For Americans, the major Ebola news — and hopefully a story that will kindle their compassion for the plight of West Africa — is the arrival of the disease in the form of a walk-pin patient from Liberia and turned away from a Dallas hospital.
But before we get to the story of the day, two other headlines, first from RT:
Ebola worse than HIV, SARS – UN official
The man leading the UN response to the Ebola epidemic, Dr. David Nabaro, says Ebola poses a worse threat to humanity than HIV or SARS and the global effort to combat it is woefully inefficient and that he needs $30 million now.
Nabaro was speaking after various presentations on how to combat the disease, including at the UN Security Council and General Assembly, before he returns to Europe and West Africa, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
Ebola has so-far been centered on the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and has infected 6,553 people and killed 3,083. So far the outbreak looks like it’s been arrested in neighboring Senegal and Nigeria, but the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) believes that if it is not contained Ebola may infect 1.4 million by January.
And second, via Reuters:
World Bank chief says Ebola outbreak shows harm of inequality
Fighting the Ebola epidemic means confronting the issue of inequality, as people in poor countries have less access to knowledge and infrastructure for treating the sick and containing the deadly virus, the head of the World Bank said.
Three poor countries in West Africa – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – have seen their health systems overwhelmed by the worst outbreak of the disease on record. The epidemic has killed at least 3,000 people in the region.
“Now, thousands of people in these (three) countries are dying because, in the lottery of birth, they were born in the wrong place,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in prepared remarks at Howard University in Washington.
“This … shows the deadly cost of unequal access to basic services and the consequences of our failure to fix this problem.”
Now to Texas, first with KDFW Fox 4 in Dallas:
Dallas patient in serious condition with Ebola
A Dallas hospital patient has tested positive for Ebola, the first case ever diagnosed in the United States.
The patient, currently in serious condition, is at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. Officials at the hospital admitted on Wednesday the patient told a nurse on his initial visit he had been in West Africa, but due to a communication breakdown he was sent home. He returned to the hospital two days later in an ambulance.
CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D. said that the patient did not show any symptoms when leaving Liberia on Sept. 19 or entering the U.S. on Sept. 20.
United Airlines said Wednesday it believes the patient spent part of his flights out of Africa to the U.S. on United flights. United believes he was on a Brussels to Washington Dulles Flight 951 and Dulles to Dallas-Fort Worth Flight 822 on Sept. 20. Officials said there is no risk to anyone on those flights.
The patient, identified by relatives as Thomas Eric Duncan, was staying at the Ivy Apartments on Fair Oaks Avenue in Dallas. The complex is just southeast of the hospital where he’s being treated.
More from the Guardian:
Man diagnosed with Ebola virus in US was sent home for two days
Dallas hospital says patient’s symptoms were not definitive when he was first seen, as officials urge people not to panic
The first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola outside Africa during the latest outbreak was sent home with a course of antibiotics for two days after seeking medical care at a Dallas hospital last week, a hospital official said.
The patient, believed to be male, was admitted to an isolation unit at Texas Health Presbyterian hospital on Sunday, after coming to the same hospital two days before.
Edward Goodman, the infectious disease specialist at Texas Health Presbyterian hospital, told National Public Radio that the patient’s symptoms were not definitive when he was first seen. Goodman said: “He was evaluated for his illness, which was very nondescript. He had some laboratory tests, which were not very impressive, and he was dismissed with some antibiotics.”
Medical officials in the US announced on Tuesday that tests confirmed the man, who had travelled from Liberia, had Ebola.
Still more from CNBC:
US Ebola patient said he was from Liberia: Sister
The sister of the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States says he told relatives he notified officials the first time he went to the hospital that he was visiting from Liberia.
The individual claiming to be the patient’s sister said he went to a Dallas emergency room on Friday and they sent him home with antibiotics. She says he said hospital officials asked for his Social Security number and he said that he didn’t have one because he was visiting from Liberia.
The patient arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20 to be with relatives in Dallas. He began to develop symptoms last Wednesday and sought care two days later. He was released and returned to the hospital and was admitted Sunday.
A video report from RT America:
Dallas hospital sent Ebola patient home despite exhibiting symptoms
Program notes:
Doctors confirmed on Tuesday the first case of Ebola inside the US. Thomas Eric Duncan is in serious but stable condition after being admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas. He first exhibited symptoms of the virus on September 26 and went to the same hospital where he is now being treated, but was sent home without being tested despite his recent arrival from Liberia. RT’s Manila Chan has more details on the response to the diagnosis and the seeming lapse in protocol.
Reuters poses necessary questions:
Experts question two-day delay in admitting Texas Ebola patient
For months, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been warning American hospitals that Ebola was just a plane ride away. The CDC has urged hospital emergency department staff to ask patients whether they have recently traveled to Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea, the three countries hardest hit by the worst Ebola outbreak on record.
At least 3,091 people have died from Ebola since the West African outbreak was first reported in a remote forest region of Guinea in March.
It was only on that second visit on Sunday, however, that the hospital learned that the patient had recently arrived in the United States from Liberia and admitted him to an isolation unit.
Dr. Goodman said the hospital is reviewing what they might have missed on the patient’s initial visit. “Our staff is thoroughly trained on infectious disease protocols. We have been meeting literally for weeks in anticipation of such an event,” he said.
While the New York Times looks at practical epidemiology:
After Ebola Case in Dallas, Health Officials Seek Those Who Had Contact With Patient
Although the man flew into the country about 10 days ago on a commercial airliner, officials said that he had shown no symptoms of the disease while on the flight and that he had posed no threat to other passengers.
Officials are focused on finding people who came into contact with the man after he began showing symptoms, on Sept. 24. As a patient becomes sicker and the virus replicates in the body, the likelihood of the disease spreading grows.
Dallas County officials said Wednesday they believed the man had come into contact with 12 to 18 people when he was experiencing symptoms. So far, none has been confirmed infected.
More from BBC News:
Ebola crisis: Texas children ‘monitored for symptoms’
Schoolchildren have come into contact with the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola on US soil, the governor of Texas has said.
At a news conference at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Rick Perry said the children were being monitored “at home” for symptoms.
The patient is thought to have contracted the virus in Liberia before coming to the US nearly two weeks ago. He is in a serious condition, a spokeswoman for the hospital said.
“Today we learned that some school-age children had been identified as having had contact with the patient and are now being monitored at home for any signs of the disease,” Mr Perry said.
And the New York Times tracks down the exposure route:
U.S. Patient Aided Pregnant Liberian, Then Took Ill
Liberian Officials Identify Ebola Victim in Texas as Thomas Eric Duncan
A man who flew to Dallas and was later found to have the Ebola virus was identified by senior Liberian government officials on Wednesday as Thomas Eric Duncan, a resident of Monrovia in his mid-40s.
Mr. Duncan, the first person to develop symptoms outside Africa during the current epidemic, had direct contact with a woman stricken by Ebola on Sept. 15, just four days before he left Liberia for the United States, the woman’s parents and Mr. Duncan’s neighbors said.
In a pattern often seen here in Monrovia, the Liberian capital, the family of the woman, Marthalene Williams, 19, took her by taxi to a hospital with Mr. Duncan’s help on Sept. 15 after failing to get an ambulance, said her parents, Emmanuel and Amie Williams. She was convulsing and seven months pregnant, they said.
From International Business Times, contagion?:
Possible Second US Ebola Patient Being Monitored In Dallas
Health officials in Dallas are monitoring a possible second Ebola patient who had close contact with the first person in the U.S. diagnosed with the deadly virus, the director of Dallas County’s health department said Wednesday. Everyone who had close contact with the man officially diagnosed is being monitored as a precaution, Zachary Thompson told WFAA-TV Dallas-Fort Worth.
“Let me be real frank to the Dallas County residents: The fact that we have one confirmed case, there may be another case that is a close associate with this particular patient,” he said. “So this is real. There should be a concern, but it’s contained to the specific family members and close friends at this moment.”
International Business Times again, with another impact:
Ebola In The US: Liberian-Americans On Edge After First Virus Diagnosis In America
The Liberian-American community is on edge following the diagnosis of the first case of the Ebola virus in the U.S., both out of fear of discrimination and concerns that it will be more difficult to visit family back home in West Africa. A man in Texas was confirmed as the first U.S. Ebola case Tuesday and there’s a possibility that he also may have infected more than a dozen other people.
“We were shocked when we first heard about the case,” said Nathaniel Kerkulah, chairman of the Oregon Association for Liberia, a nonprofit in Portland composed of Liberian immigrants. “This is something that our community has been on the watchout for. We as a community have to watch out for friends who are moving back and forth.”
He said a Liberian-American woman who had been in the United States for 10 years recently brought her sick American-born child to a hospital and was greeted with panic. “Everybody kind of separated themselves from her, running away from her,” Kerkulah said. “When you say, ‘I’m from Liberia,’ people have that fear.”
From Voice of America, high-flying anxiety:
Concerned, US Airlines Contact Government About Ebola
U.S. airlines and their trade group Airlines for America are in close contact with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on actions the U.S. government is taking to address Ebola health concerns, according to a spokesperson for JetBlue.
The statement comes a day after the first case of the deadly virus was diagnosed in Dallas, Texas, prompting concerns that others may have been exposed to Ebola before the victim sought hospital treatment. According to U.S. health officials, the man sought treatment six days after arriving in Texas on Sept. 20.
The first patient diagnosed in the U.S. with an Ebola infection traveled from Liberia to Texas via Brussels, Canadian chief public health officer Greg Taylor said on Wednesday.
USA Today reassures:
Health officials see low risk of Ebola on flights
Health officials say the risk of spreading Ebola through airline travel is low, even though a man who traveled from Liberia to the United States was diagnosed with the disease, because travelers from affected countries are screened before boarding and the often fatal disease is not transmitted when an infected person has no symptoms.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has infected 6,500 people and killed 3,000, has prompted screening of travelers for fever at airports across Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and in Lagos, Nigeria.
The patient diagnosed Tuesday in Dallas had flown Sept. 19 from Liberia and arrived in the USA on Sept. 20. He had passed the fever screening and developed symptoms only on Sept. 24. He sought treatment Sept. 26.
As does the Los Angeles Times:
Could an Africa-sized Ebola outbreak happen in U.S.? Officials say no
More than 3,000 people are believed to have died in West Africa during the worst outbreak ever of Ebola. But public health officials are confident that the United States will not confront a similar crisis and point to the nation’s modern medical and public health system, past experience and the nature of the disease for their optimism.
“I have no doubt that we’ll stop this in its tracks in the U.S.,” Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a news conference Tuesday, announcing the first diagnosed case of Ebola in the United States. “The bottom line here is that I have no doubt that we will control this importation, or this case, of Ebola so that it does not spread widely in this country.”
Frieden’s words were designed to reassure a public whose movie, television and reading fare for generations has included a killer disease – usually coming out of Africa – that spreads seemingly without end until heroic doctors fight a difficult battle that is narrowly won at the end, saving humanity.
And from the CDC, preparations in hand:
CDC and Texas Health Department Confirm First Ebola Case Diagnosed in the U.S.
Hospitalized patient had recently returned from West Africa; active contact tracing underway
CDC recognizes that even a single case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States raises concerns. Knowing the possibility exists, medical and public health professionals across the country have been preparing to respond. CDC and public health officials in Texas are taking precautions to identify people who have had close personal contact with the ill person, and health care professionals have been reminded to use meticulous infection control at all times.
We do know how to stop Ebola’s further spread: thorough case finding, isolation of ill people, contacting people exposed to the ill person, and further isolation of contacts if they develop symptoms. The U.S. public health and medical systems have had prior experience with sporadic cases of diseases such as Ebola. In the past decade, the United States had 5 imported cases of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) diseases similar to Ebola (1 Marburg, 4 Lassa). None resulted in any transmission in the United States.
CDC has been anticipating and preparing for a case of Ebola in the United States. We have been:
Enhancing surveillance and laboratory testing capacity in states to detect cases
Developing guidance and tools for health departments to conduct public health investigations
Providing recommendations for healthcare infection control and other measures to prevent disease spread
Providing guidance for flight crews, Emergency Medical Services units at airports, and Customs and Border Protection officers about reporting ill travelers to CDC
Disseminating up-to-date information to the general public, international travelers, and public health partners
From CNBC, inquiring minds want to know:
What preppers are doing about Ebola
“I think that a lot of people who are involved in the preparedness community already have the supplies to handle a wide variety of crises,” said Daisy Luther, who runs The Organic Prepper blog.
“Many of us do keep pandemic supplies on hand: things like nitrile gloves, N95 and N100 masks and sanitation supplies. Others who have been aware of the need but who have not yet made the purchases will very likely be on Amazon, ordering the necessary supplies, just in case this does turn into a pandemic.”
People with closer ties to the survivalist retail world, though say they do expect to see some kind of sales bump. (Early figures from Amazon bear this out; as of Wednesday sales of a type of full-body protective suits were up 131,000 percent and sales for one type of mask had risen 18,000 percent in 24 hours. Amazon does not give actual sales figures.)
And from Taiwan, an unusual declaration via the China Post:
US Ebola report does not warrant travel alert: gov’t
There is no need to issue a health advisory against travel to the United States in the wake of the country’s first reported case of Ebola, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Wednesday.
The public does not need to overreact as the U.S. has a well-established public health and medical care system, said CDC Deputy Director Chou Jih-haw.
Although Taiwan is not planning to issue a travel alert for the U.S., the CDC has been watching the international outbreak closely and is carrying out clinical drills nationwide, he said.
While CBC News mulls north-of-the-border anxieties:
Ebola risk low, but some infections expected, says B.C. medical officer
System in place to screen people arriving with symptoms from Africa
B.C.’s provincial health officer says it would not be surprising to see cases of the Ebola virus appear, but that there is no reason for alarm.
“We likely think over the next six months [we’ll] probably import a case or two, or maybe even three,” Dr. Perry Kendall told CBC News.
“But the chances of them — once they’re in hospital and isolated — infecting anybody else is slim.” The province is prepared to deal with such cases, should they arise, he said.
And the London Daily Mail highlights fear in Old Blighty:
Did US Ebola victim change flights at Heathrow? Patient flew from Liberia to Brussels but route to Dallas could have taken him through London
It is feared that as many as 12 Americans may have become infected through contact with the patient
A second male patient, who came in close contact with several children, is being watched today as his condition was upgraded to serious
First male patient who traveled to Dallas, Texas from Liberia is quarantined at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital
He is first person diagnosed with Ebola in U.S. as CDC ‘disease detectives’ arrived in Texas today to track down anyone he came in contact with
Patient arrived in U.S. on September 20 – after flying from Liberia via Brussels in Belgium – but did not develop symptoms until September 24
He attended Texas Health Presbyterian on September 26 – but was dismissed with antibiotics
He was rushed to hospital vomiting two days later by EMTs
Now on to the continent where the real tragedy is unfolding, first with Punch Nigeria:
Experts develop harmonised message on Ebola
Regional and international communication experts have developed a harmonised message to address the information gap in national and regional responses to the Ebola Virus Disease which has claimed more than 3,000 lives from the more than 6,000 cases reported in the West African region.
A statement by the Economic Community of West African States Commission on Wednesday in Abuja, stated that in addition to the strategic and key behaviour change messages designed to sensitise and elicit appropriate actions from targeted audiences in the Ebola affected and non-affected countries, the experts also identified appropriate channels for the transmission of the messages.
It said that the message, the outcome of a workshop in Accra held between September 29 and 30,2014, was crafted in simple, direct and action-oriented language to elicit maximum impact and responses from the target audiences for the effective prevention, containment, management and control of the deadly Ebola disease.
The statement identified the target audiences for the messages to include the public, communities, traditional and religious leaders, infected persons, their families, survivors, health workers, and border communities.
Others are educational institutions, armed and security forces, the private sector, hunters and bush meat sellers, traditional healers and birth attendants, nursing mothers, mortuary attendants and the media.
From the Thomson Reuters Foundation, collateral damage in West Africa:
W. Africa Ebola crisis hits tourism, compounds hunger in Gambia
Pestilence, cyclical droughts and floods, and the West Africa Ebola crisis have pushed hunger to record levels in Gambia, where 200,000 people need urgent food assistance, the United Nations says.
Tourism is a significant source of income for the country, and even though Gambia has not seen cases of Ebola, the outbreak in the region has caused visitor numbers to plummet by 60 percent compared to last year, said Ade Mamonyane Lekoetje, the U.N. representative for Gambia.
“In 2011-12 we had the floods and droughts, then in 2013 we had the birds eating all the crops, and now we have Ebola threatening the tourist industry, a lifeline to farmers who need to top up their household income,” Lekoetje told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at a donor gathering in Dakar.
“The government is keen to emphasise Gambia is Ebola-free,” she added, noting that the true impact of the outbreak will not be known until after the tourist high season from October to April.
After the jump, the body count in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, American boots on the ground in Liberia and a major general’s vow, Ebola hits Liberia’s army, a government near-shutdown, a pay increase and death benefit promised for public health staff, buoying hope and help in a hard-hit community, malaria and other deaths rise because of overtaxed healthcare workers — and a legislator’s daughter dies, schools remain closed, UN extends its mission to Liberia, Ebola crisis aid eases Monrovia’s deficit, then off to Sierra Leone and a hospital from hell as Ebola continues to rage, with cultural outrage over burial practices, more British financial help, and educational takes to the airwaves, then to Nigeria and an epidemic vanquished [though there’s some editorial umbrage], plus a win on the media front, a call for blood, rules for reporting, and why America’s first Ebola case sparked major rallies for two stocks. . .
Next, numbers from the separate outbreak with a different Ebola strain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo via Punch Nigeria:
42 confirmed Ebola victims die in DRC
A total of 42 people has been killed by confirmed and suspected Ebola infection in the Equateur province in northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Felix Kabange, minister of public health said on Wednesday.
A total of 30 cases had be confirmed, out of which 16 died, 2 in isolation and 12 healed, according to the minister. Other deaths are among the 14 suspected and 26 probable cases.
He said 243 people are being monitored among the 245 who had been in contact with Ebola patients.
Now on to Liberia, hardest hit of the nations at the heart of the epidemic. From the Christian Science Monitor:
1,400 US troops to Liberia: building hospitals, not treating Ebola patients
After announcement of first Ebola case in US, Pentagon aims to tamp down fears that US troops are at risk in Liberia, the epicenter of the Ebola epidemic in Africa. US troops are getting trained on ‘personal protective equipment.’
The Pentagon announced this week that it will be sending some 1,400 US troops to Liberia to support “the US government’s overall response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.”
This was happening just as the Centers for Disease Control confirmed the first case of Ebola in the United States, prompting US military officials to do their best to tamp down fears that US soldiers could be at risk, too.
“All the troops that are going are getting trained on personal protective equipment and on the disease itself,” Rear Adm. John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary, said in a briefing Tuesday.
More from Liberia’s The Analyst:
‘No Condition Can Stop Us’ – U.S. Mission Commander
U.S. military personnel from Joint Forces Command Port Opening Element offload a 25-bed field hospital, which will be used for health workers if they need medical care. The hospital, as well as two mobile labs for testing specimens, arrived in Liberia over the weekend. The two labs will be set up at the Ebola Treatment Units at Island Clinic and in Bong County and will shorten the time needed to determine if a sick person has contracted the Ebola Virus Disease or has some other illness. Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force
The commander of the United States Military Mission to Liberia, Major-General Darryl A. Williams, says the US Military will not be deterred in their operations in Liberia by any condition, including that bad road network.
The Commander of the U. S. Mission, Major-General Williams indicated that the United States military had conducted an assessment that have documented useful information about the challenges and conditions the United States soldiers are expected to grapple during their operations in the country before the mission’s gradual build up and subsequent arrival.
The New Dawn covers the illness’s newest target, the Liberian army:
Ebola attacks AFL – 7 admitted at ETU
As the government and international partners intensify efforts against the deadly Ebola disease, the epidemic continues to spread in every loop and corner of the Liberian society on a daily basis.
The Armed Forces of Liberia or AFL has become the latest target of the tropical disease. According to credible information received by this paper, seven uniformed officers of the U.S-trained army, have been hit by the deadly virus and reportedly transferred to the JFK Ebola Treatment Center.
The information from the Camp Binyan Edward Kesselly Barracks, formerly Camp Schefflin located on the Roberts International Airport highway, the seven officers (names withheld) are currently at the John F. Kennedy Ebola holding center undergoing medical treatment.
Star Africa News announces a government near-shutdown:
Liberian govt requests non-essential employees to remain at home
The Liberian government has requested all non-essential government employees to continue to remain at home until otherwise instructed, as a measure to decongest all public institutions.
According to a presidential mansion press statement issued late on Tuesday, the employees will however continue to receive full pay and benefits.
The release said during this period, non-essential government employees are strongly encouraged to engage in community-based awareness and clean-up exercises aimed at preventing and halting the further spread of the deadly Ebola virus disease in Liberia.
The government also thanked all public servants, especially those at the forefront of the fight against Ebola, for continuing to deliver essential services to the Liberian people.
A pay increase and death benefit promised for public health staff, via FrontPageAfrica:
Public Health Workers Get Death Benefit and Increment in Salaries
Speaking during a signing ceremony held at he edifice of the Liberia Medical and Dental Council (LMDC), Acting Finance and Development Planning Minister Amara Konneh said the government has agreed to pay hazard benefits including death to families of those who lost their lives since the outbreak began. He said healthcare workers have borne the brunt of the epidemic that started since March.
“When Ebola Struck, it was our health care workers who that were hurt the most. These men and women, are the soldiers on the front line of this fight,” said Minister Konneh. “We have reached an understanding; the government will cover the hazard pay, death benefit for all of our healthcare workers and also non-health care workers that are involved in the Ebola response,” he said.
Finance Minister Konneh said when the outbreak began in March of this year in Foya, Lofa County; the Health Ministry in an early response dispatched a team of health workers from Monrovia to Foya, to work with local health workers on the initial response. He said as the disease got out of control, the scope of the health workers expanded from Foya to other areas, thus the enormity of the task they had to perform.
Buoying hope and help in a hard-hit community from the Monrovia Inquirer:
Rock Spring Community Hard Hit With Ebola Cases…Launches Community Ebola Task Force
Over the weekend, residents of the Rock Spring Community which has been one of the hard hit communities of the deadly Ebola virus launched its Ebola Task Force and conducted a one-day workshop to enlighten citizens on the danger of the deadly Ebola virus.
According to the community Chairman, Mr. Joseph Kannah said this Ebola Task Force will work in collaboration with the district’s Ebola Task Force and the National Ebola Task Force to enhance the smooth operation of the Health team.
Mr. Kannah disclosed that the Rock Spring Community has been affected greatly by this deadly Ebola virus with about 16 deaths and over 80 persons quarantined in the community.
Malaria and other ills benefit from distracted healthcare workers via the New Dawn:
Malaria causing more deaths – Ngafuan
Liberia’s Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan says the country has been left with inadequate resources, time and personnel to attend to other routine illnesses like malaria, typhoid fever and measles, thereby causing many more tangential deaths.
Addressing the UN General Assembly on Monday, 29 September in New York, the Foreign Minister said Ebola has killed 1,800 victims with nearly 3,500 infected here, despite measures taken by government, including a state of emergency, suspension of schools and involving all stakeholders into the anti-Ebola fight.
“We have also committed and will continue to commit significant portions of our own paltry resources to the fight,” said Mr. Ngafuan.
More collateral damage from the Analyst:
‘I’ll Sue Govt’ – Rep Forh Threatens Health Center
Montserrado County District #16 Representative, Edward S. Forh, has threatened legal action against the government of Liberia and the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia for the death of his 20-year-old daughter Nakita Dieh Forh last Saturday.
The lawmaker said the JFK workers refused his daughter treatment and requested for Ebola clearance before catering to her. “I will sue this government and the JFK,” Forh exclaimed, and said the government should be responsible for the untimely death of his daughter.
The government, he explained, should take responsibility for the death of Nakita for what he termed “wrong mandate” given to health care workers which demands submission of Ebola clearance before accepting to treat patients. According to Representative Forh, his anger arises from the rejection of his daughter by medical center, leaving her to die before performing a test that proved her Ebola negative.
The Montserrado County representative said the late Nakita was a crown holder as “Miss Stella Maris Polytechnic” and was preparing for graduation this semester, asserting that the government needs to reconsider its decision which demands Ebola clearance before treatment is given to a patient.
Schools remain closed, via the Monrovia Inquirer:
Re-opening Of Schools Remains Uncertain…Task Force Says Response On Ebola Improves
The Ministry of Education is uncertain about the reopening of schools which has been closed as a result of the Ebola outbreak in the country. Assistant Education Minister for Early Childhood Education, Madam Felicia Doe Somah, told a news conference yesterday that the Ministry of Education has no control as to when schools will be opened.
However she noted that the Ministry was working on the new calendar for the opening of schools and planning a new curriculum that will come into force immediately when schools are ordered open by the government.
She said the new calendar will include the washing of hands at school campuses and further disclosed that efforts are underway for regular cleaning of school buildings.
UN extends its mission to Liberia, via Star Africa News:
UNMIL extends Liberia mandate over Ebola
United Nations has extended its mission to Liberia due to the health crisis caused by the Ebola epidemic, the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) Karin Landgren confirmed.
Addressing a press briefing in Monrovia Wednesday, Landgren said the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) will now end on September 15, 2015 as a result of the Ebola outbreak.
Ms. Landgren explained that due to the epidemic, the United Nations Security Council has suspended all discussions on the drawdown of UNMIL and security transition, which was in progress.
She noted that the UN’s focus is now entirely on the destabilizing impact of Ebola on the country’s economic, social, political and security sectors.
Ebola crisis aid eases Monrovia’s deficit, via FrontPageAfrica:
Closing Deficit: Ebola Lifeline For Ailing Liberian Economy?
When the crisis started initially, Liberia Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Amara Konneh announced that the government had lost an estimated $12 million dollars from March to June 2014 and the figure has risen times to 120 million. Addressing the media, Konneh said: The Ebola outbreak has significantly impacted economic activities throughout the country with domestic food production, mining activities, and service sector all declining. Concessions companies have scaled down operations as expatriates depart the country for fear of contacting Ebola.
With public and private institutions maintaining only essential staff in order to avoid close contact in work places, productivity in the various sectors of the economy is being adversely affected. This has resulted in lower revenue performance, while expenditure demand has increased. Preliminary estimates indicate real GDP for 2014 is projected to decline from by about 3.4 percentage points to about 2.5 per cent from 5.9 per cent growth estimate projected by the IMF”.
Classified documents reviewed by FPA shows that the over 106 million dollars being mobilized are all being directed at containing the Ebola epidemic, while the reminder 200 million dollars or more could be used to target strategic investment in community empowerment and infrastructure projects around health, social works, and economic revitalization.
Now, on to Sierra Leone, first with the New York Times:
A Hospital From Hell, in a City Swamped by Ebola
Ebola Overwhelming West Africa Communities
As the Ebola epidemic intensifies across parts of West Africa, nations and aid agencies are pledging to respond with increasing force. But the disease has already raced far ahead of the promises, sweeping into areas that had been largely spared the onslaught and are not in the least prepared for it.
The consequences in places like Makeni, one of Sierra Leone’s largest cities, have been devastating.
“The whole country has been hit by something for which it was not ready,” said Dr. Amara Jambai, director of prevention and control at Sierra Leone’s health ministry.
Bombali, the district that includes this city, went from one confirmed case on Aug. 15 to more than 190 this weekend, with dozens more suspected. In a sign of how quickly the disease has spread, at least six dozen new cases have been confirmed in the district in the past few days alone, health officials said.
Star Africa News delivers grim news:
Ebola in S/Leone “not retreating”
The international humanitarian organization Save the Children has warned that Ebola is not on the retreat in Sierra Leone where an estimated 765 new cases were reported last week.In a statement on Wednesday, the group claimed five people in Sierra Leone are infected with the disease every one hour.
“At the current rate, 10 people every hour will be infected with Ebola in the country before the end of October.
“Even as health authorities get on top of the outbreak in one area, it breaks out in another. In the Port Loko district, cases have risen five-fold in the last month” the statement added.
Save the Children said the demand for treatment beds and nurses to halt the rapid spread of the epidemic across the country is far outstripping supply.
Star Africa News again, with cultural outrage:
Ebola: S/Leoneans demand change in burial strategy
There have been calls Wednesday for the Sierra Leone government to review its burial policy as complaint of maltreatment of Ebola victims grows.The Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC), the body which regulates political parties’ activities in the country, is the latest to join the call as part of its report from monitoring the recently concluded three days nationwide lockdown.
The lockdown held from September 19 to 21 was meant to sensitize people on the deadly Ebola epidemic and seek out sick people for treatment.
But the aftermath of the exercise has attracted a lot of criticism.
The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) which coordinates all anti-Ebola activities in the country had spoken of a 75 percent success.
From the Guardian, upping British aid:
UK to spend £20m more on anti-Ebola effort in Sierra Leone
The extra £20m will provide chlorine, protective suits, water and sanitation, as well as allowing experts to support aid efforts
The UK will spend a further £20m on the care of Ebola patients and prevention of the disease in Sierra Leone, in addition to the £100m it has already committed, the government has announced.
The extra funding from the Department for International Development comes before an international conference called by the UK and Sierra Leonean governments in London on Thursday to discuss what other countries can do to help.
The international development secretary, Justine Greening, said the money was needed to keep basic public health services running, as well as allowing hard-pressed aid agencies to continue to help Ebola victims and fight the spread of disease.
For our final Sierra Leone item, an educational story from CCTV Africa:
Ebola: Sierra Leone Turns to Broadcast Educational Programmes
Program note:
Schools across Sierra Leone delay re-opening after the summer holidays, to prevent further Ebola infections. The government is planning to broadcast educational programmes to students at home on the radio. Clementine Logan reports
Nigeria next, and applause from New York Times:
Nigeria’s Actions Seem to Contain Ebola Outbreak
With quick and coordinated action by some of its top doctors, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, appears to have contained its first Ebola outbreak, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
As the epidemic rages out of control in three nations only a few hundred miles away, Nigeria is the only country to have beaten back an outbreak with the potential to harm many victims in a city with vast, teeming slums.
“For those who say it’s hopeless, this is an antidote — you can control Ebola,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the C.D.C.
Although officials are pleased that success was achieved in a country of 177 million that is a major transport and business hub — and whose largest city, Lagos, has 21 million people — the lessons here are not easily applicable to the countries at the epicenter: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Public health officials in those countries remain overwhelmed by the scale of the outbreak and are desperate for additional international assistance.
But there’s some approbation from the Sun in Lagos,
Ebola bugs Nigerian varsities
Deadly virus exposes flaws, deficiencies in nation’s ivory towers
The deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has left over 2,461 people dead in Africa, spreading a wave of fear across the globe. The helplessness of Nigerian universities in the face of the disease ravaging the continent is obvious.
Weeks after the incident was first reported in the country, investigation revealed that none of the teaching hospitals owned by universities has the facility to quarantine an Ebola patient, much less offer any medical help. Also, none of the laboratories in these teaching hospitals has the capacity for a sustained and safe enquiry into a highly infectious disease like the Ebola.The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the current outbreak has 55 per cent mortality rate, with Liberia having 1,296 deaths, followed by Guinea with 595, Sierra –Leone 562 and eight death tolls in Nigeria. United States’ President, Barack Obama, described the outbreak as “a threat to global security.”
The high fatality rate of the virus has aroused global response by researchers and scientists, who are, at present, working assiduously in their laboratories to produce a vaccine that would save humanity from looming threat. Sadly, Nigeria has little role to play in this global race for Ebola vaccine. Rather than compete with scientists around the world, the outbreak of Ebola disease has further exposed the poor attention accorded to research, as well as the rot and dearth of modern facilities in laboratories across the country.
While IRIN hails a win on the media front:
Ebola and the media – Nigeria’s good news story
When an Internet message announcing a salt water solution for Ebola went viral in July, many Nigerians were quick to take heed. Twenty people were hospitalized and two died, reportedly from an excessive intake of salt.
Madam Franca was among those ready to believe in the power of salt water. “My niece, who happens to be a nurse, sent me an SMS that early morning, and I obeyed it,” Franca explained. “I had to do anything to stop Ebola from coming close to me. I bathed with salt water, morning and night for two good days, but I did not drink. I am hypertensive. I also sent all my family and close friends the SMS.”
Nigerians watched with growing unease as the Ebola outbreak spread through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Few believed the creaking health infrastructure or the government’s managerial skills would be able to survive such a test. So when Ebola-positive Liberian Patrick Sawyer stepped off a plane in Lagos airport on 20 July, collapsed and died, social media exploded.
But it was not just the salt water claims and bogus pastors promising salvation that made the running: government agencies and proactive individuals also took to the Internet to quickly debunk the rumours and offer proper advice. The authorities also threatened to arrest anyone spreading falsehoods, starting with the salt water “cure”. There was, after all, a plan in place.
At 67 million users, Nigeria reportedly has the eighth largest Internet population in the world. It also had close to 166 million mobile subscribers as of June. (The country’s population is 175 million.)
With so many Nigerians online, portals like ebolalert.org set up by volunteer doctors, and the public/private ebolafacts.com initiative, have become important channels to provide accurate information to help people stay safe. They complement telephone hotlines and more traditional public health approaches.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has also taken a role in the communications work on Ebola, using the SMS portal UReport. UReport Nigeria is a free SMS platform designed as a community-based two-way information exchange mechanism. According to UNICEF Communications Specialist Geoffrey Njoku, over 57,000 people received more than 3.6 million SMS containing key messages about Ebola and how to stay protected over a six-week period.
The Analyst makes an urgent plea:
Ugandan Doctor Calls for More Blood Donations to Fight Ebola
The head of a medical team of volunteers from Uganda has stressed the need for more blood donation to various ETUs as one of the surest ways of fighting the Ebola Virus Disease. Dr. Anne Deborah Atai-Omoruto wants Philanthropists and kind-hearted individuals to donate blood to help save the lives of thousands of Liberians who are facing the life threatening EVD.
The Ugandan trained doctor and WHO consultant on Ebola says that patients need more blood during treatment because the Ebola virus damages the clotting system of the body that usually helps to protect and prevent abnormal loss of plasma when there is bleeding. She told Developmental Media Incorporated (DMI) that those clotting factors are available in every human, because the body repairs itself all the time.
The Washington Post covers ground rules:
Reporting on Ebola: First rule is you don’t touch anyone
I was goofing around with a small group of young children outside their home on a muddy, cratered road in the New Kru Town slum here. I made a scary face and the kids skittered, giggling, behind a low wall at the front of their shanty. Then they peeked out, hoping for more.
Finally the boldest of the lot, a little girl perhaps 5 years old, approached and stuck out her hand. “Shake!” she offered excitedly. “No touching,” I responded, keeping my hands at my sides, trying to hide my sadness. “No touching.”
You don’t touch anyone in Liberia. Not kids, not adults, not other Westerners, not the colleagues you arrived with. It is the rule of rules, because while everyone able is taking precautions, you just can’t be sure where the invisible, lethal Ebola virus might be. Once the virus is on your fingers, it would be frighteningly easy to rub an eye and infect yourself.
And for our final item, via Reuters, silver linings on Wall Street:
Ebola concerns lift Lakeland and Alpha in heavy trading
Shares of Lakeland Industries (LAKE.O) and Alpha Pro Tech (APT.A) rallied on Wednesday in heavy trading, following news a day earlier of the first diagnosis of a patient in the United States with Ebola.
Lakeland, which makes protective clothing for healthcare and first responders, rose 8.4 percent to $7.53 on volume of about 1.4 million shares, many times its 50-day average of about 81,300. Wednesday was the most active day for the stock since June 2004.
Alpha Pro Tech, whose infection control unit makes face masks and eye shields, rose 4 percent to $3.38. The stock moved on total volume of 1.4 million, well above its 50-day average of less than 150,000.
