Ebola and other Epidemics, Inadequate Healthcare Threatens Millions

[garbon]

We need Obama to create a Centers for Timmay Control.

Isn't that what you mods are for?

Seeds is like an emeritus mod.

[CountDeMoney]

The mod powers on this board are as effective as, well, the WHO.

[mongers]

You know I think we* can beat this:

Ebola outbreak: US hails West Africa Ebola progress

The US has praised Ebola-hit West African nations and foreign donors for their efforts in tackling the outbreak.

America's UN envoy Samantha Power, on a visit to the region, said Liberia and Sierra Leone had hugely increased the number of safe burials - one of the main ways the virus is transmitted.

Ms Power said international aid was helping to combat the disease, and urged donors to continue to help.

The disease has killed roughly 5,000 people in the region.

The US government has continued to stress that the best way to stop the virus from spreading is to tackle it at source, and has rejected calls for restrictions on travel from the region.
....

Full article here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-29811725





* by we I don't mean me, but the international health charities/workers, the donor governments, especially the USA and the hard pressed local health workers. Me I've done nothing, but now there's a Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal, i'll send some money that way, details here:
http://www.dec.org.uk/

[CountDeMoney]

You should participate in the local Bike-a-thon.  We could sponsor your miles.  Ebiking for Ebola!

[mongers]

You should participate in the local Bike-a-thon.  We could sponsor your miles.  Ebiking for Ebola!

Not keen on the whole look at me charity gigs, I'd rather just give my own money and be quiet.

[derspiess]

http://www.today.com/health/nurse-kaci-hickox-says-she-wont-obey-maines-ebola-quarantine-1D80251330

Sorry, Nurse Hickox.  That means we'll need to have you put down

[Eddie Teach]

Is there no blood test they can run even if somebody hasn't developed symptoms yet? 

[frunk]

My understanding is that it isn't present in sufficient quantities to be detected when the person is asymptomatic.  That's also why there's no risk of transmission when at this stage.

[The Brain]

Is all the world at this stage?

[CountDeMoney]

This poor woman.   

Maine Gov. Paul LePage is seeking legal authority to enforce Ebola quarantine on nurse
Washington Post

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) is looking for ways to force a nurse released from mandatory Ebola isolation in New Jersey to abide by a similar 21-day quarantine in Maine.

"The Office of the Governor has been working collaboratively with the State health officials within the Department of Health and Human Services to seek legal authority to enforce the quarantine," LePage's office said in a statement Wednesday. "We hoped that the health-care worker would voluntarily comply with these protocols, but this individual has stated publicly she will not abide by the protocols."

The nurse, Kaci Hickox, recently returned to the United States from Sierra Leone, where she was working on the front lines of the Ebola epidemic with Doctors Without Borders.

Last Friday, Hickox was placed in quarantine in New Jersey after returning from West Africa, despite testing negative for the virus.

By Saturday, she was battling Gov. Chris Christie (R) over the conditions and legality of the quarantine, filing a lawsuit and forcing public debate over states' treatment of health-care workers returning from West Africa.

The governor quickly backed down and released Hickox.

Now back in her home state of Maine, Hickox again finds herself at odds with state officials who expect her to remain quarantined at home for 21 days, the incubation period for Ebola.

State police vehicles were spotted stationed outside of a home where Hickcox may be staying, though her lawyers have declined to reveal her current location.

    State police sent to home of Maine #Ebola nurse under forced isolation http://t.co/70ljiir1HW pic.twitter.com/GS65vQFF2G

    — KGW News (@KGWNews) October 29, 2014

On Wednesday morning, Hickox told the "Today" show: "I don't plan on sticking to the guidelines. I remain appalled by these home quarantine policies that have been forced upon me, even though I am in perfectly good health and feeling strong and have been this entire time completely symptom free."

Hickox said she will remain in voluntary quarantine until Thursday, but will take legal action against the state unless something changes. "If the restrictions placed on me by the state of Maine are not lifted by Thursday morning, I will go to court to fight for my freedom," she told "Today."

Her attorney, Steven Hyman, told ABC News that Hickox "does not intend to abide by the quarantine imposed by Maine officials because she is not a risk to others. She is asymptomatic and under all the protocols cannot be deemed a medical risk of being contagious to anyone."

New York civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel, who is also representing Hickox, told the Bangor Daily News: "The conditions that the state of Maine is now requiring Kaci to comply with are unconstitutional and illegal and there is no justification for the state of Maine to infringe on her liberty."

Hickox has agreed to daily monitoring, as recommended in updated Ebola guidelines released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That involves twice-daily temperature readings and daily in-person visits with a CDC official.

The new guidelines recommend "restriction of movement within the community" and avoiding public transportation for those exposed to the disease who don't show symptoms. They do not call for isolation of anyone who is symptom-free.

"She understands the nature of the disease, she treated it," Hyman told the Bangor Daily News. "She understands the nature of the risk."

At a news conference Tuesday, Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew acknowledged that the state's rules go beyond the federal guidelines. She also said the state could seek a court order to enforce a quarantine.

Mayhew did not address Hickox's case specifically, saying only that officials are "evaluating appropriate steps to ensure that our protocol is complied with and if necessary, will be enforced."

Sheila Pinette, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention, cited the Ebola cases in Texas, where two nurses got sick after treating an Ebola patient from Liberia.

"We don't know a lot about this virus but we do know from the experiences learned in Texas that they had some equivocal tests within the first 72 hours of testing their health-care workers," Pinette said.

Though Hickox tested negative, officials remain concerned.

"We believe that she may have been tested too early," Pinette said. "That is the reason why we continue to monitor this individual. So I have to say, in my own clinical opinion, to protect the health and safety of even one Mainer, it is extremely important for us to be very, very cautious."

Local officials said Tuesday that Hickox is not heading back to her home right away. Michael Sullivan, chief medical officer at the Northern Maine Medical Center, said at a news conference that Hickox has been in contact with the Maine CDC and that state health officials know where she is.

[CountDeMoney]

All this really tells me is, if this country is hit with a nasty HxNx hi-path air-borne influenza, it's gonna lose its ass. 

[grumbler]

All this really tells me is, if this country is hit with a nasty HxNx hi-path air-borne influenza, it's gonna lose its ass.

Indeed.  We will all starve to death* because state officials will panic and tell everyone to remain in their homes until everyone who can catch the disease is unable to do so on account of being dead.

When politics tries to dictate to science, we have a problem. For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled. - R. Feynman


*Except Ed; the bleak shall inherit the earth.

[derspiess]

This poor woman.   

She is a bit of a drama queen/attention whore.  Rather self-congratulatory about her white-knighting, though.

[Ed Anger]

All this really tells me is, if this country is hit with a nasty HxNx hi-path air-borne influenza, it's gonna lose its ass.

Indeed.  We will all starve to death* because state officials will panic and tell everyone to remain in their homes until everyone who can catch the disease is unable to do so on account of being dead.

When politics tries to dictate to science, we have a problem. For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled. - R. Feynman


*Except Ed; the bleak shall inherit the earth.

[mongers]

This poor woman.   

She is a bit of a drama queen/attention whore.  Rather self-congratulatory about her white-knighting, though.

Maybe she's auditioning for the performance happening at the governor's grandstand?