You are here

Home

Disease

Donations for Ebola Relief Are Slow to Gain Speed

Tue, 2014-10-21 10:54 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES

By                                                          OCT. 20, 2014

Compared to the rush to donate after major disasters of the last decade or so, charitable giving to address the Ebola tragedy is almost nonexistent, and the relief agencies that typically seek donations after a catastrophe are mostly silent.

“Have you had any email solicitations?” asked Patrick M. Rooney, associate dean at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. “If there had been an earthquake or tsunami, my question would be who had solicited you and how many times? Americans aren’t giving because they haven’t really been asked.”

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disaster Response
Disease
Health
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

Special Report - A Primer on Ebola for Clinicians

Mon, 2014-10-20 20:30 — Kathy Gilbeaux

journals.cambridge.org -  Eric Toner, Amesh Adalja and Thomas Inglesby. A Primer on Ebola for Clinicians.
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, available on CJO2014. doi:10.1017/dmp.2014.115.

Abstract

The size of the world’s largest Ebola outbreak now ongoing in West Africa makes clear that further exportation of Ebola virus disease to other parts of the world will remain a real possibility for the indefinite future. Clinicians outside of West Africa, particularly those who work in emergency medicine, critical care, infectious diseases, and infection control, should be familiar with the fundamentals of Ebola virus disease, including its diagnosis, treatment, and control. In this article we provide basic information on the Ebola virus and its epidemiology and microbiology. We also describe previous outbreaks and draw comparisons to the current outbreak with a focus on the public health measures that have controlled past outbreaks. We review the pathophysiology and clinical features of the disease, highlighting diagnosis, treatment, and hospital infection control issues that are relevant to practicing clinicians. We reference official guidance and point out where important uncertainty or controversy exists. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;0:1-5)

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
Conakry
Guinea
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disease
Health
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

CDC releases revised Ebola gear guidelines

Mon, 2014-10-20 20:22 — mike kraft

UPDATED WITH MORE DETAILS      

WASHINGTON POST                                                 Oct. 20, 2014

During a media briefing late Monday, CDC Director Thomas Frieden said the updated guidelines give a greater margin of safety to health-care workers. They are modeled closely on those used by Doctors Without Borders, the aid group that has worked most extensively in West Africa... The guidance also reflects the consensus of specialists at Emory University Hospital, Nebraska Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health, which are currently treating Ebola patients.

UCLA Health System doctors and staff participate in a preparedness exercise on diagnosing and treating patients with Ebola virus symptoms. On Oct. 20, the CDC tightened protocols for health-care workers explicitly recommending that no skin be exposed. (Reed Hutchinson/AP)

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disaster Response
Disaster Risk Reduction
Disease
Health
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions
Situation Report

Ebola Doctors at Breaking Point: 'This Constant Feeling That the Boat's Sinking'

Mon, 2014-10-20 17:50 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

A doctor outside the JFK Ebola treatment center speaks to journalists on Oct. 13, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.  Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images
 
bloomberg.com - by Makiko Kitamura and Naomi Kresge - October 20, 2014

At 3:30 a.m. in the world’s biggest Ebola treatment center, Daniel Lucey found the outbreak reduced to its essentials: patients lying on mattresses on the floor and vomiting in the dark, visible only by the wavering flashlight beam of a single volunteer doctor.

“I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Lucey, a physician and professor from Georgetown University who is halfway through a five-week tour in Liberia with Medecins Sans Frontieres, the medical charity known in English as Doctors Without Borders. “The epidemic is still getting worse,” he said by phone between shifts.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
Conakry
Guinea
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disease
Health
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem
Situation Report

In U.S., Fear of Ebola Closes Schools and Shapes Politics

Mon, 2014-10-20 16:39 — mike kraft

ROUNDUP OF REACTIONS AND ANALYSIS

NEW YORK TIMES                                                 Oct. 20, 2014

By

 In the month since a Liberian man infected with Ebola traveled to Dallas, where he later died, the nation has marinated in a murky soup of understandable concern, wild misinformation, political opportunism and garden-variety panic.

In Rock Island, Ill., Barhyeau Philips said he and his family would stay home for the next few weeks since the arrival of his daughter Jennifer from Liberia. Credit John Schultz/Quad-City Times, via Zuma
...

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disaster Response
Disease
Health
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

Review of Human-to-Human Transmission of Ebola Virus

Mon, 2014-10-20 15:42 — mike kraft

CDC                                                              Posted Oct. 20, 2014 from  CDC  Oct. 17 document

This document is a concise summary of published information on the current science about human-to-human transmission of Ebola virus. It is developed for use by healthcare personnel and public health professionals to use. It is a complement to the many guidance documents that CDC has issued already online at

www.cdc.gov/ebola.

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
Conakry
Guinea
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disease
Health
Science
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

Liberia president describes heavy cost of Ebola

Mon, 2014-10-20 11:19 — mike kraft

Liberia's president calls for more investment in health systems, news article, op-ed

ASSOCIATED PRESS                               Oct. 20, 2014

by Jonathan Paye-Layleh

Monrovia, Liberia — Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said Ebola has killed more than 2,000 people in her country and has brought it to “a standstill,” noting that Liberia and two other badly hit countries were already weakened by years of war.

Appealing for more international help, Sirleaf described the devastating effects of Ebola in a “Letter to the World” that was broadcast Sunday by the BBC.   https://soundcloud.com/bbc-world-service/a-letter-to-the-world-on-ebola-from-liberian-president-ellen-johnson-sirleaf?ocid=socialflow_twitter

“Across West Africa, a generation of young people risk being lost to an economic catastrophe as harvests are missed, markets are shut and borders are closed,” the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said. “The virus has been able to spread so rapidly because of the insufficient strength of the emergency, medical and military services that remain under-resourced....”

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disaster Response
Disaster Risk Reduction
Disease
Economics
Health
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem
Situation Report

Nigeria Is Ebola-Free: Here’s What They Did Right

Mon, 2014-10-20 10:15 — mike kraft

It's been 42 days since the last new case

TIME MAGAZINE                                                      OCT. 20, 2014

Alexandra Sifferlin

 The World Health Organization declared Nigeria free of Ebola on Monday, a containment victory in an outbreak that has stymied other countries’ response efforts....

 

A school official takes a pupil's temperature using an infrared digital laser thermometer in front of the school premises, at the resumption of private schools, in Lagos, Sept. 22, 2014. Akintunde Akinleye—Reuters

“It’s possible to control Ebola. It’s possible to defeat Ebola. We’ve seen it here in Nigeria,” Nigerian Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu told TIME. “If any cases emerge in the future, it will be considered—by international standards—a separate outbreak. If that happens, Nigeria will be ready and able to confront it exactly as we have done with this outbreak.”

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disaster Response
Disaster Risk Reduction
Disease
Health
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

The Bigger Picture: Ebola - Dr. Michael D. McDonald

Sun, 2014-10-19 22:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

RT – Thom Hartmann - The Bigger Picture: Ebola – October 17-18, 2014

Dr. Michael D. McDonald, Robert Walker and DeAnn McEwen – A Discussion on Ebola

To stop Ebola from spreading in West Africa, Dr. Michael D. McDonald, Executive Director of Health Initiatives Foundation Inc. and the Global Resilience System talks about the need to have community strategies where we set up Resilience Capacity Zones to reduce the transmission and the translocation of Ebola. He states we need to create behavioral and social immunity around Ebola-affected areas to reduce the transmission and translocation. We need to create Ebola-resistant, and Ebola-free zones in ring-like fashion.

CLICK HERE - The Bigger Picture: Ebola

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZlUp_aVgxc

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
Conakry
Guinea
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disease
Health
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions
Problem
Situation Report

NEJM - Ebola Virus Disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Sun, 2014-10-19 21:40 — Kathy Gilbeaux

nejm.org - October 15, 2014 - DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1411099

Results

The outbreak began in Inkanamongo village in the vicinity of Boende town in Équateur province and has been confined to that province. A total of 69 suspected, probable, or confirmed cases were reported between July 26 and October 7, 2014, including 8 cases among health care workers, with 49 deaths. As of October 7, there have been approximately six generations of cases of EVD since the outbreak began. The reported weekly case incidence peaked in the weeks of August 17 and 24 and has since fallen sharply. Genome sequencing revealed Ebola virus (EBOV, Zaire species) as the cause of this outbreak. A coding-complete genome sequence of EBOV that was isolated during this outbreak showed 99.2% identity with the most closely related variant from the 1995 outbreak in Kikwit in the DRC and 96.8% identity to EBOV variants that are currently circulating in West Africa. . . .

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
Africa
General Topic Tags: 
Contagion
Disease
Health
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

Pages

Subscribe to Disease
howdy folks