Ebola Virus

[airbusgirl66]

Ebola called 'out of control' in West Africa (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/06/20/africa-ebola-outbreak/11110943/)

Anyone want a Conakry layover?

[Old King Coal]

Whilst any sort of endemic disease is never a good thing, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) could also equally have said that either Malaria and / or Typhoid are "Out of Control" in West Africa (and indeed those two diseases annually kill many, many, many, more than ever has Ebola) but, when making such pronouncements, MSF (just like 'Oxfam' and / or the 'RSPCA' and / or 'RSPCC') are often more interested in (self-)serving their own ends, i.e. it regularly suits their agenda and / or 'Modus Operandi' to paint things much worse than in fact they actually are; as that then often garners political influence and / or monetary donations for their coffers.

See this for an alternative view: Malaria and / or Typhoid -- not Ebola -- biggest health threat for travelers to tropics (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/bc-nsf011413.php)

Fwiw, as I type this reply, I'm presently in West Africa (Monrovia / Liberia, to be precise) in a bar watching the 'World Cup' (Ghana vs Germany) and all is completely normal... aside from regular outbursts of frenetic football related shouting, chanting, and general African exuberance !

[Outatowner]

King your prodigious use of italics and the / symbol with spaces before and after it plus many sets of () makes for a slight headache when reading your post.

Just sayin' - as the yanks would say.:ok:

[pilotday]

Mapping Africa's "Totally Out Of Control" Ebola Epidemic | Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-23/mapping-africas-totally-out-control-ebola-epidemic)

[Old King Coal]

Here are some facts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) regarding Malaria (based on data from 2012) for Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, versus the current supposedly out of control 'Ebola epidemic' that is (also) effecting Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone:

Total combined population of all 3 countries = 21,620,000
Total Malaria infections = 3,261,977 (15% of total population)
Total deaths due to Malaria = 6,315 (0.03% of total population)

Total Ebola infections = 567 (0.003% of total population)
Total Ebola deaths = 350 (0.0002% of total population)

I should add that both diseases are easily preventable, albeit that Malaria is probably the harder of the two to avoid.

[boocs]

Reminds me of SARS or Bird flu in Southern China/Hong Kong. Yes it's tragic that people died of these diseases when they hit, but as OKCoal alludes, other diseases have far more significant results.
For info 775 people died from SARS, and 206 from bird flu. The general 'flu' kills 36,000 people in the US alone on an annual basis.

b.

[mooseknuckles]

Here's the latest....

Outbreak of Ebola in Guinea | Ebola | CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/guinea/index.html)

Interim Guidance for Airline Workers | Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers | CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/abroad/airline-workers.html)

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/alert/ebola-guinea

http://www.afro.who.int/en/clusters-a-programmes/dpc/epidemic-a-pandemic-alert-and-response/outbreak-news/4214-ebola-virus-disease-west-africa-1-july-2014.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140702-ebola-epidemic-fever-world-health-guinea-sierra-leone-liberia/

Stay safe

[Old King Coal]

And here's an interesting bit of research too, i.e. regarding the methods and likelihood of infection thereof:

Assessment of the Risk of Ebola Virus Transmission from Bodily Fluids and Fomites (http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/196/Supplement_2/S142.full)

Perhaps the most pertinent point of which is this: Taken together, our results support the conventional assumptions and field observations that most EBOV transmission comes from direct contact with blood or bodily fluids of an infected patient during the acute phase (http://www.virology.ws/2009/02/13/acute-viral-infections/) of illness. The risk of casual contacts with the skin, such as shaking hands, is likely to be low. Environmental contamination and fomites do not appear to pose a significant risk when currently recommended infection control guidelines for the viral hemorrhagic fevers are followed.

[airbusgirl66]

Glad this passenger wasn't on my flight….

Ebola now taking toll on doctors (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/07/27/ebola-africa-disease-epidemic/13236743/)

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/27/world/africa/ebola-american-doctor-infected/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

[rjtjrt]

No longer is it in an isolated area/village far from connection to rest of the world.
Now it has potentially reached Lagos, it is very serious.
21 Million people in a densely populated 3rd world city, with third world institutions, but connections via an international airport, it is a recipe for an truly un contained epidemic.
If they have isolated that man in time maybe not too late, but more likely he is not the only person to be taking it far and wide.
This is a very serious world problem that is obviously not contained.
I must say I have a lot of admiration for the health workers, both the locals and the internationals - very decent courageous people.

[SOPS]

It's getting worse...


Ebola moving faster than efforts to control it, warns the World Health Organisation - Australia Network News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-02/who-says-ebola-out-of-control/5642914)

[Capn Rex Havoc]

The timeline in that link to ABC report is horrific.

This bit-
Patrick Sawyer, an American who was working for the Liberian government, collapses on arrival at Lagos Airport in Nigeria on July 20.

He is put in isolation at the First Consultants Hospital in Obalende, one of the most crowded parts of Lagos, a city that is home to 21 million people.

It later emerges his sister had died from Ebola. Mr Sawyer dies on July 25, prompting an evacuation of the hospital.

Before he collapsed he took flights from Liberia to Ghana, on to Togo, and eventually to Nigeria, highlighting the risks international travel poses to the spread of the disease.



Brings home the vector of air travel to spread this disease. :eek:

[Fromagio]

So now someone has now died from the Ebola virus in Saudi after a business trip to Sierra Leone. IMHO, West Africa is a bigger threat than the perceived threat from a rogue SAM being fired at a commercial aircraft flying at high altitude over Iraq yet it seems that no real action is being taken by the airlines to protect, not only its crew and pax but the wider human population as a whole from the spread of this horrible virus. BA seems to be going in the right direction by stopping flights to some of its West African destinations but are continuing with flights to Lagos and Abuja, for the time being at least. What will it take for the airlines to realise the risk here or maybe I'm just over reacting!!

[pilotday]

Some people say its not 'that' contagious since its not airbourne, but why are these American doctors catching it? I would assume they are using the best precautions and still getting it. I'm sure they aren't taking note from the Filipino Nurse Manual, not using rubber gloves, ever.

It appears this is becoming parabolic. Is EK Clinic still saying Ebola is not a big deal? Keep discovering…..diseases

[mooseknuckles]

What do you expect from the supremely delusional. They still think every pilot in the world wants to be an emirates pilot. The only reason we stopped going there was because the WHO shut down all flights in and out of Conakry. If not for that, we'd still be flying there with some fci about bringing your own biohazard suit.

[pilotday]

This Amazing Jet Will Transport Ebola Victims From Africa To The U.S. (http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/this-amazing-jet-will-transport-ebola-victims-from-afri-1614420685)

Since we forget this is a pilot forum, the above link is pretty cool. Its the specialized air ambulance that flew that Ebola infected doctor and his nurse to Atlanta. Some ballzy pilots knowing that only a plastic sheet and negative pressure protects them from death. Imagine the procedures if that jet crashes or diverts somewhere.

Whether or not that was a good idea is yet to be known.

I'm already reading conspiracies that those evil "yanks" are breeding the virus to use as a weapon while the innocent Hamas and other peaceful terrorists are suspected nosing around to build some sort of Ebola bomb.

[Fromagio]

Biological warfare has been around for a long time, no conspiracy there. A weaponised version of Ebola may have been looked at by certain parties and I suspect that the US has looked at its potential military uses but that's for a different forum. My concern is that there is a real threat to air crew, pax and the wider global population by operating to/from this region. It appears to me that very little has been or is being done to protect the locals (African that is) from the threat let alone us. I wonder if management pilots would be happy to operate flights to the region with the current situation.

[SOPS]

I thought this thing was meant to be hard to catch.

It is in Lagos now.

Ebola spreads to Nigeria. Government declares emergency. - The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/07/ebola-spreads-to-nigeria-goverment-declares-emergency/)

[Tarq57]

I don't think it's so much "hard to catch", more that - up till recently, anyway -it's spread has been self-limiting due to the relatively short incubation/infectious period.

Simply put, it kills its host quicker than is ideal for the spread of the virus.

Closer to the other end of the scale is HIV, which spread pretty much unfettered, affecting a large number of people before it was even realized what the ailment was.

Something like Ebola (or Marburg, or similar) has to reach a critical mass of victims before it truly takes off.

I worry that due to the reported behaviour of most of the people currently affected*, that the critical mass might be approaching. It might already have passed.

What also bothers me is the authorities insistence that it's not especially contagious (like the flu, or a cold is particularly contagious.)

"They" are saying that exposure to body fluids is required.

Does that include, say, exposure to a moisture droplet that might have been sneezed or coughed? To then spread several feet or yards from the host? And I do wonder how long the virus remains active in such a droplet (if present)?

It's reported that WHO are seriously debating travel restrictions and quarantine protocols. Decision to be released tomorrow (Saturday in NZ.)

For a bit of light reading about the nature of the beast, check out The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston. He did a lot of research before writing this.

*[edit] 'behaviour' is probably not entirely accurate. A more complete appraisal would also relate to health infrastructure/availability, and the tendency of the locals in these countries to be suspicious of same; a lack of effective education.

[SOPS]

The news just keeps getting better.

Ebola crisis: WHO declares international public health emergency, to consider use of experimental medicines - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-08/who-declares-ebola-epidemic-a-public-health-emergency/5657562)

[twentyyearstoolate]

Keep a high intake of Vitamin C guys. This thing is miraculous for this type of problem :ok:

[afootsoldier]

Get a grip!

Fwiw, as I type this reply, I'm presently in West Africa (Monrovia / Liberia, to be precise) in a bar watching the 'World Cup' (Ghana vs Germany) and all is completely normal... aside from regular outbursts of frenetic football related shouting, chanting, and general African exuberance !

Old King Coal - you've gone quiet - any updates from Liberia? Last orders at the bar?

[Old King Coal]

afootsoldier: Fwiw, I flew out from Monrovia about 5 weeks ago, evidently suffering no ill effects (either then or since) and, when I left there, things there were comparatively normal, just as indeed that the same was reported to me earlier today by my sister-in-law whom is in Monrovia this very day. From her report, the biggest impact seems to be on the loss of trade (and therein reductions of income) which the emergency measures are having on the local populace, remembering that these are majoratively v.poor people, whom don't possess much by way of savings (if any) onto which they can fall back (indeed I would suspect that even many in Dubai would struggle if a 3 month 'state of emergency' was declared and, as a result of which, incomes were slashed and the prices for basic essentials shot through the roof). That said, knowing these people, they're the epitome of generous when it comes to sharing, amongst one another, what little they have.

Here’s a very interesting article about diseases, and one that’s well worthy of a read:The current Ebola outbreak in Africa is dominating headlines globally. But Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance questions why this is - rather than any of the other deadly diseases which exist. He suggests it's because people in the 'west' have forgotten what it is like to deal with an untreatable disease. That, plus fear-inducing descriptions that have been doing the rounds in the media lately.

E.g. It starts with familiar flu-like symptoms: a mild fever, headache, muscle and joint pains. But within days this can quickly descend into something more exotic and frightening: vomiting and diarrhoea, followed by bleeding from the gums, the nose and gastrointestinal tract. Death comes in the form of either organ failure or low blood pressure caused by the extreme loss of fluids.

However, this is not a description of an Ebola infection but rather '‘Dengue Shock Syndrome’, an extreme form of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease that struggles to make the news.

Yes, Ebola is without a doubt a truly horrible disease, but then there are many other bad ones that kill far more. So, why is it that Ebola is grabbing headlines and other deadly diseases are not? Is it because people in Africa are suddenly dying? That seems unlikely.

Dengue has a relatively low death rate, but it still kills up to 20,000 of the half a million people who are infected every year; that's an order of magnitude more than the worst Ebola outbreak, and yet it is barely a fifth of the number whom are killed by measles every year.
And when you start to look at pathogens like pneumococcal and rotavirus - causes of the two biggest childhood killers, pneumonia and diarrhoea - the number of deaths rapidly climbs up into the high hundreds of thousands.
But then so many other diseases are more infectious, like measles (through air-droplets), and hepatitis B (which is transmitted by similar means to HIV, but 50x more infectious).

Perhaps then it has something to do with the fact that there is no cure and that 50%-90% of people infected with Ebola will inevitably die? Possibly, but then there is no cure for rabies either, and once someone develops symptoms they are almost 100% likely to die a slow and painful death, unless, that is, they have been vaccinated post-exposure. And herein lies a clue.

The fact is, while Ebola likely means a painful and isolated death, away from loved ones, there are other diseases that are horrific and equally deserving of both our fear and respect; diseases which, like Ebola, are still dreaded in West Africa and beyond, and which regularly kill hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world's poorest countries.

However, in wealthy countries, thanks to the availability of modern medicines, many of these diseases can now usually be treated or cured, and thanks to vaccines they rarely have to be. Because of this, we have simply forgotten what it is like to live under threat of such infectious and deadly diseases, and also forgotten what it means to fear them.

So when an outbreak like this comes along, from the comfort of our relatively disease-free surroundings it is only natural to look on in horror and be terrified by the prospect of something like Ebola making its way to our shores.

But while Ebola remains a genuine concern in West Africa (i.e. ‘poor’ countries), if it ever did make it to Europe or North America (i.e. ‘rich’ countries) the chances of it spreading far are remote. This is for two important reasons: first our disease surveillance is more stringent, and second Ebola kills or immobilises its host before they have much of a chance to spread it (that and certain cultural differences to do with how we nurse sick people and / or deal with them when they die).

In reality, a bigger concern far closer to home is that some diseases which we once vanquished, like measles, rubella and pertussis, are now making a comeback.

Thanks to an insidious complacency (coupled with the stupidity of the anti-vaxer’s), we have seen significant drops in vaccination rates in many parts of the western world, to the extent that diseases are not only coming back, but doing so to levels where WE are actually exporting them to poorer countries.

You certainly have to ask why we should be seeing deaths from diseases we have previously wiped out, and for which we have safe and effective vaccinations, and yet in these same wealthy countries people are now asking why there isn't an Ebola vaccine?

So the fact that this Ebola outbreak has received so much attention is actually something to be applauded.

For one thing it may help to accelerate the progress of some of the quite promising candidate drug treatments and vaccines whose development have otherwise been stalling. More of a certainty is that it will help bring in improved emergency response plans in affected countries, measures which could help prevent any future outbreaks from spreading quite so fast and so far.

For people in West Africa who are currently trying to get through this terrible outbreak that will be of little comfort.

Even so, if casting the international spotlight onto Ebola helps to bring our notions of risk perception into sharper focus then that can't be a bad thing - not just in terms of boosting immunisation rates at home.

But also if it helps to remind us that Ebola is not the exception, but rather just one example of the terrible norm - where thousands of men, women and children are dying from a range of horrible diseases every day - then perhaps that will bring the world a step closer to doing more about it.

Global deaths from various diseases:
Dengue fever: up to 20,000 annually
Measles (in 2012): 122,000 deaths
Ebola (2014 outbreak): +930 people


So, "Cheers!" and the bar is still open !

See also: USA House Committee on Foreign Affairs - Subcommittee on Africa - Combating the Ebola Threat - August 7, 2014 (http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA16/20140807/102607/HHRG-113-FA16-Wstate-FriedenT-20140807.pdf)

[jack schidt]

If the Ebola virus is caught by direct contact with the bodily fluids of the infected person, why then are there 97+ health workers, wearing full protection suits, infected with the disease!!?

[Old King Coal]

jack schidt: Seemingly the most likely (and tragic) reasons behind the numerous infections & deaths amongst 'health workers', i.e. within those affected (infected) West African countries, has been due to:
Lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at various remote locations / remote county clinics & hospitals (albeit with plenty of PPE likely available within the more major conurbations). Remembering that this stuff costs money to procure, takes time to obtain, and equally time to implement / logistics.
Lack of training (and budgetary constraints therein) for medical staff (especially nurses), remembering that their level of training will likely be commensurate with their treatment of specific & localised medical conditions (e.g. they're typically only used to dealing with the likes of malaria, typhoid, midwifery, etc).
The speed of events / infections overtaking all of the above!Imho it is highly unlikely that the medical personnel within those Ebola infected countries were ever trained to deal with that type of disease and / or had little or no concept of how virulent the likes of an Ebola virus can be.

Coupled with this, a lot a West African 'health workers' have only rudimentary levels of education themselves (remembering that having all of ones teachers either run away and / or be murdered, during what amounts to almost 14 years of civil war - i.e. in Liberia - doesn't exactly help consolidate ones education during ones formative years... and ones typical 'nurse' in West Africa is almost certainly not at the same standard as, say, an A&E triage nurse in the UK... that said, the various Nurses, Doctors, plus various heath workers, in West Africa, are undoubtedly doing their v.best against almost impossible odds, and therein I, for one, have the utmost respect towards them for their integrity, commitment, and bravery in their tackling of this disease).

Imho, the majority of people whom might read this thread are unlikely to have ever experienced of the levels of poverty that we're talking about here (i.e. specific to West Africa), it being a region where the vast majority are surviving on a hand-to-mouth existence of between $1 and $2 USD per day.

To perhaps help put it all into perspective, the Government of Liberia's entire annual budget (for a country of 4.2 million people) is typically the same (and sometimes less than) the annual budget allocated to run just one 'National Health Service' (NHS) hospital of a large town / averaged sized city in the UK.