Ebola outbreak - general thread #9

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It looks like they suspect this new case could have been caused by sexual activity with a survivor of Ebola. According to the article, she hadn't traveled to any infected country and had no contact with anyone on the contact list.

A woman who tested positive for Ebola in Liberia last week is dating a survivor of the disease, a health official said Tuesday, offering a possible explanation for how she became the country's first confirmed case in weeks.
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http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/official-ebola-survivor-infected-liberia-case-29868478
 
So I'm curious about the Ebola "outbreak" and "emergency" that we've been through in the US over the last 8 months or so. Other than medical personnel forced to be in close proximity on a repeated basis to an already-infected patient, has anyone at all ever contracted Ebola in the US?
 
SteveS said:
So I'm curious about the Ebola "outbreak" and "emergency" that we've been through in the US over the last 8 months or so. Other than medical personnel forced to be in close proximity on a repeated basis to an already-infected patient, has anyone at all ever contracted Ebola in the US?
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No. In fact, with the exception of the two HCW, the ebola incident proceeded exactly as the CDC said it would. It was stopped in its tracks-in part because the two infected HCW got out of circulation relatively quickly and into treatment, and because it's just not that easy to transmit until the person is really really sick.
 
murphy3k said:
It looks like they suspect this new case could have been caused by sexual activity with a survivor of Ebola. According to the article, she hadn't traveled to any infected country and had no contact with anyone on the contact list.



http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/official-ebola-survivor-infected-liberia-case-29868478
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Yes, that is one of possible modes of transmission, and it could be transmitted from a survivor a long time after he is declared "cured."
 
^^^^I know they have said that it remains detectable in semen for a good while. I wonder if these survivors are being counseled about that potential risk.
 
Anna Cross is being discharged today having made a full recovery.

She was the first person in the world to be treated with a new Z Mapp style drug currently called MIL77. It did not appear to cause any adverse effects, although it is impossible to claim it was responsible for her recovery.

Saw her in a live presser earlier - came across as a lovely person. I hope her convalescence goes well - she is still very weak.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32088310
 
Liberia urges ebola survivors to practice safe sex indefinitely.

In a potentially worrying development, officials learned that the man, whose name is not life released, was treated for Ebola last September.
A blood sample from his girlfriend, who tested positive for Ebola, was collected on March 19. Given a most incubation period of 21 days, the earliest she could have been infected was Feb. 26, well over three months after the man was cured of Ebola.
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http://newusnews.com/indefinite-safe-sex-urged-for-liberian-ebola-survivors/
 
Worrying news from Guinea

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-32103625

Guinean President Alpha Conde has declared a 45-day "health emergency" in five regions in the west and south-west of the country over Ebola.
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In January, the World Health Organization reported a steady drop in cases in the three epicentre countries.
But renewed concern has been triggered by fresh setbacks in these countries - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
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I hope they can get on top of things and this ends up being a short-lived blip.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/w...seen-as-misstep-in-us-relief-effort.html?_r=0

This article gives a summary of some of the missteps governments made in the response to the epidemic and what has been learned.

This, IMO, was promising


But to many on the front lines of the battle against Ebola, the answer is already clear.
“Communities taking responsibility for their own future — not waiting for us, not waiting for the government, not waiting for the international partners, but starting to organize themselves,” said Peter Graaff, the leader of the United Nations intervention in Liberia.
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“We didn’t want to see our people dying, and there was no one coming in” to help, said Amos Marjohn, 37, a task force leader in one neighborhood. “We had to respond very quick and mobilize ourselves.”
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The sense of pride and accomplishment the communities must have felt. Realizing they make a difference, that their actions and decisions do matter and are valuable.
 
Reports of an unknown deadly disease coming from Ode-Irele in Nigeria. Reports aren't firmed up yet but they say it is not ebola.
“Amidst conflicting and confusing information, the investigating team of experts sent by government to the area gathered that all the casualties died within hours of affliction. In all, 17 deaths have been confirmed in Ayadi Community and Ode Irele township and all the deaths were preceded by symptoms of sudden blurred vision, headache and loss of consciousness.

http://www.ibtimes.com/nigeria-hit-mysterious-epidemic-ondo-state-more-deadly-ebola-report-1886162

http://dailypost.ng/2015/04/17/irele-mysterious-deaths-community-begins-spiritual-cleansing-to-appeal-malokun-spirit-photos/

http://leadership.ng/news/426527/strange-ondo-disease-linked-to-exhumed-corpse
 
Yoda,
Thanks for these posts. I'd done Dracunculiasis mapping in that part of the world once upon a time, and find a grim fascination in epidemiology and of human foible in addressing it. In a field in which the pros regularly mess up, I doubt that I'll have much to contribute, but I'll be there reading!
Thanks, Forager
 
Yoda said:
Reports of an unknown deadly disease coming from Ode-Irele in Nigeria. Reports aren't firmed up yet but they say it is not ebola.
“Amidst conflicting and confusing information, the investigating team of experts sent by government to the area gathered that all the casualties died within hours of affliction. In all, 17 deaths have been confirmed in Ayadi Community and Ode Irele township and all the deaths were preceded by symptoms of sudden blurred vision, headache and loss of consciousness.

http://www.ibtimes.com/nigeria-hit-mysterious-epidemic-ondo-state-more-deadly-ebola-report-1886162

http://dailypost.ng/2015/04/17/irele-mysterious-deaths-community-begins-spiritual-cleansing-to-appeal-malokun-spirit-photos/

http://leadership.ng/news/426527/strange-ondo-disease-linked-to-exhumed-corpse
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Here's ABC's take on the mysterious deaths in Nigeria from earlier today:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-18/mysterious-disease-in-nigeria-kills-18/6403558

It's much more sober than that wonderful piece Yoda had linked from Nigeria's Leadership Post. No exhumations or vengeance from the grave, or anything fun. But everybody seems to be in agreement that it isn't spreading.
 
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