News Updates from CLG
7 October 2014
Previous edition:’U.S. ramps up Ebola troop deployments, total may near 4,000,’ which Google relegated to the sp*m bin. See: Google Filter Instructions for CLG Newsletter.
Ebola Infects Spanish Nurse, a First in West –Rest of 30-person team to be monitored for symptoms of Ebola 6 Oct 2014 A nurse in Spain has become the first health worker to be infected with the Ebola virus outside of West Africa, raising serious concerns about how prepared Western nations are to safely treat people with the deadly illness…The case is particularly worrisome to health experts because Spain is a developed country that is considered to possess the kind of rigorous infection control measures that should prevent disease transmission in the hospital. Ana Mato, Spain’s health minister, said in a televised news conference that the nurse, who has not been identified publicly, tested positive for Ebola twice.
Ebola Screening at Airports Will Increase, Obama Says 6 Oct 2014 As this city waited anxiously to learn whether Ebola has spread beyond one victim, President Obama announced on Monday that the government would increase screening for the virus at airports both in the United States and in West Africa. Mr. Obama made the announcement after being briefed in Washington by Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mr. Obama called the fight against Ebola “a top national security priority,” but did not specify how screening would be changed. Dr. Frieden said that officials would explore a variety of options.
Ebola prompts talk of enhanced screening at U.S. airports 5 Oct 2014 Screening could soon be upped at U.S. airports because of the Ebola outbreak, a federal official said Sunday. “All options are on the table for further strengthening the screening process here in the U.S., and that includes trying to screen people coming in from Ebola-affected countries with temperature checks,” the source said.
R.I. man in Nebraska to get Ebola care 6 Oct 2014 The second Ebola patient to be treated in Nebraska remained in good spirits Monday upon arriving from Liberia, his parents said, but his condition was expected to worsen as he entered a critical phase of the illness. Ashoka Mukpo, a 33-year-old who grew up in Providence, was in stable condition Monday afternoon at Nebraska Medical Center, where he will receive treatment in a 10-bed biocontainment unit said to be the largest in the country. Mukpo will undergo an experimental treatment for the illness, medical center spokesman Taylor Wilson said Monday. But it is unknown at this point what drug will be used.
The homeless man at center of Ebola panic in Dallas: Vagrant who wandered off while he was meant to be under observation for virus captured after frantic search – and will now be held against his will –Police are working to obtain a court order to hold Michael Lively at the hospital, against his will if necessary. 5 Oct 2014 This is the first photo of the homeless man who sparked an Ebola alert in Dallas on Sunday after going missing following possible contact with an infected patient. Michael Lively who was the first person to ride in the ambulance that carried Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan to Presbyterian Hospital, Texas…Lively, who is not showing any symptoms of the disease, had been under observation when he wandered off. He is now in the psych ward of Parkland Hospital following a city-wide search by Dallas police.
Ebola patient Thomas Duncan may have spread virus, NIH expert says 5 Oct 2014 Although he believes Ebola is contained in Texas, where Liberian man Thomas Eric Duncan first showed symptoms of the virus after traveling to the U.S., an infectious disease expert at the National Institutes of Health says it’s “absolutely” possible that one of Duncan’s contacts will get sick in the coming days. “I would not be surprised if one of the people who came into direct contact with Mr. Duncan when he was ill will get Ebola,” Dr. Anthony Fauci who heads up the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday.
Officials locate possible Ebola patient contact 5 Oct 2014 Authorities say they’ve located a homeless man who needs to be monitored because he may have had contact with the lone Ebola patient in the United States. Dallas city spokeswoman Sana Syed said the man was located Sunday, a few hours after officials first said he was missing. The person is not considered to be one of the 10 people who definitely had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, who is in critical condition at a Dallas hospital.
Liberia health workers to stage go-slow for Ebola hazard pay 7 Oct 2014 Health workers in Liberia said on Monday they would press on with plans for a go-slow protest to support their claim for hazard pay as they fight an Ebola epidemic, despite a plea from the U.N. ‘health’ agency that they avoid industrial action. The West African state is at the center of an epidemic that has killed more than 3,400 people there and in neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea. The hemorrhagic virus has also taken a heavy toll on health workers and this has galvanized the National Health Workers Association of Liberia, said its secretary general George Williams.
Sierra Leone records 121 Ebola deaths in a single day 5 Oct 2014 Sierra Leone recorded 121 deaths from Ebola and scores of new infections in one of the single deadliest days since the disease appeared in the West African country more than four months ago, government health statistics showed on Sunday. The figures, which covered the period through Saturday, put the total number of deaths at 678, up from 557 the day before. The daily statistics compiled by Sierra Leone’s Emergency Operations Centre also showed 81 new cases of the hemorrhagic fever.