CKY - Ebola virus

[TheDarkHorse]

So with one of the world's most virulent virus's now being confirmed in the capital and cases also in S.Leone, plus Senegal closing the border to CKY, will the genius's who think of safety of not only the crew but the high possibility of disease transmission to the GCC via these flights stop the operation of this route until they know the disease is contained or will they negate the obvious and think the usual company thought of 'It'll never happen to us'?

Surely this poses not only a risk to all of those who fly onboard that a/c if one person aboard should be infected but then where this may very well fly onto after thereby spreading the disease worldwide?

TDH

[Old King Coal]

Fwiw, I am presently ensconced in Monrovia / Liberia, wherein there is evident confusion / denial wrt whether there IS, or IS NOT, an outbreak of Ebola within this particular country's boarders, wherein the local Government is seemingly torn between telling it as it is, versus stoking widespread panic (which is already rampant).

By all accounts the strain of Ebola virus that is presently afflicting the West African region is seemingly the one known as the Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV) sub-type. This is a strain which, if contracted, has a 90% chance of being fatal !

Early symptoms of Ebola virus infection involve sudden onset of fever, weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat. These symptoms can appear from 2 to 21 days after infection. Some patients may also develop a rash, red eyes, hiccups, chest pains and difficulty breathing and swallowing. The early symptoms of Ebola infection then progress to vomiting, diarrhea, impaired kidney and liver function and sometimes internal and external bleeding.

The WHO says these non-specific early symptoms can be mistaken for signs of diseases such as malaria, typhoid fever, meningitis or even the plague (all of which are endemic to the West African Region, what with its prevalence for exotic 'tropical' diseases).

Ebola can only be definitively confirmed by (five) different laboratory tests, albeit that samples taken from patients are considered as an extreme biohazard risk and wherein testing should be conducted under maximum biological containment conditions.

Amongst the general population, human-to-human transmission of the Ebola virus is primarily associated with direct and / or indirect contact with blood and body fluids (including sweat, thus even a sweaty handshake, common here in West Africa, might prove lethal ! ).

There is NO known cure for Ebola virus and, as stated above, if one were to become infected with it, then one is 9x out of 10 likely to die from the strain presently infecting parts of West Africa and, accordingly, this is a very serious threat to the region's health and also that of international travellers, and those 'downstream' therein, etc !

See also: (World Health Organisation) Ebola virus disease (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/)
and: (wiki) Ebola virus disease (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease)

[aussiefarmer]

Poor A340 guys, if they didn't have enough crap now they can just die from Ebola while doing an indian night turn a few days after returning from their highlight layover CKY

[TheDarkHorse]

Surely the DOH here will want to mitigate any risk of this horrible disease coming to DXB or UAE. Lets be honest if they had a case here, not only would they struggle to know what to do but tourism wise could be crippling or at least for a while.