyer or whether authorities in Monrovia have begun monitoring them as the clock ticks on the recommended 21-day incubation period.

[jimmy olsen]

This epidemic is really picking up speed, 61 dead in the last two days.

http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-ebola-death-887-spreads-nigeria-20140804-story.html

The deadly Ebola virus sweeping through West Africa continues to accelerate, according to numbers released Monday by the World Health Organization.

The virus has now claimed at least 887 lives, the WHO reported, with 163 new cases and 61 deaths in just two days.

The latest update indicates the disease is picking up speed, with the number of new infections surging by 33% over the last three-day report ending July 27, and three new cases reported in Nigeria, the latest country to be hit by the disease.

Of the four cases there, three were classified as "probable," and one was "suspected," the WHO said.

At least one of the newly reported cases in Nigeria was said to be a doctor who was treating Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer, 40, who fell ill on a flight from Liberia to Lagos on July 20, and was immediately quarantined upon arrival.

Efforts to confirm that Sawyer indeed died of Ebola have been hampered by couriers who are unwilling to transport the biological samples for secondary testing, the WHO said last week.

Sawyer, who became the first reported Ebola death in Nigeria and who was scheduled to fly to the United States soon to visit his family, raised major concerns that the virus could continue to spread quickly from major population centers like Lagos, the continent's largest city and home to 21 million people.

Last week, the WHO called the apparent spread of the disease into a fourth territory a "significant development in the course of this outbreak."

"This outbreak is moving faster than our efforts to control it," Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, told leaders of four West African countries gathered in Conakry, Guinea, last week. "If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socioeconomic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries."

In a press briefing Monday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control were continuing to assist West African governments with the Ebola crisis, sending a "surge" of about 50 disease control specialists to the region starting last week.

In addition, Earnest said, authorities are screening travelers who are entering major U.S. airports from the affected countries and will quarantine them if necessary.

The CDC last week issued a travel advisory, warning travelers against non-essential travel to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, for fear that travelers might get exposed to Ebola if they needed medical care in a hospital overwhelmed by patients.

[MadImmortalMan]

Whose finance ministry was that guy working for? It's unclear.

[jimmy olsen]

Whose finance ministry was that guy working for? It's unclear.

Pretty sure it was Liberia.

With the exception of Guinea, the trend doesn't bode well

[jimmy olsen]

What's worse is that it's likely much worse than that!

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebola-outbreak-could-be-much-worse-than-thought/

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The worst outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in history could actually be much worse than the official death toll reflects. Already, the World Health Organization says 887 people have died, but a top doctor working at the heart of the outbreak in West Africa says many cases are going unreported.

The senior doctor, who works for a leading medical organization in Liberia, explained to CBS News' Debora Patta that what has helped set this outbreak apart from previous ones is the virus' spread in urban areas.

One of the epicenters of the disease is the Liberian capital of Monrovia, home to about a million people, or almost a quarter of the country's population.

The doctor, who spoke to CBS News on condition of confidentiality, said the disease is spinning out of control in Africa partly because it is extremely difficult to contain it in a sprawling, congested city center.

Meanwhile, the second American missionary infected with the virus was on her way back to the U.S. aboard a private jet Tuesday morning. Nancy Writebol was expected to reach the isolation unit at the Emory University Hospital later in the day. Her colleague, Dr. Kent Brantly, is already there. Both have been given an experimental serum to try and treat the disease, and hopes have been expressed over limited improvements in their condition.

Also, officials at a hospital in New York city said a man admitted to the facility Monday morning showing symptoms commonly associated with Ebola likely does not have the disease. He had traveled recently to West Africa, but a senior doctor at Mt. Sinai hospital told reporters the "odds are" his ailment is not linked to the deadly virus.

The official Ebola death toll jumped from 729 to 887 on Monday as Liberia confirmed dozens of new cases, but the doctor told us he believes the real number is at least 50 percent higher.

He put this down to the fact that people are scared to report Ebola cases, and have instead been hiding sick relatives and burying the still-contagious bodies of the dead in secret.

Traditions in parts of West Africa involve touching bodies before burial -- potentially putting unknown numbers of family and community members at risk.

The Liberian government has ordered that the corpses of all Ebola victims be cremated.

Two treatment centers have been set up in Monrovia; JFK Hospital, which is right in the middle of the city, and the ELWA (Eternal Love Wins Africa) center, run by a Christian charity, in a suburb not far from the center.

As Western aid organizations have pulled many workers out of West Africa, control of the treatment centers has been handed back to a large degree to the Liberian government, which has already said trying to control the outbreak is beyond its capability.

The international non-profit group Doctors Without Borders has issued a statement saying it is over-stretched and under-staffed on the ground in the region, and its workers still don't have a full grasp on all the infected areas.

The implication in that statement is that the disease could be quietly spreading in parts of Liberia and neighboring nations where victims' families have not yet come forward.

Apparently in Liberia people are just dumping the bodies in the street.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/05/us-health-ebola-africa-idUSKBN0G51VF20140805

Also, shocking no one, quarantines are not being enforced

http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2014/08/containing-ebola-outbreak

[jimmy olsen]

Saudi being tested for Ebola dies.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/saudi-man-tested-ebola-dies-hospital-24860809

Known death toll is now 932 out of 1700 cases

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/nigerian-health-minister-says-nurse-died-of-ebola/2014/08/06/7946899a-1d55-11e4-9b6c-12e30cbe86a3_story.html

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

From the Mehmet Oz Institute of Medicine, Infectious Batshit Crazy division:

West Africans Are Streaming Across the U.S. Southern Border Carrying the Ebola Virus

Whether the title of this article is true today, or tomorrow, this is a factual report. Given our border situation, there is nothing that can be done to keep Ebola out of the United States, even if all planes were grounded immediately.

One of the most often asked questions that I am receiving today centers on how I know that West Africans are coming into the United States in significant numbers.  Although some people will not believe something is so unless they see it on CNN, I am unequivocally stating that the arrival of Ebola through our southern border has already happened or is imminent.

What I have learned over the past three weeks about the path of Ebola into the United States is frightening and it is not being discussed anywhere in the main stream media.

To those who have asked me about how we know that Ebola-exposed West Africans are coming into the country, this article will answer this question.

For a nice, scientific round-up, try this.

[CountDeMoney]

Oh, good Lord.

Kinda reminds me how Castro was to blame for using HIV as a biological weapon against the US.

[HVC]

Well ebolas hit toronto. Or at least a guy who visited Nigeria has Ebola like symptoms.  I hope you're happy Tim

[Eddie Teach]

Was nice knowing you, Hilario. 

[CountDeMoney]

Well ebolas hit toronto. Or at least a guy who visited Nigeria has Ebola like symptoms.  I hope you're happy Tim

Don't worry, you'll know it if you've got it.  Until then, don't sweat it. 

The only person you can't tell the difference between hemorrhagic diarrhea and taking a dump is Ed.

[HVC]

Was nice knowing you, Hilario. 

I always knew I'd go out bleeding from the eyes and cursing tim's name

[HVC]

Well ebolas hit toronto. Or at least a guy who visited Nigeria has Ebola like symptoms.  I hope you're happy Tim

Don't worry, you'll know it if you've got it.  Until then, don't sweat it. 

The only person you can't tell the difference between hemorrhagic diarrhea and taking a dump is Ed.

[jimmy olsen]

Mongers is a prophet

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/07/ebola-experts-describe-atmosphere-in-west-africa-as-apocalyptic.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thedailybeast%2Farticles+%28The+Daily+Be

...
The outbreak is getting worse.

It's already an unprecedented outbreak, CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden says, and the number

of infected and killed by Ebola will likely soon outnumber all other Ebola outbreaks in the past 32 years combined. Accordingto the CDC, there have already been more than 1,700 suspected and confirmed cases ofEbola in West Africa, and more than 900 deaths—numbers that Frieden latercalled"too foggy" to be definitive. Ken Isaacs, the vice president of Program and Government Relations for Samaritan's Purse, paintedan even bleaker picture.

According to the WorldHealth Organization, West Africa has counted1,711 diagnoses and 932 deaths, already, which could represent only a small fraction ofthe true number. "We believe that these numbers represent just 25 to 50 percent of what is happening," said Isaacs.

The atmospherein West Africa is "apocalyptic."

In a six-hour meeting with the president of Liberia last week, Isaacs saidworkers from Samaritan's Purse and SIM watched as the "somber" officials explained the gravity of the situation in theircountries, where hundreds lie deadin the streets. "It has an atmosphere of apocalypse," Isaacs said of the Liberia Ministry ofHealth's status updates. "Bodies lying in the street...gangs threatening to burndown hospitals. I believe this disease has the potential to be a national security risk for many nations. Our response has been a failure." Isaacs says that the epidemic is inciting panic worldwide that, in his opinion, may soon be warranted.

"We have to fight it now here orwe're going to have to fight it somewhere else."

[Valmy]

From the Mehmet Oz Institute of Medicine, Infectious Batshit Crazy division:

West Africans Are Streaming Across the U.S. Southern Border Carrying the Ebola Virus

Whether the title of this article is true today, or tomorrow, this is a factual report. Given our border situation, there is nothing that can be done to keep Ebola out of the United States, even if all planes were grounded immediately.

One of the most often asked questions that I am receiving today centers on how I know that West Africans are coming into the United States in significant numbers.  Although some people will not believe something is so unless they see it on CNN, I am unequivocally stating that the arrival of Ebola through our southern border has already happened or is imminent.

What I have learned over the past three weeks about the path of Ebola into the United States is frightening and it is not being discussed anywhere in the main stream media.

To those who have asked me about how we know that Ebola-exposed West Africans are coming into the country, this article will answer this question.

For a nice, scientific round-up, try this.

Little does that guy know Ebola is going to come pouring in our northern border.  Blame Canada!