Plagues
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Health

Second person being monitored in Dallas for Ebola virus

Marjorie Owens
Usatoday.com
Wed, 01 Oct 2014 19:05 UTC
Image
© David Woo/APZachary Taylor, director of Dallas County's health department.
Health officials are closely monitoring a possible second Ebola patient who had close contact with the first person to be diagnosed in the U.S., the director of Dallas County's health department said Wednesday.

All who have been in close contact with the man diagnosed are being monitored as a precaution, Zachary Thompson, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, said in a morning interview with WFAA-TV.

"Let me be real frank to the Dallas County residents: The fact that we have one confirmed case, there may be another case that is a close associate with this particular patient," he said. "So this is real. There should be a concern, but it's contained to the specific family members and close friends at this moment."

The director continued to assure residents that the public isn't at risk because health officials have the virus contained.

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas was the first person to be diagnosed in the United States with the Ebola virus.

The patient left Liberia on Sept. 19 and arrived in Dallas the following day. On Sept. 26, he sought treatment at the hospital after becoming ill but was sent home with a prescription for antibiotics. Two days later, he was admitted with more critical symptoms, after requiring an ambulance ride to the hospital.
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Family

CDC head: It's 'not impossible' others in U.S. could contract Ebola


Abcnews.go.com
Wed, 01 Oct 2014 10:08 UTC
Image
© LM Otero/AP
The country's top medical official who has vowed to stop Ebola "in its tracks" in the U.S., conceded today that it's "not impossible" that others will contract the disease.

Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said an extensive tracking process is underway in the wake of the first Ebola diagnosis in the United States, with special focus on the patient's family and health staff.

"We have a seven-person team in Dallas working with the local health department and the hospital, and we will be identifying everyone who may have come in contact with him and then monitoring them for 21 days," Frieden said.

The city of Dallas, which has activated its Emergency Operations Center on "Level 2: High Readiness," said, "We are currently evaluating 12-18 people that the patient confirmed to have the Ebola virus was in contact with."

In addition, the three ambulance crew members that brought the patient to the hospital were tested for Ebola. The tests were negative, but the crew members were sent home and will be monitored for the next three weeks, the city said in a statement.

Frieden believes the disease will be "stopped in its tracks" in this country.

The unidentified man's safety, along with the well-being of the medical people treating him, is a primary focus, Frieden said.

Comment: Evidence is surfacing that Ebola is/has become airborne.
"A study conducted in 2012 showed that Ebola was able to travel between pigs and monkeys that were in separate cages and were never placed in direct contact.

Though the method of transmission in the study was not officially determined, one of the scientists involved, Dr. Gary Kobinger, from the National Microbiology Laboratory at the Public Health Agency of Canada, told BBC News that he believed that the infection was spread through large droplets that were suspended in the air.

"What we suspect is happening is large droplets; they can stay in the air, but not long; they don't go far," he explained. "But they can be absorbed in the airway, and this is how the infection starts, and this is what we think, because we saw a lot of evidence in the lungs of the non-human primates that the virus got in that way."

Translation: Ebola IS an airborne virus."

Ebola - What you're not being told
See also:
  • Another American doctor infected by Ebola even when not working with Ebola victims in Liberia

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Health

Several people exposed to Ebola in Dallas, likely more will become infected

Paul Bedard
The Washington Examiner
Wed, 01 Oct 2014 15:36 UTC
Presybyterian Hospital Dallas
A former Food and Drug Administration chief scientist and top infectious disease specialist said that several people were exposed to the Ebola virus by the unidentified patient in Dallas, America's first case, and it's likely that many more will be infected.

Dr. Jesse L. Goodman, now a professor of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center, said while the nation shouldn't panic, it's best to prepare for the worst.

"It is quite appropriate to be concerned on many fronts," he said in a statement provided to Secrets. "First, it is a tragedy for the patient and family and, as well, a stress to contacts, health care workers and the community at large. Second, it appears several people were exposed before the individual was placed in isolation, and it is quite possible that one or more of his contacts will be infected," he added.

What's more, he conceded that it was "only a matter of time" that the swift-killing African virus arrived in the U.S.

Comment: West Africa has been decimated by the Ebola outbreak and has been in desperate need of funding and assistance. It's shameful that the virus has to reach the West before people take note and alarms are sounded for a long overdue global effort.

UK's top public doctor shames western society: Drug firms not trying to find Ebola vaccine 'because virus is only killing Africans'

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Ambulance

Best of the Web: First case of Ebola confirmed in U.S.


RT
Wed, 01 Oct 2014 05:34 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Stringer
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed on Tuesday that the first case of Ebola has been diagnosed in the US.

On Monday, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas admitted a patient into strict isolation to be evaluated for potential Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), based on the patient's symptoms and recent travel history, according to a statement by the hospital.

By Tuesday afternoon, the CDC had received preliminary blood test results back, confirming that the patient was indeed infected with the potentially deadly virus.

The patient had recently traveled to Liberia, leaving the West African country on September 19 and arriving in the US on the following day. The patient had no Ebola symptoms when leaving Liberia or entering the United States, CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said during a press conference.

Comment: See also:

Over-medicated and immunosuppressed Americans will fall like dominoes in the wake of Ebola

Are you prepping your diet?

The Ketogenic Diet - An Overview

Vitamin C - A cure for Ebola

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Health

CDC Ebola response team heading to Dallas for patient who may test positive for Ebola


Dallasnews.com
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 13:04 UTC
Image
© David Woo/Staff Photographer
Dallas County health officials on Tuesday told county commissioners that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is dispatching a team to Dallas in case a patient at a local hospital tests positive for Ebola.

The report was delivered after Health and Human Services officials cut short a presentation on the threat of an Ebola outbreak for a conference call with the CDC. Officials said the CDC team would lead the response if test results, expected today, come back positive for the patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas.

During a media briefing outside the commissioners meeting, Dr. Christopher Perkins, the health department's medical director, said it was after arriving home from West Africa that the patient started showing symptoms, the point at which Ebola becomes contagious.

"We know at this time this person was not symptomatic during travel but became symptomatic once arriving here and being home for several days," Perkins said. "So that decreases the threat that might be to the general population."

Symptoms of the deadly virus can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and body aches unrelated to any other disease.

Health and Human Services officials told commissioners that they had already begun an investigation to find people who had been in contact with the patient. Director Zachary Thompson said it was not unusual for the department to begin tracing contacts after being notified about a possible contagious disease. County nurse epidemiologists are tracking down the patient's family members, friends and work colleagues, basically anyone who might have been exposed, if the virus is confirmed, he said.
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2 + 2 = 4

Sierra Leone government cannot account for more than 1,000 Ebola patients

Frances Martel
Breitbart.com
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 07:26 UTC
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© Breitbart.com
Sierra Leone's largest newspaper, the Awareness Times, is reporting with alarm that at least 1,028 Ebola patients appear to be missing in the country, as official Ministry of Health statistics account for a smaller number of combined victims and survivors of the disease than the total number of registered cases.

The Awareness Times report notes that the Ministry of Health has confirmed 2,000 cases of Ebola in the country. Its official statistics note that 540 have died, while 432 are classified as survivors. That leaves 1,042 unaccounted for cases.

The report follows up on a New York Times piece in which a Western diplomat is quoted as saying that official statistics in Sierra Leone are highly untrustworthy. According to the Times, those numbers are believed to be "largely inaccurate," rendering them borderline useless. Said the diplomat: "Even a 2-year-old child can look at them and see they don't add up." The Times notes that Sierra Leone has responded to the crisis largely by quarantining large areas-- nearly all 14 districts in Sierra Leone are at least partially quarantined, and it is believed that between one and two million people are being kept locked down due to this measure.

The Awareness Times did the math to prove the inaccuracy of the numbers, and the response they received from the Ministry of Health did little to assuage the concern that the government has little control over the situation. In a statement highlighting the convoluted relationships between press and state in Sierra Leone, Dr. Sylvia Blyden-- both Special Executive Assistant to President Ernest Koroma and founder of the Awareness Times-- issued a statement to her own newspaper:
"The fact is that a few of these unaccounted-for numbers are currently admitted in Ebola centers but I can categorically state today that the vast majority of the [over] 1,000 patients are already DEAD and lying in their graves. Yes, they are dead and buried! Hundreds of them! :-( May their souls rest in peace."
She goes on to blame the erroneous numbers on "a flight of common sense" on the part of the government, and adds that many of those unaccounted for are those who did not die in medical facilities, but rather died in their homes, and may continue to remain in their homes undisturbed given the fear of touching the body of a person with Ebola.
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Alarm Clock

Dallas hospital monitoring patient for Ebola


ABC News 13
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 06:36 UTC
doctor checks the health of a patient
© AP/Thomas KienzleA doctor checks the health of a patient.
A Dallas hospital says it is isolating a patient who is showing signs of having the Ebola virus.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas said in a statement Monday night that the patient's symptoms and travel history suggest the patient may have Ebola, the virus that has killed more than 3,000 people across West Africa.

The hospital expects to receive preliminary test results Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Presbyterian Hospital says it's taking measures to keep its doctors, staff and patients safe.
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Health

Enterovirus, which causes paralyzation in children, begins to spread across U.S.


RT
Tue, 30 Sep 2014 04:40 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Brian Snyder
Several hundred US kids are being treated for Enterovirus 68 - a respiratory illness that can cause children to become paralyzed. Outbreaks of the virus have been detected in most of the fifty states.

So far, the virus has infected 443 children in 40 states, and the District of Columbia, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Abbreviated as EV-D68, the virus was first identified 50 years ago. However, it has rarely been tested for until cases started appearing in the US Midwest and Southwest this year.

EV-D68 causes symptoms similar to the common cold but progresses into wheezing, breathing problems and paralysis.

There is no drug yet for the current strain of the virus, so treatment is focused on helping patients to breathe.
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Roses

Death toll from Ebola in West Africa hits 3,000 - WHO


Presstv.ir
Sat, 27 Sep 2014 03:24 UTC
Image
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the death toll from the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has now risen to over 3,000.

The WHO said on Friday that at least 3,091 out of 6,574 probable, suspected and confirmed cases died according to data received up to September 23. The data provided by the UN health agency shows that Liberia has recorded 1,830 deaths. It is the most affected country, with around three times as many fatalities as any other nation in West Africa. The outbreak, which began in Guinea, has ravaged neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone.

WHO officials say the world's worst Ebola epidemic in history may kill tens of thousands of people. Nigeria and Senegal have also confirmed cases of Ebola, but no new cases or deaths have been reported in the two countries over the past few weeks.

Ebola is a form of hemorrhagic fever whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding.
The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can also be spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.

Comment: These numbers are probably under-reported. See:

Livestock incinerator imported from Europe to cremate corpses from Ebola plague - 'I've never seen this amount of bodies before'

Liberia's Ebola death rate actually 84%?

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Question

Scientists mystified by outbreak and escalation of enterovirus 68 among children

Catherine Saint Louis
NYTimes.com
Thu, 25 Sep 2014 20:53 UTC
Image
© Cyrus McCrimmon/Denver Post via Getty Images
Nine-year-old Jayden Broadway of Denver being tended to at Children’s Hospital Colorado, which treated about 3,600 children for respiratory illness from Aug. 18 to Sept. 24.
An outbreak of respiratory illness first observed in the Midwest has spread to 38 states, sending children to hospitals and baffling scientists trying to understand its virulent resurgence.

As of Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had confirmed 226 cases of infection with enterovirus 68. But it is likely that many times that number have been stricken. One case involved an adult, and no deaths have been linked to the infection.

"What the C.D.C. is reporting is clearly the tip of the iceberg," said Dr. Mary Anne Jackson, the division director of infectious diseases at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. The hospital was the first to alert the agency last month to an unusual increase in children with trouble breathing. Since then, Dr. Jackson has received calls from colleagues nationwide seeking guidance. Some report that the influx of children to hospitals is "almost outweighing the resources available," she said.

Three times in the past month, the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital has had to divert ambulances to other hospitals because its emergency room was filled with children, most of them younger than 5, with severe respiratory illness. Before the outbreak, the hospital had not had to divert ambulances in 10 years, said Dr. Daniel Johnson, the interim section chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the hospital.

Enteroviruses are common, but this strain is not. Symptoms in the current outbreak resemble those of a bad cold, including body aches and cough. But some children progress to wheezing and having breathing difficulties. Scientists say they do not know why it is happening.

Comment: The best defense you have against illness and disease is a low carb (ketogenic) diet.
"From the 1960s onwards they have become widely known as one of the most common methods for obesity treatment. Recent work over the last decade or so has provided evidence of the therapeutic potential of ketogenic diets in many pathological conditions, such as diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, acne, neurological diseases, cancer and the amelioration of respiratory and cardiovascular disease risk factors. The possibility that modifying food intake can be useful for reducing or eliminating pharmaceutical methods of treatment, which are often lifelong with significant side effects, calls for serious investigation. This review revisits the meaning of physiological ketosis in the light of this evidence and considers possible mechanisms for the therapeutic actions of the ketogenic diet on different diseases. The present review also questions whether there are still some preconceived ideas about ketogenic diets, which may be presenting unnecessary barriers to their use as therapeutic tools in the physician's hand.

Beyond weight loss: a review of the therapeutic uses of very-low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diets
See also:
Ketogenic Diet (high-fat, low-carb) Has Neuroprotective and Disease-modifying Effects
Are you prepping your diet?

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