Ebola - The New Pandemic - Coming to someplace near you soon?!

[Magda Hassan]

I just heard that a gang of armed men raided an ebola quarantine station in Liberia I think it was. Now all the patients have fled into the surrounding area...which is going to break the quarantine and spread the disease.

[Peter Lemkin]

I just heard that a gang of armed men raided an ebola quarantine station in Liberia I think it was. Now all the patients have fled into the surrounding area...which is going to break the quarantine and spread the disease.

You heard correctly. Amazing how vulnerable uneducated people are. They don't need to be arrested and tried - for they will soon enough die. But now the disease has spread and to people who do NOT want to be located and isolated. This may be the event that starts somewhat uncontrollable spread....I hope not, as in this 'globalized' world, what effects one will shortly effect all. These stupid men allegedly broke in just to steal the matrasses and such....all of which are HIGHLY infected. Stupidity on an almost unbelievable scale!

[Peter Lemkin]

I just heard that a gang of armed men raided an ebola quarantine station in Liberia I think it was. Now all the patients have fled into the surrounding area...which is going to break the quarantine and spread the disease.

You heard correctly. Amazing how vulnerable uneducated people are. They don't need to be arrested and tried - for they will soon enough die. But now the disease has spread and to people who do NOT want to be located and isolated. Should they be identified, they can't be put in the justice system - instead they need to be hospitalized in an isolation ward - likely under guard. Where will one find guards willing to do that? This may be the event that starts somewhat uncontrollable spread....I hope not, as in this 'globalized' world, what effects one will shortly effect all. These stupid men allegedly broke in just to steal the mattresses and such....all of which are HIGHLY infected. Stupidity on an almost unbelievable scale! This petty act of theft endangered the entire World! Now, such isolation units will need armed guards [who will be fearful to even be there.]

It turns out that about 17 patients or suspected Ebola victims ran away out of fear during the attack and have remained away....meaning that not only the 'raiders' but also the missing quarantined patients are out 'there' somewhere spreading the virus to many - most to all unsuspecting of what awaits them and those they in turn contact. A very sad event. All too many Liberians, generally, are not prepared for, and their education and world views are not compatible with germ and virus theory or treatment. They have good reasons to not trust what 'outsiders' and their science say, but here not listening will cause a disaster to worsen. In some ways this is the horrible end game outcome of slavery and colonialism.....but in quite complex ways.

[Carsten Wiethoff]

According to Spiegel-online there was a woman from West Africa who collapsed with Ebola syptoms in a job center in Berlin-Pankow. She was isolated and transferred to the Charite clinic, but who knows, how many people have already been infected. As of now, Ebola has not been confirmed, but certainly is plausible.Some more information from http://www.thelocal.de/20140819/woman-be...-in-berlin :The emergency services cordoned off the premises after the 30-year-old collapsed and later told medics that she had had contact with victims of the deadly disease in her homeland.She was taken for testing at Berlin's Virchow hospital. Doctors later said that Ebola was no longer suspected and that the woman was probably suffering from an intestinal infection, the Berliner Zeitung reported.An initial assessment had determined symptoms of Ebola and the paramedics put in place quarantine measures.Police locked down the building until mid-afternoon while blood tests were carried out. The estimated 600 occupants were then allowed to leave.Update: Ebola tests were negative, the patient is now diagnosed with Malaria.

[Peter Lemkin]

Ebola Cases Reported Up Sharply in Liberia

By RICK GLADSTONESEPT. 8, 2014


The World Health Organization issued a dire Ebola warning on Monday concerning Liberia, saying that the number of afflicted patients was increasing exponentially, that nearly all the country has confirmed cases and that all new treatment facilities were overwhelmed, "pointing to a large but previously invisible caseload."

The description of the crisis in Liberia, which along with Sierra Leone and Guinea are the three West African countries at the center of the worst Ebola outbreak ever recorded, suggested an even more chaotic situation in Liberia than had been thought, with the highest cumulative numbers of reported cases and deaths.

In another ominous piece of news, the organization said one of its own doctors working at a government-run Ebola treatment center in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, would be evacuated after having tested positive for the disease.
Continue reading the main story

Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, which recently treated and discharged two American missionary health workers infected with Ebola, said in a separate announcement that it would be receiving a third patient by air ambulance from West Africa on Tuesday. It was unclear if that patient was the same person, whose identity was not disclosed. At the same time, the authorities in Sierra Leone elaborated on their three-day plan, announced Saturday, for a nationwide curfew this month to allow emergency teams to visit every home in the country of six million from Sept. 19 to 21 to find people infected with Ebola and remove the dead.

Despite concerns among some health advocacy groups that such a measure could backfire, President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone said in a nationwide address that "we have no choice but to go into it with great commitment and determination."

Sierra Leone has more than 1,200 cases and has had about 500 deaths, but in relative terms it is still faring better than Liberia, a country with a smaller population which has been hit with nearly 2,000 cases and more than 1,000 deaths, according to World Health Organization figures.

"Transmission of the Ebola virus in Liberia is already intense and the number of new cases is increasing exponentially," the organization said in a statement on its website. "The number of new cases is moving far faster than the capacity to manage them in Ebola-specific treatment centers."

Of the 152 health care workers in Liberia who have been infected, the statement said, 79 have died.

The paucity of medical personnel in Liberia, with a population of 4.4 million, was a severe problem even before the Ebola outbreak escalated into a crisis. The World Health Organization's statement said that when the outbreak began, Liberia had only one doctor per 100,000 people. "Every infection or death of a doctor or nurse depletes response capacity significantly," said the statement, titled "Situation in Liberia: Nonconventional Interventions Needed."

The organization said its new assessment was the result of a two-week investigation by its own emergency experts collaborating with the government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia.
Continue reading the main story

In Montserrado County, which includes the capital, Monrovia, and is home to one million people, the statement said at least 1,000 beds were urgently needed, as opposed to the 240 now available. Even with 260 more beds planned, the statement said, "only half of the urgent and immediate capacity needs could be met within the new few weeks and months."

The statement singled out the risks in Monrovia's West Point slum, where the authorities imposed an ill-fated Ebola quarantine last month that provoked deadly riots and was lifted after 10 days.

Ebola, a virus first discovered in 1976, causes high fevers, extreme fatigue and internal bleeding, with a fatality rate as high as 90 percent and no known cure. The health organization has estimated that it could cost $600 million to fight the scourge and that 20,000 people could be infected.

At an emergency meeting at the organization's Geneva headquarters last week, experts said two potential vaccines could be available as soon as November and would first be administered to health care workers most exposed to the disease. The experts also recommended expedited treatment of other experimental therapies, including serums derived from the blood of Ebola survivors.

[Peter Lemkin]

Obama to send 3,000 troops to West Africa as Ebola crisis worsens

Obama, who has called the epidemic a national security crisis, has faced criticism for not doing more to stem the outbreak.


The United States announced on Tuesday it will send 3,000 troops to help tackle the Ebola outbreak as part of a ramped-up plan, including a major deployment in Liberia, the country where the epidemic is spiraling fastest out of control.

The US response to the crisis, to be formally unveiled later by President Barack Obama, includes plans to build 17 treatment centers, train thousands of healthcare workers and establish a military control center for coordination, US officials told reporters.

"The goal here is to search American expertise, including our military, logistics and command and control expertise, to try and control this outbreak at its source in west Africa," Lisa Monaco, Obama's White House counter-terrorism adviser, told MSNBC television on Tuesday ahead of the announcement.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it needs foreign medical teams with 500-600 experts as well as at least 10,000 local health workers. The figures may rise if the number of cases increases, as is widely expected.

So far Cuba and China have said they will send medical staff to Sierra Leone. Cuba will deploy 165 people in October while China is sending a mobile laboratory with 59 staff to speed up testing for the disease. It already has 115 staff and a Chinese-funded hospital there.

But Liberia is where the disease appears to be running amok. The WHO has not issued any estimate of cases or deaths in the country since Sept. 5 and its director-general, Margaret Chan, has said there was not a single bed available for Ebola patients there.

Liberia, a nation founded by descendants of freed American slaves, appealed for US help last week.

One UN official in the country has said her colleagues had resorted to telling locals to use plastic bags to fend off the killer virus, due to a lack of other protective equipment.


Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the charity that has been leading the fight against Ebola, said it was overwhelmed and repeated its call for an immediate and massive deployment.

"We are honestly at a loss as to how a single, private NGO is providing the bulk of isolation units and beds," MSF's international president, Joanne Liu, said in a speech to the United Nations in Geneva, adding that the charity was having to turn away sick people in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia.

"Highly infectious people are forced to return home, only to infect others and continue the spread of this deadly virus. All for a lack of international response," she said.

Obama, who has called the epidemic a national security crisis, has faced criticism for not doing more to stem the outbreak. The WHO said last week Ebola had killed more than 2,400 people out of 4,784 cases in west Africa.

U.S. officials stressed it was very unlikely the Ebola crisis could come to the United States. Measures were being taken to screen passengers flying out of the region, they said, and protocols were in place to isolate and treat anyone who arrived in the United States showing symptoms of the disease.

'More effective'

The president will visit the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Tuesday to show his commitment. The stepped-up effort he will announce includes 3,000 military troops and a joint forces command center in Monrovia to coordinate efforts with the US government and other international partners.

The plan will "ensure that the entire international response effort is more effective and helps to ... turn the tide in this crisis," a senior administration official told reporters on Monday, ahead of the president's trip.

"The significant expansion that the president will detail ... really represents ... areas where the US military will bring unique capabilities that we believe will improve the effectiveness of the entire global response," he said.

The treatment centers will have 100 beds each and be built as soon as possible, another official said.

The US plan also focuses on training. A site will be established where military medical personnel will teach some 500 healthcare workers per week for six months or longer how to provide care to Ebola patients, officials said.

The Obama administration has requested an additional $88 million from Congress to fight Ebola, including $58 million to speed production of Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc's experimental antiviral drug ZMapp and two Ebola vaccine candidates.

Officials said the US Department of Defense had sought to reallocate $500 million in funds from fiscal 2014 to help cover the costs of the humanitarian mission.

The US Agency for International Development will also support a program to distribute protection kits with sanitizers and medical supplies to 400,000 vulnerable households in Liberia.

[Peter Lemkin]

Responding to Ebola: Cuba Sees a Crisis, and Sends Docs; The US Sees an Opportunity and Sends Troops


By Dave Lindorff


How's this for a juxtaposition on how nations respond to a global health catastrophe. Check out these two headlines from yesterday's news:

Cuba Sends Doctors to Ebola Areas

US to Deploy 3000 Troops as Ebola Crisis Worsens

Reading these stories, which ran in, respectively, the BBC and Reuters, one learns that the Cuban government, which runs a small financially hobbled island nation of 11 million people, with a national budget of $50 billion, Gross Domestic Product of 121 billion and per capita GDP of just over $10,000, is dispatching 165 medical personnel to Africa to regions where there are ebola outbreaks, while the US, the world's wealthiest nation, with a population of close to 320 million, a national budget of $3.77 trillion, GDP of $17 trillion, and per capita GDP of over $53,000, is sending troops -- $3000 of them-- to "fight" the ebola epidemic.



Okay, I understand that these troops are supposedly going to be "overseeing" construction of treatment centers, but let's get serious. With an epidemic raging through Africa, where some of the poorest nations in the world are located, what is needed right now are not new structures. Tent facilities would be fine for treating people in this kind of a crisis. What is needed is medical personnel. The important line in the Reuters article about the US "aid" plan, though is that the US troops will

..."establish a military control center for coordination, U.S. officials told reporters.

"The goal here is to search American expertise, including our military, logistics and command and control expertise, to try and control this outbreak at its source in west Africa," Lisa Monaco, Obama's White House counter-terrorism adviser, told MSNBC television on Tuesday ahead of the announcement.

Cuba apparently does not feel that it needs to establish a military control center to dispatch its doctors and nurses, nor does it feel that "military, logistics and command and control expertise" are what are needed.

Anyone who thinks this dispatching of US military personnel to Africa is about combating a plague is living in a fantasy world. This is about projecting US military power further into Africa, which has already been a goal of the Obama administration, anxious to prevent China from gaining control over African mineral resources, and to control them for US exploitation.

Ebola, to the US, is both an opportunity to gain a bigger foothold in Africa, and a danger, in terms of the disease spreading to the US.

Cuba, whose population does not include many tourists, and which is not a destination for many African visitors, either, is sending its medical personnel to Africa not to gain control of Africa's resources, or to help it establish trade relations with Africa. It has no interest or hope of becoming a major player in the global contest for influence the way the US, China or Germany might. It is sending its medical personnel because they are needed, much as it did almost immediately following the earthquake in Haiti, where the US also responded not with medical aid but with troops. (The US Navy was dispatched, after considerable delay, and when US forces finally arrived, they found some 300 Cuban doctors and nurses who had already managed to reopen the undamaged portion of a Port-au-Prince Hospital and to set up tent hospitals, before the first US doctor even set foot in Haiti.)

This latest international crisis, which promises to worsen as the ebola virus spreads further in Africa and, inevitably, moves to other continents, highlights the twisted nature of the United States, which increasingly sees all international issues through a military lens, and every crisis as requiring a military response.

The kindest way to look at this would be to say that the US medical "system," if it can even be called anything so organized, is so badly funded and so based upon the profit motive, that it is incapable of dispatching hundreds of skilled doctors to Africa to help fight the ravages of a plague like ebola. People in the US are seriously underserved by primary care physicians, the very doctors who are needed when it comes to combating the spread of disease. Instead, we in the US have all kinds of high-priced specialists in everything from dermatology and liposuction to cancer specialists who help us combat the diseases caused by our increasingly toxic environment and our chemical-laced foods.

Cuba, on the other hand, despite the nation's poverty (the result, primarily, of over a half century embargo enforced by the US ever since a leftist rebel movement led by Fidel Castro ousted the colonial government of Fulgencio Batista), has a first-rate medical system composed mostly of those very primary care physicians now needed so badly in Africa.

Let's not kid ourselves either. There will surely be some military medical personnel among these dispatched soldiers but the US is not sending 3000 troops to Africa as an act of charity. It's safe to say that once those non-medical troops get their "command and control" center established in Africa. they will stay there. Ebola, to the Pentagon and the US State Department, is not a crisis, it is an opportunity, just as the earthquake in Haiti was an opportunity, not a crisis, and, I might add, just as Hurricane Katrina was an opportunity, not a crisis -- an opportunity to level much of black New Orleans and to remake the city as a white, middle-class town.

[Magda Hassan]

Cuba sends medical teams to any crisis where they can be of use as long as the country is happy to receive them. And where ever they go there is a group of Americans government people and presumably CIA types to try and bribe them to come to live in the US. When the Cubans were in Pakistan a few years ago after the major earthquake the US was offering $100,000 and a car. Which might seem like a large amount of money at first glance but would go pretty quickly when housing is paid for and health insurance and the high cost of living in the US generally. Speaking to Cuban people who have made the mistake of going to the US they have not ended up in the good jobs they were told they would get. Mostly janitor type jobs. They are threatened by the Cuban mafia there if they start complaining. It is a tactic of the US to debase and undermine the social, cultural and educational resources of Cuba. Fortunately most are highly committed professionals and don't fall for it. They certainly don't need the military base to work from like the US seems to. They live in the same conditions as the people. Usually tents or what ever is available. They are very resourceful. They offered and were on standby to help when Katrina happened but were told their services were not needed.

[Peter Lemkin]

Liberia from its inception - as a White-instigated plan to 'repatriate' African slaves - has LONG been a US client state and dependent on US aid. Of course, it was run by a few US corporations [Firestone Rubber and Tire, and an-ever-changing-named iron mining company], complete with CIA/USAID/et al. spies and black operatives within and within the government. We supported and set up most all of the various dictators they've had - they were 'our' dictators. Liberia is one of the World's poorest countries with some of the greatest lack of infrastructure - especially medical and educational. A deadly combination for the Ebola Epidemic. It is now assumed that AT LEAST several tens of thousands will die of this disease soon...and if not 'addressed' SOON with lots of money and help by the developed countries - hundreds of thousands - or the entire populations of many countries.

[Drew Phipps]

I grew up across the street from a nice Cuban family who fled Castro in a rowboat. The father was an anesthesiologist and seemed happy to be here, as did the rest of the family. That was the 60's, I can't speak to conditions now for new arrivals.