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Ethnography could help in Ebola crisis
Tapping into local cultures is key to curbing outbreak, says anthropologist Sharon Abramowitz.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has been fuelled in part by local reactions to the crisis. Sharon Abramowitz, a medical anthropologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville who is an expert on Liberia, suggests that global health organizations could do more to reduce the severity of the crisis by incorporating knowledge of local customs and institutions. At a meeting at Georgetown University in Washington DC last month, she argued that anthropologists should have a role in the Ebola response. She tells Nature what she and her colleagues could do to help bring the epidemic under control.

What services could anthropologists be providing?

You definitely need anthropologists to help the scientific community to incorporate local insights, capacities and perspectives into a robust disease-containment effort. There is fundamentally a breakdown right now between the conversations that are happening at the local level and at the national level.

I also think that you are dealing with a population that could be very successfully tapped for a mass mobilization effort but the international community needs to figure out what that effort could look like and it's made to be locally relevant. These populations know how to work with international communities on a large scale, and they have an extraordinary number of communication systems to get the word out and an extraordinary leadership to promote compliance and enforcement. ...

http://www.nature.com/news/ethnography- ... is-1.16067
 
Ebola in the U.S.—Politics and Public Health Don’t Mix

“Against stupidity, even the gods strive in vain.” — Fredirich Schiller

I’ve been glued to the Ebola news, riding the roller coaster of emotions. While very impressed with CDC’s director, Dr. Tom Frieden’s, initial press conference (10/2/14), I became infuriated at the subsequent statements from Lisa Monaco, Homeland Security Advisor, and the tragicomedy of the Dallas hospital’s farcical response, prompting this post.

Dr. Frieden was calm, reassuring and authoritative in handling this CDC press conference. He conveyed the critical messages well, “Remember, Ebola does not spread from someone who is not infectious. It does not spread from someone who doesn’t have fever and other symptoms. It’s only someone who is sick with Ebola who can spread the disease.” And he was candid: “It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual, a family member or other individual could develop Ebola in the coming weeks. But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here.” He emphasized basic, proven public health strategies of careful infection control, contact tracing, and isolation.

In contrast, although she acknowledged the possibility of a secondary case, Ms. Monaco appeared less credible as she stated, “I want to emphasize that the United States is prepared to deal with this crisis both at home and in the region. Every Ebola outbreak over the past 40 years has been stopped. We know how to do this and we will do it again.”

While I agree that we have the knowledge, experience, and resources to be able to control Ebola, most of the experts are academicians or practice in relatively well-heeled ivory towers. I have practiced Infectious Diseases and Infection Control for 30+ years, primarily in a number of community hospitals, and offer a different perspective here, based on these experiences.

Increasingly, decision makers are administrators who are disconnected from the realities of patient care. The latest fad, for example is to design hospitals to look like hotels and be “inviting” to patients, although they are very dysfunctional for delivering patient care, especially problematic in ICUs. ...

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mol ... -dont-mix/
 
Ebola outbreak: UK sending 750 troops to Sierra Leone

The UK is sending 750 military personnel to Sierra Leone to help deal with the deadly Ebola outbreak, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has confirmed.
He said the UK would also send a medical ship, the RFA Argus, and three Merlin helicopters.

Confirming the measures, Mr Hammond said: "We all have to do more if we are going to prevent what is currently a crisis from becoming a catastrophe."

More than 3,400 people have died in the outbreak, mostly in West Africa.
In Sierra Leone the death toll is at least 678. Save the Children has reported the rate of infection is rapidly increasing there, with five new cases every hour.
There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola, which has so far infected more than 7,200 people.

...

Mr Hammond, speaking at a press conference in Washington with US Secretary of State John Kerry, said military and civilian teams were already in Sierra Leone, working on constructing five new Ebola treatment facilities with 700 beds.
He said that at a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee in London - which he joined via video link - the decision was made to deploy the RFA Argus to Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, along with the three helicopters.

Mr Hammond said trials of a new primary care triage system for those with early stage symptoms of Ebola was also taking place.
He said: "This disease is an unprecedented threat that knows no borders. We have to get ahead of this disease. If we get ahead of it and rise to the challenge, we can contain it and beat it."

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29542129
 
NO!

Why are we sending our people over there? Bad enough that they end up fighting scum in some fly-blown country, but this is something they can't defend themselves against.
When they come back here, so will ebola... :(
 
Mythopoeika said:
NO!

Why are we sending our people over there? Bad enough that they end up fighting scum in some fly-blown country, but this is something they can't defend themselves against.
When they come back here, so will ebola... :(

I trust these soldiers to take proper care. If its not contained in Africa and lessons learned then it may well come here anyway.
 
ramonmercado said:
I trust these soldiers to take proper care. If its not contained in Africa and lessons learned then it may well come here anyway.
Quite.

As Hammond said, "This disease is an unprecedented threat that knows no borders. We have to get ahead of this disease. If we get ahead of it and rise to the challenge, we can contain it and beat it."
 
On the Population Growth thread, there's an investigation of Malthus' idea that unlimited growth is just not possible, and that one or more of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse will drastically cut our numbers back.

With Ebola, it looks like Disease could be the one to do the job.

In fact, we may have the dubious privilege of witnessing the extinction of the human race. Not only is the world's population the highest it has ever been, creating high population densities and simplifying the transmission of infection, but we also keep moving around all the time. Trains and boats and planes, as well as cars and buses, etc, are moving thousands of us across national borders every day. There is practically nowhere left in the world so remote as to be guaranteed free of the risk of infection.

But governments are reluctant to start limiting all this travel because of the huge economic repercussions. By the time they wake up to the danger, it will probably be too late - the Ebola genie will be well and truly out of the bottle.

Long-term, the only hope for humanity will be that there is a significant proportion of the population with natural immunity to Ebola. Even so the world population will plummet, taking down world trade, communications and industry. Those who survived would be almost back to the stone age.

Ironically, I could be in the front line of the war against Ebola. Imagine things go wrong on the RFA Argus, and the disease spreads throughout the ship. Her home port is Falmouth, but if she manages to return here she'd probably overwhelm local medical resources. It would probably be better to scuttle her in a deep part of the Atlantic intead...

Well, those are a few of my Thoughts for the Day! 8)
 
I'd agree with you if Ebola was airborne.

At the moment it isn't, so an unchecked world epidemic seems unlikely (I reckon).
 
CarlosTheDJ said:
I'd agree with you if Ebola was airborne.

At the moment it isn't, so an unchecked world epidemic seems unlikely (I reckon).
Let's hope you're right!

But in a crowded world, we're forever touching each other, or touching things touched by others, like handrails on stairways or on public transport. Who rode in that taxi before you, and where did he put his hands? You buy an item in a supermarket - it was put on display by a shelf-stacker.

Once such worries were limited mainly to cold and flu germs, but mostly they don't kill you.

Perhaps I should buy some more rubber gloves... but then, like that Spanish nurse, I'd probably inadvertently touch my face or scratch an itch...

We're all doomed, doomed I tell ye!
 
rynner2 said:
We're all doomed, doomed I tell ye!

Are understudying for Frazer in the new Dad's Army film? :D
 
I think we'd be in serious trouble if it mutated into a pneumonic haemorrhagic virus: According to some experts, this is what happened to make the Black Death so lethal, although it's disputed. The more Ebola spreads, the greater the likelihood it will make the transmission leap.
Then we're seriously buggered.
On the other hand, mortality seems to be hovering at about 50% of cases, so it won't be the cause of our extinction.
Anyone who survives will get their head lopped off by ISIS. ;)
 
Breaking News:

Ebola challenge 'biggest since Aids'

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is unlike anything since the emergence of HIV/Aids, top US medical official Thomas Frieden has said.
The world needed to work fast so it did not become" the next Aids", the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
Dr Frieden was addressing a high-level World Bank forum about the crisis.

The outbreak has killed more than 3,860 people, mainly in West Africa, including more than 200 health workers.
Earlier this week, a Spanish nurse became the first person to contract the deadly virus outside Africa.

"I would say that in the 30 years I've been working in public health, the only thing like this has been Aids," Mr Frieden said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-29555849
 
Helston helicopters and 80 service personel to join fight against Ebola in Africa
First published 13:00 Thursday 9 October 2014

Helicopters from Culdrose will be joining Royal Marines and the Royal Navy’s ‘floating clinic’ RFA Argus in the fight to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa.

Three Merlins from 820 Naval Air Squadron will join Argus and sail to Sierra Leone to support UK’s growing effort on land to deal with the outbreak of the disease.

After a meeting of the Government’s COBRA emergency committee, chaired by Prime Minister David Cameron, to discuss the worsening virus crisis in Africa, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon announced that the UK armed forces were ramping up their efforts.
The helicopters and auxiliary ship will be used first and foremost to help medical efforts on land, where Britain’s Armed Forces are playing a pivotal role in tackling the crisis.

Mr Fallon said more troops would be dispatched to support engineers, logisticians and planners already on the ground to support the construction of the Kerry Town Ebola Treatment Unit, while additional personnel are being sent to support an Ebola training facility run by the World Health Organisation.

With the commitment of the extra resources, more than 750 British Servicemen and women will be involved in the effort to curb the spread of the disease.
Personnel from RNAS Culdrose will be joined on Argus by Royal Marines of 1 Assault Group to provide protection for the ship and the personnel aboard.

Captain Mark Garratt, commanding officer of Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose said, “Culdrose will embark three Merlin Mark 2 helicopters and 80 personnel from 820 Naval Air Squadron as well as a 50 strong cadre of the Maritime Aviation Support Force on-board RFA Argus as she deploys to the West coast of Africa.
“The inherent flexibility of the Merlin, the Navy’s latest Anti-Submarine helicopter, acting in a transport and utility role from afloat, will mean that medical operations ashore can be fully supported.
“Our people are fully committed to this vital role.”

Thanks to her impressive medical facilities, including wards for up to 100 patients, an operating theatre and intensive care/high dependency units, Argus also has the capacity to support medical efforts currently provided by UK personnel ashore in Sierra Leone.
“The deployment of RFA Argus is a clear sign of the British Government’s commitment to the region and will underpin operations ashore.
“We’ll be embarking Culdrose-based Merlin helicopters and Royal Marine Commandos before heading down to West Africa,” said Capt David Eagles RFA, Argus’ Commanding Officer.

“The Royal Fleet Auxiliary and Royal Navy sailors under my charge are eager to help in whatever way they can.
“To command such a unique and capable ship as Argus, manned by the best ship’s company one could ever wish for is quite simply an enormous privilege.”

Mr Fallon said the Ebola outbreak posed “a global threat to public health” and was vital that the UK remains at the forefront of responding to the epidemic.
He continued: “Following today’s meeting we are stepping up significantly the UK’s contribution and leadership in work to tackle the outbreak, on land, in the air and at sea.
At the heart of the package is the commitment to provide more than 750 personnel to help with the establishment of Ebola Treatment Centres and an Ebola Training Academy.
“We are deploying troops, helicopters and a ship – Army medics and Merlin helicopters, supported by RFA Argus to provide direct support and reassurance.”

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/11 ... a/?ref=rss
 
rynner2 said:
On the Population Growth thread, there's an investigation of Malthus' idea that unlimited growth is just not possible, and that one or more of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse will drastically cut our numbers back.

With Ebola, it looks like Disease could be the one to do the job.

In fact, we may have the dubious privilege of witnessing the extinction of the human race. Not only is the world's population the highest it has ever been, creating high population densities and simplifying the transmission of infection, but we also keep moving around all the time. Trains and boats and planes, as well as cars and buses, etc, are moving thousands of us across national borders every day. There is practically nowhere left in the world so remote as to be guaranteed free of the risk of infection.

But governments are reluctant to start limiting all this travel because of the huge economic repercussions. By the time they wake up to the danger, it will probably be too late - the Ebola genie will be well and truly out of the bottle.

Long-term, the only hope for humanity will be that there is a significant proportion of the population with natural immunity to Ebola. Even so the world population will plummet, taking down world trade, communications and industry. Those who survived would be almost back to the stone age.

Ironically, I could be in the front line of the war against Ebola. Imagine things go wrong on the RFA Argus, and the disease spreads throughout the ship. Her home port is Falmouth, but if she manages to return here she'd probably overwhelm local medical resources. It would probably be better to scuttle her in a deep part of the Atlantic intead...

Well, those are a few of my Thoughts for the Day! 8)

Thanks for cheering me up.
 
I thought you could only contract Ebola through bodily fluid-bodily fluid contact, similar to HIV?
 
Time to go shopping face masks and latex gloves.

Not sure if I am going to use
:D "just kidding"
or
:shock: "WTF, we're fucked!"
 
Ebola is 'entrenched and accelerating' in West Africa

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Ebola is now entrenched in the capital cities of all three worst-affected countries and is accelerating in almost all settings.

WHO deputy head Bruce Aylward warned that the world's response was not keeping up with the disease in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The three countries have appealed for more aid to help fight the disease.
The outbreak has killed more than 3,860 people, mainly in West Africa.
More than 200 health workers are among the victims.

Speaking on Thursday, Mr Aylward said the situation was worse than it was 12 days ago.
"The disease is entrenched in the capitals, 70% of the people affected are definitely dying from this disease, and it is accelerating in almost all of the settings," he said.

The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reported a sharp increase of Ebola cases in the Guinean capital, Conakry, dashing hopes that that the disease was being stabilised there.
Sepaking to the BBC on Friday, MSF President Joanna Liu called for urgent international action.
"We're not winning the battle," she said.
"To get ahead of the game we're going to need to deploy much more massively than what we have done so far."
At least one in 20 of those killed in the latest outbreak were medical workers, she said.

Meanwhile in Spain, seven more people are being monitored in hospital for Ebola.
They include two hairdressers who came into contact with Teresa Romero, a Madrid nurse [who]looked after an Ebola patient who had been repatriated from West Africa.
Ms Romero is now very [ill] and reported to be at serious risk of dying.

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-29563530
 
There's scaremongering going on, such as the 'Signs Of Ebola' post that's going round Facebook, warning people of what to look for.
(If you haven't seen it, it sounds much like 'flu, except for the internal bleeding, which I'm not sure is as easy to spot as the hiccups or red eyes.)

Also, the Big American News site has the dog angle covered -


Pet Dogs Running Wild With Ebola Rabies, African Villages on High Alert

The latest mutation of Ebola apparently allows the deadly virus to transfer from humans to pet animals. In Liberia, where dogs live in close proxy to humans and have been seen near the flesh of the deceased Ebola victims, locals report a high incidence of vicious dogs running down humans, cars and even wild animals and trying to tear them apart, as seen in the image up above.

etc

:lol:

I believe the photo is a still from the Stephen King fillum Cujo.
 
escargot1 said:
There's scaremongering going on, such as the 'Signs Of Ebola' post that's going round Facebook, warning people of what to look for.
(If you haven't seen it, it sounds much like 'flu, except for the internal bleeding, which I'm not sure is as easy to spot as the hiccups or red eyes.)

Also, the Big American News site has the dog angle covered -


Pet Dogs Running Wild With Ebola Rabies, African Villages on High Alert

The latest mutation of Ebola apparently allows the deadly virus to transfer from humans to pet animals. In Liberia, where dogs live in close proxy to humans and have been seen near the flesh of the deceased Ebola victims, locals report a high incidence of vicious dogs running down humans, cars and even wild animals and trying to tear them apart, as seen in the image up above.

etc

:lol:

I believe the photo is a still from the Stephen King fillum Cujo.

Abe Goodman, the journalist, looks like a person you can trust.

Sure it's not a satire website? ;)
 
Anome_ said:
SameOldVardoger said:
Sure it's not a satire website? ;)
Gee, I don't know...
NFL Player Admits to Spanking Fetus in the Womb, “You Can Never Start Too Early”
Gangs Now Using Light Sabers to Kill Each Other
No, seems legit to me...

The ebola zombie story also originates from this website. The link I gave earlier in this thread was from another website which picked up the news.
 
Here's How Nigeria Beat Ebola
It took 18,500 interviews, but Nigeria managed to contain the outbreak.

Ebola first arrived in Lagos, Nigeria—one of the largest cities in the world—on July 20. Global health officials feared the worst, warning that the disease could wreak untold havoc in the country.

But it hasn't turned out that way. To date, Nigeria has reported only 20 confirmed or probable Ebola cases in a nation of 174 million people. Equally remarkable, there have only been eight deaths—about half the fatality rate experienced by other countries involved in the current outbreak. In fact, Nigeria could be declared Ebola-free as early as October 12. (That date would be 42 days after the last case was diagnosed, or double the maximum amount of time needed for the disease to incubate in a human body—the standard used by global health authorities.)

Nigeria's success in stopping the outbreak could have implications for other countries, including the United States. That's why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dispatched a team to the country this week to learn what went right.

So how did local and international health authorities curb Ebola in Nigeria while infections have continued to rise dramatically in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea? ...

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/201 ... -ebola-cdc
 
Intersting article onSlate about the non viability of Ebola as a biological weapon.

If you trust anything written by a 'bioethicicist'
 
The following description could have just been released from Liberia or Guinea where ebola is taking hold. It was actually written in London in 1848.

“As the rate of mortality in the area was so high, when the disease so extensively prevailed, it is desirable to offer some explanation of the cause of such mortality; and for this purpose, I may direct your attention to the unusual prevalence of the deaths from the diseases diarrhoea and fever which were very numerous, especially among the poor,....Small-pox, scarlatina, diarrhoea, typhus and erysipelas also prevailed. ...

“It may be stated, as a general rule, that the more destitute the population, the larger is the rate of mortality, particularly among young children. ..."

Instead it is the report of a compassionate London doctor and medical officer for the city in 1848 faced with the epidemic of illness and disease that the Irish took with them to England and other countries during the dreadful Great Hunger.

We forget that the million Irish who died didn't just die of starvation. Indeed most died of diseases, most notably cholera, the Ebola of its day, spread when people were packed into slums and clean water was non existent.

So when I see the sense of superiority from some about Africa’s Ebola problem these days I want to point out this article to every Irish American and Irish person and ask them to look back to their great grandfather’s time, just three generations and see we were the ebola victims back then, just as hated and despised as some African nations with sick people are today.

We ran a story yesterday about Ethiopian Airlines flying via Dublin to Los Angeles. Ethiopia is in East Africa thousands of miles far away from the Ebola outbreak. It is a country that had its own devastating famine 30 years ago, but it is now showing significant economic progress.

Nonetheless many came online and on facebook nicknaming the airline Air Ebola and speculating the disease would now enter Ireland through this new route. Shame on us if we cannot acknowledge our own history and understand the need for compassion like this wonderful English doctor from so long ago who reached out to help the desperate Irish.

We too were the focus of much hate and discrimination in many countries around the world. It is shocking we can forget that fact.

We need to learn from our history not repeat it.

http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/nia ... tims.html#
 
Suspected Ebola carrier wrapped in plastic after Czech police seal off rail station (VIDEO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI6dcP__56g

Czech police and hazmat suit-wearing doctors have seized a traveler from Ghana at Prague’s main railway station. The man, suspected of suffering from the Ebola virus, was wrapped in black plastic by the authorities and taken away.

The police dispatched some 15 officers from the capital’s rapid response squad to cordon off the station’s lobby, iDNES.cz news website reported. The operation didn’t interrupt the normal operation of the railway station, but probably scared passengers who were in the vicinity.

Footage from the scene showed a man wearing biohazard suit pushing a luggage cart with a person sitting on it almost completely covered by black plastic. ...

http://rt.com/news/195452-ebola-scare-prague-railway/
 
4Chan is at it again...

Badly translated by Google:

A manga figure puts Nigeria in fear
Western countries would be an Ebola-demon worship because they hate Africa. This conspiracy theory making the rounds in Nigeria - triggered by a drawing.
story image

This image caused a stir in Nigeria. (Picture: 4chan)
from i

Recommend this article by e-mail

On the subject

With stones and knives: Lynch Mob eight anti-Ebola employee
Totally unconcerned ?: world is in turmoil because of Ebola - Switzerland does not
Suspected Healing: An Ebola diseased doctor before recovery

Seen error?

In Nigeria currently spreading the conspiracy theory that Ebola is a diabolical invention of Western countries was, like wildfire. The culprit is a signed picture that represents the personification of the Ebola virus. It shows a white woman in nurse uniform holding a skull in his hand, running from the blood from his eyes. Her hair resemble a microscope image of the virus. The name of the manga woman: Ebola-chan.
Flown Spanish Ebola patient from Sierra Leone

The 69-year-old cleric Manuel García Viejo was brought in on Monday night with a machine of the Spanish Air Force from Sierra Leone to Madrid.

There was the trained doctors, who managed a clinic in the West African country, brought into the quarantine station of a hospital. Previously, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health had assured that the risk to public health was virtually nil. (SDA)

The image first appeared in August on the website 4chan, reports the news portal vocative . Besides the drawing is: "You have been visited by the Ebola-chan. Excruciating pain and death will haunt you if you do not, the words 'I love you Ebola-chan!' writing under this post. "

The image found its way into the Nigerian Forum Nairaland. , where a user wrote: "There is a new racist cult in Europe and in the USA. They hate Africa. They worship a demon to Ebola, they call the Ebola-chan. "Among the unknowns posted images that are indicative of an altar for Ebola-chan. Next, a map of the world is to see what the continent of Africa was smeared with red paint or blood. Next is the post that some Ebola doctors belong to the cult and takes the disease to fight, spread them further.

"Demon of CIA created"

Especially in rural areas, the work of the helpers in their blue suits is viewed critically. In Guinea even eight people have been lynched by an angry mob last Friday. So it was expected that the entry quickly provoked many reactions. "An illness can quickly set to force, if these white people bring blood sacrifices in Europe, "another user wrote in the forum. "May God help us in the fight against this demon created by the CIA."

Various rumors, for example, that the West deliberately sprayed the virus in order to get blood and organs of Africans, rapidly spreading. In West Africa, there are always those conspiracy theories. In Liberia, it was believed that the government bring reports of Ebola in circulation, in order to get donations. These rumors complicate the work of the first responders.

http://translate.google.no/translate?hl ... &sandbox=1

Original story:
http://www.20min.ch/ausland/news/story/Eine-Manga-Figur-versetzt-Nigeria-in-Angst-23747883
 
This is pretty shocking if true and suggests that there may be further cases amongst healthcare staff in Dallas:

Dallas nurses accuse hospital of lax safety protocol in Ebola case


Statement from US nurses’ union alleges Liberian Ebola patient was left in the open for hours and that nurses had only flimsy medical equipment


A Liberian Ebola patient was left in an open area of a Dallas emergency room for hours, and the nurses treating him worked for days without proper protective gear and faced constantly changing protocols, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the largest US nurses’ union.

Nurses were forced to use medical tape to secure openings in their flimsy garments, worried that their necks and heads were exposed as they cared for a patient with explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting, said Deborah Burger of National Nurses United.

Continues:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/o ... fety-ebola
 
'Clipboard man' seen without any protective gear stood with workers in full hazmat suits transporting Ebola patient

Video footage of a plain-clothes man surrounded by people in full hazmat suits transporting the second US Ebola patient to Atlanta has been described as a "serious breach of protocol" by an Ebola expert.

In the footage, aired lived by NBC 5, the unidentified man can be seen clutching a document as health workers wearing full protective gear take Ebola patient Amber Vinson from an ambulance towards a specially-equipped jet at Dallas' Love Field. n...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 98637.html
 
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