We begin today’s collection of reports from around the world [with special emphasis on African media] with a fascinating video from USA Today:
Watch CDC Director’s language change on Ebola crisis
Program notes:
CDC Director, Dr. Thomas Frieden shifts his statements as the Ebola crisis deepens.
Another video, from Texas Health Resources, focusing on America’s first endogenous Ebola patient:
Nina Pham Speaks from Her Room at Texas Health Dallas
Program notes:
Before Nina Pham departed Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas for the National Institute of Health’s Clinical Center earlier today, she was visited by her treating physician, Dr. Gary Weinstein, who recorded his conversation with her before she was discharged. Ms. Pham asked that we share the video.
The latest from Dallas CBS affiliate KXAS:
Pham Transported to NIH in Maryland
Dallas nurse Nina Pham, the first person to contract the potentially deadly Ebola virus in the United States, appeared to be in good spirits in a rare, emotional video shot in her Dallas hospital room Thursday, just before she was flown to Maryland en route to the National Institutes of Health.
“Come to Maryland, everybody!” patient Nina Pham told Dr. Gary Weinstein and another health care worker treating her in the video, both of them wearing full protective suits, as the three of them became emotional. “I love you guys,” she said.
Pham, 26, was transported by ambulance Thursday afternoon from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to Love Field Airport, where she was able to walk up the stairs into a private jet for the flight to Frederick Municipal Airport in Maryland.
She landed in Maryland just before 10 p.m. CDT for the ambulance ride to the National Institutes of Health.
And then there’s this from the McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Infected nurse’s quarantined dog may inspire Ebola pet protocols
Bentley, the dog owned by Ebola-stricken Texas nurse Nina Pham, is apparently thriving under quarantine – being fed, cared for and played with by Dallas workers in full protective gear.
In the process, the cute King Charles Spaniel has become a media phenomenon, with Twitter followers monitoring his progress through the city of Dallas feed @100Marilla.
His owner, who cared for the first U.S. Ebola victim at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, was transferred Thursday to the National Institutes of Health in Maryland.
But medical experts still are considering how to treat pets, as public concern about the Ebola virus explodes and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Veterinary Medical Association and the U.S. Department of Agriculture prepare pet protocols.
The latest on the course of the epidemic from the Associated Press:
UN: Ebola death toll rising to 4,500 this week
The death toll from Ebola will rise this week to more than 4,500 people from the 9,000 infected and the outbreak is still out of control in three West African nations, a top official with the U.N. health agency said Thursday.
Dr. Isabelle Nuttall, director of the World Health Organization’s global capacities, alert and response, said new numbers show the outbreak is still hitting health workers hard despite precautions — with 427 medical workers infected and 236 dead — mainly because Ebola victims are most contagious around the time they die.
Nuttall said the focus of the world’s efforts should remain on the countries where the outbreak has been spreading out of control: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
The Independent covers a parallel development:
Ebola outbreak: Famine approaches to add to West Africa’s torment
Sierra Leone’s fields are without farmers. Its crops go un-reaped. In the quarantine areas, feeding is patchy – some get food, others don’t. People then leave the enforced isolation in search of a meal, so Ebola spreads. In three West African countries where many already live a hand-to-mouth existence, the act of eating is increasingly rare.
Ebola, the virus that has ravaged Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea at an unprecedented rate, continues its devastating spread. The number of dead doubles with each passing month; the bodies unburied. More lives are devastated with each passing day.
And in the absence of a mass-produced vaccine, its treatment – enforced isolation, mass quarantines – now threatens to bring a new crisis: starvation.
Reassurance for some from BBC News:
Ebola crisis: WHO says major outbreak in West ‘unlikely’
Christopher Dye, WHO director of strategy, said the introduction of Ebola into the US or other countries in Western Europe was a matter “for very serious concern”
“The possibility that once an infection has been introduced that it spreads elsewhere, is something that everybody is going to be concerned about,” he said.
But he added: “We’re confident that in North America and Western Europe where health systems are very strong, that we’re unlikely to see a major outbreak in any of those places.”
And the Washington Post covers another side effect:
An epidemic of fear and anxiety hits Americans amid Ebola outbreak
Though Ebola’s dangers are real and terrifying, epidemiologists and other authorities say that, for now, its greatest mark could be on the psyche of the country where other health threats are more perilous.
President Obama late Wednesday sought to quell any risk of panic, telling the American people, “The dangers of your contracting Ebola, the dangers of a serious outbreak, are extraordinarily low.”
[A]ll over the country, Americans expressed deep anxiety about the threat of Ebola. According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, two-thirds of Americans are worried about an Ebola epidemic in the United States, and more than 4 in 10 are “very” or “somewhat worried” that they or a close family member might catch the virus.
And the perspective of Tom Toles, the Post’s editorial cartoonist:
More from Al Jazeera America:
In battling Ebola, fighting panic is as critical as containing virus
Allaying fears while urging vigilance is a unique challenge for public health officials
As U.S. public health officials and hospital workers race to help contain the global Ebola epidemic, they are confronting an equally pressing challenge at home: tamping down public hysteria.
Although the virus has wreaked havoc on West Africa, claiming more than 4,400 lives, according to the latest estimates by the World Health Organization, only three cases have been diagnosed in the United States. The disease is not airborne and can be spread only through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person who is exhibiting symptoms. Still, the news that a second health care worker was infected in Dallas after caring for an Ebola patient and allegations by nurses that the hospital where he was treated had sloppy protocols have added to unease across the United States.
“Ebola is serious. People are understandably afraid of what it means and what the implications are for them,” said Peter Jacobson, a professor of health law and policy at the University of Michigan. “At the same time, we have really excellent public health professionals who are able to communicate the extent of the threat, what we know and what we don’t know.”
Ebolaphobia rampant, via the New York Times:
As Ebola Fears Spread, Ohio and Texas Close Some Schools
An Ebola-infected nurse’s air travel between Dallas and Cleveland has sent ripples of concern through at least two states, leading to school closings and voluntary isolations.
Schools in Texas and Ohio were closed on Thursday after officials learned that students and an adult had either been on the flight with the nurse, Amber Joy Vinson, or had contact with her while she was visiting the Akron area.
Both Ms. Vinson and another nurse who contracted Ebola, Nina Pham, were part of the medical team that treated an Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Ms. Vinson traveled from Cleveland to Dallas the day before she showed symptoms of the disease.
In Akron, Ohio, officials dismissed students at the Resnik Community Learning Center at midday and said it would remain closed until Monday. In a letter to parents, the schools superintendent in Akron, David W. James, said that “a parent at the school had spent time with Ebola patient Amber Vinson when she visited the area this past weekend.”
Another manifestation from the Los Angeles Times:
‘No Ebola here,’ college says after evacuation spurs rumors, fears
The student whose flu-related comments led to a classroom building at Southwestern College in Chula Vista being evacuated Thursday does not have Ebola, a college spokeswoman said.
The student has a sister in the hospital with flu-like symptoms. The sister was not near any Ebola patient or on any airline flight that such a patient may have taken, said college spokeswoman Lillian Leopold.
Concern about a possible Ebola connection spread through rumor and social media faster than officials could confirm whether the student or a family member had been exposed to the deadly virus, Leopold said. Within minutes, local media were reporting a possible Ebola connection.
Southwestern College said in a statement that it had evacuated and cordoned off Building 470 as a precaution. Emergency personnel from the city of Chula Vista were at the scene, but San Diego County public health officials did not send a team.
And from CNN:
How worried is the Pentagon about Ebola? Creating special Ebola boot camp and updating pandemic plans
And then there’s this, via BuzzFeed:
GOP Senator: ISIS Using Ebola Is A “Real And Present Danger”
Asked whether the U.S. should be concerned about ISIS militants bringing Ebola into the country, Sen. Ron Johnson said we should do everything possible to prevent such a thing
A Republican senator says he sees the threat of ISIS militants intentionally infecting themselves with the Ebola virus and then traveling to America as a “real and present danger.”
“Well, it’s certainly something I’ve been thinking about ever since this Ebola outbreak started,” Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said Wednesday of ISIS using Ebola on America’s Forum on NewsmaxTV.
NewsMaxTV cited Al Shimkus, a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, who said last week that that ISIS fighters could infect themselves with the Ebola virus and then travel to U.S. as a form of biological warfare.
From The Hill, Obama concedes an issue to the Republicans:
Obama may appoint Ebola czar
President Obama on Thursday said it “may make sense” to appoint an Ebola czar to oversee the federal government’s response to the deadly virus.
Obama’s remarks represent a significant shift for the White House, which has rejected the czar idea repeatedly.
“It may make sense for us to have one person in part just so that after this initial surge of activity we can have a more regular process to make sure we’re crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s,” Obama said after meeting with top health officials in the Oval Office.
“If I appoint somebody, I’ll let you know,” he added.
And the latest American Ebola scare, via China Daily:
Patient with ‘Ebola-like symptoms’ admitted to Connecticut hospital
Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut was evaluating a patient with “Ebola-like symptoms” on Thursday and will likely know within 24 hours whether the person has the deadly disease, a hospital official said.
The patient is one of two Yale University graduate epidemiology students who traveled to Liberia last month to advise the health ministry on using computers to track Ebola, according to Laurence Grotheer, a spokesman for New Haven Mayor Toni Harp.
“Yale-New Haven Hospital admitted a patient late Wednesday night for evaluation of Ebola-like symptoms. We have not confirmed or ruled out any diagnosis at this point,” the hospital said in the statement on its website.
Dr. Thomas Balcezak, the hospital’s chief medical officer, said at a press conference that fever was among the patient’s symptoms and they were placed in isolation. Balcezak said the patient was in stable condition.
On to the politics and logistics from the Los Angeles Times:
‘We made mistakes,’ Dallas hospital chief says of Ebola crisis
Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Thursday defended his agency’s handling of the Ebola crisis while conceding the agency may have allowed a Texas nurse to fly on a commercial airline even though she was among a group of healthcare workers involved in treating the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the nation.
The hearing followed partisan lines, with Republicans pushing their agenda for closing the border with a ban on travel from West African countries where the Ebola virus has broken out. Democrats opposed such a ban and called for greater efforts to fight Ebola at the source in Africa. Some Democrats questioned the effect of GOP-backed budget cuts in curbing efforts to fight Ebola at home.
“People are scared,” said Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. “People’s lives are at stake, and the response so far has been unacceptable.”
More from the Washington Post:
CDC director’s challenge: Deadly Ebola virus and outbreak of criticism
“I am not protecting West Africa,” Tom Frieden, pacing in his office, tells an unhappy U.S. senator on the other end of a call from Washington. “My number one responsibility is to protect Americans from threats.”
Then: “Respectfully, sir, I don’t agree with you.”
A moment later: “I hope to regain your confidence.”
When he hangs up, Frieden doesn’t identify the senator, other than to say he was a Republican who wants an absolute travel ban on people from West Africa because of the Ebola epidemic. Frieden thinks that’s a misguided idea that will backfire, but the senator would not be persuaded.
“It was pingpong ball against iron safe,” he says.
From BBC News, a mixed report from the UN:
Ebola crisis: WHO signals help for Africa to stop spread
The World Health Organization is to “ramp up” efforts to prevent Ebola spreading beyond the three countries most affected by the deadly virus.
Fifteen African countries are being prioritised, top WHO official Isabelle Nuttall told a Geneva news conference.
They will receive more help in areas including prevention and protection.
But former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said he is “bitterly disappointed” with the international community’s response.
More from the New York Times:
New U.N. Ebola Trust Fund Falls Far Short of Goal
The United Nations trust fund for Ebola has received barely one percent of the $1 billion that the world body says it needs to tackle the outbreak — and that too from only one country, Colombia, United Nations officials said Thursday.
It has received pledges of about $20 million from various governments, but only $100,000 in actual cash deposits.
Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general, had earlier told reporters that the trust fund, announced in mid-September, had received $20 million in cash. His aides later clarified that the $20 million amount referred to pledges, not cash.
From the Guardian, a caution:
Ebola epidemic may not end without developing vaccine, scientist warns
Professor Peter Piot, one of the scientists who discovered Ebola, claims scale of outbreak has got ‘completely out of hand’
The Ebola epidemic, which is out of control in three countries and directly threatening 15 others, may not end until the world has a vaccine against the disease, according to one of the scientists who discovered the virus.
Professor Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said it would not have been difficult to contain the outbreak if those on the ground and the UN had acted promptly earlier this year. “Something that is easy to control got completely out of hand,” said Piot, who was part of a team that identified the causes of the first outbreak of Ebola in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 1976 and helped bring it to an end.
The scale of the epidemic in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea means that isolation, care and tracing and monitoring contacts, which have worked before, will not halt the spread. “It may be that we have to wait for a vaccine to stop the epidemic,” he said.
A de facto quarantine in Dallas from the Guardian:
Texas healthcare workers at risk of Ebola asked to stay out of public
Seventy-five staff members of Dallas hospital asked to sign ‘binding legal order’ that states they will avoid public spaces
Healthcare workers deemed to be at risk of contracting Ebola after dealing with a patient who died from the virus in Texas are being asked to sign voluntary agreements to stay away from the public, after Dallas authorities decided against declaring a state of emergency.
Seventy-five staff members from Texas Health Presbyterian hospital are being given a “binding legal document and order” that states they will avoid public transport, not go to areas where large numbers of people congregate, and continue to be monitored twice a day for symptoms, county judge Clay Jenkins said on Thursday.
Any of those involved in the care of Thomas Eric Duncan who refuse to sign the agreement would be subject to a legal control order, Jenkins told reporters after a meeting of the county commissioners court in downtown Dallas. “All the remedies of the law are available,” he said. However he said he believed this would not be necessary. “These are hometown healthcare heroes,” he said. “They’re not going to jail.”
One complication, via the Associated Press:
US monitors health care worker aboard cruise ship
Obama administration officials say a Dallas health care worker who handled a lab specimen from an Ebola-infected man from Liberia who died of the disease is on a Caribbean cruise ship where she has self-quarantined and is is being monitored for any signs of infection.
The officials say the woman has shown no signs of the disease and has been asymptomatic for 17 days.
The government is working to return the woman and her husband to the U.S. before the ship completes its cruise. The officials say the State Department is working with a country they won’t identify to secure their transportation home.
Labaor relations complicated, via Al Jazeera America:
Dallas hospital refutes nurses’ allegation of haphazard Ebola protocols
Nurses’ union said hospital didn’t properly handle patient who died after becoming first Ebola case diagnosed in US
Officials at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas have countered allegations from a nurses’ union that sloppy protocols were used in dealing with Ebola at the facility, where Thomas Eric Duncan — the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States — died last week. The hospital said Thursday the union’s assertions “do not reflect actual facts.”
The development comes as the U.S. government seeks to ramp up its response to the Ebola crisis after two Dallas nurses also became ill, the second of whom had been cleared to travel on a commercial flight a day before her diagnosis, it has been disclosed.
While Ebola patients are not considered contagious until they have symptoms and only two people are known to have contracted the disease in the U.S., the latest revelations about the handling of the situation have raised alarms about whether hospitals and the public health system are equipped to handle the deadly disease.
Reuters lays blame:
Experts fault changing U.S. guidelines on Ebola protective gear
When Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), visited Ebola-stricken sites in West Africa last August, he was dressed in a full protective bodysuit and ventilator.
That level of protection was far greater than the basic gear the CDC initially recommended for U.S. hospital workers, which at minimum included a gown, a single pair of gloves, a mask and face shield.
After a second nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas fell ill with Ebola after caring for a dying Liberian patient, the CDC this week beefed up its recommendations for personal protective equipment to include hooded full-body suits that cover the neck, more frequent hand washing and a supervisor who oversees the removal of infected gear, steps experts said should have been done long ago.
From the Guardian, the clamor intensifies:
Ebola crisis: Republicans ramp up calls for west Africa travel bans
FAA assessing question ‘on a day-to-day’ basis
White House says measure would be counter-productive
Republicans are stepping up pressure for travel bans on passengers arriving from Ebola-stricken countries in west Africa, calling for a vote on quarantine measures in the House of Representatives as the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) acknowledged it was assessing the question “on a day-to-day” basis.
The White House and senior US health officials continue to insist such measures would be counter-productive because they would hamper efforts to control the Ebola epidemic at its source, but the growing clamour from critics in Congress means the issue is becoming a major political battleground in Washington.
During the first hearing into the administration’s handling of the crisis in Washington on Thursday, a succession of Republican congressmen joined the House speaker, John Boehner, in calling on the administration to urgently review its opposition to tighter travel restrictions.
The inevitable, via BuzzFeed:
Boehner Won’t Say If Texas Should Have An Ebola Travel Ban, Too
The nation’s top elected Republican said Wednesday that travel should be halted from West African nations suffering from the Ebola outbreak.
House Speaker John Boehner Wednesday called for a “temporary” ban on flights from countries with Ebola outbreaks, but stopped short of calling for a travel ban for Texas, despite the fact that an Ebola-infected nurse flew to his home state of Ohio from Dallas earlier this month.
In a statement released by his office Wednesday evening, Boehner joined a growing chorus of Republicans insisting the Obama administration impose a travel ban on West African countries suffering from the Ebola conference.
Boehner invoked the Texas Ebola patient in calling for a ban on other parts of the world, saying, “Today we learned that one individual who has contracted the virus flew to Ohio through the Cleveland airport in the last few days. A temporary ban on travel to the United States from countries afflicted with the virus is something that the president should absolutely consider.”
Asked if Boehner also believes flights from Texas to other parts of the country should be halted, Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said by email Boehner “said [Obama] should consider a temporary ban on travel to the United States from countries afflicted with the virus along with any other appropriate actions. That’s where we are right now. Don’t have anything more.”
Meanwhile other countries are jumping on the travel banswagon. From the Associated Press:
Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad impose Ebola travel bans
Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago on Thursday became the latest countries in the Western Hemisphere to restrict travelers from West African nations struggling with an epidemic of the Ebola virus.
The announcements came a day after Colombia and St. Lucia ordered similar prohibitions.
Authorities in Jamaica imposed an immediate entry ban on anyone who has been in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone within four weeks.
The ban was announced shortly after a U.S. couple was quarantined at Sangster International Airport in the northern tourist town of Montego Bay. Airport screeners found one of the Americans had been in Liberia two weeks ago. Officials said the couple was kept in quarantine, found to be healthy, and then sent back to an unspecified city in the U.S.
Guyana’s government said that country’s diplomatic missions had been directed not to issue visas to people from West African nations affected by the virus.
Trinidad & Tobago said it would deny entry any resident of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo or Sierra Leone. Other travelers who have visited any of those nations within six weeks will be quarantined for 21 days upon their arrival.
From Al Jazeera America, heightening intensity:
Obama authorizes National Guard call-up amid criticism over Ebola response
President signs executive order permitting Pentagon to use reservists, but resists calls for West Africa travel ban
President Barack Obama has authorized the Pentagon to call up reserve and National Guard troops if they are needed to assist in the U.S. response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The United States has already committed to sending up to 4,000 military personnel to Ebola-stricken countries to provide logistics and help build treatment units to confront the rapidly spreading and deadly virus.
But amid rising criticism over the handling of the patients in the U.S., the White House resisted calls from Republican lawmakers that a travel ban be imposed on those wishing to fly to America from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea — the countries that have been worst hit by the outbreak.
And some exceptional praise from BBC News:
Ebola crisis: US says Cuban medical support ‘welcome’
Cuba is a “welcome” addition to the fight against Ebola, a senior US official has said.
A state department spokesman said the Cuban government was doing more than many others to contain the disease. “We welcome their support,” she said. The US has maintained an embargo on Cuba for more than five decades.
Last month, Havana announced it would send about 450 medical and support staff to the region. The BBC’s Will Grant in Havana said that Cuba already had a tradition of sending its doctors and nurses to Africa before the recent Ebola outbreak.
Cuban officials are hosting a regional summit on the virus next week involving left-wing Latin American governments. Health ministers from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador are expected to attend to discuss how to bolster the region’s response to the Ebola crisis.
On to Canada with CBC News:
Ebola outbreak: Harper tells Obama more help on the way
Republican lawmaker questions whether U.S.-Canada border needs to be better secured
Canada is about to announce new measures in the fight against Ebola, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told U.S. President Barack Obama Thursday amid increased fear over the spreading virus.
The prime minister made the promise in a phone chat with Obama, according to a summary of the call released by Harper’s office.
CBC News learned Wednesday that Canada was contributing an additional $30 million to the fight against Ebola. The new measures will add to Canada’s current contribution of $5 million, as the United Nations pleads for more international help and warns that the virus must be contained within 60 days.
The growing sense of panic was also reflected in a congressional hearing Thursday in Washington.
One lawmaker even briefly questioned whether the northern border might need to be better secured. That improbable reference to the 49th parallel came from a Tennessee Republican, who during a House hearing asked whether America’s land borders were safe from the deadly virus.
After the jump, Canadian alarms, intensified screenings in Europe, good news for Europe’s first endogenous Ebola patient but joined by four new suspect patients, a Danish false alarm and increased aid, still more aid from Germany and Sweden, Latin leaders huddle for preparations plans while Asian and Euopean leader do the same, China and Japan assess strengths and weaknesses and Australia wages an internal political battle, on to Africa and a warning from the African Union, an Ebolaphobia-driven soccer tournament cancellation, from Sierra Leone, a harsh warning for the nation’s capital and a doctor’s despairing prognosis as the nation’s last Ebola-free district falls victim and the biggest corporate benefactor of the Ebola fight goes bankrupt, thence to Liberia where there’s a shortage of body bags, survivors find themselves isolated, healthcare workers go unpaid, children teach each other, a projected civil service purge draws fire, and questionable ‘cures’ flourish, plus economic despir in Zimbabwe and the Gambia. . .
CBC News goes airborne:
Air Canada flight attendants to wear gloves against Ebola
Airline offers no objection to request by union for employees to wear disposable gloves
All Air Canada flight attendants will be able to wear disposable gloves to help protect themselves from the risk of contact with the Ebola virus.
The country’s largest carrier said it had no objection to a request from the union representing cabin crews to don hand protection on all flights when collecting passenger waste, such as cups or diapers, that could carry saliva or other body fluids contaminated with the deadly virus.
Normally, Air Canada attendants can wear gloves for in-flight emergencies and duties such as handling food and washroom maintenance.
And to Europe with euronews:
Ebola crisis: EU pushes for improved screening in affected countries
Program notes:
EU health ministers want to see a strengthening of Ebola checks on people leaving West Africa.
But, during a meeting in Brussels, they have disagreed on the need to check travellers arriving in their own countries.
France has said that it will begin screening air passengers arriving from affected areas – following similar decisions by Britain and the Czech Republic. But, so far, other EU governments have not followed suit.
Next, good news for Europe’s first endogenous Ebola patient from TheLocal.es:
Nurse with Ebola ‘beating infection’: doctor
The viral load of Teresa Romero, the Spanish nursing assistant with Ebola, “has lowered appreciably”, while she is she showing signs of “getting over the infection”, a doctor said on Thursday morning.
Doctors were not waiting to see if Romero’s “lung problems resulting from the illness” disappeared, said José María Echevarría, the head of the virology institute at Madrid’s Carlos III university where Romero is being treated.
Her recovery was made more complicated by the fact that the nursing assistant was a smoker, Echevarría told Spain’s Antena 3 radio station.
But the virologist added that doctors treating Romero said the health of her lungs was improving.
Accompanied by another alarm from the Guardian:
Possible Ebola patient taken to hospital in Madrid
Air France passenger is being treated at Carlos III hospital after reporting a fever during flight
A passenger on an Air France flight arriving at Madrid’s airport was taken to hospital after he reported a fever and began trembling during the flight.
The passenger, who had travelled from Lagos, Nigeria to Madrid via Paris, is being treated as a possible Ebola case. He was taken by ambulance, escorted by a motorcade and with the driver in full protective gear, to the Carlos III hospital where he remains in quarantine.
After the plane staff informed ground crews of the situation, the plane was parked in a special area of the airport and the other 155 passengers were allowed to leave the flight as normal, said Air France. Health authorities took note of their details and advised them to contact the Carlos III Hospital if they show any signs of a fever.
But it’s not just one patient getting Spanish officials worried. It’s four. From Agence France-Presse:
Four people hospitalized in Spain over Ebola signs
Program notes:
Four suspected Ebola cases have been hospitalized in Spain. Among them, a passenger from an Air France flight arriving from Nigeria.
A Danish false alarm from TheLocal.dk:
Ebola patient tests negative in Copenhagen
A Doctors without Borders employee who recently returned from west Africa tested negative for Ebola at Hvidore Hospital.
A Danish Doctors without Borders employee who checked in to Hvidore Hospital under the suspicion of having contracted Ebola in west Africa tested negative for the virus, an initial blood test performed by the Danish State Serum institute revealed. Hvidore Hospital will perform one additional test on Friday morning before ruling with 100 percent certainty that the patient is negative, the hospital said in a press release.
“New findings show that a few days can pass from when the symptoms first appear until viruses can be detected in tests. Therefore, we will maintain emergency precautions for 24 hours and have another test taken to be completely on the safe side,” hospital spokesman Torben Mogensen said.
More aid coming, via TheLocal.de:
Germany pledges €85 million for Ebola fight
Germany pledged on Thursday a further €85 million to fight the Ebola epidemic, on top of aid already promised.
It brings the amount pledged by Germany to battle the highly-infectious disease to €102 million.
And more from TheLocal.se:
Sweden adds 100m kronor to Ebola fight
Sweden’s new coalition government has announced it will increase the amount of money it is spending on the Ebola crisis.
It has revealed it will invest an additional 100 million kronor ($13.89 million), taking its overall spending to around 240 million kronor.
Off to Latin America, via Xinhua:
ALBA leaders to discuss Ebola prevention
Leaders from member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our Americas (ALBA) are set to meet Monday in Havana to discuss measures for preventing the Ebola epidemic from spreading, local media reported Thursday.
Heads of states and governments, high-level representatives of the member countries and international organizations will attend the Extraordinary ALBA Summit, where they are expected to “coordinate regional cooperation” to help prevent the Ebola disease from spreading to the Latin American and the Caribbean region, Cuba’s state daily Granma reported.
Founded in 2004, ALBA gathers Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ecuador and Bolivia.
And to Asia with Kyodo News:
Asian, European leaders begin summit, Ebola outbreak on agenda
Asian and European leaders started a biennial summit meeting Thursday in Milan, with how to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus topping the agenda.
The leaders will state that the spread of the Ebola virus is a global threat at the end of the two-day summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting, or ASEM, according to a final draft of the chair’s statement.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the meeting his government will consider providing additional assistance for preventing the spread of the deadly virus.
Another Asia alert with the Japan Times:
No biohazard facilities in Japan can handle Ebola
Despite assurances by the Japanese government that it stands ready to tackle an Ebola outbreak, a lack of facilities to handle the virus suggests such assertions may be overly optimistic.
As of last Sunday, the hemorrhagic virus had killed more than 4,400 people worldwide, and nearly 9,000 were known to be infected, mostly in West Africa, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
With fears growing of an international pandemic, Japan is taking administrative steps to strengthen its response. The government has introduced a bill in the Diet that would give local governments greater power to require patients with infectious diseases to submit samples for Ebola testing.
From the South China Morning Post, another Asian country prepares:
Mainland orders local governments to review Ebola preparations
Designated hospitals to handle cases, local authorities to keep and share databases
The mainland’s health commission has ordered local governments to review whether public health facilities are prepared to handle Ebola cases.
The National Health and Family Planning Commission asked local authorities to keep and share databases of people who had been in close contact with suspected and confirmed Ebola patients and designated hospitals to handle such cases.
The order came as a mainland drugmaker with military ties revealed it had sent an experimental Ebola drug to Africa for use by Chinese aid workers.
And from the Guardian, an Aussie allegation, with suspicions he’s right:
Ebola row: Scott Morrison accuses Labor of risking Australians’ health
Labor says government is not serious about finding a firm extraction plan for medical personnel who might be sent to west Africa
Scott Morrison has accused Labor of proposing to put Australian medical personnel in “harm’s way” by sending them to fight Ebola in west Africa.
The immigration minister said on Friday the government would not send teams to countries stricken by the deadly virus before a firm plan was in place to get any infected Australians out.
“Our first responsibility is to do what we need to do here in Australia,” Morrison told the Nine Network.
Our African coverage begins with a warning about a broadening crisis from CCTV America:
African Union warns Ebola will hit all countries
Program notes:
The African Union has made a public plea to leaders across the continent to join the fight against Ebola. The AU says that unless the outbreak is curbed, the killer virus will hit every country in Africa. CCTV America’s Girum Chala reports.
Another potential complication from BBC Sport:
2015 Africa Cup of Nations: Caf sounds out alternative host options
The Confederation of African Football has approached Ghana and South Africa about hosting the 2015 Nations Cup.
Last week, scheduled hosts Morocco asked Caf to postpone the January tournament because of fears over Ebola.
“Caf wrote to us and indicated that Morocco had given strong indications they would pull out if Caf did not change the date,” Ghana Youth and Sports minister Mahama Ayariga said.
South Africa have been sent a similar letter, seen by BBC Sport.
Events then took a decisive turn reported by the Daily Monitor in Kampala, Uganda:
Morocco withdraw from hosting AFCON 2015
Morocco have officially withdrawn from hosting the 2015 African Cup of Nations as fears over the Ebola virus continue to increase.
Morocco representative Mohamed Ouzzine released a statement saying “this demand is motivated essentially by the last report from the World Health Organisation, which contained alarming numbers at the extent and spread of the virus.”
According to super sport, a source close to the ministry of sports said that: “Since CAF rejected all our requests and suggestions then we are forced to withdraw from hosting Afcon 2015 with immediate effect to preserve the safety of our citizens and for that we are prepared to take any consequences that comes with our actions.”
Technical help from BBC News:
BBC launches WhatsApp Ebola service
The BBC has launched an Ebola public health information service on WhatsApp, aimed at users of the service in West Africa.
The service will provide audio, text message alerts and images to help people get the latest public health information to combat the spread of Ebola in the region. Content will be limited to three items a day, and the service will be in English and French.
To subscribe, send ‘JOIN’ via WhatsApp to +44 7702 348 651. To unsubscribe, send ‘STOP’ via WhatsApp to the same number.
On to Sierra Leone and a grim prognosis from IRIN:
Is Freetown fighting a losing battle against Ebola?
Some 2,896 people in Sierra Leone have contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone in this outbreak, with 425 new cases reported between 6 and 12 October alone according to the WHO and Ministry of Health. Most of the new cases are in Western Area, which comprises the capital Freetown (172 cases) and neighbouring Port Loko and Bombali districts (161 cases). The central districts of Bo (22 new cases), and Tonkolili (27 new cases) are also areas of intense transmission.
It’s hard to get an accurate picture of which clinics are functioning where in the capital but most are small-scale except for the government’s 200-bed-capacity Hastings Treatment Centre outside town, which is the largest centre in the country.
An Italian NGO runs the 18-bed Lakka clinic; King’s College runs several small centres; Maculy Street Hospital opened in September; and Save the Children will start running a clinic in the Freetown suburb of Kerry Town in two weeks. By the end of November 750 UK soldiers will be here to build clinics and set up logistics systems; about 100 British doctors are already here.
But the capital remains 1,000 beds short, say the government and WHO, and the caseload is growing daily. Patients must travel to Bo 216km away and even Kenema, 255km away, to be treated by MSF and the Red Cross.
A Sky News report gives something of the extremely serious nature of the crisis in Sierra Leone:
Ebola In Sierra Leone Is A “Horror,” Says Doctor
Program notes:
Dr Oliver Johnson speaks to Sky News on the day he returned from helping treat ebola in Sierra Leone.
And the tragedy broadens its reach, via Reuters:
Ebola spreads to last healthy district in Sierra Leone
Ebola has killed at least two people in what was the last remaining district in Sierra Leone unaffected by the virus, a government health officer said on Thursday.
Sierra Leone is one of three West African nations at the epicentre of the worst outbreak of the disease on record which has killed close to 4,500 people since first appearing in the Guinean forest last December.
As Ebola spread across the rest of Sierra Leone, locals in the far northern Koinadugu district had tried to block movement in and out of the area to stop anyone bringing in the haemorrhagic fever.
Another casualty, this one corporate, via the Guardian:
Mining company at centre of fight against Ebola in Sierra Leone goes bust
British-based London Mining has been central to efforts to tackle Ebola, helping build a 130-bed treatment centre near Lunsar
The London-listed company at the centre of coordinating efforts to fight the spread of Ebola in Sierra Leone has gone bust.
London Mining, which employs 1,400 people at its iron ore mine in Marampa, 120 miles east of the capital Freetown, and is building an Ebola treatment centre, appointed administrators on Thursday after failing to find a buyer for the severely debt-laden firm.
The collapse of the company raises fears about international efforts to combat Ebola, which has claimed about 4,500 lives in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
On to Liberia and another district stricken via the NewDawn:
Ebola Spreads to District in Gbarpolu
Reports from Gbarpolu County speak of the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease in Gounwulala District. An Executive of the Gbarpolu Citizens Association-Bong Chapter told our Bong County correspondent on Wednesday that the virus has seriously hit the region thereby threatening the lives of ordinary people in the absence of medication.
Mr. Milton Gertee is urging the Gbarpolu County Legislative Caucus and local leaders of the County to draw the attention of the National Ebola task force in combating the disease in the District.
The Bong County Gbarpolu Citizens Association Executive member said the District was sharing borders with Bong County and as such, there was an urgent need for authorities of Gbarpolu to work alongside their Bong County counterparts in fighting the epidemic.
The physical isolation of recovery followed by social isolation, via BBC News:
Ebola outbreak: Liberian survivors struggle for acceptance
In Liberia, testing positive for Ebola can be a death sentence. Those that survive the disease feel fortunate, even blessed. But in the eyes of many Liberians, Ebola survivors still carry the infection and must be shunned.
Isolated during their fight with Ebola, many survivors emerge to find themselves isolated once again.
On Monday Dr Walter T Gwenigale, Liberia’s minister of health and social welfare, urged Liberians to stop stigmatising Ebola survivors. The minister told people to welcome survivors, who could educate them about the disease and how it is treated.
A plea for payment to healthcare workers from the Monrovia Inquirer via allAfrica:
Liberia: U.S. Ambassador Urges Govt to Pay Health Workers – Following Commitment of Additional U.S.$5 Million
United States Ambassador to Liberia, Deborah R. Malac is calling on the Government of Liberia to pay health workers’ salary to enable them concentrate on saving lives. Ambassador Malac made the statement yesterday when she toured the newly constructed Ebola Treatment Unit built by the U.S. Military along with the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) in Tubmanburg, Bomi County.
She indicated that the United States Government has given the Government of Liberia additional US$5 million to pay health workers and stressed that it is the second time that the U.S Government has given the Government of Liberia US$5 million making it a total of US$10 million to pay health workers their salaries.
Ambassador Malac stated that the money is for health workers who are in the system and hopes that the issue will be solved expeditiously, because the crisis will undoubtedly affect everyone in Liberia. She told journalists that this is not the time for politics, but a time for all Liberians to conglomerate and fight the Ebola virus.
A tragic shortage, from the NewDawn:
Shortage of Body Bags, supplies to fight Ebola outbreak
As the world reels from its worst Ebola outbreak, the nation hardest hit is declaring a shortage of body bags, which are crucial to preventing the spread of the deadly virus.
Liberia, one of three countries most affected by the outbreak, said it has 4,900 body bags nationwide. It needs 85,000 more in the next six months, the Health Ministry said in a statement. A grim inventory of supplies shows body bags were not the only items lacking. Liberia is also experiencing a shortage of other supplies needed to fight the virus, including protective suits, face masks, gloves and goggles.
2.4 million boxes of gloves are also needed in the next six months, but the country only has 18,000 boxes. Each box has 100 pairs. About 1.2 million hooded overalls are needed within the same time frame, but the country only has165,000.
Educational innovation from FrontPageAfrica:
School in Time of Ebola: Liberian Kids Teaching Themselves
The deadly Ebola virus continues to tear its way through the heart of Liberia. More than 2,000 persons have died from the disease since it was first reported to have crossed from neighboring Guinea. The level to which the disease has been killing Liberians and its mode of transmission led the Liberian government to put a lid on the country’s education sector, leaving Children trapped in their homes and not making it to school in September.
It’s October and Academic year 2014/2015 has not yet started and many children whose parents do not have the resources to fly them out of Liberia to another country to school are missing out on an education. James Fahnbulleh16, the home teacher is in the 8th grade; he has volunteered to serve as a tutor in his home on the Bushrod Island. Everyday, Fahnbulleh gathers all the children living in his compound when their parents are off to work and teaches them like they were in a normal classroom.
FrontPageAfrica stumbled on him during one of his lessons this week and he says he feels a sense of responsibility to teach other children living in his compound. “I’m the one teaching these people because school is closed and we are sitting at home, I decided to put them together to teach them,” he says. “Some of them are still in elementary, so this is for them to get a brush up before entering school.”
From the NewDawn, another tragedy:
CSA boss charged with contempt
Members of the Liberian Senate have charged the Director General of the Civil Service Agency, George Werner, with contempt and fined him LD$4,999.
The Senate has also ordered Director Werner to make a public apology to that august body for acts of gross disrespect.
The Senate’s decision is based on a proposal from the CSA that employees or non-essential staff of government ministries and agencies that were told to stay home as a result of the Ebola outbreak should be dismissed.
Appearing before the full plenary of the Liberian Senate on Thursday in chambers, Director Werner said that the decision is intended to reduce Government workforce on grounds that many of those employees are unproductive or are engaged in duplication of functions.
He argued that if the proposal is implemented, government will increase salaries and benefits for employees that will stay in the job, noting that as it stands, all employees are earning salaries and benefits with maximum of US$125.00 per month, something, he said has reduced government employees to mere beggars.
FrontPageAfrica covers another human consequence of the epidemic:
Pentecostal Mission Alarms Over Condition of Women and Children
The Pentecostal Mission Unlimited (PMU-Liberia), a faith based organization operating in Liberia, has alarmed over the deplorable condition of women and children who have survived or lost relatives and loved ones to the deadly Ebola virus in the country.
Addressing a news conference Thursday at its 12 houses road office, the Executive Director of the organization Rev. Jallah Kormah disclosed that there are dozens of abandoned women and children currently in Lofa County who lost several of their families during this Ebola outbreak and are finding it difficult to make a better living due to economic hardship and continues stigmatization within their communities.
According to Rev. Kormah the need for more local and international support for these victims remains a paramount concern that must be quickly addressed by the Liberian government and its international partners. He said his organization is willing to collaborate with the Government and other partners in helping the vulnerable women and children get back to normal life, but appealed for more help for the PMU in the areas of funding, logistics and medical supplies among others.
From the Observer in Monrovia via allAfrica, a story to get your snake oil sales alarms on high alert:
Liberia: New Method to Fight Ebola Introduced Water+salt+electricity=life
As the fight to contain the rapid spread of the deadly Ebola virus disease (EVD) intensifies across the country, an American-based charitable organization has returned to the country with a ‘new method’ to fight the outbreak.
The national vice president of Operation Blessing International (OBI), David Darg, who made the disclosure yesterday at a press conference in Monrovia, said the organization returned with a formula to add salt to water with an available energy source (electricity), based on a specific measu