October 28, 2014 - VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES
- An unmanned rocket exploded shortly after takeoff Tuesday evening on
Virginia’s eastern shore. Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket was carrying
thousands of pounds of equipment to restock the International Space
Station.
The launch was supposed to be the third of eight planned
Orbital missions to ferry gear and food to astronauts aboard the ISS.
The rocket had some 5,000 pounds of food, supplies and science
experiments, which all were engulfed in a fireball just above NASA’s
Wallop’s Island facility.
Antares Rocket blows up on liftoff
The launch of the Orbital Sciences' #Antares Rocket has failed immediately after launch
The team on the ground has confirmed there are no injuries, although because of “classified crypto equipment” onboard, it is in the process of securing the surrounding area, chatter on the livestream of the launch said.
Orbital called the enormous blast a “vehicle anomaly” on Twitter.
The
Antares was originally supposed to lift off on Monday, but the launch
was postponed 10 minutes before take-off because a sailboat ended up in
the restricted danger zone south of the Virginia complex, the Associated
Press reported. Controllers promptly halted the countdown.
WATCH: NASA rocket explodes seconds after launch.
Each
delivery by Orbital Science’s unmanned Cygnus capsule honors a deceased
person linked to the company or a commercial spaceflight. Tuesday’s
mission was a tribute to Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton, who led a
rocket company until his death in 1993. As a retro-style homage, Orbital
Sciences flight controllers wore short-sleeved white shirts and skinny
black ties.
Along with 32 mini-research satellites, a meteor
tracker and a tank of high-pressure nitrogen to replenish a vestibule
used by spacewalking astronauts, the company stowed a post-Halloween
surprise for the two Americans, three Russians and one German aboard the
ISS, Orbital said at a prelaunch news conference Sunday.
Orbital
Sciences, a US-based company designing and manufacturing small- and
medium-sized rocket systems, has been contracted by NASA to resupply the
ISS.
Also onboard the rocket was Planetary Resources’ Arkyd 3
telescope prototype, which is being developed to explore space and
identify natural resources from asteroids. The project was privately
funded and raised $1.5 million in a 2013 Kickstarter campaign.
The
prototype destroyed in the explosion was only a demonstrator, meant as a
stepping stone to the first Arkyd 100 telescope, which the company
plans to launch in 2015, Popular Mechanics reported. - RT.
A hazmat worker looks up while finishing up cleaning outside an apartment building of a hospital worker, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2014, in Dallas. The Texas health care
worker, who was in full protective gear when they provided hospital care for Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, who later died, has tested positive
for the virus and is in stable condition, health officials said Sunday. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
October 28, 2014 - THE EBOLA OUTBREAK - 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 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.
“The
United States needs to show leadership and act as we are asking others
to act by admitting certain non-citizens into the country for medical
treatment for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) during the Ebola crisis,” says
the four-page memo, which lists Office of International Health and
Biodefense Deputy Director Robert Sorenson as its author.
More
than 10,000 people have become infected with Ebola in Liberia, Sierra
Leone and Guinea, and the U.S. has taken a lead role in arguing the
pandemic must be stopped over there. President Obama has committed
thousands of U.S. troops and has deployed American medical personnel,
but other countries have been slow to follow.
In the memo,
officials say they would prefer patients go to Europe, but there are
some cases where the U.S. is “the logical treatment destination for
non-citizens.”
The document has been shared with Congress, where
lawmakers were already nervous over the administration’s handling of the
Ebola outbreak. The memo even details expected price per patient,
saying transport costs come to $200,000 and treatment is estimated at
$300,000 per case.
A State Department
official denied there are plans to bring non-citizen patients to the
U.S., saying instead that officials are considering using American
aircraft equipped to handle Ebola cases to transport non-citizens to
other countries, but “there are absolutely no plans to medevac
non-Americans” to the U.S.
“We have discussed allowing other
countries to use our medevac capabilities to evacuate their own citizens
to their home countries or third-countries, subject to reimbursement
and availability,” the department official said in a statement. “But we
are not contemplating bringing them back to the U.S. for treatment.
Allegations to the contrary are completely false.”
The internal State Department
memo is described as “sensitive but unclassified.” A tracking sheet
attached to it says it was “cleared” by offices of the deputy secretary,
the deputy secretary for management, the office of Central African
affairs and the medical services office.
A call to the number listed for Mr. Sorenson wasn’t returned Tuesday.
Mr. Obama has been clear in his desire to recruit medical and aide workers to fight the disease in Africa.
“We
know that the best way to protect Americans ultimately is going to stop
this outbreak at the source,” the president said at the White House on
Tuesday, praising U.S. aide workers who are already involved in the
effort. “No other nation is doing as much to make sure that we contain
and ultimately eliminate this outbreak than America.”
More than 10,000 people have contracted Ebola in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, with about half of those cases proving fatal.
Four
cases have been diagnosed in the U.S. — and three of those were health
workers who were trying to aid infected patients. Two of those, both
nurses at a Dallas hospital, have been cured.
In addition, the
U.S. has treated several American aide workers who contracted the
disease overseas but who were flown here for treatment. - Washington Times.
Lawmaker claims plans may be in pipeline to bring non-citizens to US for Ebola treatment
A
top Republican congressman claims the Obama administration is exploring
plans to bring non-U.S. citizens infected with Ebola to the United
States for treatment.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News that his office has received
"information from within the administration" that these plans are being
developed. So far, only American Ebola patients have been brought back
to the U.S. for treatment from the disease epicenter in West Africa.
Goodlatte warned that expanding that policy could put the country at more risk.
"Members
of the media, my office have received confidential communications
saying that those plans are being developed," Goodlatte said Monday
night.
"This is simply a matter of common sense that if you are
concerned about this problem spreading -- and this is a deadly disease
that we're even concerned about the great health care workers when they
come back not spreading it -- we certainly shouldn't be bringing in the
patients."
The chairman wrote a letter last week to Homeland
Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Secretary of State John Kerry asking
whether such plans exist, but he says he has not gotten a response.
The details are sketchy, if such a plan even exists.
A
Goodlatte aide told FoxNews.com that "someone in one of the agencies"
contacted their office with the tip -- presumably, the plan would apply
to non-U.S. residents. Who would pay for the transport and treatment is
an open question.
In his letter last week, Goodlatte asked whether
the administration is formulating such a plan, seeking details and
communications among their employees.
The conservative watchdog
group Judicial Watch also reported, shortly before Goodlatte sent the
letter, that the administration is "actively formulating" plans to bring
Ebola patients into the U.S., with the specific goal of treating them
"within the first days of diagnosis."
Goodlatte earlier had pushed
the president to consider using his authority to impose a temporary ban
on non-U.S. citizen travel to the United States from the three African
countries hardest-hit by Ebola.
"We think, again, that's just plain common sense, a practical way to stop this disease from spreading," he said.
The
Obama administration has pushed back on those calls, saying the most
effective approach is to stop Ebola at its source in West Africa. - FOX News.
Joint Chiefs Chairman Urges 21-Day Quarantine for Troops Working in Ebola Zone
Gen.
Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
recommended to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday that all members
of the armed services working in Ebola-stricken West African countries
undergo mandatory 21-day quarantines upon their return to the United
States.
Rear
Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said that Mr. Hagel was
expected to announce shortly that he would follow the recommendation.
The recommendation follows a directive from Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, who has ordered a 21-day “controlled monitoring”
period for Army personnel returning from the Ebola zone in West Africa.
Army officials are not using the word “quarantine,” but they said that
returning soldiers would be isolated in separate buildings on American
bases and would not be allowed to see their families for 21 days.
General Dempsey’s recommendation came a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance
to states on how to treat civilian health workers when they return to
the United States from West Africa. Officials recommended against
automatic quarantines but said that health workers should be actively
monitored for symptoms of Ebola.
President Obama
on Tuesday called the new guidelines “sensible, based in science” and
said they would help keep Americans safe while not discouraging
volunteers from traveling to West Africa to battle the disease at its
source.
“This
disease can be contained,” Mr. Obama said in a brief statement at the
White House before leaving for a campaign rally in Milwaukee for Mary
Burke, a candidate for governor in Wisconsin. “It will be defeated.
Progress is possible, but we are going to have to stay vigilant.”
Of the aid workers who are in Africa, Mr. Obama said: “They are doing God’s work.” - NY Times.
Obama assails Ebola quarantines, saying they are based on fear, not facts
Politicians
in the United States, including the president, have come under
increasing pressure to curtail the movements of medical personnel
returning from Ebola-affected regions after Craig Spencer — a doctor who
had been treating Ebola patients in Guinea — was diagnosed with the
virus 10 days after he returned home to New York City.
While the
president did not directly criticize New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R)
and New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) for imposing mandatory quarantines
on health workers coming back from West Africa, he made clear that he thought those moves were a bad idea and were not based on the best medical information.
“We
don’t just react based on our fears. We react based on facts and
judgment and making smart decisions,” Obama said, just after placing a
call to members of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s
Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), which has been in West Africa
since the first week of August.
The notably assertive presidential
response came as the country enters the final campaign stretch before
next week’s midterm elections. While the president has sometimes
refrained from taking on his critics, he took the unusual step of
addressing the Ebola issue with reporters just before boarding Air Force
One to depart for a campaign event in Wisconsin.
Calling
the DART team “the strategic and operational backbone of America’s
response” in the region, Obama said the effort was starting to have an
impact, especially in Liberia.
“So we don’t want to discourage our
health-care workers from going to the front lines and dealing with this
in an effective way,” he said. “The point is this disease can be
contained. It will be defeated.”
On Wednesday, Obama will convene a
meeting at the White House with doctors and public health workers who
have either returned from treating Ebola patients in Africa or are on
their way there. The president said he convened the session not only to
thank them “but to make sure that we’re getting input from them, based
on the science, based on the facts, based on experience, about how the
battle to deal with Ebola is going and how our policies can support the
incredible heroism that they are showing.” - Washington Post.
5,000 Ebola health care workers needed in W Africa
Sri
Lankan health workers wear protective gear as they attend a
preparedness program for Ebola at the Infectious Disease Hospital for
fever in Colombo, Sri
Lanka, Tuesday, Oct.28, 2014. Airports in Asia
have stepped up their defenses: screening passengers who have travelled
from affected countries, taking any
with high temperature for
observation and trying to keep contact them with for 21 days, the
incubation period. According to the World Health Organization,
more than
10,000 people have been infected with Ebola and nearly half of them
have died. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
More
than 5,000 additional health care workers are needed to fight Ebola in
the three most affected countries in West Africa, the president of the
World Bank said Tuesday.
Jim Yong Kim said he
is worried about where those health care workers can be found given the
Ebola fear factor. The World Bank president spoke in Ethiopia alongside
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and African Union chairwoman
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Ban said the
transmission of the virus continues to outpace the international
community's response. He appealed for African Union member states not to
impose Ebola-related travel restrictions or close their borders.
"We
need to have a steady stream of health care workers from Africa coming
into the three affected countries. The head of the U.N. Mission for
Ebola Emergency Response, David Nabarro, has told us that we need at
least 5,000 health workers from outside the region," Jim said.
"Right
now, I'm very much worried about where we will find those health care
workers. With the fear factor going out of control in so many places, I
hope health care professionals will understand that when they took their
oath to become a health care worker it was precisely for moments like
this," he said.
Dlamini-Zuma said African Union
states have pledged to send more than 2,000 health care workers into
West Africa. She did not say when the workers would arrive.
"The
disease, which is not new to the world, and its manifestations in these
countries, has caught us by surprise. With the wisdom of hindsight, our
responses at all levels - continental, global and national - were slow,
and often knee-jerk reactions that did not always help the situation,"
Dlamini-Zuma said.
Ebola has hit the West
African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea the hardest. The
outbreak has killed nearly 5,000 people. - AP.
Ebola aid appeal launched by Disasters Emergency Committee
The Ebola outbreak is primarily affecting Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone
An appeal for the Ebola crisis in West Africa is to be launched by the Disasters Emergency Committee.
It
is the first time the DEC - a group of 13 UK aid charities - has sought
funds over a disease outbreak, which it says is "a sign of how serious
the situation has become."
Appeals will be made by all the main UK broadcasters on Thursday.
Ebola has killed almost 5,000 people and infected more than 10,000 in West Africa since the start of the year.
In
its 50-year history, the DEC has launched appeals for humanitarian
disasters caused by floods, famines, earthquakes, typhoons and
conflicts, but not previously for a disease outbreak.
Chief
executive Saleh Saeed said: "In West Africa today we are seeing a
disease create not just a medical crisis but a humanitarian emergency.
"Without
urgent action to stop the spread of Ebola and to help those affected by
the crisis, parts of West Africa face catastrophe within 60 days."
Of
the 13 DEC charities, 11 are currently supporting work or planning to
respond to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, with the majority of work
focused on stopping the spread of the disease and providing support to
those affected.
The committee says £25 can provide cleaning kits including bleach, soap and a bucket for three families at risk from Ebola.
Basic
protective clothing for three volunteers supporting people under
quarantine can be provided for £50 and £100 can buy training for a
community on how to keep itself safe from Ebola.
The World Health
Organisation (WHO) says there could be 5,000-10,000 new cases of the
deadly virus every week in the worst affected countries by December.
Infection rates continue to grow in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. - BBC.
Ebola-free nurse Amber Vinson to leave Atlanta hospital
Amber Vinson photographed in her Atlanta hospital room last week. (AP/Amber Vinson)
Amber
Vinson, one of two Texas nurses to contract Ebola while treating Thomas
Eric Duncan, will be released Tuesday from Emory University Hospital in
Atlanta, officials said.
Vinson,
29, was admitted to the hospital’s Serious Communicable Disease Unit on
Oct. 15 and was declared free of the deadly virus last week.
She is expected to make her first public statement during a national news conference at 1 p.m. ET, according to the hospital.
Vinson
was diagnosed with the virus on Oct. 14. A day later, the Dallas
resident was flown by air ambulance to Atlanta for treatment at Emory,
which has a specialized unit trained in treating Ebola.
“Amber
is steadily regaining her strength and her spirits are high,” her
family said in a statement last week. “We appreciate everyone for
keeping Amber in your thoughts and prayers.”
Vinson's
diagnosis prompted Ebola worries from Dallas to Cleveland, when it was
revealed that she had flown commercially in the days before being
hospitalized. Her family fended off critics by pointing that health
officials had approved her travel plans.
Vinson
and her colleague, Nina Pham, were among 50 to 70 health care workers
involved in the treatment of Liberian citizen Thomas Eric Duncan at
Texas Health Presbyterian in Dallas from Sept. 28 to Oct. 8
Duncan
arrived in Texas from Ebola-ravaged Liberia on Sept. 20. The disease,
which kills more than half the people it infects, has claimed the lives
of nearly 5,000 people in West Africa in 2014, the World Health
Organization estimates. There is no known cure.
Duncan,
42, was the first person to ever be diagnosed with Ebola in the United
States. Investigators have not determined how Pham and Vinson
specifically contracted the disease from Duncan, who died on his 10th day of intensive care
at Texas Health Presbyterian. Ebola is transmitted through bodily
fluids and secretions, including blood, mucus, feces, and vomit of an
ill or deceased person.
According
to Dallas officials, fewer than 100 people — most of them hospital
staffers who were involved in caring for Duncan, Pham or Vinson —
continue to be monitored for Ebola symptoms.
The
incubation period — the time interval from infection with the virus to
onset of symptoms — is 2 to 21 days, according to the World Health
Organization. Humans are not infectious until they develop symptoms.
Provided that no new cases are confirmed, monitoring in the Dallas area will end on Nov. 7. - Yahoo.
Bellevue Hospital ICU patients head to NYU Langone to free up staff for Ebola cases: sources
New York University Langone Medical Center will be taking on some of Bellevue Hospital's ICU patients as the latter deals with one confirmed
Ebola patient and prepares for the possibility of more. Richard Harbus for New York Daily News
Bellevue
has started transferring some of its patients to a sister Manhattan
hospital so it can free staffers to deal with the Ebola crisis.
So
Bellevue has worked out a deal to move patients from its 50-bed
intensive care unit two blocks north to NYU Langone Medical Center,
sources said Monday.
“We’ve taken two patients over the weekend
from the ICU and we anticipate that there could be more,” a hospital
source told the Daily News.
Both of those transferred patients were critically ill.
Dozens
of specially trained staff are required to man Bellevue’s Ebola ward,
which is on the seventh floor and has four beds. And with some 20 nurses
and ancillary staff rolling through during a 24-hour shift, that meant
pulling staff from the 10th floor ICU.
“NYU will lessen some
of the burden on Bellevue’s critical care staff so they can focus on the
issues at hand, and relieve staff of caring for other patients,” the
hospital source said.
Word of the arrangement was first reported Monday by NYDailyNews.com.
NYU has a longstanding affiliation with Bellevue to provide the city’s flagship public hospital with doctors and residents.
“We are prepared for this at Bellevue,” said a veteran infectious disease doctor. “We’ve been doing this forever.”
Dr.
Craig Spencer, 33, who contracted the virus while treating Ebola
patients in Guinea, remains the city’s only confirmed case. - NY Daily News.
5-Year-Old Boy Tests Negative for Ebola at NYC Hospital
A
5-year-old boy who returned home from Guinea on Saturday has tested
negative for Ebola at New York City's Bellevue Hospital where he is in
isolation with his mother, officials said this evening.
"Out of
an abundance of caution, further negative Ebola tests are required on
subsequent days to ensure that the patient is cleared," the city's
Health and Hospitals Corp. announced in a statement. "The patient will
also be tested for common respiratory viruses. The patient will remain
in isolation until all test results have returned."
The boy was
transported to Bellevue Hospital on Sunday night because of his travel
history and initial reports that he had a fever, but he actually had no
symptoms when he first arrived at the hospital, officials said. The
mother has shown no Ebola symptoms.
It was unclear what the
child's symptoms indicate, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said
earlier today. "We did the cautious thing," de Blasio said. "It may turn
out we have something here or it may turn out to be something
different."
The boy, whom authorities have not named, developed a fever this morning, prompting the Ebola test, officials told ABC News.
Meanwhile, Dr. Craig Spencer,
who tested positive for Ebola on Thursday, is in an isolation unit at
the same Manhattan hospital. After Spencer's diagnosis, his fiancee
remains under quarantine at home, as are two friends. None has shown
symptoms of the virus.
Spencer has gastrointestinal symptoms,
which health officials said were "anticipated." He was described as
awake and communicating.
He became the fourth person to be
diagnosed with Ebola in the United States after he was hospitalized
Thursday. He developed a fever that morning and alerted authorities, who
transported the doctor from his Harlem apartment in a specially
designated ambulance. - ABC 7 News.
State Department plans to bring foreign Ebola patients to U.S.
An image of Kaci Hickox, the nurse quarantined in New Jersey after treating Ebola patients in West Africa, is seen inset over
her isolation room, in photos provided to CBS News by Hickox.(Photo: KACI HICKOX)
A
nurse who treated Ebola patients in West Africa before being briefly
and controversially quarantined in New Jersey could be the focus of a
new battle over state health policy as she returns to her home state of
Maine.
Kaci Hickox left a Newark hospital on Monday and was
expected to arrive in the northern Maine town of Fort Kent early
Tuesday. Maine health officials have already announced that Hickox is
expected to comply with a 21-day voluntary in-home quarantine put in
place by the state's governor, Paul LePage.
However, one of
Hickox's lawyers, Steve Hyman, said he expected her to remain in
seclusion for only the "next day or so" while he works with Maine health
officials. He said he believes the state should follow the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that require only monitoring,
not quarantine, for health care workers who show no symptoms after
treating Ebola patients.
"She's a very good person who did very good work and deserves to be honored, not detained, for it," he said.
LePage
defended the quarantine in a news release Monday, saying that state
officials must be "vigilant in our duty to protect the health and safety
of all Mainers." Adrienne Bennett, a spokeswoman for the governor, told
the Portland Press Herald that authorities would take "appropriate
action" if Hickox does not comply with the quarantine, though she did
not specify what that action might be.
"Upon the healthcare
workers' return home, we will follow the guidelines set by the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control for medical workers who have been in contact
with Ebola patients," LePage's statement continued. "Additionally, we
will work with the healthcare worker to establish an in-home quarantine
protocol to ensure there is no direct contact with other Mainers until
the period for potential infection has passed."
A spokeswoman for
Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent told the Associated Press
that the facility is ready to care for an Ebola-infected patient, if
necessary. Hickox and her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, recently moved to Fort
Kent, where Wilbur is a nursing student at the University of Maine
branch in the town. WAGM-TV
reported late Monday that school officials had offered Wilbur the
option of staying in on-campus student housing for the duration of the
quarantine period or suspending his studies so that he could stay with
Hickox in his off-campus home during that time. A University of Maine
system spokesman told the Associated Press that he couldn't confirm
details of discussions with Wilbur.
Hickox, who volunteered in
Sierra Leone with Doctors Without Borders, spent the weekend in a
quarantine tent in New Jersey despite having no symptoms other than a
slightly elevated temperature she blamed on "inhumane" treatment at
Newark Liberty International Airport.
Hickox said she never had
symptoms and tested negative for Ebola in a preliminary evaluation. She
was the first person forced into New Jersey's mandatory quarantine for
people arriving at Newark Liberty from Sierra Leone, as well as Guinea
and Liberia.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov.
Andrew Cuomo were sharply criticized for ordering mandatory quarantines.
But Christie said Monday that his priority is protecting the health of
people in his state.
Also Monday, Connecticut joined New York and
New Jersey in announcing that anyone coming to the state after traveling
from Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia would face at least 21 days of
mandatory monitoring involving daily contact with state health
officials. The Associated Press reported that eight people are currently
being quarantined in the state who have not shown any symptoms of the
virus, while a ninth person was released from quarantine Monday.
The
latest controversy comes a day after the U.S. Army unilaterally imposed
a mandatory 21-day quarantine on troops returning from the Ebola hot
zone in West Africa and the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended that the
other branches of the military follow suit. That recommendation is
counter to White House policy, though spokesman Josh Earnest would not
comment Monday on whether President Obama agreed with the
recommendation.
Over the weekend, the White House put pressure on
New Jersey and New York over their quarantine policies. But it remains
unclear where the White House and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel stand on
applying that standard to returning U.S. service members. - FOX News.
Multnomah County, Oregon monitoring visitor from West Africa for Ebola
Multnomah
County is monitoring an adult who came from West Africa and is staying
with a host family for symptoms of Ebola. But health officials said the
risk is very low that the person is infected with the deadly virus.
The
person is "at remote or no risk" for the disease, said Paul Lewis,
health officer for Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties.
The
person has no symptoms of Ebola, Julie Sullivan, spokeswoman for
Multnomah County, said. She said a county worker goes to the home where
the person is staying twice a day and checks on the person. The visit
includes checking the person's temperature.
She said the person
has had no contact with any infected people. She said the person just
happened to have a travel history that included being in West Africa.
It's
the second person that was being monitored in the tri-county area; the
first came off the 21-day period this weekend, Lewis said. The
incubation period for Ebola lasts three weeks.
The monitoring is
voluntary. Both of these people chose to monitor their own health
conditions and report back to public health officials.
Meanwhile,
health officials have designated six hospital systems as the go-to
centers for treatment in case a person in Oregon is suspected of having
Ebola or is diagnosed with the disease.
The hospitals systems were
announced at a press conference on Monday. They are Oregon Health &
Science University, Legacy Health, Peace Health, Providence Health,
Kaiser Permanente Northwest, and Samaritan Health.
There have been no cases of Ebola in Oregon.
Gov.
John Kitzhaber said he won't impose a mandatory quarantine on people
returning from Ebola-affected regions who don't show symptoms of the
disease, because it's medically unnecessary.
"The progression
of the disease is clear," Kitzhaber said, referring to the fact that
Ebola is contagious only when someone is symptomatic. A mandatory
quarantine could also overwhelm the capacity of the state's hospitals,
Kitzhaber added.
Symptoms of Ebola include fever, vomiting or
diarrhea, health officials say. The virus is transmitted via bodily
fluids such as sweat or saliva; it is not airborne.
Oregon is
asking people who have no symptoms but who have come in contact with
Ebola patients or exposed relatives to undergo a voluntary 21-day
quarantine at home.
The CDC on Monday clarified it recommends
voluntary, at-home quarantine for travelers from West Africa who are at
highest risk for coming down with Ebola, and symptom monitoring for
those at lower risk.
If a person does develop symptoms, the person
would be isolated and sent to one of the six designated hospital
systems or to a federally-designated facility, officials say.
New
Jersey and New York announced mandatory quarantine policies last week.
Over the weekend, the Obama administration condemned those policies. - KATU.
Connecticut Tries to Find Middle Path on Ebola
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut speaking in Hartford earlier this month.
Credit Jessica Hill/Associated Press
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy
of Connecticut, seeking to avoid the public criticism over stringent
and still-shifting Ebola quarantine policies that has buffeted his
counterparts in New York and New Jersey, affirmed a case-by-case
approach to quarantines this week that he positioned as a middle path
between federal guidelines and more onerous state policies.
But
such reassurances have not quelled public opposition, with some people
concerned that an ad hoc system exposes travelers to abusive treatment.
Connecticut’s policy, which has been in effect since Mr. Malloy issued an order on Oct. 7 authorizing the state health commissioner to quarantine travelers, has already been invoked to confine nine people to their homes, though one of those orders was rescinded on Monday.
All
travelers arriving in Connecticut from Guinea, Liberia or Sierra Leone
are required to undergo 21 days of mandatory active monitoring by local
health officials, who contact them daily to get their temperature and
determine whether they are feeling symptoms of the virus. They may be
subject to a mandatory quarantine after state health officials, who
identify such travelers with the help of federal authorities, gather
details of their travel histories and potential exposure to the virus.
“With
the news of a recent traveler with Ebola in neighboring New York, it is
critical that we look at each case on an individual basis,” Mr. Malloy,
a Democrat, said in a statement on Monday evening. The governor, who is
up for re-election next week, added that the State Department of Public
Health “will continue to err on the side of caution in each and every
circumstance.”
But civil liberties groups argue that caution has pushed the state beyond its stipulated guidelines.
Ryan
Boyko, a doctoral candidate in epidemiology at the Yale School of
Public Health who has been isolated in his apartment since Oct. 18, is
among those speaking out against the policy. Shortly after returning
from Liberia, Mr. Boyko had gone to the hospital after developing diarrhea and a slight fever, setting off a media frenzy over what some worried would become the first Ebola diagnosis in the Northeast.
Ebola
tests came back negative, but he was handed a quarantine order. Mr.
Boyko, 30, said he had not been interviewed directly by public health
officials before the order was issued and did not believe he had come
into contact with symptomatic Ebola patients in Liberia, where he was
working on a disease-tracking system.
A
New Haven Police Department cruiser now sits outside his apartment 24
hours a day, Mr. Boyko said. “It feels like I’m being treated like a
criminal,” he said, adding: “I’m trying to do the right thing the whole
time, both by going to Liberia and monitoring my symptoms and reporting
them. And then I’m treated like I’m not trustworthy or I have to be
locked away.”
Another
Yale student who traveled to Liberia is also under quarantine in
Connecticut, as well as a family of six who recently returned from West
Africa. State officials say that all eight people are asymptomatic.
Like
Govs. Andrew M. Cuomo in New York and Chris Christie in New Jersey, Mr.
Malloy has described the policy as “more stringent” than the
requirements issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But officials in Connecticut have emphasized that their policy averts a
blanket quarantine policy that applies to all health care workers
returning from West Africa.
In
conversations with Connecticut officials, the Obama administration has
not expressed the same reservations about the state’s policy as it has
with New York’s stricter order, according to officials who spoke on the
condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the
matter publicly.
Still,
legal experts say the policy could expose people to needless
confinement.Others worried that West African citizens will be singled
out. “It’s going to promote a stigma on the community,” said Joseph
Morris Kalapele, president of the Liberian Community Association of
Connecticut. “It’s not as accepting as Connecticut should be.” - NY Times.
Australia slammed for closing borders to Ebola-struck W. African states
AFP Photo / Stephane De Sakutin
Australia
is the first country to temporarily close its borders to people
traveling from West African states battling against the Ebola epidemic.
The move comes despite the fact the Ebola-free country has not sent aid
workers to any afflicted regions.
Immigration Minister Scott
Morrison told parliament on Monday, Australia has issued a blanket visa
ban for those traveling from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. "This means we are not processing any applications from these affected countries," Morrison said.
He
added that all non-permanent or temporary visa requests from residents
of Ebola-afflicted nations, who had not already departed for Australia,
would be canceled or refused.
The ban includes those traveling on
humanitarian grounds. He added that all those who had entered Australia
prior to the suspension of its humanitarian program had undergone three
separate health checks prior to their departure. They also were required
to undergo screening upon their arrival in Australia on top of
subsequent monitoring. Other permanent visa holders from the affected
nations are subject to a 21-day quarantine period before disembarking to
Australia. "The government's systems and processes are working to protect Australians," Mr Morrison said.
Volunteer
healthcare workers in Queensland, meanwhile, have been asked to submit
to voluntary quarantine upon their return home. Some local governments
have considered imposing mandatory quarantines on anyone believed to be
infected with the virus.
Such proposals are being generated
despite the fact that Australia has yet to register one case of Ebola on
its soil, though several scares have been reported.
Nineteen
people are currently in home isolation in Queensland after coming to
Australia under a humanitarian program this month, the Sydney Morning
Herald reported. One of them, an 18-year-old woman, showed symptoms of
fever but tested negative for Ebola on Monday. She will be retested on
Wednesday.
According to the daily, 946 people at Australian
airports had so far been identified as traveling from Ebola-afflicted
countries. Two dozen travelers have been subjected to the full screening
process, including being referred to human quarantine officers. No one
has been quarantined in hospital.
The measure comes as the
government mulls sending medics to West Africa to collect blood to help
researchers develop a vaccine for Ebola, AAP reports. Australia has so
far provided $18 million to the international effort to tackle Ebola,
though it has committed no healthcare workers to the worst afflicted
countries.
Adam Kamradt-Scott, a senior lecturer at the University
of Sydney's Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and
Biosecurity, told Reuters the travel ban would do nothing to shield
Australia from Ebola. He warns it could in fact backfire by creating an
overall climate of fear in the country. "This is purely just a political decision," Kamradt-Scott said. "There
is very little scientific evidence or medical rationale why you would
choose to do this, and this is the type of politics we find starts to
interfere with effective public health measures.”
Graham
Thom, a spokesman for Amnesty International Australia told Reuters the
move made very little sense from a public health perspective. "There
are ways and means in which people can be monitored, quarantined to
insure that those who come are free from the disease," he said. "All
it does is insure that already exceedingly vulnerable people are
trapped in a crisis area and sends a signal about Australia's commitment
to actually dealing with this crisis in a responsible way as a member
of the international community."
The World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates that 4,922 have died so far as a result of
the ongoing Ebola epidemic. Of the 10,000 plus cases, all but 27 have
occurred in the West African states of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
Due
to its relative geographical isolation, the risk of a widespread
epidemic breaking out in Australia is believed to be minimal.
Meanwhile, the US military has begun isolating soldiers returning from an Ebola response mission in West Africa.
The
move followed controversial quarantine measures imposed on those
traveling to four US states - New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Florida
- who had had contact with the disease.
US federal health
officials have resisted imposing mandatory quarantines on doctors and
nurses returning to the US after treating Ebola patients in West Africa.
In one instance, a nurse detained and quarantined in New Jersey upon returning to the United States was released after threatening to sue.
Public
health experts, the United Nations, and medical charities have all
labeled such mandatory quarantines scientifically unjustified. - RT.
Scientists create litmus-like paper Ebola tests taking 30 minutes
AFP Photo/Vladimir Benko
US
scientists have invented a paper-based test for Ebola which takes just
30 minutes. The test-papers can be freeze-dried and stored at room
temperature for up to a year and rehydrated with water whenever they are
needed.
Two new studies in the Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have elaborated
a way to create a new synthetic gene compound and embed it onto small
matrices of paper. It is activated with water which should contain
bodily fluids, such as saliva or blood. If the target is present – such
as a segment of Ebola RNA – the paper will change its color.
The scientists made the test in just 12 hours and it cost about $20. The method has been reported in the journal Cell.
WATCH: Mechanism of the toehold switch.
The scientists created the Ebola sensor with the help of a "toehold switch," a new system for controlling gene expression that is very flexible and highly programmable.
The
toehold switch was initially designed to work inside living cells, but
one of the teams succeeded to transfer its function to the freeze-dried
paper method.
The toehold switch can be programmed to give visual
signs when it detects certain bacteria or viruses by an RNA signature of
virtually any kind. RNA signatures are sequences of genetic code that
can be used to identify a broad range of infectious agents, including
bacteria, viruses, yeast and parasites.
The case includes a
strain-specific Ebola sensor, which produces certain proteins only if it
detects a particular Ebola strain. In this case, the protein changes
the color of the paper from yellow to purple in less than an hour if one
of two Ebola strains is detected. There are five strains of Ebola but
the researchers worked with only two main ones.
"It's a
platform for a new class of diagnostics, and a very clear and important
practical extension of synthetic biology, opening up a whole generation
of new technologies for diagnosis," team leader Jim Collins said.
Once
made the paper–based tools can be freeze dried for safe
room–temperature storage and shipping, maintaining their effectiveness
for up to one year. To be activated, the freeze–dried paper need simply
be rehydrated with water. "We were surprised at how well these materials worked after being freeze dried," Collins told the BBC. "Once they're rehydrated, these biological circuits function in these small paper disks as if they were inside a living cell."
One of the major advantages of this innovation is the extension of synthetic biology beyond laboratories. “We’ve
harnessed the genetic machinery of cells and embedded them in the fiber
matrix of paper, which can then be freeze dried for storage and
transport — we can now take synthetic biology out of the lab and use it
anywhere to better understand our health and the environment,” said Keith Pardee, a colleague of Collins.
This technology is going to be inexpensive. Collins believes each slip of the detection paper would cost between 4 and 65 cents. ”This
technology could truly set the stage for powerful, multiplex biological
circuits and sensors that can be quickly and inexpensively assembled
for transport and use anywhere in the world,” says the press release. - RT.
October 28, 2014 - EARTH - The following list constitutes the latest reports of high tides, heavy
rainfall, flash floods, widespread flooding, sea level rise and
catastrophic storms courtesy of Floodlist.
Athens and Antalya Inundated as Floods Strike in Southern Europe
Athens, Greece
Athens in Greece was left knee-deep in water after torrential rain caused flooding in central and western parts of the city. Local media
say as much as 14 cm of rain fell in just 90 minutes on Friday.
Emergency services received over 600 calls as hundreds of homes and
businesses were inundated. The worst affected areas were Peristeri,
Ilion, Perama, Menidi, Aegaleo, Aghioi Anargoiroi, Nikaia, Piraeus and
Kamatero.
Hundreds of vehicles across the city were
said to have been dragged away by flood water. In the suburb of
Peristeri, the flooding was so severe that parked cars were dragged
along on the torrent, ending in a pile up of around 30 vehicles.
A
full assessment of the flood damage is expected to be completed later
today, although it is understood there have been no casualties.
The
severity of the flooding has prompted the Greek government to look into
flood defences around the capital. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has
also announced compensation for those affected by the Athens floods. Antalya, Turkey
Heavy rain also inundated the southern Turkish province of Antalya, according to CIHAN, the Turkish news agency.
The
city of Manavgat was the worst affected by flash floods, which struck
early on 25 October 2014. The heavy rain also increased levels of the
Manavgat river which overflowed in some areas, which could mean more
prolonged flooding in the district.
Yağmur Sel Afet Oldu
Son 20 yılın en fazla yağmurun yağdığı Antalya, Alanya Manavgat başta olmak üzere afet yaşıyor pic.twitter.com/188ZXiwMWC
— Antalya Yasam (@Antalyasam) October 25, 2014
Rainfall Figures
According
to WMO, in the 24 hour period between 25 and 26 October, Alanya in
Antalya Province received 59 mm of rain and the city of Antalya 93.4 mm
of rain.
Northeast Monsoon Floods Claim 5 Lives in Southern India
File Photo: Monsoon rainfall in Chennai. Photo: McKay Savage / Flickr
The northeast monsoon combined with a cyclonic storm in the Gulf of
Mannar region of the Bay of Bengal caused heavy rain to fall in parts of
Tamil Nadu since Friday 24 October 2014. Over 100 mm of rain fell in
Valparai in the last 24 hours. Flood warnings were issued for many of
the low-lying areas of Tamil Nadu earlier today.
Heavy rainfall has also affected parts of Sri Lanka, where 75 mm if rain fell in Anuradhapura yesterday.
Elsewhere in India, the active North East monsoon has caused flooding
in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Three people have died
in the flooding over the last few days – 2 in Andhra Pradesh and one in
Karnataka.
According to the Regional Meteorological Department “The northeast
monsoon has been vigorous over Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and south
interior Karnataka and active over Tamil Nadu and Kerala”.
Karnataka
In Karnataka, one person died after he was washed away in flash
floods in Kollur, Bellary district on Saturday 25 October. Around 66.8
mm of rain fell in the area on Friday, inundating homes and other
buildings.
Andhra Pradesh
In Andhra Pradesh, parts of Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions
have been worst hit over the last 24 hours. As much as 100 mm of rain
fell in Kavali rainfall in 24 hours. Nellore saw 90 mm of rain fall.
On Sunday 26 October two women were swept away in the overflowing Edduvagu rivulet, near Madgula village, Guntur district.
Tamil Nadu
Two people were killed by floods on Saturday 25 October when they attempted to cross a swollen river in the Erode district.
On Sunday 26 October the heavy rains caused flooding in the in the
Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu which left 250 people stranded in a
forest. The victims were returning from a temple in Saptur and were
caught in flash floods after a river overflowed. All 250 were later
rescued by emergency teams.
The heavy rainfall continued into Monday 27 October. Flooding in
Tirupur caused at least 5 houses to collapse and between 200 to 300
people marooned. All were later rescued.
Heavy Rain Prompts Flood Warnings for Norway And Sweden
File Photo: Heavy rain in Hordaland, Norway. Photo: Jill / flickr
Heavy rainfall has left parts of western Norway suffering from
flooding and power outages. Roads have been blocked and traffic
disrupted. However, so far the flooding has not caused any significant
damage, despite flood warnings from MET Norway.
Mid to high level Flood warnings were issued for parts Sogn og
Fjordane, Hordaland and Rogaland. Voss and around Vossovassdraget lake
in Hordaland were thought to be at particular risk of flooding. A high
level flood warning remains in place for this area.
Rainfall figures for the 24 hour period between 26 and 27 October 2014:
Mjolfjell (near Voss), Hordaland – 65.4 mm
Stryn, Sogn og Fjordane – 60.6 mm
Sauda, Rogaland – 68.7 mm
Further heavy rainfall is expected until late Tuesday.
Sweden
Some heavy rainfall has also affected parts of Sweden. Local media
report that floods inundated the small village of Sälen in in
Malung-Sälen Municipality, Dalarna County, after the Västerdal River
burst its banks on Saturday 25 October 2014. River levels were thought
to be about 1.5 to 2 metres above normal.
On Saturday 26 October, heavy rain in western Sweden flooded some towns around the coast. According to local media
Northern Bohuslän suffered most from the heavy rainfall which pushed
from the North Sea on Friday and Saturday night. A number of buildings
were evacuated in the small town of Skee close to Strömstad.
2,500 Evacuated after Shabelle River Overflows in Somalia
After the flood predictions last week, the Shabelle River has burst its banks in Beledweyne, Hiran province, Somalia, forcing 2,500 from their homes.
The
heavy rainfall in river catchment areas last week increased river
levels of the Shabelle and Juba. In a report on 24 October, Somalia
Water and Land Information Management said that the rivers were already
at flood stage. Local media are now reporting that floods have forced 2,500 people to seek safety on higher ground away from the riverbanks.
According to Radio Ergo, “The affected families are reported to have camped at Eljale area, 3 km north east of Beledweyne”.
The same areas was hit by flooding in 2012 when over 3,00 families were displaced.
Further
flooding is likely should river levels increase, especially in lower
areas of the two rivers. SWALIM warns that the Shabelle could overflow
at Balcaad and Kurtunwaarey and the Juba at Jamaame and Jilib.
Floods Damage Banana Crops as Honduras Awaits Tropical Storm Hanna
Heavy
rainfall in the department of Colón on 25 October 2014 caused flooding
in the municipalities of Balfate, Sonaguera and Iriona. River levels in
the area are high and several families have been evacuated.
And
things are about to get a lot worse in the next 48 hours as Tropical
Storm Hanna moves inland over Honduras and Nicaragua. According to NOAA:
The
deep convection associated with the remnants of Tropical Depression
Nine have persisted and become better organized since yesterday so
advisories have been re-initiated, with the system being upgraded to
Tropical Storm Hanna. The main hazard associated with Hanna will be very
heavy rainfall. Hanna could produce 10 to 12 inches with isolated
maximum amounts of 15 inches across Honduras and northern Nicaragua.
These rains will likely produce flash flooding and mud slides. This
image was taken by GOES East at 1415Z on October 27, 2014.
Recent Rainfall in HondurasIn
a 24 hour period between 25 and 26 October, 60 mm of rain fell in
Roatan, Bay Islands. Between 26 and 27 October, 52.4 mm of rain was
recorded in Yoro, department of Honduras.
Mosquito Increase
After the floods – Mosquito control begins in honduras. Image: COPECO
COPECO
(Comision Permanente de Contingencias), the country’s disaster
management agency, have now turned their attentions to controlling the
mosquito population. It is feared that the prolonged floods would lead
to an increase in mosquito numbers and therefore a higher risk of
mosquito-borne disease 400 Hectares of Banana Crops Lost Local media are reporting that so far the flooding, which initially began around 10 days ago, has damaged or destroyed at least 400 hectares of banana crops, causing considerable economic losses.
Jacobo
Paz , head of the country’s ministry of agriculture (Secretaría de
Ganadería y Agricultura – SAG), said that banana crops are particularly
susceptible to floods. The ministry’s initial assessments indicate that
banana farmers in the north of the country have been hardest hit.
October 28, 2014 - THE EBOLA OUTBREAK
- When it comes to trusting the Obama Administration and, increasingly,
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, no one is making it
harder for Americans to do so than the White House and the bumbling
gaggle of bureaucrats and political hacks that it employs.
For
weeks now, the CDC chief, Dr. Thomas Frieden, has said that Ebola
cannot be spread through casual contact -- even as he also stated that
persons suspected of being infected should avoid public transportation.
President Obama has made similar statements.
Now, after a pair of
northeastern state governors imposed (and then rescinded) 21-day
quarantines for anyone returning from assisting infected patients in
West Africa, word comes from the CDC that the virus can, in fact, be
spread to others up to 3 feet away. In a new Ebola-related post that
appears to be splitting hairs between "airborne" and "droplet" spread,
the health agency claimed:
Airborne spread happens when a germ
floats through the air after a person talks, coughs, or sneezes. Germs
may land in the eyes, mouth, or nose of another person.
If a germ
is airborne, direct contact with the infected person is NOT needed for
someone else to get sick. Airborne spread diseases include: chickenpox,
tuberculosis. 'Well, at least the CDC is starting to move the narrative'
"Droplet
spread," the agency said, "happens when germs traveling inside droplets
that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose, or
mouth of another person. Droplets travel short distances, less than 3 feet (1 meter) from one person to another.
"A person might also get infected by touching a surface or object that has germs on it and then touching their mouth or nose.
The
online flyer went on to insist that, no, Ebola is not "airborne," but
it also made clear that, yes, it can certainly be spread through
droplets -- the manner in which people riding close to each other on,
say, a NYC subway or in a cab or Uber ride-share car, or in a bowling
alley, might be exposed (Dr. Craig Spencer, the Ebola-infected physician
just back from treating patients in West Africa, did all of these
things).
"Healthcare providers caring for Ebola patients and the
family and friends in close contact with Ebola patients are at the
highest risk of getting sick because they may come in contact with
infected blood or body fluids of sick patients," the online
informational flyer states.
Some experts are already raising eyebrows of suspicion.
"Well, at least CDC
is starting to move the narrative," said Meryl Nass, M.D., an
infectious disease physician, on her blog. "Maybe tomorrow it will be 5
feet. Then 10. Maybe next month they will tell us why all the victims'
possessions are being incinerated and apartments fumigated.
"Just remember: historically, Ebola spread fast in healthcare facilities."
Spread via aerosol more likely in colder environments?
Dr. Nass had earlier focused on anthrax and the dangers it poses.
Also, in 1995, the U.S. Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases reported in the International Journal of Experimental Pathology (see it here[PDF])
that the deadly virus actually spreads faster in colder environs, not
the hot, steamy climate in much of Africa [emphasis added]:
We also demonstrated aerosol transmission of Ebola virus
at lower temperature and humidity than that normally present in
sub-Saharan Africa. Ebola virus sensitivity to the high temperatures and
humidity in the thatched, mud, and [wattle] huts shared
by infected family members in southern Sudan and northern Zaire may have
been a factor limiting aerosol transmission of Ebola virus in the
African epidemics. Both elevated temperature and relative humidity (RH)
have been shown to reduce the aerosol stability of viruses (Songer
1967). Our experiments were conducted at 24°C [75°F] and [such as Ebola], aerosol
transmission is a greater threat in modern hospital or laboratory
settings than it is in the natural climatic ranges of viruses.
But
remember, you can't get the disease sitting next to an infected person
on a bus, in a subway or in a cab. The CDC and the Obama Administration
have said so. - Natural News.
Ebola
can survive on surfaces for almost TWO MONTHS: Tests reveal certain
strains survive for weeks when stored at low temperatures
The left-hand charts plot survival rates of Zaire strain of Ebola (Zebov) and Lake Victoria marburgvirus (Marv) on glass (a) and plastic (b) at
4° (39°F) over 14 days. The right-hand charts reveal the survival rate under the same conditions over 50 days.
Both viruses survived for 26 days, and Ebola was extracted after 50 days
The number of confirmed Ebola cases passed the 10,000 mark over the weekend, despite efforts to curb its spread.
And
while the disease typically dies on surfaces within hours, research has
discovered it can survive for more than seven weeks under certain
conditions.
During tests,
the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) found that the
Zaire strain will live on samples stored on glass at low temperatures
for as long as 50 days.
The tests were initially carried out by researchers from DSTL before the current outbreak, in 2010, but the strain investigated is one of five that is still infecting people globally.
The findings are also quoted in advice from the Public Agency of Health in Canada.
Ebola was discovered in 1976 and is a member of the Filoviridae family.
This
family includes the Zaire ebolavirus (Zebov), which was first
identified in 1976 and is the most virulent; Sudan ebolavirus, (Sebov);
Tai Forest ebolavirus; Ebola-Reston (Rebov), and Bundibugyo ebolavirus
(Bebov) - the most recent species, discovered in 2008.
For
their 2010 paper, ‘The survival of filoviruses in liquids, on solid
substrates and in a dynamic aerosol’, Sophie Smither and her colleagues
tested two particular filoviruses on a variety of surfaces.
Ebola (pictured) was discovered in 1976 and is a member of the Filoviridae family. This family includes the Zaire ebolavirus (Zebov), which was first identified
in 1976 and is the most virulent; Sudan ebolavirus, (Sebov); Tai Forest ebolavirus; Ebola-Reston (Rebov), and Bundibugyo ebolavirus (Bebov)
These were the Lake Victoria marburgvirus (Marv), and Zebov.
Each
was placed into guinea pig tissue samples and tested for their ability
to survive in different liquids, and on different surfaces at different
temperatures, over a 50-day period.
When
stored at 4° (39°F), by day 26, viruses from three of the samples were
successfully extracted; Zebov on the glass sample, and Marv on both
glass and plastic.
By day 50, the only sample from which the virus could be recovered was the Zebov from tissue on glass.
‘This
study has demonstrated that filoviruses are able to survive and remain
infectious, for extended periods when suspended within liquid and dried
onto surfaces,’ explained the researchers.
‘Data
from this study extend the knowledge on the survival of filoviruses
under different conditions and provide a basis with which to inform risk
assessments and manage exposure.’
The
researchers do stress that these tests were carried out in a controlled
lab environment, and not in the real world, but published their
findings to highlight the survival rates.
Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its Ebola guidelines following the rise in infections.
The
centre explained that Ebola is not spread through the air, water, or
food and a person infected with Ebola can’t spread the disease until
symptoms appear.
Ebola was once thought to originated in gorillas, because human outbreaks began after people ate gorilla meat. But scientists now believe that bats
are the natural reservoir for the virus, and that apes and humans catch it from eating food that bats have drooled or defecated on
The time
from exposure to when signs or symptoms of the disease appear, known as
the incubation period, is two to 21 days, but the average time is eight
to 10 days.
Ebola is
spread through direct contact, through broken skin or through eyes,
nose, or mouth, via blood and body fluids of a person who is sick with
Ebola, or objects, such as needles, that have been contaminated with the
blood or body fluids of a person sick with Ebola.
Signs
of Ebola include fever and symptoms like severe headache, muscle pain,
vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, or unexplained bleeding or bruising.
Dr
Tom Fletcher of the Royal Army Medical Corps, who has treated victims
in Guinea and Sierra Leone, says: ‘The initial symptoms are quite
non-specific and similar to a flu-like illness.
'They include fever, headache and lethargy. This progresses to severe diarrhoea and vomiting.’
Officials
have emphasised there is no risk of transmission from people who have
been exposed to the virus, but are not yet showing symptoms.
But,
specialists at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta found that the
virus is present on a patient’s skin after symptoms develop, underlining
how contagious the disease is once symptoms set in.
According
to the CDC, the virus can survive for a few hours on dry surfaces like
doorknobs and countertops and can survive for several days in puddles or
other collections of body fluid.
However, bleach solutions, including household bleach, can kill it.
There is no FDA-approved vaccine available for Ebola, but experimental vaccines and treatments for Ebola are under development.
The CDC advises people wash their hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser, to protect themselves.
It
warns to not touch the blood or body fluids, including urine, faeces,
saliva, vomit, sweat, and semen of people who are sick.
Ebola was once thought to originated in gorillas, because human outbreaks began after people ate gorilla meat.
But
scientists now believe that bats are the natural reservoir for the
virus, and that apes and humans catch it from eating food that bats have
drooled or defecated on, or by coming in contact with surfaces covered
in infected bat droppings and then touching their eyes or mouths.
The
current outbreak seems to have started in a village near Guéckédou,
Guinea, where bat hunting is common, according to Doctors Without
Borders. - Daily Mail.
