First up yet another alarm on the day America learned of its first domestically contracted case, via the Boston Globe:
Braintree facility is quarantined amid possible Ebola case
A Braintree medical center is being quarantined and a patient has been isolated outside the facility with a possible case of Ebola, officials said.
The patient at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates recently traveled to West Africa, and is being isolated because of his medical complaints, fire officials said Sunday.
“Ebola protocol is in place,” said Joe Zanca of Braintree Fire Department. “We don’t know if he actually has Ebola.”
Outside Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, police cruisers, fire trucks, and ambulances lined Grossman Drive, and the parking lot was cordoned off by yellow police tape.
William Cash, a Braintree firefighter, said “no one is leaving.”
On to Dallas and that first confirmed domestic originase, via the Associated Press:
CDC: Protocol breach in treating Ebola patient
A top federal health official says a health worker diagnosed with Ebola has been unable to identify a breach in procedures that might have led to her infection.
Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the Texas hospital worker had extensive contact with Thomas Eric Duncan before Duncan died Wednesday from Ebola.
Frieden says the worker has a low level of virus and is being monitored.
He says the diagnosis of the worker — who’s not identified — clearly shows that there was a breach of protocol.
More from the Washington Post:
Dallas health worker who tested positive for Ebola wore ‘full’ protective gear
The CDC did not consider the nurse to be “high risk,” said Daniel Varga, chief clinical officer for Texas Health Resources, which operates Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. She treated Duncan, the Ebola patient, after his second visit to the ER, on Sept. 28 and was “following full CDC precautions,” including wearing a gown, gloves, a mask and a protective face shield.
“We’re very concerned,” Varga said, though he added that the hospital is “confident that the precautions that we have in place are protecting our health-care workers.”
Taking off personal protective equipment—gowns, gloves, face masks, goggles—is also one of the biggest areas of contamination and risk, Frieden said. According to CDC guidelines, protective equipment must be removed in a particular order, without any of the material touching the wearer’s skin, mucus membranes, or the exterior of the clothing.
The Hill conveys a warning:
CDC director: More Ebola cases possible
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday said more Ebola cases are possible after a healthcare worker at a Dallas hospital tested positive for the deadly virus.
The female worker, who cared for the first U.S. patient with the disease, began showing symptoms on Friday, Dr. Tom Frieden told reporters on Sunday. As of Sunday morning, the patient only had “mild symptoms,” he said, including a “low-grade fever.”
The hospital employee, who has not yet been identified, had “extensive contact” with Thomas Duncan, the Ebola patent who died last week from the illness, according to the CDC. Duncan had contracted the disease in Liberia.
“Unfortunately, it is possible that we will see additional cases of Ebola” because of potential breaches in the use of safety gear, Frieden said.
A screening hole, via the Los Angeles Times:
Ebola research: Fever not a surefire sign of infection
For public health workers screening more than 1,000 air travelers who arrive each week in the United States from Ebola-stricken West Africa, one symptom above all others is supposed to signal danger: fever.
So long as an individual’s temperature does not exceed 101.5 degrees and there are no visible symptoms of Ebola, health authorities say it should be assumed the person is not infectious.
Yet the largest study of the current outbreak found that in nearly 13% of “confirmed and probable” cases in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and elsewhere, those infected did not have fevers.
Via the Dallas-Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a word from the White House:
Obama asks CDC to speed investigation of new Ebola case
The first known case of Ebola contracted or transmitted in the U.S. was confirmed Sunday in a Dallas healthcare worker, prompting authorities including President Barack Obama to call for an investigation — and better preparation at the nation’s hospitals.
The worker, who was in stable condition Sunday, was wearing full protective gear when she was caring for Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan, who died last week at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.
Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Sunday in Atlanta that he “is deeply concerned” to learn that “a breach in protocol” at a the hospital resulted in the health worker becoming infected.
“This individual was following full CDC precautions,” said Dr. Daniel Varga, chief clinical officer of Texas Health Resources, which oversees Texas Health Presbyterian. “Gown, glove, mask and shield.” Asked how concerned he was that even after those precautions, the worker tested positive, he replied, “We’re very concerned.”
From the Guardian, a bottom line consideration:
Challenge of keeping frontline Ebola healthcare workers alive
Better conditions for health workers in Africa are vital, so it is inexcusable counterparts in Spain and Texas contracted virus
Health workers on the Ebola frontline are and always have been at the highest risk of contracting the disease. Ebola becomes more contagious the sicker patients get. By the time they are in the care of doctors and nurses, patients have become a serious danger to the lives of those treating, washing and attempting to rehydrate them.
But in countries such as the US and Spain, which have sophisticated healthcare systems and well-equipped hospitals, healthcare workers should be safe. It is shocking that workers in Spain and now Texas have contracted Ebola from patients they were treating.
As Médecins sans Frontières has proved, it is possible to keep health workers safe even in the difficult setting of west Africa, where an isolation ward can be no more than an area behind a canvas tent flap. The vital elements are vigilance and strict adherence to the rules.
The Texas health worker was reportedly wearing full protective gear – gown, gloves, mask and shield – while providing care for the patient who later died. Either that equipment failed or correct procedures were not followed.
Thumbs down on bans from the CDC, via The Hill:
Health official: Ebola travel bans would be ‘counterproductive’
A top U.S. medical official warned Sunday that barring travel from countries facing an Ebola outbreak could do more harm than good.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the push to isolate those countries could worsen the outbreak, which in turn could cause it to spill to neighboring regions and make it that much harder to control.
“You diminish greatly their ability to handle their own epidemic. If that happens, it very likely will spread to other African countries,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “To isolate them, maybe with good intentions, actually can be counterproductive and make things worse.”
And from The Hill again, but of course:
McCain calls for Ebola ‘czar’
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday called for President Obama to nominate an Ebola “czar” to coordinate the administration’s response to the deadly virus.
“I’d like to know who’s in charge,” McCain said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The senator’s appearance followed news from Dallas early Sunday that a second Ebola patient had been identified – a healthcare worker who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the first U.S. Ebola patient who died last week.
McCain said his constituents in Arizona are “not comforted” and “need more reassurance.”
A warning for London, via the Guardian:
Ebola will come to UK and probably to London, says Boris Johnson
London mayor admits health checks at UK airports are ‘far from perfect solution’ but says capital is well-prepared for outbreak
Ebola will come to UK and probably to London, says Boris Johnson
London mayor admits health checks at UK airports are ‘far from perfect solution’ but says capital is well-prepared for outbreaks.
The Guardian again with healthcare screening:
NHS 111 calls to be screened for potential Ebola cases
Call handlers will ask anyone ringing up with possible symptoms about their recent travel history
Calls to the NHS’s non-emergency 111 phoneline are to be screened for possible Ebola sufferers, health secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced.
Call handlers on the service are to question anyone ringing up with possible symptoms of the disease about their recent travel history, to see if they have been to west Africa, where the death toll has passed 4,000 people, Hunt said.
The announcement comes as the United States announced its second case of the disease, in a Texas hospital worker who was in contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, who died from the virus on Wednesday.
From RT, working for a cure:
Scientists in Russia developing three Ebola vaccines – Health Ministry
Russian scientists are working on three potential Ebola vaccines which they expect to introduce as soon as in the next six months. One of the vaccines is “already ready for clinical trials,” Russia’s health minister Veronika Skvortsova has announced.
“We have created three vaccines,” Skvortsova announced in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV. “One vaccine is based on a strain of Ebola, and the other two have been created by means of genetic engineering.”
Russian virologists have also created an anti-virus drug that, they believe, could be successfully used for treating Ebola as tests have showed that that it is effective in curing Ebola-related diseases.
On a parallel note, via the New York Times:
Ebola Virus Outbreak 2014: Three Hopes for a Treatment
Program notes:
With thousands infected with the Ebola virus, millions of dollars are being pledged to develop treatment options. Three avenues that have potential but are a long way from being viable treatments.
The Guardian covers Aussie reluctance:
Ebola crisis: Australia won’t send doctors into harm’s way, says Abbott
International health organisations have criticised Australia’s ‘underwhelming’ response to the outbreak in west Africa
The Australian government will not send doctors or nurses to west Africa to help contain the Ebola crisis until it is certain “all of the risks are being properly managed”, the prime minister, Tony Abbott, has said.
Figures released on Saturday by the World Health Organisation show that more than 4,000 people have died in the Ebola epidemic that broke out in west Africa in March, out of a total of 8,399 registered cases. The death toll includes 233 health workers.
International health organisations such as Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) have criticised the Abbott government’s “underwhelming” response to the outbreak, which has included cash grants to MSF, the World Health Organisation and British front line efforts in Sierra Leone – but no Australian medical personnel.
Save the Children has called on the government to follow the lead of the Obama administration and send troops to help manage the response to the epidemic, which has claimed over 2,300 lives in Liberia alone.
But Abbott said on Sunday that the latest death toll would not change the government’s view on sending Australian health workers.
After the jump, on to Africa and an Ebola-sparked soccer match cancellation call, the regional economic bloc tackles organizational basics, the regional development bank sounds an aid warning, on to Sierra Leone and a note of desperation, a grave diggers’ strike reconsidered, a serious problem with medical aid, Ebola and class divisions, another front line strike threatened, more American aid arrives, coflkict over an assertion of pwoer, and Ebola used to polish the Liberian army’s image, Nigerian troops quarantined after service in Liberia, and from Gambia, anxiety over flights to Liberia. . .
A matchless Ebolaphobic move from StarAfrica:
Morocco requests postponement of 2015 AFCON over Ebola
Morocco has asked for the postponement of the African Cup of Nations scheduled from January 17 to February 8, 2015 in Morocco, government sources disclosed on Saturday.
The move “follows the Moroccan Ministry of Health decision to avoid public gatherings involving Ebola-affected countries,” Ministry of Youth and Sports said in a statement.
A Moroccan official delegation will next week meet with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) chairman to “examine measures to implement this deferral,” the statement added.
The Ebola outbreak, which is raging in West African countries including Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, has killed more than 4000 people. Although no cases of Ebola have been recorded in Morocco, the government has implemented a response plan to deal with the deadly disease.
The regional economic bloc tackles organizational basics, via StarAfrica:
ECOWAS develops crisis communication, community mobilization strategies against Ebola
The regional experts in crisis communication and community mobilization have validated harmonized messages to be rolled out with strategic tools to engender massive community participation towards strengthening national and regional responses to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).The virus has claimed more than 4,000 lives from more than 8,000 cases reported in the ECOWAS region.
A statement by the ECOWAS Commission on Sunday in Abuja said that the behaviour change messages developed by an experts meeting last week in Accra, and designed to sensitize and elicit appropriate actions from targeted audiences in the Ebola affected and non-affected countries in West Africa were reviewed and validated by an enlarged experts meeting also in the Ghanaian capital.
It added that the meeting adopted the appropriate channels for the transmission of the messages, the strategies and approaches for effective engagement of various segments of communities in Ebola affected and non-affected countries.
Reuters sounds an aid warning:
Ebola funds should not be repackaged aid, Africa bank chief says
The head of the African Development Bank expressed concern on Saturday that some donors responding to the Ebola crisis were repackaging aid money, funneling it away from other areas in need in the three countries at the center for the epidemic.
In an interview, Donald Kaberuka said moving funds from already allocated development projects in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone was unhelpful in the long term and make their rebuilding harder.
“I have told donors that I hope what they are announcing is additional resources because if it isn’t …once (Ebola) is gone we will have no resources to build health care systems and continue reconstruction,” Kaberuka told Reuters on the sidelines of meetings in Washington of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
“We need to put new money on the table,” he said, adding that he feared that once the crisis eased countries would be left without funding for development projects earmarked before Ebola arrived.
On to Sierra Leone and a note of desperation from StarAfrica:
S/Leone Ebola crisis still underestimated – Official
The Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone still remains dangerously underestimated, a senior official of the country’s emergency response has warned.Stephen Gaoja coordinator of the Emergency Operations Center was quoted as saying on Sunday that $137m is required to implement its new strategy to tackle the epidemic, which has so far killed over 700 people in the country.
Over 3000 people have also died of the ailment in neighbouring Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria.
Gaoja whose center is the body that coordinates all the activities around the Ebola outbreak said a new strategy was designed after it emerged that the current one did not work given that the virus’s destructive capacity was seriously underestimated.
A strike reconsidered from StarAfrica:
S/Leone: Grave diggers’ strike blamed on resource scarcity
The District Medical Officer in the Western Region of Sierra Leone has blamed the lack of adequate resources for their seeming inability to handle the deadly Ebola epidemic in the region.Dr Reverend Thomas Samba was speaking on Saturday as officials at the Attitudinal and Behavioral Change (SBC) Secretariat sought an explanation for the recent sit-down strike by grave diggers involved with burying Ebola victims.
The strike, which the grave diggers attributed to failure by the authorities to meet their payment demands, saw scores of dead bodies across the region unattended to.
Over 700 people have died of the disease since its outbreak in Sierra Leone in March.
The ABC Secretariat wanted to know what went wrong and sought a possible solution, said its Coordinator, Ms Nanete Thomas.
A serious problem with medical aid from StarAfrica:
S/Leone probes ‘expired Ebola drugs” container
Sierra Leone’s Health ministry said on Sunday it was investigating alleged expired drugs supposedly included in a donated medical consignment meant for the country’s Ebola treatment efforts.The ministry said in a statement that its investigation concerns a container-full donation shipped with the facilitation of a local politician identified as Cherno Alpha Bah.
Mr Bah, an arch critic of the government had apparently failed to get the authorities to pay for the container to be offloaded on time.
Last week, the story appeared on the New York Times and other major international media which prompted the Sierra Leone government to pay the $5000 required to clear the container.
However, a few days later, officials of the Ministry of Health said they had found that it contained expired drugs, a claim denied by Mr. Bah who said as far as he knew there were no such items in the container.
Ebola and class divisions from okayafrica:
Ebola: A Wake Up Call To Sierra Leone’s Upper Class
The privileged in Sierra Leone have long chosen to abstain from tackling issues that impact on the lives of all Sierra Leoneans, preferring instead to seek remedies for our lot alone, leaving the rest of society to fare as best they can. How ironic that we now reflect on the inadequacies of our healthcare system when we, myself included, have not thought twice about having our babies born abroad? With one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, why would one choose to give birth in Sierra Leone if other options are available? Similarly, we bemoan falling standards in education while pondering the logistics of schooling our kids in the UK or the US (guilty again!).
The truth is we need to engage and we need to do so on an ongoing basis, not just in the face of a crisis. I’m amazed at how few of my contemporaries participated in the last Presidential election. Too hot, too dirty, too smelly, too time consuming. I can understand why some chose not to, but I find it harder to understand our unwillingness to involve ourselves in other ways. Sierra Leone is not Eritrea or North Korea. We have a vibrant press, professional bodies, access to social media and a fairly benign ruling class. As the son of a casualty of our past political processes – my father was executed by a previous regime, but that is another story – I’m mortified that some now look back to that period as the “good old days.” Although political opponents are no longer imprisoned, let alone killed, I can understand that, for some, the memories of pipe-borne water, continuous power, decent roads, functioning hospitals, good schools and the absence of squatters, beggars and litter holds a powerful pull. However, the rot, now obscured by rose-tinted spectacles, had set in – paving the way for the eleven year civil war that came, and our country’s present day travails.
Another front line strike threatened from Al Jazeera English:
Liberia nurses threaten strike over Ebola pay
Health workers threaten to stay away from work on Monday, unless government agrees to hike their hazard pay
Nurses and medical workers in Liberia are threatening to go on strike over a pay dispute, a move that could deliver a serious blow to the fight against Ebola which has killed hundreds in the west African country.
Members of Liberia’s National Health Workers Association said they would not report for work on Monday unless a demand for an increase in hazard pay was met.
The association said on Sunday it was calling for hazard pay to be increased by around $200, from what is currently less than $500. The average Liberian health worker’s base salary is between $200 and $300.
More from Reuters:
Liberia health workers’ strike on Monday could hurt Ebola efforts
Thousands of Liberian healthcare workers are set to begin an indefinite strike at midnight on Monday which could undermine the country’s effort to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus and leave several hundred patients without care.
Health workers in the West African nation threatened to abandon hundreds of patients in Ebola treatment units, clinics and hospitals if demands for better incentives, working conditions and protective equipment were not met.
A meeting to resolve their grievances on Oct. 10 ended in a deadlock with the government refusing the meet their demands, said George Williams, secretary general of the National Health Workers Association of Liberia.
More American aid arrives, via FrontPageAfrica:
Combating Ebola Outbreak: U.S. Assistance Ramps Up
The U.S. government continues to ramp up its assistance to help Liberia in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus. On Thursday evening the US military brought in additional men and supplies into the country via the Roberts International Airport.
Six military aircraft landed at the RIA in two different flights of MV-22 Osprey and KC-130 aircraft on board were 100 US Marines. This brings the number of US military personnel in the country to a little over 300. Maj. Gen Darryl Williams, Commanding officer, Joint Task Force Command, Operation United Assistance, receiving the soldiers said: “What I would say is that we are here to support AID and the government of Liberia.”
The fleet of planes that landed outside Monrovia consisted of four MV-22 Ospreys and two KC-130s. Williams joined U.S. Ambassador to Liberia Deborah Malac at the airport to greet the aircraft. Vehicles unloaded boxes of equipment wrapped in green-and-black cloth, the Marines formed a line on the tarmac and had their temperatures checked by a Liberian health worker.
Not far from the airport, the US military is setting up a 25-bed hospital to treat health workers who may contract the deadly Ebola Virus. Soldiers are seen working around the clock to complete the much-anticipated facility to bring respite to health workers who may contract the virus. The U.S. government has said the facility is meant for all health workers working in Ebola Isolation Units across the country both local and international.
Ebola used to polish the Liberian army’s image, via the New York Times:
Amid Ebola Crisis, Liberian Army Sees Its Chance at Rebranding
For decades, Liberians have referred to the Armed Forces of Liberia as “soldiers them.” As in, “soldiers them came and raped my daughter.” Or “soldiers them beat my husband at the checkpoint in Paynesville.”
Now, “soldiers them” — once responsible for toppling the government, killing civilians and setting the nation on a course toward a devastating civil war — have suddenly become a linchpin in the fight against the Ebola virus rampaging through their country.
Huddled with American military personnel in the capital, Monrovia, Liberian soldiers rehearsed their roles in the effort to build 18 Ebola treatment units across the country.
“At the Monrovia medical unit yesterday, over 100 citizens were out there watching the construction,” Maj. Gen. Darryl A. Williams, the commander of U.S. Army Africa, noted pointedly. Be nice to them, he instructed the group.
Joseph F. Johnson, a deputy minister at Liberia’s Defense Ministry, nodded in agreement. “We’re trying to rebrand the A.F.L. as a force for good,” he said. “Piggyback on this.”
FrontPageAfrica covers conflict over assertion of power:
Liberians Angered by Sirleaf’s Request for Emergency Power
Monrovia – On Tuesday, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wrote the National Legislature requesting the body to grant her emergency power to make decisions that will trample on the rights of Liberians in an effort to fight the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.
Amongst others the President in her letter is requesting the Legislature to grant her the power to take major decisions altering articles 1, 12, 13, 15 and other provisions of the Liberian constitution that relate to the fundamental rights of the citizenry including the rights to freedom of expression, speech, protection against force labor, the right to elect officials, amongst other inalienable human rights.
But fear gallops in Liberia Tuesday when the President wrote the national legislature seeking the endorsement of the body in granting her emergency powers to take decisions suspending at least four important provisions of the constitution of the country. While the country eagerly awaits discussion by the lawmakers on the President’s letter, fear, anger, condemnations are being expressed by several Liberians including politicians, civil society, organizations, ordinary Liberians both at home and aboard.
And another group weighs in, the Institute for Research and Democratic Development, via FrontPageAfrica:
IREDD Calls for the Revocation of State of Emergency in Liberia
The State of Emergency endorsed by the House of Representatives was done fraudulently and unconstitutionally, says Dan Saryee, IREDD Senior Policy Director. IREDD questions the constitutionality of the state of emergency: Says its passage was characterized by fraudulent practices, lacks transparency and failed to generate the required two-thirds vote in the lower house of the legislature.
Monitoring report corroborated by minutes kept in the journal reveal the 49th session of the House was attended by 44 members of the legislature. Of the 44 members who attended session, 40 voted for, 2 abstained and 2 against.
If you do the mathematics to determine two-thirds votes of the 73 members, the result gives you 49 members to generate the constitutionally required two-thirds vote of the House of Representatives. Shockingly, the resolution, which is supposedly the outcome of the votes taken in plenary, carried 52 signatures something far more than the 44 members who were present in plenary when the votes were taken.
Nigerian troops quarantined after service in Liberia, via Punch Nigeria:
850 soldiers returning from Liberia to be quarantined
About 850 Nigerian soldiers on peacekeeping mission in Liberia are to be quarantined for 28 days when they return to the country in March 2015.
There are two battalions of the Nigerian Army in Liberia.
Investigations revealed that soldiers in one of the battalions were drawn from the 331 Artillery Regiment, Kontagora.
A source said on Sunday that the Army personnel were scheduled to return to the country in January but that their arrival would be delayed till March 2015.
And our final item comes from Gambia, anxiety over flights to Liberia from StarAfrica:
Gambian opposition slams flight resumption to S/Leone
The National Reconciliation Party (NRP) has issued a statement condemning the decision of Gambia Bird airline to resume flights to Sierra Leone.The NRP said on Sunday that the Gambian government should not allow the airline company to continue with their decision.
Last week, the Gambia Bird announced that it has scheduled to resume flights to Freetown from London starting 17th October.
But NRP leader, Amat Bah, said after this announcement his party and “a lot of other concern Gambians” have asked him to write to the authorities to express their total disapproval in resuming air flights between The Gambia and the Ebola affected countries.
