Ebola virus

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Up to 100 possibly exposed to U.S. Ebola patient; four isolated

His case has sparked concern over the potential for a wider spread of the deadly virus from West Africa, where at least 3,338 people have died in the worst outbreak on record.



How does Ebola virus spread?

The WHO says it is believed that fruit bats may be the natural host of the Ebola virus in Africa, passing on the virus to other animals.

Humans contract Ebola through contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals or the bodily fluids of infected humans.

MSF says that while the virus is believed to be able to survive for some days in liquid outside an infected organism, chlorine disinfection, heat, direct sunlight, soaps and detergents can kill it.


The WHO says there are five different strains of the virus -- named after the areas they originated in. Three of these have been associated with large outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever in Africa.

These are the Bundibugyo -- an area of Uganda where the virus was discovered in 2007 -- Sudan and Zaire sub-types.

There has been a solitary case of Ivory Coast Ebola. This subtype was discovered when a researcher studying wild chimpanzees became ill in 1994 after an autopsy on one of the animals. The researcher recovered.

Finally, Reston Ebola is named after Reston in the U.S. state of Virginia, where this fifth strain of the Ebola virus was identified in monkeys imported from the Philippines. The CDC says while humans have been infected with Ebola Reston, there have been no cases of human illness or death from this sub-type. *1 - http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/conten...pl_3/S757.full

Ebola can be spread among humans only through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids (saliva, mucus, etc.) of an infected person. This can occur by touching the infected person or by touching objects (such as needles) the person has been in contact with.


body fluid,
n a liquid portion of the body such as plasma, lymph, tears, saliva, and urine.

(1) Any fluid in the body including blood, urine, saliva, sputum, tears, semen, milk, or vaginal secretions

(2) A term often used with specific reference to those fluids to which health care workers might reasonably be exposed—e.g., blood, urine, saliva, semen


As many as 80 people were in contact with the Dallas Ebola patient at some point, Texas health officials told NBC, marking a significant jump from the 18 people authorities had said may have been exposed to the deadly virus.

Additionally, four members of the patient's family have been ordered to stay home as a precaution even though they are not showing symptoms, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement.

The health officials said 80 people may have come into contact with Duncan, NBC reported. Earlier, they had put the figure at up to 18, including five children.
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Through statistical analysis, the group determined that HIV is “almost certain” to have begun its spread from Kinshasa, now the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, sometime around 1920.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome -

May 30, 2006 - So scientists have estimated when and where the most deadly type of HIV started infecting humans -- but how did it do that? Most AIDS researchers believe that the "bushmeat trade" allowed the HIV-1 virus, and separately HIV-2, to enter the human bloodstream several times.


They believe that the chimpanzee version of the immunodeficiency virus (called simian immunodeficiency virus or SIV) most likely was transmitted to humans and mutated into HIV when humans hunted these chimpanzees for meat and came into contact with their infected blood.

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Not Good

The current assumption is that for every four known Ebola cases, about six more go unreported.

times ten = 40 aware of/60 we are unaware of

x 10 = 400 we know of/600 we had no idea about

Et Cetera............ ( anyone got a ticket to fly to Africa ? )

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Hopefully , more and more people get better, rather than die.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/qan...rus/ar-BB8xMyR

The 33-year-old freelance cameraman who contracted Ebola in Liberia is fighting for his life at the University of Nebraska Medical Center this week.

Remember this: if you want to take a realistic approach, his blood will help others who become infected if he survives. His chances of survival increase due to the medical services provided. This is also a national security issue.

On Thursday, he received a blood transfusion from Kent Brantley, the American doctor who recovered from the disease after treatment in Atlanta.

If someone's anti-bodies can be harvested they may help to fight another battle.

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The country is on edge with news of second patient.
https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=eb...&fr=chrf-yff32

vids of - Ebola screenings: How long will airport delays be?

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/ebola-...ort-delays-be/

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/ebol...ports-26115928

"The bottom line is, I don't want to die," JFK airline cabin cleaner says of Ebola concerns About 200 airline cabin cleaners walked off the job at New York.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifest...009-story.html

1) Dulles Airport
2) Kennedy International Airport
3) O'Hare
4) Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
5) Newark Liberty International Airport
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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/...ing/ar-BB8I5Pk

Doctors in Madrid started treating Romero with the experimental Ebola treatment ZMapp late on Friday

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U.S. health authorities have never before used fever monitoring to screen travelers, said Lawrence Gostin, who teaches global health law at Georgetown Law School, and such monitoring didn't work well when used in Canada and Asia during the SARS outbreak in 2002.

Fever-monitoring "had virtually no effectiveness," he said. Taking over-the-counter medication during the flight can easily help travelers bring down a fever to evade detection, he said.

Passengers also could lie on questionnaires, said Dr. David Mabey, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "People may not fill them in very truthfully. They don't want to be delayed for hours," Mabey said.

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The hemorrhagic fever, which has no proven cure, has killed more than 4,000 people in West Africa since an outbreak that began in March.

A Texas health worker who provided care for the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States has tested positive for the deadly virus. The new case is the first person-to-person transmission of the disease in the US.

How did nurse get infected?

The hospital says a health care worker contracted Ebola despite wearing proper protective gear.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tex...ola/ar-BB8RVwO
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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-...ola/ar-BB8PwXR

There are already more than 350 U.S. troops on the ground in West Africa, mostly in Liberia, including a handful from the101st.

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The patient has not been confirmed to have the deadly virus.
The patient reported to the Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates hospital in Braintree, Massachusetts.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pat...tal/ar-BB8VXtb
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But Dr. Paul D. Stolley, former chairman of the University of Maryland's Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, said the matter "requires further investigation."

Given the stakes, he said, the "absolute" assumption that Ebola can be spread only when an infected person displays fever should be re-evaluated.

"It may be true," said Stolley, a member of the Institute of Medicine. "It just doesn't sound very plausible to me."

As of Friday, the current outbreak had killed 4,033 people, according to the CDC. There is no proven cure for Ebola.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/une...gns/ar-BB8Vbsm

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Like Ebola, the Marburg virus is transmitted via contact with bodily fluids and fatality rates range from 25 percent to 80 percent. A hospital technician has died of the Ebola-like Marburg virus in Kampala, the Ugandan government announced on Sunday.

http://news.yahoo.com/man-dies-ebola...lkA1ZJUDUzMV8x

Oct 10, 2014 · Marburg virus disease (MVD) is the name for the human disease caused by any of the two marburgviruses Marburg virus (MARV) and Ravn virus (RAVV).

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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cdc...ola/ar-BB96fYv

CDC urges all US hospitals to 'think Ebola'

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dal...cdc/ar-BB986xC

Pham, 26, became infected while treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patient to die in the United States. Father Jim Khoi, pastor to Dallas Ebola patient Nina Pham, says she has received a blood transfusion from an Ebola survivor.

The Dallas patient tested positive for Ebola on Saturday night and was put into isolation within 90 minutes of contacting the hospital. Frieden said the country must “consider the possibility” there may be additional cases of Ebola to come, particularly among health care workers.

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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/...tal/ar-AA6KDuv

U.N. medic dies of Ebola in German hospital"The patient sick with Ebola fever died during the night in St. Georg Clinic in Leipzig. The medic, who has not been named, arrived last week and was the third Ebola patient to be treated in Germany.

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In Jacksonville, Fla., Baptist Medical Center said Monday it had isolated a patient who was being tested for Ebola but added that the diagnosis is "highly unlikely." The hospital released a statement saying the patient had no fever, a common symptom of Ebola, but did report recent casual contact with a traveler from West Africa.

hmmm

US health care workers are clamoring for hazmat suits and more training with protective gear after a Texas hospital worker was infected with Ebola while caring for a patient. The nature of the Ebola virus makes caring for patients particularly dangerous because it causes vomiting, diarrhea and sometimes bleeding -- generating liquids in which the virus thrives.

"When the patients get severely sick there are a huge amount of bodily fluids that the caregivers are exposed to which makes it risky.

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http://theweek.com/article/index/269...ebola-outbreak

In a statement released Wednesday, the World Health Organization stressed that the number of Ebola cases in West Africa's current outbreak is likely being underreported.

The WHO released new figures stating that more than 8,000 people in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone have been infected with Ebola. That includes 2,799 new cases in the past three weeks alone.