Guinea

Ebola: California is latest state to impose 21-day quarantine for those exposed to Ebola

Wed, 2014-10-29 20:53 — mike kraft

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS Oct. 29, 2014

By Julia Prodis Sulek

California on Wednesday became the latest state to order a 21-day quarantine for travelers who have been in close contact with Ebola patients.

In an attempt to avoid the criticism lodged against New York, New Jersey and Maine that had blanket quarantine orders, however, California will allow county health agencies to impose the quarantine on a case-by-case basis.

By working with county health departments to assess the individual risks, the California Department of Public Health said it "respects the individual circumstances of each traveler while protecting and preserving the public health."

Quarantine can range from observation and monitoring to the "limitation on his or her freedom of movement."

In the Bay Area, a Stanford doctor who returned last week from Liberia where he was treating Ebola patients was already being monitored by the San Mateo County Department of Public Health. The department coordinated with the CDC and San Francisco International Airport when Dr. Colin Bucks arrived late last week. He had no symptoms of the disease and came to an agreement with health officials to avoid contact with others but can leave the house for limited activities, such as jogging alone.

Read complete story

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Ebola: California is latest state to impose 21-day quarantine for those exposed to Ebola
1 comment
Log in or register to post comments

Assessing the Science of Ebola Transmission

Wed, 2014-10-29 18:24 — mike kraft

THREE ARTICLES DESCRIBING DETAILS OF THE EBOLA VIRUS AND OTHER VIRUSES.
(Scroll Down)

Advances in microscopy have allowed scientists like Sriram Subramaniam and colleagues at the National Cancer Institute to look at the workings of tiny viruses. In this case, microscopy was used to illustrate the complex process in which human cells infected with HIV-1, green and blue, are linked to uninfected cells. Credit Illustration by Donald Bliss/N.I.H, from The Journal of Virology/American Society for Microbiology

The research on how the virus spreads is not as ambiguous as some have made it seem

THE ATLANTIC Oct. 28, 2014

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Other

Read more about Assessing the Science of Ebola Transmission
Log in or register to post comments

Sierra Leone Leader: Change Behavior to End Ebola

Wed, 2014-10-29 15:32 — mike kraft

ASSOCIATED PRESS Oct. 29, 2014

By Clarence Roy-Macaulay

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Situation Report

Read more about Sierra Leone Leader: Change Behavior to End Ebola
Log in or register to post comments

Maine state police dispatched to back nurse's quarantine

Wed, 2014-10-29 13:16 — mike kraft

USA TODAY OCT. 29, 2014
By Doug Staglin
Maine state police were stationed outside the home of Ebola nurse Kaci Hickox Wednesday as Gov. Paul LePage said he was seeking legal authority to force the "unwilling" health care workers to remain quarantined for 21 days.

The 33-year-old nurse, who has shown no symptoms of the deadly virus, arrived in Maine on Monday after being forcibly held in an isolation tent in New Jersey for three days under that state's strict new law for health care workers who have recently treated Ebola patients in West Africa.

Over Hickox's objections, Maine health officials insisted that she stay in her home in Fort Kent for 21 days until the incubation period for Ebola had passed.

"I don't plan on sticking to the guidelines," Hickox tells Today show's Matt Lauer. "I am not going to sit around and be bullied by politicians and forced to stay in my home when I am not a risk to the American public."

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Maine state police dispatched to back nurse's quarantine
Log in or register to post comments

Low HIV and Aids rates saw west Africa ‘miss out on health investment'

Wed, 2014-10-29 11:33 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN Oct. 28, 2014
By Sarah Boseley

West Africa, now in the throes of a calamitous Ebola epidemic, missed out on significant health investment over the past decade or more because it had low rates of HIV, a detailed survey of the changing health of Africa and Asia reveals.

The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power (centre), visits an ebola emergency response centre in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Healthcare in west Africa now has the world’s attention. Photograph: Reuters

A major project called Indepth, which has looked at the causes of death of more than 110,000 people in 13 countries shows that health improved generally in those given substantial international aid to try to turn around the HIV and Aids epidemic. But west Africa, with severe poverty and low healthcare standards but relatively little HIV, did not benefit.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Situation Report

Read more about Low HIV and Aids rates saw west Africa ‘miss out on health investment'
Log in or register to post comments

State Department plans to bring foreign Ebola patients to U.S.

Wed, 2014-10-29 10:32 — mike kraft

LEAKED MEMO SAYS STATE DEPARTMENT CONSIDERING TREATING NON-AMERICAN HEALTH WORKERS BUT AN OFFICIAL SAYS DISCUSSIONS WERE SHELVED

THE WASHINGTON TIMES Oct. 29, 2014
By Stephen Dinan- The Washington Times - Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The State Department has quietly made plans to bring Ebola-infected doctors and medical aides to the U.S. for treatment, according to an internal department document that argued the only way to get other countries to send medical teams to West Africa is to promise that the U.S. will be the world’s medical backstop.

Some countries “are implicitly or explicitly waiting for medevac assurances” before they will agree to send their own medical teams to join U.S. and U.N. aid workers on the ground, the State Department argues in the undated four-page memo, which was reviewed by The Washington Times.... (Editor's note: Australia and Canada are among the countries.)

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about State Department plans to bring foreign Ebola patients to U.S.
Log in or register to post comments

The whole world relies on this one U.S. company to fly Ebola patients

Tue, 2014-10-28 21:39 — mike kraft

WASHINGTON POST Oct 28, 2014
By Josh Hicks
When it comes to transporting Ebola victims by air, the world relies on just one small U.S. company.

Phoenix Air has been using the isolation system below this aircraft to transport Ebola patients. (EPA/BRANDEN CAMP)

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Read more about The whole world relies on this one U.S. company to fly Ebola patients
Log in or register to post comments

Israeli firm ships inflatable tents for West Africa Ebola patients

Tue, 2014-10-28 21:25 — mike kraft

Y YETNEWS Oct. 27, 2014
Udi Etsion
An Israel icompany has developed and installed in Guinea special inflatable isolation tents to be used to house and isolate Ebola patients.

Special inflatable tent being used to fight Ebola

The inflatable tents have also been purchased for the treatment of Ebola patients by other countries on the continent, according to the Israeli company SYS Technologies, which specializes in the development of clean-air systems and mobile operating theaters. The company said the units can be constructed and shipped within two weels.

The units use a positive pressure technology to create an absolute clear and isolated environment and maintain the structure. The company has also developed an incubator-like stretcher for the safe transfer of patients to the isolation tents.

Read full article
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4584736,00.html

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Read more about Israeli firm ships inflatable tents for West Africa Ebola patients
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola outbreak's 'Patient Zero' identified as a two-year-old boy from Guinea named Emile Ouamouno

Tue, 2014-10-28 18:19 — mike kraft

In a study for the New England Journal of Medicine, a team of experts had traced the disease to the village in Guéckédou, in southeastern Guinea, by reviewing hospital documents and speaking to those involved.

Read Complete story

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Ebola outbreak's 'Patient Zero' identified as a two-year-old boy from Guinea named Emile Ouamouno
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak — West Africa, October 2014

Tue, 2014-10-28 17:34 — mike kraft

CDC WASHINGTON Oct. 28, 2014

The CDC has released its October report on on the Ebola outbreak in West Affica.

The updated data in this report were compiled from situation reports from the Guinea Interministerial Committee for Response Against the Ebola Virus and the World Health Organization, the Liberia Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation. Total case counts include all suspected, probable, and confirmed cases as defined by each country. These data reflect reported cases, which make up an unknown proportion of all actual cases and reporting delays that vary from country to country.