Ebola report - 10/05/2014

Texas Ebola patient fighting for life, new US drug ‘all gone’

The first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the US is in critical condition at a Dallas hospital and is not receiving any of the new experimental drugs for the virus, which has killed over 3,400 people in Africa, media reports say.

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RT,

5 October, 2014

Thomas Eric Duncan contracted the disease in Liberia and began to show symptoms after arriving in Texas two weeks ago, causing a panic that he could have infected another 10 individuals.

READ MORE: Dallas damage control: Ebola-positive man possibly infected 10 in Texas

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said Duncan is in critical condition, adding that the patient is not receiving ZMapp – an experimental medicine – because it is “all gone” and is “not going to be available anytime soon.”

The comments were made during a briefing with reporters on Sunday.

Speaking on another experiential drug produced by Canada’s Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp, Frieden described the treatment as “difficult for patients to take.”

The decision whether to give this drug to the patient will be made by his doctor and family members, but “access” to the medicine will be made available.

“As far as we understand, experimental medicine is not being used,” Frieden said. “It’s really up to his treating physicians, himself, his family what treatment to take.”.

Outbreak risks

Duncan’s case has sparked fears of Ebola spreading across the US, particularly due to the fact that the Dallas hospital failed to diagnose the virus the first time around and sent the patient home with antibiotics.

“The issue of the missed diagnosis initially is concerning,” Frieden told CNN’s State of the Union. “We’re seeing more people calling us, considering the possibility of Ebola – that’s what we want to see. We don’t want people not to be diagnosed.”

Frieden added that it was unlikely for the disease to spread widely across the US.

US health officials are currently monitoring 10 quarantined people who had contact with Duncan. The individuals are considered to be “high risk,” and are being checked at regular intervals for symptoms of the disease.

Another 38 were previously being observed as potential contacts. The original list of all the people Duncan had contact with included 114 individuals.

In the meantime, the state of Nebraska is getting ready to receive a US Ebola patient who also became infected in Liberia, Reuters quoted Nebraska Medical Center spokesman Taylor Wilson as saying on Sunday.

Wilson identified the patient as male, refusing to provide any further details. However, Reuters reported that the patient might be a freelance cameraman working for NBC News, Ashoka Mukpo, citing the father of the individual.

Symptoms of the deadly Ebola virus, which has hit the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, include fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. The disease is contagious and is acquired through contact with bodily fluids such as blood or saliva

Sierra Leone records 121 Ebola deaths in a single day

The Extinction Protocol,

5 October, 2014

October 2014 – SIERRA LEONE – 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. Ebola was first reported in Guinea in March and has since spread to neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone in what has become the worst epidemic of the disease since Ebola was identified in 1976. Smaller outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal were brought under control. The United States last week confirmed its first Ebola case, a Liberian national who had traveled to Texas.

The overall death toll from the epidemic reached 3,439 out of a total of 7,492 cases in West Africa and the United States as of Oct. 1, the World Health Organization said last week. The UN agency’s statistics varied from those compiled by Sierra Leone. After an initial slow response, international assistance and supplies are now pouring into West Africa. The United States is deploying around 4,000 military personnel to the region to support efforts to combat the outbreak in Liberia, the country worst hit by the disease. Britain and China have sent personnel to Sierra Leone. Cuba dispatched a 165-member medical team, including specialists and nurses, to Sierra Leone last week. The country’s deputy health and sanitation minister Madina Rahman said on Saturday that the Cuban team’s mission would last at least six months. She said the team would be deployed to areas across Sierra Leone. –Reuters

First US Ebola Patient Dies? An Israeli paper is reporting: Thomas A. Duncan, who became ill with Ebola after arriving from West Africa in Dallas two weeks ago, succumbed to the virus today (Sunday), reports Reuters. Duncan was fighting for his life at a Dallas hospital on today after his condition worsened to critical, according to the director of the US Centers for Disease Control. The Dallas hospital that admitted him did not recognize the deadly disease at first and sent him home, only for him to return two days later by ambulance. –AS

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