outbreak

[Steve James]

Ebola travel bans are 'irrational,' says head of Red Cross

Imposing travel bans that prevent people from Ebola-stricken countries from leaving those countries would be "irrational," said Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, during a press conference earlier today. The measure — one that would be borne out of fear and panic — simply wouldn’t curb Ebola infections.

"[Travel bans] are not solutions," Sy told reporters in Beijing, according to Reuters. "The only solution is how can we join our efforts to contain those kinds of viruses and epidemics at their epicenter, right where they start." Countries should focus on raising funds and providing treatment to those with confirmed cases of Ebola, said Sy. If they can do that, the outbreak could be contained within six months.

THE OUTBREAK COULD BE CONTAINED WITHIN SIX MONTHS

Sy isn’t the first person to speak out against travel bans. The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, said last week that Ebola needed to be stopped at the source, not through travel bans. Restricting people's movements would make the outbreak in West Africa harder to halt, because a ban would limit aid workers’ movements, and increase the rate of new infections. Still, a number of politicians in the US have called for a travel ban, despite the fact that the US has only experienced two Ebola transmissions thus far.

At the moment, the US government demands that people coming from countries with an Ebola outbreak enter the country through one of five airports, where they can go through enhanced screening procedures. And starting Monday, travelers will be monitored for a period of 21 days — the maximum amount of days it can take for someone to develop symptoms of Ebola — after they enter the US.

So far, the Ebola outbreak has centered around three African countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. A total of 9,200 have been infected, and more than 4,500 have died from the disease. Ebola can be controlled through routine hand-washing, and by using gloves and other barriers to prevent contact with infectious bodily fluids, like blood and vomit. Ebola isn’t airborne, which means that only direct contact with the body fluids of a person who is showing symptoms of Ebola will spread the disease.

[chud]

Ebola travel bans are 'irrational,' says head of Red Cross

Imposing travel bans that prevent people from Ebola-stricken countries from leaving those countries would be "irrational," said Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, during a press conference earlier today. The measure — one that would be borne out of fear and panic — simply wouldn’t curb Ebola infections.

"[Travel bans] are not solutions," Sy told reporters in Beijing, according to Reuters. "The only solution is how can we join our efforts to contain those kinds of viruses and epidemics at their epicenter, right where they start." Countries should focus on raising funds and providing treatment to those with confirmed cases of Ebola, said Sy. If they can do that, the outbreak could be contained within six months.

THE OUTBREAK COULD BE CONTAINED WITHIN SIX MONTHS

Sy isn’t the first person to speak out against travel bans. The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, said last week that Ebola needed to be stopped at the source, not through travel bans. Restricting people's movements would make the outbreak in West Africa harder to halt, because a ban would limit aid workers’ movements, and increase the rate of new infections. Still, a number of politicians in the US have called for a travel ban, despite the fact that the US has only experienced two Ebola transmissions thus far.

At the moment, the US government demands that people coming from countries with an Ebola outbreak enter the country through one of five airports, where they can go through enhanced screening procedures. And starting Monday, travelers will be monitored for a period of 21 days — the maximum amount of days it can take for someone to develop symptoms of Ebola — after they enter the US.

So far, the Ebola outbreak has centered around three African countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. A total of 9,200 have been infected, and more than 4,500 have died from the disease. Ebola can be controlled through routine hand-washing, and by using gloves and other barriers to prevent contact with infectious bodily fluids, like blood and vomit. Ebola isn’t airborne, which means that only direct contact with the body fluids of a person who is showing symptoms of Ebola will spread the disease.

That is pretty stupid. This Mr. Sy says it would be "Irrational" and "not a solution" without making any kind of argument for these flippant statements.
Not allowing people in from a highly infected area is actually the opposite of what he says: it is quite rational, and a common sense step towards a solution.

[Steve James]

Yeah, what does he know.

[Steve James]

Rwanda cancels Ebola screenings for US, Spain

NAIROBI, Kenya — Rwanda's minister of health is reversing a decision she made to require visitors who had been in the U.S. or Spain during the previous 22 days to report their medical condition to Rwandan authorities daily.

Dr. Agnes Binagwaho said on Twitter late Wednesday that the decision to screen travelers from the U.S. and Spain was solely her decision and not the government's. She apologized for any inconvenience.

A posting on President Paul Kagame's Twitter account said the measures instituted by Binagwaho weren't necessary and that his health minister sometimes acts first and thinks later.

No Ebola cases have been reported in Rwanda. The U.S. Embassy says that Rwanda is not allowing visitors who have recently traveled to Guinea, Liberia, Senegal, or Sierra Leone.

[windwalker]

City officials say the doctor acknowledged riding the subway and taking a cab to a Brooklyn bowling alley in the past week before he started showing symptoms.

His Harlem apartment was cordoned off, and his fiance, who was not showing symptoms, was being watched in a quarantine ward at Bellevue. The Department of Health was on site across the street from the apartment building Thursday night, giving out information to area residents.

http://news.yahoo.com/doctor-visited-af ... 04036.html

@steve,

your not a bowler are you?

Brooklyn panic: Ebola patient Dr. Craig Spencer reportedly traveled by Uber car from his Harlem home to one of Williamsburg's trendy bowling hot spot Brooklyn Bowl one day before he was rushed to the hospital with a 103F fever - The Gutter bar/music venue/bowling alley closed Thursday night for 'unforeseen circumstances'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z3H1SWIl00
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Connecticut placed six West Africans who recently arrived in the United States under quarantine for possible Ebola exposure, a move that comes as the United States starts new restrictions on those coming from the countries hardest hit by the deadly virus.

http://news.yahoo.com/six-quarantine-co ... nance.html

good thing the good dr, didnt land in Connecticut, he wouldn't have had his bowling night out.

[Steve James]

Nah, no bowling ... long story, but I travel to Brooklyn on the subway every other day. Damn, I hope they only quarantine Manhattan. Oh well, I can give classes online. My college has lots of health professionals, though.

Connecticut placed six West Africans who recently arrived in the United States under quarantine for possible Ebola exposure

I looked at the article to find out where those West Africans came from exactly. It's a big place.

Anyway, another update:

Amber Vinson, a Dallas nurse who contracted Ebola while caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, is now free of the virus, according to her family.

Vinson arrived at Emory University Hospital last week for treatment. As of Tuesday night, officials with the hospital and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Ebola were not able to detect Ebola in Vinson's body, her family said in the statement.

Amber Vinson at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Officials at Emory University Hospital and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention couldn't detect Ebola in Vinson as of Tuesday evening. (AP)
Amber Vinson at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. (AP)
Vinson "has also been approved for transfer from isolation," the family's statement read. "We all know that further treatment will be necessary as Amber continues to regain strength, but these latest developments have truly answered prayers and bring our family one step closer to reuniting with her at home," her mother, Debra Berry, said in a statement.

As a nurse at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Vinson helped treat Duncan, a Liberian national who eventually succumbed to the disease. Vinson flew on a commercial flight from Cleveland to Dallas a day before being diagnosed. She had boarded that flight after telling the CDC that she was running a 99.5 degree temperature; the CDC didn't prohibit her from boarding, The Post has reported. But CDC Director Thomas Frieden later said she shouldn't have been boarding any flights given her possible exposure to the virus.

Nina Pham also became infected with Ebola while working as a nurse at the Dallas hospital, and she has since been transferred to the National Institutes of Health in Maryland. Pham's condition was upgraded from "fair" to "good" on Tuesday.

And on Tuesday, NBC freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo was declared Ebola-free. He contracted Ebola in Liberia and was treated at Nebraska Medical Center.

Good news. They even tried a new treatment using the blood of the doctor who had been infected.

[Steve James]

Thanks, to you too. But, I'm willing to take bets on whether I'll come down with the virus. I was in Bklyn today, and will be tomorrow. ... Oh damn, I just sneezed.

[windwalker]

what ever,,,be well,,

[emptycloud]

.....ebola is so yesterdays news....get with programme, "Project Fear" has got some jam packed panic programmes to get through, don't touch that dial...

[windwalker]

The Obama administration is considering quarantines for healthcare workers returning from Ebola-ravaged West African countries, an official said on Friday, as authorities in New York retraced the steps of a doctor with the disease.

http://news.yahoo.com/york-doctor-tests ... 57476.html

of course they are, step by step, inch by inch.

[aamc]

http://americanahblog.com/2014/10/24/problem-and-solution-6/

[windwalker]

NEW YORK (AP) — Alarmed by the case of an Ebola-infected New York doctor, the governors of New Jersey and New York on Friday ordered a mandatory, 21-day quarantine of all medical workers and other arriving airline passengers who have had contact with victims of the deadly disease in West Africa.

http://news.yahoo.com/1st-ebola-case-ny ... 26282.html

step by step, inch by inch.

they get there

An automatic three-week quarantine makes sense for anyone "with a clear exposure" to Ebola, said Dr. Richard Wenzel, a Virginia Commonwealth University scientist who formerly led the International Society for Infectious Diseases.

yep, wonder what the CDC was thinking about, oh I forgot

The strength of the U.S. health care system "would make it extraordinarily unlikely that we would have an outbreak" in this country, Fauci said.

guess he should' have checked with the "US health care system" first

[Michael]

Ebola Vaccine Commercial
from Joy Camp



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfwfMFBV34g

[windwalker]

A healthcare worker who recently treated Ebola patients in West Africa was placed in isolation at a New Jersey hospital on Friday after developing a fever.

The worker, a staffer for Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, was placed into quarantine Friday upon arrival at New Jersey’s Newark International Airport, a day after a New York City doctor who also worked with the group overseas tested positive for the deadly disease.

Medecins Sans Frontieres confirmed the worker is one of its staffers. The worker initially had no symptoms when placed in quarantine, but developed a fever Friday night and was placed in isolation at University Hospital in Newark, the New Jersey Department of Health said in a statement.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola- ... er-n233691

Friday’s quarantine comes after the governors of New Jersey and New York imposed rules that any doctor returning to those states after treating Ebola patients in West Africa would have to sit out a mandatory 21-day quarantine, whether they show symptoms or not. Also Friday, the first nurse infected with the deadly disease in the U.S., Nina Pham, was declared Ebola-free and was released from a National Institutes of Health medical center.

seems logical

[windwalker]

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A plane from Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport is currently grounded Friday morning at Columbia Metropolitan Airport due to a “possible” Ebola scare, according to airport officials.
WIS is reporting that a male passenger had nose bleed symptoms and is being removed from the plane, which is a United flight.

There is no word on where the sick passenger will be transported.

http://myfox8.com/2014/10/24/plane-grou ... ola-scare/

the story if true is kind of strange.
notice it doesnt mention any facts about the passenger. Kinda stupid considering
people will tend to fill in the void.

updated:

A nosebleed is a symptom of advanced Ebola, a deadly virus that has killed nearly 5,000 worldwide, including one victim in the United States. Caution is high because of recent outbreaks of the disease in Dallas, and a confirmed case of the virus in New York announced Friday.

Harmon described the chance the passenger has Ebola as “very, very low.” The passenger has not visited any country associated with Ebola, the airport said on a post on the social media site Twitter.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/10/2 ... rylink=cpy

seems like they'er leaving out some information, like whether the passenger had any contact with anyone from the affected areas.
.