NOTE: These posts are not an attempt to be comprehensive in coverage of the Ebola story, nor of the Polio story. They just contain some items that have caught my eye [which is still not hemorrhaging blood, I'm happy to report — that only happens when I look at Kaci Hickox].
Pour a drink or a Cup Of Joe — this is going to be a long one…
-From the New York Post of 29 October, Bob Fredericks reporting, we learned:
Ebola is a lot easier to catch than health officials have admitted — and can be contracted by contact with a doorknob contaminated by a sneeze from an infected person an hour or more before, experts told The Post Tuesday.
“If you are sniffling and sneezing, you produce microorganisms that can get on stuff in a room. If people touch them, they could be” infected, said Dr. Meryl Nass, of the Institute for Public Accuracy in Washington, DC.
Nass pointed to a poster the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quietly released on its Web site saying the deadly virus can be spread through “droplets.”
“Droplet spread happens when germs traveling inside droplets that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose or mouth of another person,” the poster states.
Nass slammed the contradiction.
“The CDC said it doesn’t spread at all by air, then Friday they came out with this poster,” she said. “They admit that these particles or droplets may land on objects such as doorknobs and that Ebola can be transmitted that way.”
Dr. Rossi Hassad, a professor of epidemiology at Mercy College, said droplets could remain active for up to a day.
“A shorter duration for dry surfaces like a table or doorknob, and longer durations in a moist, damp environment,” Hassad said.
The CDC did not respond to a request for comment.
On 31 October, we learned, from The London Daily Mail, Francesca Chambers reporting:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has removed a warning from its website that Ebola can, in rare cases, spread from person through coughing and sneezing.
It has replaced the old language with new guidance that says there’s ‘no evidence’ Ebola is spread through either.
According to the New York Post, the CDC also took down on Thursday a poster that said that Ebola can be transferred through ‘droplets’ from coughing or sneezing that land on hard surfaces, like doorknobs.
As the Huffington Post, which discovered the shift in language, noted yesterday evening, it’s unclear why the CDC abruptly changed it’s Ebola advisories. However, the move came a day after the New York Post reported on the existence of the poster.
‘Droplet spread happens when germs traveling inside droplets that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose or mouth of another person,’ the fact sheet reportedly stated.
Now the page says, ‘The What’s the difference between infections spread through air or by droplets? Fact sheet is being updated and is currently unavailable. Please visit cdc.gov/Ebola for up-to-date information on Ebola.’
THE CDC: FOR DUTY AND HUMANITY!
-Also, from The Daily Mail, Mark Prigg and Victoria Woollaston, we learned:
The number of confirmed Ebola cases passed the 10,000 mark over the weekend, despite efforts to curb its spread.
And while the disease typically dies on surfaces within hours, research has discovered it can survive for more than seven weeks under certain conditions.
During tests, the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) found that the Zaire strain will live on samples stored on glass at low temperatures for as long as 50 days.
The tests were initially carried out by researchers from DSTL before the current outbreak, in 2010, but the strain investigated is one of five that is still infecting people globally.
The findings are also quoted in advice from the Public Agency of Health in Canada.
Ebola was discovered in 1976 and is a member of the Filoviridae family.
This family includes the Zaire ebolavirus (Zebov), which was first identified in 1976 and is the most virulent; Sudan ebolavirus, (Sebov); Tai Forest ebolavirus; Ebola-Reston (Rebov), and Bundibugyo ebolavirus (Bebov) – the most recent species, discovered in 2008.
For their 2010 paper, ‘The survival of filoviruses in liquids, on solid substrates and in a dynamic aerosol’, Sophie Smither and her colleagues tested two particular filoviruses on a variety of surfaces.
These were the Lake Victoria marburgvirus (Marv), and Zebov.
Each was placed into guinea pig tissue samples and tested for their ability to survive in different liquids, and on different surfaces at different temperatures, over a 50-day period.
When stored at 4° (39°F), by day 26, viruses from three of the samples were successfully extracted; Zebov on the glass sample, and Marv on both glass and plastic.
By day 50, the only sample from which the virus could be recovered was the Zebov from tissue on glass.
‘This study has demonstrated that filoviruses are able to survive and remain infectious, for extended periods when suspended within liquid and dried onto surfaces,’ explained the researchers.
‘Data from this study extend the knowledge on the survival of filoviruses under different conditions and provide a basis with which to inform risk assessments and manage exposure.’
The researchers do stress that these tests were carried out in a controlled lab environment, and not in the real world, but published their findings to highlight the survival rates.
From a related piece by Andrew McCarthy [this is worth quoting in full]:
Pretending to be guided by “science” rather than practicing politics in service of their post-American agenda, Obama administration officials persevere in the irresponsible suggestion that Ebola cannot be transmitted through the air – i.e., that it requires physical contact with an infected person that results in exposure to bodily fluids. It should go without saying that because viruses mutate, responsible scientists would never claim that the “science” about them is “settled.” But quite apart from the dynamic circumstances, government scientists are obviously concerned about air transmission in the here and now, even as the spin-meisters claim it cannot happen.
Aaron Klein has uncovered a “broad agency announcement” (BAA) from the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), soliciting research proposals to combat Ebola (in connection with the government’s efforts against chemical and biological threats). The BAA is appended to a “Federal Business Opportunities” notice – the notice can be found here, and the BAA is an attachment atop the right column, accessible through the link “HDTRA1-15-EBOLA-BAA”).
At page 7, Section 2.2.4 (“Ebola Characterization”), the Defense Department’s BAA explains that Ebola is “aerostable” and, since other filoviruses infect through “the respiratory route,” it is at least theoretically possible that Ebola could, too. (The CDC elaborates that Ebola is a filovirus.) As the BAA puts it:
While current science indicates the disease can only be transmitted by contact with contaminated body fluids, it remains unclear if other transmission modes are feasible. Filoviruses are able to infect via the respiratory route and are lethal at very low doses in experimental animal models, however the infectious dose is unknown. There is minimal information on how well filoviruses survive within aerosolized particles, and in certain media like the biofilm of sewage systems.
The BAA goes on to add (my italics): “While current science indicates the disease can only be transmitted by contact with contaminat”Preliminary studies indicate that Ebola is aerostable in an enclosed controlled system in the dark and can survive for long periods in different liquid media and can also be recovered from plastic and glass surfaces at low temperatures for over 3 weeks.”
At page 9, section 2.2.6 (“Topic: CBT-02, Rapid Disinfection Processes), the BAA further explains that the Defense Department is thus looking for treatments that could combat deposits of Ebola transmitted “as an aerosol” as well as by the better known means of bodily fluid contact (again, my italics):
The DTRA is seeking innovative technologies for rapid disinfection of interior surfaces with viral contamination. The technology must prove effective against viral contamination either deposited as an aerosol or heavy contaminated combined with body fluids (e.g. blood, vomit, feces)….
To be clear, neither the Defense Department’s assertions nor Mr. Klein’s reporting of them state conclusively that Ebola is transmissible through the air. What they convey is that the science is not settled, that it is unlikely to be settled given the evolving nature of viruses, that the possibility of airborne transmission is far from outlandish, and therefore that the responsible course is to prepare for that possibility until it is proved that the virus cannot be transmitted by air.
Instead, the Obama administration – for which Ebola is being treated as a matter of politics, not science – prefers to roll the dice.
And it keeps coming up snake-eyes.
-Betsy McCaughey clears the thick fog that the Administration has been generating at break-neck speed:
[Thomas 'The Bureaucrat'] Frieden said isolating the brave doctors and nurses would be a “stigma” and make them “pariahs.” That’s a shockingly unscientific attitude toward quarantine from a trained epidemiologist.
Here’s the science:
About one in seven people infected with Ebola doesn’t have a fever before diagnosis. Airport screening relies largely on temperature-taking. Data from over 4,000 Ebola cases (the most complete analysis ever) published Oct. 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine show that 13 percent of patients don’t develop fever early on.
Doctors and nurses can’t be depended on to spot Ebola in themselves faster than other people. Relying on them to monitor themselves assumes they will catch any sign of illness quickly and avoid spreading it. But the New England Journal research found doctors and nurses with Ebola don’t get to the hospital sooner.
Health-care workers who treat Ebola patients are at risk of getting it, despite wearing protective gear. As of Oct. 25, the World Health Organization reports that 450 health-care workers contracted Ebola this year, and 244 have died. One staffer at Doctors Without Borders in Guinea who worked with Spencer called him a “rigorous man” who carefully followed procedures in removing his protective gear and decontaminating it, adding “we understand that we are also at risk despite the measures.”
The most important fact about Ebola is how little we know. There’s no cure for the infected, no vaccine and no knowledge of how the virus might behave in colder temperatures. Doctors, nurses and missionaries who nobly volunteer in Africa could inadvertently be bringing Ebola home to every continent, giving the virus wings.
To be safe, Samaritan’s Purse, a relief organization, imposed a 21-day isolation period on workers returning from West Africa after one of its own, Dr. Kent Brantly, became infected. The hospital where Spencer practices requires a 21-day wait to return to work.
On Monday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended all US troops returning from West Africa undergo a 21-day quarantine. Their biggest worry isn’t stigma.
There is no stigma to being quarantined. Our nation’s heroic astronauts who landed on the moon were quarantined on their return to ensure possible “moon germs” didn’t endanger the public.
Obama is creating a false choice by saying we can applaud health-care workers or quarantine them. We should do both.
The White House hasn’t said much about soldiers, but it’s busy arm-twisting governors to back off isolating health-care workers….
One positive note: Frieden changed his tune Monday, saying “managing Ebola is not easy.” He and President Obama need to replace hubris with humility and take fewer gambles with this deadly disease.
I don’t know about you all, but I’m not going to waste any time waiting for that to happen.
This mal-Administration is full of nothing but Hubris. And Nemesis is very, very hungry right about now.
-Diana West quotes from a Facebook entry she discovered, authored by a Veterinarian in Maine, one Dr. David A. Rustebakke [tip of the fedora to Inky Binky]:
The present Ebola crisis in the world is frightening. I have submitted the following letter to the editor of the Lewiston Morning Tribune:
Editor, Lewiston Morning Tribune:
If I wish to import a horse into the United States from Liberia or any African country other than Morocco, the horse needs to undergo a 60 day quarantine period at a USDA approved quarantine facility prior to mingling with the general population of horses in this country. Africa has a disease called African Horse Sickness that does not exist in the US; this is the way we have kept it out of this country. African Horse Sickness does not cause disease in people, only horses; our government has determined that it would be devastating to the US horse industry if it were to come here.
The United States (and virtually all other countries) require a myriad of tests and often quarantine prior to bringing in a foreign animal.
I can’t legally cross state lines in the United States with a horse or cow without a health certificate signed by a USDA accredited veterinarian stating that the animal has been inspected and found free of infectious disease. In most cases blood tests are also required. In fact I can’t legally cross the Snake River and ride my horse in Idaho without a health certificate and a negative blood test for Equine Infectious Anemia.
I’m not complaining; the United States of America, the States of Idaho and Washington as well as the other 48 states take the health of our livestock very seriously, and we have a very good record at keeping foreign animal diseases out of our country. I am happy to do my part to maintain biosecurity in our animal population.
If I am a resident of Liberia incubating Ebola, to enter the United States all I need to do is present a valid visa, and lie when asked if I have been exposed to Ebola. Within hours (no quarantine required) I can be walking the streets of any city in the United States.
I feel very fortunate to live in a country that values our animals so highly.
David A. Rustebakke, DVM
‘Insanity’ is too mild a word, eh?
Actually, of course, as Adobe Walls has stated: what we are witnessing is a clear case of Depraved Indifference.
-For the record, if you didn’t know already: Ambassador Samantha Power is a First-Class Idiot.
-Let us turn now to Kaci Hickox…
=It troubles me that the fact that she works for the CDC — as I mentioned in my last post — is not mentioned in each and every report on her actions. Further, to watch supposed smart conservatives carry-on wondering, ‘Jeez, what could her motive be?’, is pathetic. Hickox is warrior for the Left In America, a con-artist Apparatchik.
=McGehee has the right attitude towards this piece of work, and others like her:
I think if any ebola deaths can ever be traced to the actions of a quarantine defier, said defier (assuming he or she survives the disease) should be charged with some degree of homicide.
-On 30 October, Sharyl Attkisson provided an update on the Enterovirus that’s striking down our children:
The U.S. death toll from the mysterious Enterovirus D-68, which primarily strikes young children, continues to rise.
The latest CDC update on the current outbreak of the polio-like Enterovirus D-68 states that it has now been detected “in specimens from nine patients who died and had samples submitted for testing.” That’s one more death than was disclosed in last week’s update. The CDC account does not provide information as to where the patient died and does not disclose his/her name, age or other details.
According to the latest weekly update from CDC, “from mid-August to October 30, 2014, CDC or state public health laboratories have confirmed a total of 1,105 people in 47 states and the District of Columbia with respiratory illness caused by EV-D68.” That’s 132 more patients in the past week.
The respiratory illness can cause paralysis. The outbreak is likely more widespread than reported since some states are not lab testing all respiratory illnesses to confirm. Most cases are said to be mild.
Occasionally, the illness becomes deadly without apparent warning.
-One day later, Neil Munro of The Daily Caller filed a long investigative report, entitled: ‘Obama’s Border Policy Fueled Epidemic, Evidence Shows’. A highlight:
The deadly EV-D68 enterovirus epidemic, which struck thousands of kids this fall, was likely propelled through America by President Barack Obama’s decision to allow tens of thousands of Central Americans across the Texas border, according to a growing body of genetic and statistical evidence.
The evidence includes admissions from top health officials that the epidemic included multiple strains of the virus, and that it appeared simultaneously in multiple independent locations.
The question can be settled if federal researchers study the genetic fingerprint of the EV-D68 viruses that first hit kids in Colorado, Missouri and Illinois to see if they are close relatives to the EV-D68 viruses found in Central America.
Officials ”have to do the genetic analysis” to disprove or prove the link, Nora Chapman, an enterovirus scientist at the University of Nebraska, told The Daily Caller.
But there’s already more than enough statistical evidence for American citizens to demand that scientists test the viruses to see if Obama’s progressive border priorities spread the dangerous contagion throughout the country during 2014.
So far, that virus has been found in nine American kids who died from illness, has apparently inflicted unprecedented polio-like paralysis in roughly 50 kids, and has put hundreds of young American kids into hospital emergency wards and intensive care units throughout more than 40 states.
A series of government researchers, health experts and academics refused to comment, or else urged self-censorship, when they were pressed by TheDC for statistical and scientific data that would exonerate Obama and his deputies.
-CraigZ:
Quarantine for Ebola carriers is the New McCarthyism!
Is that not supported by facts? Neither was the campaign against McCarthy’s allegations.
-Ringo6:
Breaking: Kaci Hickox refuses to use toilet, declaring it a violation of her right to crap on your lawn.
— Stuart (@Ringo6) October 30, 2014
-Richard McEnroe:
Fully expect Ebola to win 2016 Dem nomination. Hillary as VP out of professional courtesy. #Ebola #Election2016 — richard mcenroe (@richard_mcenroe) October 28, 2014
-These days, anything and everything is possible.
