EBOLA MAIN EBOLA DISCUSSION THREAD 12/17/14 to 12/31/14

[Plain Jane]

Attkinsin may also be seeing reports like this. H/T Freerepublic.com


http://shtfdashboard.com/ebola-air-ambulance-scheduled-to-leave-portugal-goes-to-andrews-afb/

Ebola Air Ambulance Scheduled to Leave Portugal, Goes to Andrews AFB
0
BY NANCY ON DECEMBER 21, 2014EBOLA ALERTS

A few days ago, I reported that the Ebola air ambulance (one of them) was en route to the Canary islands. Today, we find that the plane somehow jumped over to Portugal without filing a flight plan, and is now scheduled to arrive at Joint Base Andrews.
The plane’s twin, N173PA, has also visited the same airport in Portugal in recent weeks.

If you recall, there’s extensive information on other websites about the history and nature of these two very special planes (this is an especially thorough article).And sometimes, we find out who the passenger(s) were, and sometimes not. For instance, the nurse who had exposure to Ebola in West Africa was recently delivered to Bethesda, but was released because Ebola was never found in her system.

 

[Countrymouse]

Pixie is core to the pandemic information gathering process. She should have her own show. I would like to know where she went.

She is smart enough to know now is a good time to go dark anyway.

Anyone know who "IS" in charge of PFI now?

Maybe if they know how many people are walking away from their site due to their booting Pixie they'll let her back in.

OR --- if anyone DOES know WHERE she's gone, PLEASE LET US KNOW!!!!

 

[BREWER]

Well, one mystery solved....is that the Liberian coastline? LOL

Posted for fair use and discussion.
http://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2014/12/paradise-bitchez.html

Monday, December 22, 2014
Paradise, Bitchez


For the first time in two decades, I got the holidays off for personal vacation. (Seniority, or the gods of random fortune, thank you).

Consequently, by the time this goes up, I'm sitting on a beach much like this one.
Just because.

Happy Holidays, &c.

Back after New Year's.

Posted by Aesop at 2:46 PM
Labels: odyssey

 

[Oreally]

Anyone know who "IS" in charge of PFI now?
Maybe if they know how many people are walking away from their site due to their booting Pixie they'll let her back in.

OR --- if anyone DOES know WHERE she's gone, PLEASE LET US KNOW!!!!

what i've gotten is that she is sorely huffd, and won't return under any circumstances. knowing how she thinks i am also thinking that is the last we may hear from her.

 

[Be Well]

Anyone know who "IS" in charge of PFI now?

Maybe if they know how many people are walking away from their site due to their booting Pixie they'll let her back in.

OR --- if anyone DOES know WHERE she's gone, PLEASE LET US KNOW!!!!

Pixie, although very knowledgeable and intelligent, became aggressively negative towards enough members there that the site was getting damaged. Quite a few members left due to her unhinged harrassement.

PM me if anyone doubts this. I was a member there since 2006 when it first started; I just have been too busy to go lately but I still do check it out, used to be more active there.

 

[Countrymouse]

Pixie, although very knowledgeable and intelligent, became aggressively negative towards enough members there that the site was getting damaged. Quite a few members left due to her unhinged harrassement.

PM me if anyone doubts this. I was a member there since 2006 when it first started; I just have been too busy to go lately but I still do check it out, used to be more active there.

Ok. I did see some of that---but it was mostly directed (I 'thought') at fools who think the whole ebola thing is a farce, and treat it lightly.

Knowing how passionate she is about the issue, I can see how that would be a match to gunpowder situation.

 

[Doomer Doug]

Dr. Frieman of CDC spews his foolishness. The flu forum is alive and well.



http://fluboard.rhizalabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13168sigh



Post subject: Ebola Continues To Spread In West Africa - CDC
PostPosted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 4:30 pm



CDC follow up to presser notes that Ebola continues to spread in west Africa.For Immediate Release
Monday, December 22, 2014

Contact: CDC Media Relations
(404) 639-3286

Ebola epidemic continues to spread, requiring intensified effort
in the three affected West African countries
CDC Director sees some promising developments but uneven progress,
looming risks in each affected nation


After more than a year of Ebola transmission in Guinea and more than 7 months of transmission in Liberia and Sierra Leone, there is still much to be done to stop the world’s first Ebola epidemic, CDC director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H reported from his second visit to the three affected nations.

Dr. Frieden yesterday returned from West Africa, where he spoke with patients and staff; met with many of CDC’s 170 staff working in each of the countries; and met with the presidents, health ministers, and Ebola leadership of each country. He described the situation as both inspiring and sobering.

“It is inspiring to see how much better the response has become in the past two months, how much international commitment there is, and, most importantly, how hard people from each of the three countries are working to stop Ebola,” Dr. Frieden said. “But it is sobering that Ebola continues to spread rapidly in Sierra Leone and that in parts of Monrovia and Conakry Ebola is spreading unabated. Improvements in contact tracing are urgently needed.”

At a telebriefing held to discuss the results of his trip to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, Dr. Frieden described progress in some areas but continued growth in Ebola cases in other areas. Lingering unmet needs throughout the region continue to challenge response efforts.

“In Liberia, the outbreak has slowed dramatically and at the moment the country has the upper hand against the virus, in part due to improvements in access to Ebola Treatment Units and Community Care Centers, safe burials, and community engagement,” Dr. Frieden said. “But the outbreak continues to surge in Sierra Leone, and there has been a troubling spread in Guinea’s capitol city. We’ve got a long way to go and this is no time to relax our grip on the response.”

During his week in West Africa, Dr. Frieden witnessed the hard work and expertise of the more than150 CDC experts who are in the field each day, including running laboratories for Ebola testing, tracking cases and contacts, advising hospitals on infection control practices, training front-line health workers, and developing health messages to encourage changes in the type of behaviors contributing to virus spread.

“CDC staff are committed to this cause because they understand the urgency in stamping out Ebola in West Africa. I am inspired by their dedication,” Dr. Frieden said. “Stopping this outbreak at its source in West Africa is essential in order to protect Americans. That is why CDC is on the ground,” Dr. Frieden said.

The recent approval of $1.2 billion to strengthen international response and preparedness, as well as $571 billion for domestic preparedness, is crucial to stop Ebola and improve the United States’ ability to quickly respond to health threats like Ebola in the future.

 

[Doomer Doug]

WHO 12-22 Ebola Update

http://fluboard.rhizalabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13165



WHO Issues December 22 Ebola Update




WHO Issues December 22 Ebola Update
http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.ebola ... 22?lang=en

_________________

 

[Be Well]

Ok. I did see some of that---but it was mostly directed (I 'thought') at fools who think the whole ebola thing is a farce, and treat it lightly.

Knowing how passionate she is about the issue, I can see how that would be a match to gunpowder situation.

Sadly, it was directed at good solid posters.

 

[BREWER]

Posted for fair use and discussion. Good grief!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...a9f26c-8b8e-11e4-8ff4-fb93129c9c8b_story.html

CDC reports potential Ebola exposure in Atlanta lab

Experiments with deadly viruses such as Ebola have to be performed in biosafety level or BSL-4 laboratories, for the highest level on containment. (Tim Brakemeier/AFP/Getty Images)
By Lena H. Sun and Joel Achenbach December 24 at 5:33 PM

One scientist may have been exposed to the Ebola virus and as many as a dozen others are being assessed for potential exposure at a lab of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, agency officials said Wednesday.

The potential exposure took place Monday when scientists conducting research on the virus at a high-security lab mistakenly transferred a sample containing the potentially infectious virus to another CDC lab, also in Atlanta on the CDC campus.

The technician has no symptoms of illness and is being monitored for 21 days. Agency officials said others who entered the lab have been contacted, and based on assessments, it’s likely no one else was exposed. They said the number of people who entered the lab could be as many as a dozen but more likely far fewer.

Agency officials said there was no possible exposure outside the secure laboratory at CDC and no exposure or risk to the public. The mistake took place Monday afternoon and was discovered by laboratory scientists Tuesday; it was reported to leadership within an hour of the discovery.

The event is under internal investigation by the CDC, and it was reported to Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell and to the program that has oversight over “select agents” such as Ebola and anthrax.
View Graphic
This is the largest outbreak of the Ebola virus in history.

The accident comes after a series of incidents earlier this summer involving the mishandling of dangerous pathogens at the nation’s labs, including one in June at a CDC lab that potentially exposed dozens of employees to live anthrax because employees failed to properly inactivate the anthrax when transferring samples.

“I am troubled by this incident in our Ebola research laboratory in Atlanta,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden in a statement. “We are monitoring the health of one technician who could possibly have been exposed and I have directed that there be a full review of every aspect of the incident and that CDC take all necessary measures. Thousands of laboratory scientists in more than 150 labs throughout CDC have taken extraordinary steps in recent months to improve safety. No risk to staff is acceptable, and our efforts to improve lab safety are essential — the safety of our employees is our highest priority.”

The lab where Monday’s potential exposure occurred was decontaminated and the material destroyed as a routine procedure before the error was identified. The laboratory was decontaminated for a second time and is now closed, and transfers from the high-security lab have stopped while the review is taking place.

The high-security lab where the mistakes were made also performs diagnostic tests for Ebola, and has conducted hundreds of those tests since July. Stuart Nichol, a top CDC official, said diagnostic testing for Ebola will be moved to a different lab.

No materials will be transferred from the high-security lab, pending an internal investigation.

The CDC officials said two experienced technicians made mistakes at the high-security lab, known as a BSL-4 lab. One technician mistakenly put samples of material that could have contained live Ebola virus into the equivalent of the lab’s out basket, for transfer to the second lab, a BSL-2 lab. That material should have remained and been stored in a freezer.

The second mistake came on the receiving end: The technician in the BSL-2 lab should have recognized, via the color coding on the test tubes, that this was material that should have stayed at Level 4. That second technician is the person who could have exposed, and is now in the 21-day monitoring period, agency spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said.

The CDC has technologically advanced biosafety laboratories in which dangerous pathogens such as Ebola can be handled by investigators who wear elaborate biohazard suits that keep them from being exposed. But what happened this week illustrates the impossibility of eliminating human error from even a state-of-the-art facility.

The mistake was discovered when workers looked in the freezer and saw material that was supposed to be sent down the hall for a genetic analysis. They realized the samples had been switched.

This latest incident comes at a time when the CDC is taking a leading role to fight the epidemic that has killed more than 7,500 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and to improve domestic preparedness against Ebola. More than 170 CDC infectious disease specialists are in West Africa. Frieden returned late Saturday night from his second trip to the region.

After the summer’s incidents, the CDC temporarily banned transfer of all biological materials from its labs, conducted a wide-ranging safety review, appointed a new director of lab safety, and created an outside lab safety advisory group. The CDC labs conduct some of the world’s most sophisticated research into infectious disease.

At hearings before Congress, Frieden vowed to improve the agency’s overall safety culture as well as put in place stronger oversight measures.

In the June anthrax incident involving live anthrax, more than 80 workers may have been exposed after employees unknowingly sent samples of the bacterium from one CDC lab to other CDC labs. During the anthrax investigation, agency officials learned about several other instances where deadly pathogens had been improperly sent to other laboratories over the past decade.

No one became infected or fell ill in those incidents, and all the organisms were safely disposed of, officials said.

The most serious of those previously undisclosed incidents took place in March, when a CDC lab in Atlanta sent a sample of flu virus contaminated with the deadly H5N1 influenza virus, a much-feared bird flu strain, to a U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory in Athens, Ga. CDC staff members failed to report the incident to top leaders at the time.

Biosafety experts have criticized the lack of coordination and oversight at laboratories inside and outside the federal government that conduct research on microbes that could be used as bioterrorism agents.

Michael Osterholm, director of Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota said:

“Such events like this are absolutely unacceptable even once. When they occur multiple times you have to ask yourself what systems are in place to prevent this from happening.”

“To err is to be human. We expect that to happen in any kind of high tech setting. So what you do is build in a set of procedures and checks and balances. They need to be in place to account for human error.”

Read more:

CDC: 75 scientists may have been exposed to anthrax

Smallpox vials found in storage room of NIH campus

CDC says it improperly sent dangerous pathogens

 

[BREWER]

Posted for fair use and discussion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/h...lab-may-have-exposed-technician-to-virus.html

C.D.C. Ebola Error in Lab May Have Exposed Technician to Virus
By DENISE GRADY and DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.DEC. 24, 2014

A laboratory mistake at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may have exposed a technician to the deadly Ebola virus, federal officials said on Wednesday. The technician will be monitored for signs of infection for 21 days, the incubation period of the disease. A small number of other employees, fewer than a dozen, who entered a lab where the mistake occurred will also be assessed for exposure.

The error occurred on Monday when a high-security lab at the C.D.C. in Atlanta, working with Ebola virus from the epidemic in West Africa, sent samples that should have been inactivated to another C.D.C. laboratory, which was down the hall. But the lab sent out the wrong samples, ones that had not been inactivated and that may have contained the live virus. The second lab was not equipped to handle the live virus. The technician who worked with the samples wore gloves and a gown, but no mask, and may have been exposed.

The error was discovered on Tuesday.

The accident is especially troubling because dangerous samples of anthrax and flu were mishandled at the C.D.C. just months ago, eroding confidence in an agency that has long been one of the most respected scientific research centers in the world. The C.D.C. promised last summer to improve its safety procedures.
Photo
Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is investigating a laboratory mistake that has potentially exposed workers to the Ebola virus. Credit Shawn Thew/European Pressphoto Agency

“I’m working on it until the issue is resolved,” the agency’s director, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, said in an interview in July.

Under harsh questioning from members of Congress that month, Dr. Frieden admitted that the errors at C.D.C. labs had not been isolated mishaps, but rather part of a broad pattern of unsafe practices. He called one of the episodes a “tipping point” that had forced agency officials to realize they needed to take action.

In that incident, in June, C.D.C. scientists sent anthrax samples, supposedly killed, to laboratories that were not equipped to handle dangerous pathogens. But the bacteria turned out to be live, because a deactivating technique too weak to wipe out anthrax spores had been used. Dozens of employees were offered antibiotics and anthrax vaccine; none became infected.

The head of the laboratory that shipped the bacteria resigned a few weeks after the mistakes came to light. Although C.D.C. officials gave no reason for his resignation and said it was voluntary, they had previously indicated that they feared workers in that laboratory had grown careless because of lax supervision.

 

[BREWER]

Posted for fair use and discussion.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/24/ebola-testing-kit-appoved-by-fda/?page=all#pagebreak

FDA approves kit to test blood for Ebola
World mortality rates improving..Huh?

By Kellan Howell - The Washington Times - Wednesday, December 24, 2014

The Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency approval for a new diagnostic kit to test blood for the deadly Ebola virus, even as doctors are reporting a survival rate in one hard-hit area that has climbed to about 70 percent.

The FDA announced the move Wednesday after posting the approval on its website a day earlier. It’s the latest in a series of emergency authorizations after the federal government declared that the ongoing health crisis warranted the use of testing methods that have not cleared the ordinary regulatory approval process.

It also came as officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that a technician working in a secure Atlanta laboratory may have come into contact with a small amount of a live virus that was part of an Ebola experiment.

CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said in an email that the worker was being monitored for possible exposure.

The blood-testing kits — part of an effort to be more proactive than responsive in the handling of the disease — earned the FDA’s seventh emergency authorization since October after Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell in August declared that circumstances exist justifying the use for unapproved diagnostics to detect the Ebola virus.

The justification was based on a 2006 determination by then-Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that the Ebola virus presents a material threat against the United States population sufficient to affect national security.

The United States has seen four confirmed cases of the virus so far — three health care workers and one man, Thomas Eric Duncan, who died in Texas after contracting the virus in Liberia.

On Wednesday, Liberia’s U.N. peacekeeping mission reported its fourth Ebola case. A U.N. spokesman said in a statement that the infected worker was from Liberia and was transferred to an Ebola treatment unit.

The statement said the mission was taking “all necessary measures to mitigate any possible further transmission — both within the mission and beyond.”

Two U.N. staffers who contracted the disease have died.

The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa was the largest outbreak of the disease in history, killing over 7,500 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to figures released Wednesday by the CDC.

But a year after the start of the outbreak, doctors are reporting signs of improvement, with survival rates in Sierra Leone dramatically increasing. According to a letter written by several doctors published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine, about 70 percent of Ebola patients are surviving the virus despite the absence of a vaccine.

In the letter, doctors describe 581 cases they dealt with at an Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, in late September. About 31 percent of the patients died, including 38 people who were dead upon arrival. But even those numbers appear to be improving. Among patients admitted since Nov. 5, mortality rate was less than 24 percent.

The figures compare to a 74 percent death rate for 106 patients who were treated in the eastern Sierra Leone town of Kenema in May and June, when some health workers were on strike and response to the outbreak was in crisis mode.

The spread of the outbreak has slowed significantly, according to the CDC, which gave a worst-case scenario estimate of as many as 1.4 million cases by mid-January if the region did not receive more aid. Last month, the agency said that prediction would not happen.

“There’s been real momentum and real progress,” CDC Director Thomas Frieden said Monday after his second trip to Ebola-stricken countries. “The challenge is not to let up.”

• This article is based in part on wire service reports.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.gizmag.com/ebola-protective-suit-johns-hopkins/35314/

Johns Hopkins develops safer suit for Ebola workers

By David Szondy
December 21, 2014

The Johns Hopkins Ebola suit is color coded to show what surfaces are safe to touch when removing it
Image Gallery (4 images)

For doctors, nurses, soldiers, and other responders fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, currently available protective suits are both too hot to wear in the tropics and often a source of contagion when they're being taken off. To make moving and treating patients safer, Johns Hopkins University, along with international health affiliate Jhpiego and other partners, is developing a new anti-contamination suit for health care workers that is both cooler to wear and easier to remove.

The Johns Hopkins Ebola suit includes an anti-fog breathing mask
Diagram of the Johns Hopkins Ebola suit
Removing the Johns Hopkins Ebola suit

With the World Health Organization confirming over 7,000 deaths and over 19,000 cases in Guinea, Sierra Leone,and Liberia alone, the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa is one of today's major health concerns. Plastic suits designed to protect health workers against the disease have to be proof against bodily fluids, but they also end up being insufferably hot and damp inside, which means that workers can only wear them for a couple of hours at a time. Worse, removing the suits without special decontamination suites runs the risk of coming into contact with the very fluids the suit was meant to protect against.

Developed in only two months after what Johns Hopkins describes as a weekend-long design brainstorming event in October, the new prototype anti-contamination suit was created by a team of engineers, medical experts, students, and volunteers, as well as non-profit Jhpiego and other partners. The brief was to make a suit that was simple in design, cheap to produce, effective against Ebola contamination, able to keep the wearer cool, and easy to remove with minimum contact between the wearer and the suit.

The Johns Hopkins Ebola suit includes an anti-fog breathing mask

The bright yellow suit features a large, clear visor that's integrated into the built-in hood. But the color is about more than aesthetics. It's a major safety feature because the inside of the suit is a distinctly different color to tell the wearer what bits are safe to touch when taking it off.

For sealing the suit, there's a rear zip with baffles for further protection and break-away pull tabs for opening it. The sleeves include fingerless glove liners to make removing the outer gloves easier, and there are tabs on the wrists. The idea is that pulling the suit off is like a snake shedding its skin. The back pops open, the wearer bends over and steps on the tabs, then stands up as the suit sloughs away.

The suit uses technology originally designed by Johns Hopkins to keep cancer patients comfortable. There are battery-powered air vents in the hood that cools and dehumidifies the incoming air, and the hood has a face mask that directs warm, moist air out as the wearer exhales, so the interior remains dry. To keep the new suit in line with those now in use, each one is targeted to cost about US$30.

Removing the Johns Hopkins Ebola suit

The Johns Hopkins suit is one of five designs out of 1,500 entries to win funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of its Fighting Ebola: A Grand Challenge for Development competition, the results of which were announced on December 12. Johns Hopkins says that the exact amount of the award has yet to be determined, but the team will use it to continue development. The team hopes to have an improved version of the suit ready for mass production by April.

"The funding from USAID will support moving our concepts into fully functional prototypes," says Youseph Yazdi, executive director of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design. "This will allow the team to do more detailed evaluations of our concepts, and quickly move to evaluations in the field. By the end of the funded timeline, we will have a product design that is ready to be taken up by a major manufacturer, or several, for large-scale production and distribution. Our goal is to follow the fastest path to get these concepts into the field and having an impact."

The video below outlines the features of the Johns Hopkins suit.

Source: Johns Hopkins University

 

[almost ready]

There is an aggressive effort now that the ebola czar has shut down the MSM reporting on Ebola, to characterize it as a "scam", and fraud.

Nonsense. It's still on track, by the WHO's own numbers. A little ahead of my calculations, in fact.

On another forum I have seen, this week, three different scornful threads started all on page one, all stomping that fake Ebola scare. Hah!!

 

[BREWER]

Posted for fair use and discussion.
http://nypost.com/2014/12/23/man-exhibiting-ebola-like-symptoms-rushed-to-bellevue/

Man exhibiting Ebola-like symptoms rushed to Bellevue
By Jamie Schram and Christina Monello

December 23, 2014 | 4:04pm

A man suffering from Ebola-like symptoms was rushed from an Upper West Side apartment building to Bellevue Hospital on Tuesday — but officials determined that he did not have the disease, authorities said.

The patient recently returned from Liberia and started suffering symptoms such as high fever Saturday night, sources said.

Hazmat, police officers, EMS and fire officials helped transport the man from the building at 201 W. 70th St. near Amsterdam Avenue just before noon, FDNY said.

The patient was given a blood test at Bellevue and it showed negative for Ebola.

He was given an alternative diagnosis and is currently in critical condition.

No doubt a 'Nobola' diagnosis..and this story like so many before it and many yet to come will disappear down the memory hole.

 

[BREWER]

There is an aggressive effort now that the ebola czar has shut down the MSM reporting on Ebola, to characterize it as a "scam", and fraud.

Nonsense. It's still on track, by the WHO's own numbers. A little ahead of my calculations, in fact.

On another forum I have seen, this week, three different scornful threads started all on page one, all stomping that fake Ebola scare. Hah!!

Greetings, Almost Ready: Was this one of the articles? If not would you post the links to those stories? Thanking you in advance.
Merry Christmas. Take care. BREWER

Posted for fair use and discussion.
http://nypost.com/2014/12/14/the-great-ebola-lie-outbreak-hyped-for-funding-media-attention/

The great Ebola lie — Outbreak hyped for funding & media attention

By Michael Fumento

December 14, 2014 | 11:48pm
Modal Trigger
The great Ebola lie — Outbreak hyped for funding & media attention
Photo: Getty Images

The current Ebola outbreak is “the most severe, acute health emergency seen in modern times,” Ian Smith, the World Health Organization’s executive director, announced at a mid-October press conference.

Huh? Worse than the “Spanish flu” of 1918-19? Extrapolated to today’s world population, that would mean 60 million to 150 million deaths. Worse than AIDS, with its 35 million deaths?

But the media weren’t asking skeptical questions. The next day, reporting on a separate WHO conference, a New York Times headline blared: “New Ebola Cases May Soon Reach 10,000 a Week, Officials Predict.”

The “soon” in that warning from the WHO’s Bruce Aylward was “by the first week in December.”

Well, the WHO has now reported cases for that period. Total: 529. It was no fluke; the average over the last three weeks was 440.

You’ve been lied to, folks. For months.

In fact, the Ebola epidemic peaked a full month before those press conferences, in mid-September. Says who? The WHO. In its data, which is available to anybody with Internet access.

It peaked at the same time the WHO was demanding a billion dollars to prevent the epidemic from getting far worse — and before President Obama pledged $1.26 billion and sent in the troops and the European Union pledged another $1.26 billion. In fact, before almost any outside intervention.

The political chiefs at the WHO — and at our own Centers for Disease Control — were promoting hysteria in bids for more funding. They either refused to look for the facts, or ignored them.

The simple truth is this: Epidemics have been peaking and disappearing throughout history, long before there were health organizations, vaccines or effective treatments. Ebola was no different.

Where did the 10,000 cases figure come from? Apparently from the imagination of Aylward, the WHO’s Ebola head, who produced it from nowhere at that press conference.

The WHO never published any support for Aylward’s estimate, but merely rallied around him afterward. (When I asked about the basis of the number, the WHO gave me a bizarre explanation that combined cumulative cases with new ones.)

Throughout the epidemic, health agencies and other scientists released outrageous estimates that the media faithfully relayed — and faithfully forgot by the time the “warnings” proved false.

In August, the WHO predicted over 20,000 cases by Oct. 2. By early October, the media were repeating new WHO warnings without noting that the agency’s immediate-prior warnings had already proved false.

Also in August, the Centers for Disease Control published an astounding estimate of 540,000 to 1.4 million cases by Jan. 20. For the record, with 36 days to go before Jan. 20, total cases reported have been fewer than 19,000.

I seem to be the only one who publicly challenged these numbers at the time the WHO and the CDC issued them.

The World Bank added its two cents — and then some. It predicted Ebola could cost West Africa $36.2 billion. I wrote it was utter nonsense, and at least the bank has admitted it was wrong: Its estimate is now down to $3 billion to $4 billion.

Then there was Laurie Garrett, a Council on Foreign Relations fellow, who has grotesquely exaggerated every major epidemic since the 1996 Ebola outbreak. (Her serial sensationalism has reaped great rewards: She’s the only writer ever awarded all three of the big “Ps” of journalism: the Pulitzer, the Polk and the Peabody.)

“Wake up, fools,” Garrett wrote in August. “What’s going on in West Africa now [is the] movie ‘Contagion,’ ” — where the death toll hit 26 million.

All the hysteria led to fears, some understandable and others just hysterical, about Ebola coming here — which I debunked in my Aug. 5 Ebola column in The Post, “Why Ebola’s Nothing To Worry About.”

That prompted the American Council on Science and Health to label me a “know-nothing,” though I’ve had an impeccable track record on debunking disease-outbreak hysteria since AIDS in 1987. (This accuracy may explain the lack of “Ps” on my shelf.)

Don’t get me wrong: Our troops and folks like Doctors Without Borders have done great good in the face of this epidemic.

But it’s crazy to throw billions more at Ebola, as Congress seems poised to do ($5 billion!), when the real need is to combat less “glamorous” endemic diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and childhood diarrhea — each of which kills more people every few days than have died of Ebola during the entire outbreak.

When the WHO finally admits that the epidemic never reached the levels the WHO had predicted, it will surely claim some credit for the lower numbers — suggesting that quick and dramatic action staved off disaster.

The global health bureaucrats certainly won’t admit that their own numbers show that the epidemic peaked before the WHO had even begun to act.

They’ve gotten away with it time and again. With AIDS, SARS, avian flu, swine flu and two past Ebola hysterias.

And they’ll keep repeating this Chicken Little game as long as the media keep falling for it and the politicians keep rewarding it with billions of dollars.

Michael Fumento is a journalist and attorney who regularly contributes to Forbes and the French science journal Inference. fumento@gmail.com

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.postzambia.com/news.php?id=4826

Sierra Leone jails chief for not reporting Ebola cases
By AFP | Updated: 25 Dec,2014 ,20:10:56 | 4495 Views | 0 Comments -

A village chief has become the first person in Sierra Leone to be jailed under laws aimed at preventing the spread of the Ebola virus, court officials and lawyers said on Tuesday.

Amadu Kargbo was sentenced to six months in jail by a court in the southwestern city of Moyamba for secretly burying the dead and failing to report a patient, court official Foday Fofanah told AFP.

He was also fined one million leones ($235) and ordered to spend 21 days in quarantine before going to jail.

Lawyers in the capital Freetown said it was the first known conviction under the country’s Ebola laws. Fofanah said the chief had pleaded guilty to secretly burying his daughter, who had died of Ebola.

He added that Kargbo’s wife had also died after attending the funeral of another family member, although it was not clear if any of the charges related to his wife’s death and burial.

Ebola has killed more than 7,500 people, almost all of them in west Africa and Sierra Leone recently overtook Liberia as the country with the highest number of Ebola infections.

Authorities have banned public gatherings as well as New Year celebrations as part of sweeping efforts to stem the spread of the virus.

 

[BREWER]

Posted for fair use and discussion.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-25/cdc-admits-its-researchers-were-exposed-ebola

CDC Admits Its Researchers Were Exposed To Ebola Several Days Ago
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2014 08:53 -0500


Somehow news about Ebola in the US managed to get past the Ron Klain media gauntlet.

Two months after stocks would tumble on the merest hint of an Ebola case in the US - a threat that has now largely been forgotten - the WaPo reports that researchers studying Ebola in a highly secure laboratory "mistakenly" allowed potentially lethal samples of the virus to be handled in a much less secure laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, agency officials said Wednesday.

As a result, one technician in the second laboratory may have been exposed to the virus and about a dozen other people have been assessed after entering the facility unaware that potentially hazardous samples of Ebola had been handled there.

The "discovery" did not take place half a year ago when nobody had any idea how extensive the Ebola epidemic would be: it took place three days ago, on Monday afternoon. It was discovered by laboratory scientists Tuesday and within an hour reported to agency leaders.

And now that the most sophisticated disaease fighting agency in the US was exposed, literally and metaphorically, the damage control is unleashed: "At this time, we know of only the one potential exposure,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a telephone interview.

"The error, which is under internal investigation, was reported to Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell and to a program that has oversight over pathogens such as Ebola and anthrax."

The technician has no symptoms of illness and is being monitored for 21 days. Agency officials said it is unlikely that any of the others who entered the lab face potential exposure. Some entered the lab after it had been decontaminated. Officials said there is no possible exposure outside the secure laboratory at CDC and no exposure or risk to the public.

In a statement, Frieden said he was troubled by the mistake in the CDC’s Ebola research lab. “Thousands of laboratory scientists in more than 150 labs throughout CDC have taken extraordinary steps in recent months to improve safety,” he said. “No risk to staff is acceptable, and our efforts to improve lab safety are essential — the safety of our employees is our highest priority.”

Of course it is, the problem is that just like the "economic recovery", so the public's confidence that the CDC - which apparently can't contain Ebola in its own labs - is capable of preventing the deadly disease spread in the US, is based on one word: faith.

Several more mistakes like this, however, and not only will said faith be shaken, but Americans may start wondering if the only reason an Ebola Czar was appointed was to allow America's "most transparent administration ever" to do the only thing it is good at: hide facts from the US public.

More details from WaPo:

In the interview, Frieden said the agency’s goal to have systems in place to mitigate human error “was not met here.” The mistake was discovered Tuesday when workers looked in the freezer in the Ebola research lab — one of the highest-security biosafety labs, known as a Level 4 — and saw material that was supposed to have been sent to a different, less-secure lab in the same building.



They realized something was wrong.



The researchers had been studying the effects of Ebola on guinea pigs in the high-security lab to find out whether the Ebola strain that has devastated West Africa this year is deadlier than previous strains.



But there was a mix-up this time: Less-hazardous material that should have gone to the second lab down the hall was placed in the first lab’s freezer. The hazardous material, which possibly contained live Ebola virus, was put in a spot to be transferred to the second lab, CDC officials said.



The technician in the second lab should have recognized, via the color coding on the test tubes, that this was hazardous material that should have stayed at the first lab, officials said. That technician is the person who could have been exposed.



The lab where Monday’s potential exposure occurred was decontaminated and the material destroyed as a routine procedure before the error was identified. The laboratory was decontaminated for a second time and is now closed. Transfers from the high-security lab have stopped while the review is taking place.



The high-security lab where the first mistakes were made also performs diagnostic tests for Ebola, and has conducted hundreds of those tests since July. Stuart Nichol, a top CDC official, said diagnostic testing for Ebola will be moved to a different lab.

One would think that all of the above would have been made be impossible after the summer’s developments when "the CDC temporarily banned transfer of all biological materials from its labs, conducted a wide-ranging safety review, appointed a new director of lab safety and created an outside lab safety advisory group." That, and of course the appointment of Ron Klain by Obama.

Furthermore, at congressional hearings, the CDC's Frieden had vowed to improve the agency’s overall safety culture as well as put in place stronger oversight measures.

Apparently he only promised on paper:

biosafety experts have criticized the lack of coordination and oversight at laboratories inside and outside the federal government that conduct research on microbes that could be used as bioterrorism agents.



“Such events like this are absolutely unacceptable even once. When they occur multiple times, you have to ask yourself what systems are in place to prevent this from happening,” Michael Osterholm, director of Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said in an interview Wednesday

The answer, apparently, is none, because at the end of the day it all comes down to the bolded word above: faith.

Meanwhile, there are now nearly a record 20,000 Ebola cases, and over 7,000 Ebola deaths around the globe.

But don't worry, and remember - just keep the faith: after all the government knows best what you should and shouldn't know and would never put anyone in harm's way just to avoid panic.

 

[Doomer Doug]

Doomer Doug has said from the beginning we are dealing with two separate Ebola epidemics. The first is in West Africa, with a subset in the rest of Africa, especially the DRC and Mali. The second is the potential global pandemic affecting the USA, Europe and other advanced countries. So far, there has been no sign we are facing a global pandemic. There is every sign Ebola is totally out of control in West Africa and we will dealing with the collapse of the African social order no later than June of 2015. The campaign of lies, misinformation continues unabated by WHO et al.



http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1161338-battling-ebola-on-two-fronts-in-sierra-leone/





It’s been ten months since the Ebola outbreak in West Africa hit the headlines. And in contrast to Guinea and Liberia where cases have begun slowing down, in Sierra Leone the opposite is true. According to the WHO, half the total of nearly 18,000 confirmed Ebola cases are to be found in Sierra Leone. The situation in the capital Freetown is of great concern, as the ebb and flow of people is only fuelling the spread of the deadly virus.

The UK is leading the response to the outbreak in its former colony, where a ‘lockdown’ in Freetown is underway over the Christmas period to try and bring contagion under control. Government officials have been going house-to-house in a bid to find the sick and get them to hospital. They are using shock tactics to send out a tough and clear message to the people: Ebola is real, it kills and the best chance of survival is getting to hospital as quickly as possible.

Sarah Wilson from World Vision International’s Ebola emergency response team has just returned from the field. Epoch Times caught up with her to talk about the knock-on effects the Ebola outbreak is having on the more remote communities in the country.

Epoch Times (ET): Sarah, you’ve just returned from Bonthe Island, which is remote and difficult to get to and where the people rely on trade with the mainland to survive. What’s the situation there?
Sarah Wilson (SW): Bonthe Island has been cut off for more than four months and many are now in need of emergency food rations. Since the Ebola outbreak, the people haven’t been able to trade with the mainland because boats are not allowed to and from the island, and they’ve been surviving with what they can get their hands on. This means that although there have been very few cases of Ebola, people are beginning to show early signs of malnutrition.

ET: How do you get to the island if you can’t go by boat?
SW: We had to take a helicopter over with the World Food Programme (WFP), which is in charge of food distribution to the communities on the island. World Vision is helping out with the food rations.

ET: What did you find when you got there?
SW: We saw many children clearly displaying signs of hunger and malnutrition. One chief said to me, ‘Ebola is our hunger,’ and all the people we met are very grateful for any outside help.

It’s a slow process getting the food to these remote islands. It has to be flown in by WFP helicopters that drop it on the beach where community members collect it and take it to public buildings. It’s usually stored in schools, but all of them are closed because of Ebola. When people are registered – which takes more time – the food is distributed. It may seem like a long process, but the only way to do it faster is to hire more staff. And that in turn, costs money.

Some of the people we met had just received a month’s worth of rice, fortified cereal, cooking oil and yellow split peas – so they were coping much better as they’re beginning to get the nutrients they need. There were others though, who’ll have to wait until the New Year to get rations.

ET: Clearly much more needs to be done and very fast. What are the most immediate needs?
SW: We don’t have enough staff. Many more doctors and nurses are urgently needed. There weren’t nearly enough medical personnel before this outbreak, and that situation has only deteriorated further with dramatically increased demands. Many key health care workers have already died, which is exacerbating the problem.

I think there is a disproportionate fear in the UK and other countries which must be counteracted with accurate knowledge of the way Ebola is transmitted.

ET: World Vision has been active in many other areas too, including in Moyamba District where British Army engineers have opened a treatment centre and where a British doctor, Professor John Wright is in charge.
SW: Yes that’s right. We’ve been operating the Command and Control Centre linked to the hospital for about six weeks, and the district has now been re-classified as medium rather than high risk. World Vision is now in charge of the ambulances carrying patients to and from the centre.

There is also a secure area to park the vehicles and where they can be decontaminated after every burial. And this is done rigorously. The families of the deceased can invite a local pastor or imam to perform a ceremony either at the house or the graveside with mourners standing a safe distance of 15 metres away. It’s important at a time when raw human emotions take over that safety remains of paramount concern.

ET: Did you see any signs that things are getting better?
SW: I’d say the main thing that has improved since World Vision took over training the burial teams, is the speed at which they operate. Without outside help, the NERC (National Ebola Response Centre – set up by the government) was not able to pay the teams regularly. There weren’t enough vehicles, repair facilities or fuel to keep them on the road. Now the burial teams are paid $100 (£65) a week, for what is a dangerous job. The bodies of people who have died of Ebola are the most infectious of all. These people are often shunned by their communities.

This ‘dignity’ element has encouraged communities to call the burial teams. All deaths that are not from accidents or other causes that are obviously not related to Ebola are now being buried in this way. Swabs are taken by the burial teams and only about 10 percent are positive.

ET: You also spent time in Freetown, where there are fears Ebola is out of control and where a ‘lockdown’ has been imposed to try and bring transmission rates down. How does a ‘surge’ or ‘lockdown’ work?
SW: The government has decided to use scaremongering tactics to try and get people to change their behaviour as nothing has really worked so far. All New Year’s Eve festivities, including church services and New Year’s Day outings are prohibited this year. Any church wishing to hold a New Year’s Eve service, has to make sure it ends before 5 p.m. on Wednesday December 31st or do it via radio or television broadcast. No public gatherings are allowed, and this includes all public activities around restaurants, nightclubs and the beach areas in the Western Area. Not only that, but traders and market women are only allowed to trade from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays to Fridays and from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays. Trading on Sunday is totally suspended until further notice.

Everyone has to abide by these measures and anyone who doesn’t will be penalised. So it’s pretty tough, but totally necessary.

ET: Orphans are a big problem now, so what is happening to them, Sarah?
SW: In some cases, survivors are volunteering to look after them while they’re in quarantine. We now know that survivors are immune for ten years. Most are being taken in by their community, although this has not been easy as there is still a lot of stigma surrounding Ebola. We hope to have a concrete plan in place shortly to deal with the children who are left behind.

But, the fact that adequately resourced and staffed treatment centres are now coming on stream is helping to overcome community fears, particularly as they are beginning to achieve 50 percent survival rates, and better.

Some people say they believe the disease will be contained by the end of January – at least in the rural areas, although Freetown may take longer.

ET: What are the main challenges?
SW: The main obstacle that needs to be overcome is fear. Not just here in Sierra Leone, but in the rest of the world. The disease is often fatal, but if you receive robust treatment in the early stages, you have a good chance of survival. The risk to international health workers and other support staff is low if they follow the protocols. But it is a blanket fear based on misinformation that has drastically and catastrophically slowed the response.

Other emergencies that I have worked in have been caused by either natural disasters or conflict. In the case of natural disasters, the earthquake or tsunami has already occurred by the time relief arrives. In conflict, the people being helped are refugees or IDPs (internally displaced people), far away from the conflict zone. So in both cases the disaster itself is not on-going. With Ebola, it is all around you.

The other problem is that so many people seem to think that the virus is much more contagious than it is. So I have been experiencing stigma on a personal basis. It is very similar to how people viewed HIV in the late 1980s when it first became widespread in New York. I remember it well.

ET: Personally, how are you feeling about what you’ve seen and is there room for optimism looking forward to 2015?
SW: I think there are reasons to be hopeful that the outbreak will be contained over the next few months. But the battle is far from over.

Lorenza Bacino is a freelance features writer. She has contributed to The Guardian, The Independent and numerous other publications in the UK and abroad. Examples of her work can be found at www.cuttings.me/users/lorenzabacino

 

[Doomer Doug]

EBOLA DEATHS "OFFICIALLY" OVER 7,500 NOW

It is a damning indictment this news is carried in a Russian media source. The Western media no longer even bothers to report Ebola stories since THEY HAVE RECEIVED DIRECT ORDERS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE, THE EBOLA CZAR TO LIE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

The other thing is the times four factor equals nearly 30,000 EBOLA DEAD RIGHT NOW. THE TIMES FOUR FACTOR EQUALS 80,000 EBOLA CASES TODAY. Obviously, the real numbers are much higher, in the 50,000 to 75,000 Dead range, along with 100,000 Ebola infected at the absolute minimum. 2015 will sort the lies out since WHO will no longer be able to keep the actual numbers hidden in West Africa.


http://itar-tass.com/en/world/769056



WHO: Ebola virus death count exceeds 7,500
World
December 24, 22:22 UTC+3
The maximum number of Ebola-related deaths and cases is registered in Liberia
© AP Photo/UMC Utrecht, HO

GENEVA, December 24. /TASS/. The number of people killed by the Ebola virus has exceeded 7,500, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement Wednesday.

“A total of 19 497 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) have been reported in four affected countries (Guinea, Liberia, Mali and Sierra Leone) and four previously affected countries (Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and the United States of America) in the seven days to 21 December (week 51). There have been 7588 reported deaths,” the WHO’s report said.

Gallery
14 photo
© AP Photo/Jerome Delay

Fighting Ebola outbreak

“Reported case incidence is fluctuating in Guinea and declining in Liberia. In Sierra Leone, there are signs that the increase in incidence has slowed, and that incidence may no longer be increasing,” it said.

“The country’s west is now experiencing the most intense transmission in the affected countries, and response efforts have been strengthened to curb the spread of disease in the area. The reported case fatality rate in the three intense-transmission countries among all cases for whom a definitive outcome is known is 70%,” the report said.

“Interventions in these countries continue to progress in line with the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) aim to conduct 100% of burials safely and with dignity, and to isolate and treat 100% of EVD cases by 1 January, 2015,” it said.

“At a national level, the capacity to isolate and treat EVD patients has improved in all three countries since the commencement of the emergency response. While every country has sufficient capacity to isolate patients, the uneven geographical distribution of beds and cases means shortfalls persist in some districts,” the WHO said.

“Each country has sufficient capacity to bury all people known to have died from Ebola, although it is possible that capacity is inadequate in some districts. The number of trained burial teams has significantly grown in each of the three countries in the past month,” it said.

“Every district that has reported a case of EVD in the three countries has access to a laboratory within 24 hours from sample collection. All three countries report that more than 90% of registered contacts associated with known cases of EVD are being traced, although there are discrepancies at the district level. The number of contacts traced per EVD case remains low in many districts,” the global health body said.

“Social mobilization continues to be an important component of the response. Engaging communities promotes burial practices that are safe and culturally acceptable, and the isolation and appropriate treatment of patients with clinical symptoms of EVD,” it said.
Statistics

In line with statistics, the maximum number of Ebola-related deaths and cases is registered in Liberia - 3,384 cumulative deaths and 7,862 cumulative cases. Liberia is followed by Sierra Leone (2,582 deaths and 9,004 cases) and Guinea (1,607 and 2,597 respectively).

In countries with widespread and intense transmission (Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea), “a total of 19 463 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of EVD and 7573 deaths have been reported up to the end of 21 December 2014 by the Ministries of Health of Guinea and Sierra Leone, and 20 December by the Ministry of Health of Liberia. The data are reported through WHO country offices,” the WHO said.

Read also
Novosibirsk researchers hope to create anti-Ebola vaccine
Russian epidemiologists to keep fighting Ebola in Guinea
US researchers report successful trial of Ebola vaccine

“Taking into account the number of cases as a proportion of an affected country’s population, there have been 24 reported cases and 15 reported deaths per 100 000 population in Guinea, 199 cases and 85 deaths per 100 000 population in Liberia, and 157 cases and 45 deaths per 100 000 population in Sierra Leone,” it said.

“Five countries (Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and the United States of America) have reported a case or cases imported from a country with widespread and intense transmission,” the global health body said.

“A total of 8 cases, including 6 deaths, have been reported in Mali. The most recent 7 cases are in the Malian capital Bamako, and are not related to the country’s first EVD case, who died in Kayes on 24 October. The last confirmed case tested negative for the second time on 6 December, and was discharged from hospital on 11 December,” it said.

“All identified contacts connected with both the initial case in Kayes and the outbreak in Bamako have completed the 21 day follow-up period,” the report said.
Ebola virus factsheet

The Ebola virus disease, previously known as the Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a severe illness in humans, often fatal, according to the WHO. The virus is passed on to people from wild animals and can be transmitted from humans to humans. The average EVD case death rate is some 50%.

The first outbreaks of the EVD occurred in remote Central African villages, near tropical rainforests. However, major urban and rural areas have been involved in the most recent outbreak in western Africa.

Early supportive care, which includes rehydration and symptomatic treatment, improves the survival rate.

No licensed treatment has yet been proven to be able to neutralize the virus but a number of blood, immunological and drug medications are under development. There are no licensed Ebola vaccines yet but two candidates are being evaluated.

 

[Doomer Doug]

Christmas Eve lies from WHO! WHO is still saying only 20,000 people have been infected with Ebola in West Africa. Sheesh!


http://fluboard.rhizalabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13180



It is currently Fri Dec 26, 2014 4:17 pm


All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]

WHO Releases December 24 Ebola Update



Post subject: WHO Releases December 24 Ebola Update
PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 2:14 pm
Online

WHO Releases December 24 Ebola Update
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/si ... eports/en/
SUMMARY
A total of 19 497 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) have been reported in four affected countries (Guinea, Liberia, Mali and Sierra Leone) and four previously affected countries (Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and the United States of America) in the seven days to 21 December (week 51). There have been 7588 reported deaths (case definitions are provided in Annex 1).

Reported case incidence is fluctuating in Guinea and declining in Liberia. In Sierra Leone, there are signs that the increase in incidence has slowed, and that incidence may no longer be increasing. The country’s west is now experiencing the most intense transmission in the affected countries, and response efforts have been strengthened to curb the spread of disease in the area. The reported case fatality rate in the three intense-transmission countries among all cases for whom a definitive outcome is known is 70%. Interventions in these countries continue to progress in line with the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) aim to conduct 100% of burials safely and with dignity, and to isolate and treat 100% of EVD cases by 1 January, 2015. At a national level, the capacity to isolate and treat EVD patients has improved in all three countries since the commencement of the emergency response. While every country has sufficient capacity to isolate patients, the uneven geographical distribution of beds and cases means shortfalls persist in some districts. Each country has sufficient capacity to bury all people known to have died from Ebola, although it is possible that capacity is inadequate in some districts. The number of trained burial teams has significantly grown in each of the three countries in the past month. Every district that has reported a case of EVD in the three countries has access to a laboratory within 24 hours from sample collection. All three countries report that more than 90% of registered contacts associated with known cases of EVD are being traced, although there are discrepancies at the district level. The number of contacts traced per EVD case remains low in many districts.

Social mobilization continues to be an important component of the response. Engaging communities promotes burial practices that are safe and culturally acceptable, and the isolation and appropriate treatment of patients with clinical symptoms of EVD.

 

[BREWER]

ETA: Well, here we go. I believe we will have many more of the stories in the coming months. I want to make certain we keep these articles consolidated for future research and reference.

A Hat tip to Marthanoir and Plain Jane and Dennis Olson for these articles

Posted for fair use and discussion. H/t Marthanoir
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-30628349


29 December 2014 Last updated at 14:18 ET
Ebola case confirmed in Glasgow hospital

A healthcare worker who has just returned from West Africa has been diagnosed with Ebola and is being treated in hospital in Glasgow.

The patient, who arrived from Sierra Leone on Sunday night, is in isolation at Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital.

All possible contacts with the case are being investigated. The patient will be transferred to high level isolation in London as soon as possible.

Sources told the BBC the Ebola case involved a female aid worker.

NHS Scotland said infectious diseases procedures had been put into effect at the Brownlee Unit for Infectious Diseases at Gartnavel.

The patient returned to Scotland from Sierra Leone late on Sunday via Casablanca and London Heathrow, arriving into Glasgow Airport on a British Airways flight at about 23:30.

While public health experts have emphasised that the risks are negligible, a telephone helpline has been set up for anyone who was on the Heathrow to Glasgow flight. The number is: 08000 858531

The patient was admitted to hospital early in the morning after feeling unwell and was placed into isolation at 07.50.
line break
What are the symptoms?
Ebola viruses The Ebola virus causes a range of painful and debilitating symptoms

The early symptoms are a sudden fever, muscle pain, fatigue, headache and sore throat.

This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, a rash and bleeding - both internal and external - which can be seen in the gums, eyes, nose and in the stools.

Patients tend to die from dehydration and multiple organ failure.
line break

A British Airways spokesman said: "We are working closely with the health authorities in England and Scotland and will offer assistance with any information they require.

"The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our top priority and the risk to people on board that individual flight is extremely low."

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Committee (SGoRR) and has also spoken to Prime Minister David Cameron.

According to UK and Scottish protocol for anyone diagnosed with Ebola, the patient will be transferred to the high level isolation unit in the Royal Free hospital, London.

Ms Sturgeon said: "Our first thoughts at this time must be with the patient diagnosed with Ebola and their friends and family. I wish them a speedy recovery.

"Scotland has been preparing for this possibility from the beginning of the outbreak in West Africa and I am confident that we are well prepared."

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Posted for fair use and discussion. H/t Plain Jane
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-...ment-confirms-ebola-diagnosed-glasgow-patient

Scottish Government Confirms Ebola Diagnosed In Glasgow Patient
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/29/2014 13:51 -0500

We wonder if England will be reconsidering the secession vote?

*SCOTTISH GOVT: CONFIRMED EBOLA CASE DIAGNOSED IN GLASGOW
*SCOTLAND: PATIENT IS A HEALTH CARE WORKER, RETURNED FROM SIERRA LEONE DEC. 28

After Japan's stock market slid overnight following reports of Ebola in Tokyo, one wonders what a recurrence of Ebola headlines will do to risk complacency this time?



Perhaps, since the Ebola Tzar's work is done in America, they can lend him out to The Scots?

* * *

Bloomberg notes:

*SCOTTISH GOVT: NHS SCOTLAND PROCEDURES PUT INTO EFFECT
*SCOTLAND: PATIENT IS A HEALTH CARE WORKER IN WEST AFRICA
*SCOTLAND:PATIENT RETURNED FROM SIERRA LEONE DEC. 28

As The BBC reports,

The Scottish government confirmed the case being investigated was at Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital.



This follows news from Japan overnight of a possible Ebola case...

Japan's Nikkei average surrendered early gains and dropped more than 1.5 percent on Monday after a man was suspected of having contracted the deadly Ebola virus.



The benchmark was down 1.1 percent at 17,628.15 points by midday, after falling as low as 17,525 at one point. It had risen 0.4 percent in the morning session.



A man who returned to Japan from Sierra Leone on Dec. 23 was suspected of contracting the disease, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said.



Test results are expected on Tuesday morning. If confirmed, it would be the first diagnosis of the Ebola virus in Japan.

=====================================================================================
Posted for fair use and discussion.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...-disease-but-more-domestic/?intcmp=latestnews

Czar: Fight against Ebola reaching 'pivot point,' but more domestic cases expected
US Ebola czar: Fight against deadly disease reaching 'pivot point,' but more domestic cases expected
Published December 28, 2014
FoxNews.com

The United States’ months-long effort to stop the deadly Ebola outbreak is reaching a “pivot point,” but Americans should expect more domestic cases, White House Ebola czar Ron Klain said Sunday.

“We will see (cases) from time to time,” Klain told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “There’s still work to be done in Sierra Leone and Guinea. But we’re nearing a pivot point.”

Klain was appointed to the post in October by President Obama to lead the U.S. response to Ebola, days after the first death on U.S. soil as a result of the disease.

Thomas Eric Duncan died October 8 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, in Dallas, after returning for Liberia, one of the countries in West Africa where Ebola has killed roughly 7,600 people this year.

Duncan went to the hospital days earlier with Ebola-like symptoms, but was treated and released. The situation combined with two of Duncan’s nurses becoming infected raised widespread concerns about lapses in protocol and the potential for a U.S. outbreak.

Among the roughly 19,340 cases recently confirmed by the World Health Organization, Sierra Leone has the most with 8,939, followed by Liberia at 7,830 and Guinea with 2,571.

In September, Obama assigned 3,000 U.S. military members to West Africa to help with the outbreak, providing medical and logistical support for the region’s overwhelmed health care systems.

Klain, a long-time Democratic operative and former chief of staff to Vice President Biden, also told CBS that the number of cases in that region is now at five to 10 a day, compared to 50 to 100 daily.

“But this won’t be over until we get to zero,” he said.

The most recent case of Ebola being diagnosed in the U.S. occurred on October 23 when the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported one in a medical aid worker who had returned to the city from Guinea, where he had served with Doctors Without Borders.

The patient recovered and was discharged from Bellevue Hospital Center on Nov. 11, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Klain called the CDC’s mishandling last week of an Ebola sample “unacceptable” but said the technician involved has so far shown no signs of infection.

He called the use of an Ebola blood test at the “point of care” a “very significant step” in the fight to stop the outbreak in West Africa.

Klain said the Ebola vaccine recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration is scheduled for release in three to four weeks and will help “tens of thousands of people.”

 

[Plain Jane]

As an added note, I just listened to radio news and the Scotland story was mentioned. There was also a story about a hike in cases in West Africa. All of a sudden this is coming out. Hmmm.

 

[JohnGaltfla]

Hundreds of People Possibly Exposed to Scottish Health Worker Confirmed with Ebola

by John Galt
December 30, 2014 15:15 ET

Ah yes, the story that the now retiring American Ebola Czar was supposed to censor. Except for the fact that his job did not give him the power to shut down the internet and overseas news sources thus while the American Ebola outbreak has been contained using propaganda, the overseas crisis is far worse.

This evening in Scotland it took a far more serious turn for the worst as reported by SkyNews:

Glasgow Healthcare Worker Diagnosed With Ebola

From the article linked above:

A healthcare worker who returned to Glasgow from Sierra Leone last night has been confirmed as having Ebola.

They returned to Scotland via Casablanca and London Heathrow, arriving into Glasgow Airport on a British Airways flight at around 11.30pm.

The patient was admitted to hospital early this morning after feeling unwell and was placed into isolation at 7.50am.

The individual has been isolated and is receiving treatment in the specialist Brownlee Unit for Infectious Diseases on the Gartnavel Hospital campus, but will be taken to the Royal Free Hospital in London imminently.

Anyone who is at risk through contact with the patient is to be contacted and closely monitored.

Thus the man took a flight from Sierra Leone, to Casablanca then on to Heathrow outside of London, England then on to Glasgow Scotland as the map below portrays:

Based on the fact that the flights from Casablanca to London then on to Glasgow could easily have exposed north of 600 passengers and crew to this infected individual. This does not even take into account airport employees in Sierra Leone, Casablanca, and London who were possibly exposed and put at risk of infection nor those passengers on other flights who were near this individual, had casual contact, or were exposed to his bodily fluids on airport and aircraft facilities.

The events that we know about regarding this healthcare worker are the marker for when we cross from the cover up phase (Phase 2) of the outbreak as I outlined in August of this year in the article The 8 Phases of an American Ebola Outbreak.

Unfortunately for the American and European public the danger of and secondary infections that occur due to casual contact with this individual will remain silenced for as long as possible until the pandemic spreads throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. At the point we reach Phase 3 in the United States the danger of exposure to hundreds of thousands will be publicly acknowledged and the powers that be will wonder why their powers of propaganda were unable to stop this human and economic tragedy about to befall the West.

 

[Plain Jane]

Source: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_...AJ201412290036

UPDATE: Japanese man with fever tests negative for Ebola after arriving from Sierra Leone
December 29, 2014

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

A Japanese man in his 30s was tested negative for the Ebola virus after he developed a fever following his return to Japan from Sierra Leone, the health ministry said Dec. 29.

The man, who has not been identified, was admitted to the National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward...


H/T Flutrackers.com

 

[Plain Jane]

H/T Flutrackers.com

Ebola outbreak: Liberia sees dozens of new cases along Sierra Leone border
...
The Associated PressPosted: Dec 29, 2014 11:11 AM ET|Last Updated: Dec 29, 2014 11:22 AM ET

Dozens of new Ebola cases have erupted in Liberia, near the border with Sierra Leone, Liberian health officials warned Monday, marking a setback amid recent improvements.

The flare-up is due to a number of factors including people going in and out of Liberia and traditional practices such as the washing of bodies, said Liberia's Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah.

Forty-nine cases were reported in in western Grand Cape Mount County between December 1 and 25, Nyenswah told state radio.

...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/ebola-...rder-1.2885425

 

[Doomer Doug]

Now John, don't you know that there is NO Ebola outside of West Africa. <G> After all, the Ebola Czar has assured us of this.

Yep, Edgar Alan Poe's "Mask of the Red Death" is looking more likely as we careen into 2015.

I am on record: 100,000 Ebola cases TODAY. 250,000 by the end of January, 2015. After that, the tidal wave.

 

[JohnGaltfla]

Now John, don't you know that there is NO Ebola outside of West Africa. <G> After all, the Ebola Czar has assured us of this.

Yep, Edgar Alan Poe's "Mask of the Red Death" is looking more likely as we careen into 2015.

I am on record: 100,000 Ebola cases TODAY. 250,000 by the end of January, 2015. After that, the tidal wave.

Bad news sparky.

100,000 is the tidal wave because the multiplier will be outside any possible containment unless a nation sealed its borders from any country with infected persons.

 

[Plain Jane]

I can't believe I just read this!


http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/201...rrested-dressed-up-sitting-between-relatives/

Liberia: Ebola Corpse Arrested – Dressed Up & Sitting Between Relatives

Posted by Jim Hoft on Monday, December 29, 2014, 9:23 AM

Ebola Camp in Liberia (Frontpage Africa)
An Ebola corpse was arrested in Liberia this week. Relatives dressed up the corpse and sat her between two relatives as they traveled to Margibi.
All Africa reported:

Two thousand persons have been quarantined in Lofe Town, Margibi County, after a corpse transported for burial was confirmed by the County Health Authorities of being Ebola infected.

The Margibi health authorities received a call that a body had been transported from Monrovia for burial, according to the Director of Community Health for Margibi County, Mr. Joseph J. Korhene. He said that the health team and Ebola Task Force, on arriving at the scene on December 18, took a specimen of the corpse that confirmed it to be Ebola positive.

Mr. Korhene, who spoke to this paper on December 23, said that before the health team arrived in Lofe Town, the family had already finished the wake-keeping, which brought together people from eight surrounding villages. He said the infected corpse was that of a woman who had died in the Bushrod Island community near Monrovia.

Mr. Korhene who declined to reveal the identity of the deceased said that her family knew that she had died of Ebola but had decided to bury her without the involvement of the Ebola Task Force anyway.

“The family did it intentionally because after the lady died of the Ebola virus, they decided to bring the body here to Margibi. Knowing that the police would arrest them, they dressed the lady up as if she were living and sat her in the car between two of her relatives,” Mr. Korhene disclosed.

He said that the driver who transported the Ebola infected body to Margibi was traced en route to Bong County with the vehicle. He was arrested and brought back to Lofe town, where he was placed under quarantine with community residents and others who attended the wake of the Ebola victim.
In October an Ebola victim thought to be dead came back to life minutes before cremation.

 

[bw]

they dressed the lady up as if she were living and sat her in the car between two of her relatives

There must be a joke in there. I remember fighting with my siblings over who got a window seat. At least this one wasn't creating a fuss.

 

[JohnGaltfla]

There must be a joke in there. I remember fighting with my siblings over who got a window seat. At least this one wasn't creating a fuss.

No fuss, just ooze and slime.

 

[Oreally]

who knows if this is true. but this is how it is going to break out here, and not be able to be covered up.

http://thefourthestate.co/2014/12/breaking-fdny-treating-5-ebola-patients-nyc/

The Fourth Estate has learned from several sources close to the NYPD and FDNY that one of these agencies is currently treating up to 8 patients who have exhibited Ebola-like symptoms only days after returning from West Africa.

Our sources tell us that the patients called 911 after being sick for several days upon returning to America. Initial news reports indicate that the symptoms exhibited by these patients are not flu-like but instead are more characteristic of the Ebola virus.

This news comes after the Ebola outbreak scare has subsided in America in recent weeks. After a period of panic and media attention in October and November, attention has turned away from the deadly Ebola disease, as it was assumed that authorities and health officials had the crisis under control

The Fourth Estate will continue to work our sources on the ground in New York and will bring you the most breaking updates.

 

[Oreally]

another case in mali!

http://www.sante.gov.ml/index.php/e...a-au-mali-a-la-date-du-jeudi-25-decembre-2014


Ce jour jeudi 25 décembre 2014, un (1) cas suspect a été enregistré. L’analyse du prélèvement sanguin est en cours, les résultats seront connus vendredi 26 décembre 2014.

Pour rappel, depuis le 16 décembre 2014, il n’existe plus aucun cas d’Ebola au Mali. En effet, sur sept (7) cas confirmés, cinq (5) ont entrainé des décès, et deux ont été guéris.

Cela dit, la maladie à virus Ebola reste une menace pour le Mali, tant qu’elle n’aura pas été vaincue dans les pays de la sous région où elle a été déclarée.

C’est pourquoi, le Gouvernement appelle l’ensemble des populations, sur tout le territoire, à maintenir la vigilance en observant les règles de prévention.

Les festivités de fin d’année ne doivent aucunement faire oublier les mesures d’hygiène et de précautions nécessaires à la prévention de la maladie. Il est toujours conseillé de se laver les mains au savon avec de l’eau propre, et d’éviter les accolades et de se serrer les mains autant que faire se peut.

Le Gouvernement invite la population à continuer d’utiliser les numéros verts pour déclarer tout cas suspect, ou demander des informations : 80 00 89 89 / 80 00 88 88 / 80 00 77 77.



Date Thursday, December 25, 2014, one (1) suspected case was registered. Analysis of blood samples is in progress, the results will be announced Friday, December 26, 2014.

As a reminder, since 16 December 2014, there is no longer any cases of Ebola in Mali. Indeed, seven (7) confirmed cases, five (5) have resulted in deaths, and two were cured.

However, the Ebola virus disease remains a threat to Mali, until it has not been defeated in the countries of the sub region where it was declared.

Therefore, the Government calls on all people, all over the country to maintain vigilance in observing the rules of prevention.

The end of year festivities should in no way detract from the hygiene measures and precautions necessary to prevent the disease. It is always advisable to wash hands with soap and clean water, and avoid braces and shake hands as much as possible.

The Government invites the public to continue to use the hotlines to report any suspected case, or request information: 80 00 89 89/80 00 88 88/80 00 77 77.

 

[bw]

who knows if this is true. but this is how it is going to break out here, and not be able to be covered up.

Ebola is like Captain Trips in The Stand. You'll hear about it by word of mouth, you'll know when your kid gets it, or your neighbor. It will be virtually illegal to talk about it. The MSM won't say a thing. Alternative media will be vital.

The authorities know eventually you'll catch on. But if there's a true panic, the country will shut down. Far as they're concerned, it's better if you get frightened slowly rather than quickly. Same as with nuclear war in the 50's. As long as Ebola news trickles out as rumor, there will never be that Oh Spit moment.

 

[BREWER]

H/t Oreally: Thanks for this article. Here are a few of my observations...

ETA: If, IF this story is factual then it is prima fascia evidence of not only Ebola being confirmed in NYC, but a conspiracy to COVER-UP the fact that infected individuals are indeed being 'hidden'. Why would NY Fire Department, and not a NYC hospital or a set aside clinic purposed specifically for treatment and isolation of these Ebola infected patients not be the proper and safest way to treat these patients? This is a BioLevel 4 pathogen which requires very stringent isolation and decontamination procedures for the Dr.'s, nurses and technicians treating these patients and specific procedures for dealing with the high volume of infective waste that Ebola patients generate through the process of their treatment. The mountains of medical waste material has to be handled and disposed of with extremely meticulous care not to mention proper permits which a city like New York has restrictions in abundance. Needless to say, if this story is true and factual the implications are huge and just as unsettling. It begs the question...where are all of the rest of the Ebola infected patients in the country?

Posted for fair use and discussion.
http://thefourthestate.co/2014/12/br...-patients-nyc/

BREAKING: FDNY Treating 5 Ebola Patients In NYC
December 30, 2014 · by fourthestate2014 · in U.S.

UPDATE: Our sources have been confirmed! The FDNY is treating 5 patients with heavy Ebola-like symptoms only days after they have returned from Africa. Another source has also told us that one of these patients admitted to coming in contact with a confirmed Ebola victim while traveling in West Africa

BREAKING NEWS: FDNY treating 5 patients with Ebola like symptoms in Brooklyn. They recently returned from Africa.

— Breaking News Feed (@PzFeed) December 29, 2014

The Fourth Estate has learned from several sources close to the NYPD and FDNY that one of these agencies is currently treating up to 8 patients who have exhibited Ebola-like symptoms only days after returning from West Africa.

Our sources tell us that the patients called 911 after being sick for several days upon returning to America. Initial news reports indicate that the symptoms exhibited by these patients are not flu-like but instead are more characteristic of the Ebola virus.

This news comes after the Ebola outbreak scare has subsided in America in recent weeks. After a period of panic and media attention in October and November, attention has turned away from the deadly Ebola disease, as it was assumed that authorities and health officials had the crisis under control

The Fourth Estate will continue to work our sources on the ground in New York and will bring you the most breaking updates.

 

[bw]

attention has turned away from the deadly Ebola disease, as it was assumed that authorities and health officials had the crisis under control

And that's what choosing the right Ebola Czar gains you. Eventually we have to deal with reality, though.

 

[Krayola]

Hey, does anyone still track PFI Forum? Please send me a link or post it here please. I got the singtomeomuse.com I want the current discussion which is page 310 or something like that.

Thanks. BREWER

The link is http://www.singtomeohmuse.com/
There is a thread stickied near the top of the main forum called The 'New Ebola' Pandemic

i haven't been to PFI since they had a blow up there and Pixie was booted as one of the mods.

she is a great writer and thinker, and i get my ebola and flu news elsewhere now.

Oreally, where else (besides TB2K) do you get your ebola news?

WHO THE H*** booted PIXIE???

SHE WAS THE MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE ONE THERE!!!


Freaking jealous idiots!!!!!!!!!!!!

Somebody tell me where PIXIE went, and THAT is where I WILL GO for my ebola news!

I think Summerthyme (?) here knew here personally? Maybe she can help us find her?

Pixie is core to the pandemic information gathering process. She should have her own show. I would like to know where she went.

She is smart enough to know now is a good time to go dark anyway.

I also used to read PFI forum daily but have not gone much since Pixie left. I am not a member there. I just found them this past summer. I went out of town at the end of October for a week and when I got back, sometime around that time Pixie was gone with no explanation.

I hated to see her go. I have never seen someone so dedicated to gathering the news like she did (she must have spent hours every day reviewing and posting ebola news articles - in fact a lot of her original posts were copied and pasted over here, she was that good.)

She also had some brilliantly insightful commentary. I was able to keep abreast of the ebola situation in large part due to her efforts. She is greatly missed. If anyone knows where she has gone, and/or if she is posting elsewhere, please send me a pm.

Pixie, although very knowledgeable and intelligent, became aggressively negative towards enough members there that the site was getting damaged. Quite a few members left due to her unhinged harrassement.

PM me if anyone doubts this. I was a member there since 2006 when it first started; I just have been too busy to go lately but I still do check it out, used to be more active there.

Be Well, I hear what you are saying. I just really wish things could have been worked out behind the scenes so we didn't have to lose such a valuable person (resource.)

 

[LilRose8]

i haven't been to PFI since they had a blow up there and Pixie was booted as one of the mods.

she is a great writer and thinker, and i get my ebola and flu news elsewhere now.

what is the name of the site? I would be interested in reading htere

 

[BREWER]

Posted for fair use and discussion.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ted-Ebola-Glasgow-returning-Sierra-Leone.html

Why were 30 Ebola volunteers - including infected nurse - left to make their way home on the bus? 'Shambolic' screening revealed... as SECOND patient arrives at Aberdeen hospital

Nurse Pauline Cafferkey fell ill in Glasgow after return from Sierra Leone
Screened for symptoms in Sierra Leone and London but nothing picked up
63 of 70 people on flight from Heathrow to Glasgow have been contacted
Dr Martin Deahl sat next to her on service to Heathrow from Casablanca
He said: 'The precautions and checks at Heathrow were shambolic.
A second Health Worker from Scotland is also being tested for Ebola
Patient also being tested for disease in Cornwall and is in isolation
PM holds COBRA emergency meeting and says risk to public is 'very low'
Officials have advised that there is no need to disinfect or decontaminate any environment Ms Cafferkey came into contact with en route home

By Rosie Taylor and Sophie Borland and Harriet Sime for the Daily Mail and Ollie Gillman and Martin Robinson and Amanda Williams and Lizzie Parry for MailOnline

1.9k shares

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A doctor who sat next to a British nurse with Ebola on her flight home to the UK from Sierra Leone said today the 'shambolic' handling of her case could help the killer disease spread.

Dr Martin Deahl landed at Heathrow with Pauline Cafferkey and around 30 other NHS volunteers on Sunday but said staff testing them for Ebola 'didn't seem to know what they were doing'.

He also criticised Public Health England's (PHE) rules on travel, which say 'high risk' medics returning from Ebola-hit regions should take public transport home but then avoid planes, trains and buses for three weeks after that.

Since then the authorities have been desperately trying to trace the 70 other people who were on board the same internal flight, and the 133 who were on her plane from Casablanca. Passengers on the plane will now be monitored by NHS officials via phone.

Today it has also emerged that public health officials are understood to have advised the Government that there is no need to disinfect or decontaminate any environment Ms Cafferkey came into contact with en route home to Glasgow.

A second patient has arrived at Aberdeen hospital for testing. The as yet unnamed female hill-walker recently returned from West Africa and was staying at a youth hostel in the Highlands.

Scroll down for video

Victim: Miss Cafferkey had written a moving diary about saving lives in Sierra Leone before she fell ill, and spoke of wearing her 'horrendous alien-type' protective suit in sweltering African heat, pictured

Pictured: This is Pauline Cafferkey, the Scottish NHS nurse from just outside Glasgow who is believed to have contracted Ebola while working for Save the Children treating the sick in Sierra Leone


Ms Cafferkey (seen centre, back) with a group of doctors and nurses in November, as they left Heathrow for Freetown, Sierra Leone
+21

Ms Cafferkey (seen centre, back) with a group of doctors and nurses in November, as they left Heathrow for Freetown, Sierra Leone
It has emerged the nurse could be offered plasma from patients who have survived the virus. It will come from a European network of recovered patients
+21

It has emerged the nurse could be offered plasma from patients who have survived the virus. It will come from a European network of recovered patients
Transfer: The nurse was diagnosed with Ebola yesterday and was seen today walking from an ambulance at Glasgow Airport as she was moved by military aircraft to London this morning
+21

Transfer: The nurse was diagnosed with Ebola yesterday and was seen today walking from an ambulance at Glasgow Airport as she was moved by military aircraft to London this morning

The advice is seen on papers photographed as they were carried from today's second meeting of the Government's emergency response Cobra committee, chaired by Prime Minister David Cameron.

The papers, carried out of today's meeting by head of Public Health England, Paul Cosford, appear to say: 'It is our advice that there is no need to decontaminate/disinfect any of the environment that the current case of Ebola has been in contact with.

'This includes: The aeroplanes used in transit.'
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The document, which is partially covered, goes on to make reference to 'airports', and the phrase 'airport to her own home'. MailOnline has contacted PHE for comment.

Today Ms Cafferkey is in an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London after being flown from Glasgow this morning by the RAF surrounded by a large medical team in protective clothing.

It has emerged the nurse could be offered plasma from patients who have survived the virus.
A second 'patient' wearing a mask arrives by ambulance to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary to be tested for Ebola
+21

A second 'patient' wearing a mask arrives by ambulance to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary to be tested for Ebola
The female healthcare worker had returned from West Africa and was staying at Torridon Youth Hostel in the Highlands before being taken to Aberdeen
+21

The female healthcare worker had returned from West Africa and was staying at Torridon Youth Hostel in the Highlands before being taken to Aberdeen
The woman was taken to the hospital by ambulance early on Tuesday evening
+21

The woman was taken to the hospital by ambulance early on Tuesday evening

It will come from a European network of recovered patients - including British nurse Will Pooley - in a bid to overcome the deadly virus, the government's chief medical officer said.

All the NHS workers who flew back with Ms Cafferkey must monitor their temperature and call Public Health England every day before Midday with their readings or doctors will be sent.

Dr Deahl told MailOnline that PHE's 'illogical' rules mean public health has been put at risk and the people who were on the Glasgow plane are now 'scared witless'.

He said: 'The precautions and checks at the airport were shambolic. They ran out of testing kits and didn't seem to know what they were doing.

'We were told that we were considered high risk but yet were told to make our own way home from Heathrow, either on the Tube, by bus or train or another flight like the one Pauline and others took. I was picked up.

'Public Health England told us we should avoid public transport or crowded places for 21 days, but only after we had got home. It defies common sense and we told them that.

'A group who arrived back on Christmas Eve were all given taxis home but we weren't and one can only conclude this is because Public Health England wanted to save money.

'Now all these people on that flight to Glasgow will be scared witless and it could have been avoided'.

Questions are already being asked about the Government's Ebola screening programme because the woman was vetted twice – in Sierra Leone then at Heathrow – without any symptoms being detected.

But hours after arriving home Ms Cafferkey fell ill. This maker her the first Briton to be diagnosed with Ebola on UK soil.
+21

'Shambolic': Dr Martin Deahl, pictured, sat next to the nurse on their flight home to London and said the testing at Heathrow failed and Public Health England has put the public at risk
Journey: Ms Cafferkey left Sierra Leone on Sunday on her long journey back to Glasgow via Casablanca and Heathrow
+21

Journey: Ms Cafferkey left Sierra Leone on Sunday on her long journey back to Glasgow via Casablanca and Heathrow
Ebola victim's colleague on how she may have been infected
'NO NEED FOR DECONTAMINATION': PHE NOTE CARRIED OUT OF COBRA

Today it has also emerged that public health officials are understood to have advised the Government that there is no need to disinfect or decontaminate any environment Ms Cafferkey came into contact with en route home to Glasgow.

The advice is seen on papers photographed as they were carried from today's second meeting of the Government's emergency response Cobra committee, chaired by Prime Minister David Cameron.
tHE NOTE CONTINUES
+21

The note continues: 'It is our advice that there is no need to decontaminate/disinfect any of the environment that the current case of Ebola has been in contact with'
Papers believed to have been discussed at a Cobra meeting about Ebola appear to say that 'there is no need to decontaminate/disinfect any of the environment that the current case of Ebola has been in contact with'
+21

Papers believed to have been discussed at a Cobra meeting about Ebola appear to say that 'there is no need to decontaminate/disinfect any of the environment that the current case of Ebola has been in contact with'

The papers, carried out of today's meeting by head of Public Health England, Paul Cosford, appear to say: 'It is our advice that there is no need to decontaminate/disinfect any of the environment that the current case of Ebola has been in contact with.

'This includes: The aeroplanes used in transit.

'The environment of the airports.

'The taxis used to transfer from the airport to her own home.

'Her flat.

'This includes all seating and hygiene facilities in the above.'

Colleagues who volunteered with her believe she may have contracted the deadly disease after attending a church service without wearing her hazard suit on Christmas morning.

Dr Deahl said today he 'would bet anything that she caught Ebola in the community', most likely on Christmas Day.

Dr Deahl said that medical staff in Sierra Leone always wore hazard suits at work but some did not when they went out into the wider community.

A number of the 30 NHS staff out in Sierra Leone, including himself, worshipped at a local church on Christmas Day.

He also said that at Freetown airport in Sierra Leone all the volunteers were 'kissing and hugging' as they left the country, including Ms Cafferkey.

Dr Deahl said: 'I would bet anything that she caught this while out in the community. I went to church myself on Christmas morning and I have no doubt Pauline probably contracted the virus doing something similar.

'We had a rule known as ABC which stood for Absolute no Body Contact but when you are in the community it is difficult to stick to the rules and easy to become complacent. It is also difficult when children come up to you and hug you.'

Dr Deahl flew back from Casablanca to London with Ms Cafferkey and said he was 'heartbroken' she has fallen ill.
Special care: After being put on a cocooned bed Ms Cafferkey was loaded on to the jet, which took off this morning and landed at RAF Northolt near Heathrow
+21

Special care: After being put on a cocooned bed Ms Cafferkey was loaded on to the jet, which took off this morning and landed at RAF Northolt near Heathrow
Arrival: The military aircraft landed at RAF Northolt and she was then moved in to a military ambulance, which was given a police escort to the Royal Free Hospital in London today
+21

Arrival: The military aircraft landed at RAF Northolt and she was then moved in to a military ambulance, which was given a police escort to the Royal Free Hospital in London today

Care: The unnamed woman was initially taken to Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital but was moved to the Royal Free Hospital in London
+21

Care: The unnamed woman was initially taken to Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital but was moved to the Royal Free Hospital in London
NHS worker diagnosed with ebola arrives in London
EBOLA NURSE WROTE DIARY ABOUT SAVING LIVES IN SIERRA LEONE

Pauline Cafferkey wrote a moving diary of her time working as a volunteer with Save the Children helping Ebola victims in Sierra Leone.

She left with 30 other NHS staff in November who all worked at various hospitals in west Africa.

She told how from the moment she stepped off the plane, the smell of chlorine hit her and a thermometer was pointed at her head.

Also she described the 'horrendous' suit she had to wear while treating patients.

She wrote in the Scotsman: 'The PPE [personal protective equipment] alien-type suit that I have to wear when going into the positive Red Zone is horrendous. It takes about 20 minutes to dress and 15 minutes to take the suit off at the other end. They would be beneficial on a cold winter's night in Scotland, but working in them in 30-degree heat is uncomfortable to say the least.

'I feel very well protected. I was unaware that I could sweat so much. When I get to the decontamination area and remove the suit and gloves, there are pools of sweat dripping from me and not a dry hair on my head.

'I feel sorry for the poor patients who have these alien-type people caring for them. Especially so for the young children, who are not only very sick but have these strange creatures with only their eyes visible trying to make them drink and take medications.'

He said: 'I was sitting next to her on the plane when we flew back on Sunday night and she seemed fine. I am absolutely fine. I am just so shocked and heartbroken to hear that anyone from our team is ill'.

This morning she was moved to the Royal Free Hospital in London after being loaded onto a military aircraft in a cocoon by medical staff in protective suits at Glasgow Airport.

Chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies said experimental drug ZMapp, which was used at the hospital to treat Will Pooley, the first UK citizen to contract the disease, is 'not available at the moment'.

Among options of alternative treatment she said: 'We do have available a small amount of convalescent plasma. Plasma is the liquid of blood and convalescent is the recovery phase.

'Will Pooley gave a donation of the plasma and the theory is as we fight off infections we make anti-bodies and if you harvest the plasma you got a source of antibodies that you can put in to someone and you'd expect it to work.

'But the cornerstone of treatment remains fluid and electrolyte treatment.'

However, she said the course of treatment would be discussed privately between the 39-year-old patient and her clinician.

Officials are now urgently trying to trace 71 people on her British Airways BA1478 flight from London to Glasgow. They will also be contacting passengers who were sitting near her on her other flights back to the UK via Casablanca – Royal Air Maroc flights AT596 and AT0800.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) said that if more people were diagnosed with the disease, the RAF will only be involved if it is judged as being the 'best' move for the patient.

It said that each case will be judged on a 'case by case basis' and a patient would only be transferred by the RAF after clinical assessment.

This evening, the charity with which the nurse volunteered in west Africa has insisted it has 'robust and strict protocols' in place to protect staff.

Save the Children said the Kerry Town centre is staffed by around 430 national and 85 international staff.
EBOLA PATIENT'S ROUTE TO GLASGOW FROM SIERRA LEONE

December 28, 2.30am: Health worker takes off on Royal Air Maroc flight AT596 from Freetown, Sierra Leone.

6.10am: Flight lands at Mohammed V International Airport, Casablanca, Morocco.

12.20pm: She then boards Royal Air Maroc flight AT0800 from Casablanca to Heathrow.

3.50pm: Flight lands at Heathrow Terminal 4.

After 4pm: Health worker is bussed to Heathrow Terminal 5 alongside passengers from other flights.

9.10pm: She takes off from Terminal 5 on BA flight BA1478.

11:30pm: Flight lands at Glasgow Airport and she travels home.

December 29, 7:50am: Patient arrives by ambulance at Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital after feeling unwell and is placed in isolation.

The charity said staff are 'thoroughly vetted and trained' before being deployed and receive more training and assessment on arrival to ensure they can take personal protective suits on and off safely, and before they are permitted to enter the 'red zone'.

In a statement, the charity said: 'Save the Children works in some of the world's most dangerous locations, and as such we have robust and strict protocols in place to protect our staff and the communities we seek to serve.

'These are also constantly reviewed and monitored on site to ensure the highest standards of safety and prevention of infection control for all staff working at the Kerry Town Treatment Centre.

'Save the Children also asks staff to be careful outside of the treatment centre, where exposure to risks can be less obvious, and respect guidance regarding having no direct body contact and maintaining a safe distance.

'Save the Children maintains confidence in both our equipment and our protocols, as long as they are followed properly.'

Located 40km outside the capital of Freetown, the treatment centre is where people confirmed to have Ebola are referred to receive medical care and ensure that they do not transmit the virus to others.

It opened early last month and has now reached full capacity after facing criticism for having too few of the 80 beds filled.

The charity said: 'The centre increased the number of beds incrementally until reaching its full capacity on December 25.

'This planned and staged scale-up to full capacity was crucial to ensure staff safety while providing the highest levels of patient care, as ongoing works were also being carried out to ensure high standards of infection prevention and control.'

Prime Minister David Cameron said the risk to the public remains 'very low' as 'robust and well-practised' procedures are being followed.

After Mr Cameron headed a further meeting of the Cobra committee this afternoon, a Downing Street spokesman said: 'The Prime Minister chaired a Cobra on Ebola this afternoon with Ministers and officials from across Government and the First Minister of Scotland, who joined the meeting via video conference.

'He was reassured that the robust and well-practised procedures that had been put in place were being followed and that the risk to the general public remained very low.

'The Prime Minister also paid tribute to all those working to save lives in Sierra Leone and the important job they are doing. His thoughts are with the patient and her family and friends at this time.'

This morning Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Ms Cafferkey was 'doing as well as can be expected in the circumstances'.

Ms Sturgeon said Health Protection Scotland is making 'very good progress' with contacting passengers on the British Airways flight from Heathrow to Glasgow.

She said: 'After the passenger list was received last night, there were 70 people that required to be traced.

'As of this time, 63 of them have been contacted and either spoken to directly or have had messages left for them, so some contact has been made with 63 out of the 70.'

She also said a second health worker is being tested for Ebola in Scotland after returning from West Africa, but said there was a 'low probability' they have the disease.

It also emerged this morning that another patient is being tested for Ebola after being admitted to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro last night and is being kept in isolation for 24 hours while they wait for the results.

Public Health England today explained its policy on health workers returning to the UK.

A spokesman said: 'The Scottish patient was on the returning worker scheme and was screened at Heathrow Airport on arrival, in line with standard procedures. At this point they were assessed as per protocol and cleared to travel home. This process was overseen by a medical consultant.

'Naturally, we are keen to learn whatever we can from the emerging details of this case and will be reviewing what happened and the screening protocols, to see if anything needs to be changed.'

Hours after she arrived home Ms Cafferkey alerted the authorities and said she feared she had Ebola and was taken to a Glasgow hospital by special ambulance, immediately isolated and diagnosed with the virus.

New tests: The second Scottish patient who is being tested, pictured in orange, had been staying at a youth hostel in the Highlands and has also returned from West Africa
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New tests: The second Scottish patient who is being tested, pictured in orange, had been staying at a youth hostel in the Highlands and has also returned from West Africa
Precautions: The woman was met by a team of medics in protective suits and transferred to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
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Precautions: The woman was met by a team of medics in protective suits and transferred to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
Convoy: The unnamed woman, taken to Aberdeen by police and paramedics, is said to have only a very small chance of having Ebola
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Convoy: The unnamed woman, taken to Aberdeen by police and paramedics, is said to have only a very small chance of having Ebola
Nicola Sturgeon: Ebola victim doing 'as well as can be expected'

Experts said early symptoms, including fever, headache, muscle pain and sore throat develop suddenly. A person is only infectious at the point at which they begin to show symptoms.

Previous victim: Mr Pooley was flown home from Sierra Leone in August after contracting ebola
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Previous victim: Mr Pooley was flown home from Sierra Leone in August after contracting ebola

At the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north London, the health worker was admitted through a specially-assigned hospital entrance, before being taken to the high-level isolation unit – the only ward in the UK equipped to cope with Ebola.

It is the same isolation unit that nursed William Pooley back to health after he contracted Ebola in August.

Paul Cosford, medical director for Public Health England, told Sky News the woman was 'very brave'.

He said: 'She is a very brave person who was fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. She is en route to Royal Free where she will receive the best possible treatment for her disease.'

He added that the woman was admitted to hospital in the early hours of the morning, shortly after arriving home from Sierra Leone the previous evening, and she had not exhibited any severe symptoms of the disease, meaning there was a low risk of transmission to other passengers.

'The most important thing to remember about Ebola is it is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids - diarrhoea, blood or vomit.

'She only had a fever and when people have a fever they do not transmit the virus. We believe the risk to the public is low.'

It is understood the second Scottish patient who is being tested had been staying at a youth hostel in the Highlands.

Ms Sturgeon told BBC Scotland: 'I should stress that, although this is another returning healthcare worker from West Africa, the patient here, as far as we are aware, has had no direct contact with people infected with Ebola, so it is a case that is being described as low probability.

'But we are operating, given the seriousness of Ebola, on a highly precautionary basis and that's why this patient will be transferred for tests.'
Volunteer diagnosed with Ebola after returning to Glasgow

Treatment: The nurse has been transferred to the specialist high-level isolation wing of London's Royal Free Hospital.
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Treatment: The nurse has been transferred to the specialist high-level isolation wing of London's Royal Free Hospital.
Care: This is the high-level isolation unit in London where the woman will be treated in the coming days and weeks
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Care: This is the high-level isolation unit in London where the woman will be treated in the coming days and weeks

Around 100 have been tested for Ebola in hospitals across England this year so far.

Last night the authorities moved to reassure the public the risk of infection was negligible and that the UK was prepared for the disease.
WHAT TREATMENTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR EBOLA PATIENTS?

There are currently no specific drugs to cure Ebola, nor any approved vaccines to prevent the disease.

Two experimental vaccines are currently being trialled on human volunteers in the UK, US, Mali and Uganda.

Experts expect to see the first results of those trials early next year.

Ms Cafferkey who has been transferred to the Royal Free Hospital in London will receive supportive care.

The Royal Free Hospital is the only High Level Isolation Unit in the UK to house two high-security containment beds.

They are located inside isolation 'bubbles' - specially-designed tents with controlled ventilation allowing medics to provide clinical care while containing the infection.

Three other hospitals - The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne Royal Victoria Infirmary and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals - are designated centres for escalation if more patients are diagnosed with Ebola.

There are around 50 other designated Ebola beds at these three centres.

Medics will work to re hydrate Ms Cafferkey using oral and intravenous fluids.

Specific symptoms such as diarrohea and fever will be treated directly, to try and improve her chances of surviving.

William Pooley, the British nurse who survived Ebola, was treated with the experimental drug ZMapp.

It is a blend of three laboratory-made antibodies designed to neutralise the virus.

Two US aid workers, Dr Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol were also given the drug after they were infected with the virus while working in Liberia. They too, subsequently recovered.

But experts do not know if those given the drug were saved by it, or whether luck played a part.

Around 45 per cent of those infected in the current outbreak have survived without treatment.

Meanwhile at least two other patients treated with ZMapp have died, possibly because help got to them too late.

ZMapp, developed by US biotech company Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc, is manufactured in the leaves of genetically modified tobacco plants.

The process could yield 20 to 40 doses a month.

Evidence suggests that effective treatment with ZMapp requires three doses of 15 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.

In September, shortly after being discharged from the Royal Free, Mr Pooley, travelled to the US to undergo a blood transfusion to help an American colleague who was being treated for the virus.

It is thought the blood of those who have survived the disease may contain antibodies, which can prove effective in fighting the disease.

Professor Jonathan Ball, an expert in molecular virology at Nottingham University, said the case showed airport checks are unable to spot Ebola.

He said this was because symptoms such as a high temperature can take up to three weeks to develop.

'When [screening] was introduced it was more a measure of reassurance rather than something that actually worked,' he said. 'Because the incubation period for Ebola is up to 21 days, it's impossible to detect as you don't show symptoms.'

In October, ministers were accused of a chaotic response to the Ebola crisis when it emerged screening measures amounted to little more than a questionnaire.

The tests involve assessing passengers' recent travel history and who they have been in contact with, as well as a possible medical assessment.

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Passengers who have come from Sierra Leone, Liberia or Guinea are put in a separate queue at customs.

In a holding area, they are asked how they are feeling, whether they have been in contact with Ebola victims and if they have touched bush meat. If the medical staff are concerned, they start a full assessment.

But they stop short of screening passengers with thermal guns to pick out those with an elevated temperature, a procedure adopted in the US.

It is understood the nurse had close contact with one other person following her journey. Officials would not confirm whether this was her partner or a relative. Anyone thought to be at risk is expected to be monitored by the authorities.

Another British nurse, William Pooley, was flown home from Sierra Leone in August after contracting ebola at a treatment clinic. He recovered and has returned to West Africa to continue his mission.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has chaired a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee, while Downing Street said David Cameron had spoken to Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon and made clear the Government would help in any way possible.

Ms Cafferkey is thought to have been in west Africa for around five weeks and left Sierra Leone on Sunday.

Last night the Scottish government said 'all possible contacts with the patient' were being investigated.

The nurse's condition was last night described as clinically stable and health officials said her prognosis was good as the illness had been caught early.

The chief medical officer, Sally Davies, said she expected a handful of Ebola cases in Britain in the coming months but that the NHS was very well prepared to cope with the virus which has killed more than 7,000, mainly in West Africa.

Dame Sally said: 'It is important to be reassured that although a case has been identified, the overall risk to the public continues to be low.

'We have robust, well-developed and well-tested NHS systems for managing unusual infectious diseases.'

A British Airways spokesman said: 'We are working closely with the health authorities in England and Scotland and will offer assistance with any information they require.

'Customers who flew from London Heathrow to Glasgow on BA1478 which departed at 2100 on Sunday, December 28, and have concerns should contact the special number 08000 858531 set up by the Scottish Government.

'The risk to people on board that individual flight is extremely low.'

Public Health England (PHE) has screened more than 1,700 people returning from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia since October.

Workers returning from West Africa who have had direct contact with Ebola patients receive a self-monitoring kit, which includes a thermometer.

It is sent directly to their home address the next day so they can self-monitor for up to 21 days and report to their local PHE centre. Additional kits were made available at Heathrow just in case of distribution disruption over Christmas, PHE said.

More than 20,000 people in West Africa have been infected with the virus since the outbreak begun, with more than 7,000 killed.
NHS medics flew out to Sierre Leone to tackle Ebola last month
HOW ARE HEALTH CHIEFS TRACING THOSE AT RISK AND WHAT IS BEING DONE TO MONITOR THEIR CONDITION?

The first case of Ebola diagnosed on British shores has provoked concerns of the disease spreading.

But health chiefs at Public Health England (PHE) are working to locate all those people who may have come into contact with Pauline Cafferkey on her journey home from Sierra Leone to Glasgow.

Paul Cosford, PHE medical director, said there is a low risk of transmission to other passengers, because Ms Cafferkey had not shown signs of the more severe symptoms of the disease.

And experts have echoed his reassurances.

Dr Cosford said: 'The most important thing to remember about Ebola is it is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids - diarrhoea, blood or vomit.

'She only had a fever and when people have a fever they do not transmit the virus. We believe the risk to the public is low.'
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Professor of virology at the University of Reading, Ian Jones, said: 'With the experience of treating previous cases there is every chance of a speedy recovery and as the patient has been isolated there is essentially no risk to the general population at large.'

And Professor Nigel Brown, president of the Society for General Microbiology, added: 'Ebola is a very difficult virus to transmit. If a person is symptomless they are unable to infect anyone else.'

Officials are currently working to trace all those who came into contact with Ms Cafferkey, particularly the 71 passengers on board her British Airways BA1478 flight from London to Glasgow on Sunday evening.

They will also be contacting passengers who were sitting near her on her other flights back to the UK via Casablanca – Royal Air Maroc flights AT596 and AT0800.

A process known as contact tracing will locate and monitor anyone who came into direct contact with Ms Cafferkey.

The 50 NHS staff who worked alongside the 39-year-old in Sierra Leone have been given self-monitoring kits, allowing them to take their temperature daily to detect early signs of the disease.

British Airways has already handed the Scottish Government the passenger details for flight BA1478, they told MailOnline.

Those identified as being at high risk will have their temperature and any potential symptoms monitored.

PHE currently has a process to monitor those aid and healthcare workers returning from the affected region.

Each person is assessed and classified into three categories:

Category one - These workers will have visited the area but had no direct contact with an Ebola case. They are not bound by any restrictions and can return to usual activities in the UK. There is no monitoring of these people or any requirement for them to report regularly to health officials.

Category two - These people are deemed as having had close contact with Ebola patients, or their body fluids, while wearing appropriate protective clothing with no known breaches. They are allowed to return to their family or work, though if they are specific clinical workers their duties will be restricted. They are closely monitored with their temperatures being measured twice daily for 21 days after returning from the affected country, and any raised temperatures are reported to PHE officials.

Category three - These aid workers are the same as those in category two, though they may have had a breach in their protective clothing, or come into direct contact with a patient's blood, urine or secretions without being protected. These people are allowed contact with family and friends and can work, though only in office based work. They are permitted to travel in the UK, though only within boundaries discussed with the monitoring team at the PHE. They are required to check their temperature daily for 21 days after returning and are required to report daily to the PHE's monitoring team.



So how many others have been put in danger?

Health chiefs will be disturbed that the Ebola victim was able to travel on a plane, go home to her family and use public parts of a hospital after developing symptoms.

Spreading from person to person as a result of direct contact with skin or bodily fluids such as blood or sweat, the deadly virus is extremely infectious.

However the afflicted health worker's fellow passengers are unlikely to have contracted it because it is not airborne.

They would not be at risk from breathing the same cabin air and it would be exceptionally unlucky to catch it from an armrest, a touch-screen television or a seat-back tray.
Precautions: William Pooley starts his journey home from Sierra Leone in an air isolation unit

Precautions: William Pooley starts his journey home from Sierra Leone in an air isolation unit

But there will be concern over anyone who may have had close contact with the woman – such as her partner – and for any health officials who treated her after she became ill but before she was diagnosed with the disease.

The virus can enter the body via infected droplets through broken skin or mucous membranes such as the eyes, the lining of the nose or the mouth.

Ferociously infectious while inside a human body or bodily fluid, it is far less so on an inert surface where it lasts for no longer than a few minutes.

But guidelines on tackling Ebola say a carpet or seat cover that is dirty from blood or body fluids should be discarded in the same way as biohazardous material.

To avoid catching the disease, medical workers must wear goggles, incinerate clothing and clinical waste and decontaminate medical equipment that needs to be kept.

At the Royal Free the health worker will occupy a £25,000 bed that will be burned after she leaves the hospital.

In the case of Mr Pooley only seven doctors and a handful of nurses were allowed to enter the room. Her treatment will focus on replacing the fluid she loses through internal bleeding.

An intravenous drip will pump saline solution into her body to try to stop the organs failing.

The doctors will also, if necessary treat the bleeding from her nose, eyes and ears - an advanced symptom of the disease.
When she arrives at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north London, the health worker will be admitted through a specially-assigned hospital entrance, before being taken to the high-level isolation unit – the only ward in the UK equipped to cope with ebola
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When she arrives at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north London, the health worker will be admitted through a specially-assigned hospital entrance, before being taken to the high-level isolation unit – the only ward in the UK equipped to cope with ebola

If they cannot get hold of experimental Ebola drug ZMapp, they will simply try to manage the disease until her immune system is strong enough to fight it off.

A filtration system will suck the air away, removing all contaminated vapour before it is pumped out of the building.

Professor Tom Solomon, director of Liverpool's Institute of Infection and Global Health, said: 'Although there is no established antivirus treatment, we do know that supportive treatment, to maintain hydration and stop patients becoming acidic, is vital.'

Human waste will be collected in a container similar to a pressure cooker before it is decontaminated and disposed of.

People who recover from Ebola are usually isolated for many weeks, and are told they must abstain from sex or use condoms for three months.

In October, ministers were accused of a chaotic response to the Ebola crisis when it emerged screening measures amounted to little more than a questionnaire.

The tests involve assessing passengers' recent travel history and who they have been in contact with, as well as a possible medical assessment.

Passengers who have come from Sierra Leone, Liberia or Guinea are put in a separate queue at customs.

In a holding area, they are asked how they are feeling, whether they have been in contact with Ebola victims and if they have touched bush meat.

If the medical staff are concerned, they start a full assessment. But they will stop short of screening passengers with thermal guns, a procedure adopted in the US.

Thermal screening picks out passengers who have an elevated temperature using an infrared temperature gun.

In the Ebola-affected countries, 36,000 people have been tested and 77 stopped from boarding flights since health tests were introduced two months ago.


Read more:

Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey’s Ebola diary - The Scotsman