In this weekly roundup we are going to discuss the Ebola outbreak. Ebola has caused mass pandemonium in the U.S. The reason it is causing pandemonium is because, our president has decided that it would be “beneficial” for the diseased Africans to be over here. They are only here for one of two reasons if not both. To spread the Ebola virus or at least experiment with it. Either way it’s not good for the American people.
Enserink: How many Ebola cases are there really?
Via ScienceInsider: How many Ebola cases are there really? Excerpt:
Every couple of days, the World Health Organization (WHO) issues a “situation update” on the Ebola epidemic, with new numbers of cases and deaths for each of the affected countries. These numbers―9216 and 4555 respectively, according to Friday’s update―are instantly reported and tweeted around the world.
They’re also quickly translated into ever-more frightening graphics by people who follow the epidemic closely, such as virologist Ian Mackay of the University of Queensland and Maia Majunder, a PhD student at MIT who visualizes the data on her website and publishes projections on HealthMap, an online information system for outbreaks.
But it’s widely known that the real situation is much worse than the numbers show because many cases don’t make it into the official statistics. Underreporting occurs in every disease outbreak anywhere, but keeping track of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone has been particularly difficult. And the epidemic unfolds, underreporting appears to be getting worse. (“It’s a mess,” says Mackay.)
So what do the WHO numbers really mean–and how can researchers estimate the actual number of victims? Here are answers to some key questions.
Does WHO acknowledge that the numbers are too low?
Absolutely. In August, it said that the reported numbers “vastly underestimate” the epidemic’s magnitude. WHO’s situation updates frequently point out gaps in the data. The 8 October update, for instance, noted that there had been a fall in cases in Liberia the previous 3 weeks, but this was “unlikely to be genuine,” the report said.
Obama: world must confront Ebola outbreak at source
President Barack Obama says the US must respond much more aggressively to prepare at home and confront the outbreak abroad. He said that while risks are low he had ordered the CDC to prepare special teams for rapid response. The White House said “there are likely to be more cases,” and acknowledged “shortcomings” of hospital response in Texas.
A second health worker contracted Ebola after having treated a man who died from the virus there. Amber Vinson and will be airlifted to Emory hospital in Atlanta, near the Centers for Disease Control.
Vinson flew just a day before reporting a fever and testing positive. The CDC is trying to reach all 132 people who were on board Frontier Airlines flight 1143, which flew from Cleveland to Dallas-Fort Worth on 13 October.
The death toll neared 4,500 people since the outbreak began in west Africa, the WHO said, adding that the estimated death rate is now 70% and it’s likely that many deaths go unreported.
Staff at Presbyterian Hospital allege chaotic scenes and poor safety protocols in dealing with infected patients. The CDC admitted it should have responded faster, and nurses threatened to picket over poor preparations.
First-hand accounts and UN agencies describe increasingly awful situations in west African nations, with the crisis affecting other areas, for example families’ ability to heal themselves.
Ebola outbreak in Central America + open borders = disaster
In an interview yesterday with CNN’s Candy Crowley, Senator Ted Cruz made numerous points about Ebola, speaking like a true leader, brushing off her snark. He advocated for common sense measures including a temporary freeze on visas from West African nations where Ebola is raging and for stopping all commercial air travel from those countries until the disease is under control.Cruz also shined a light on an issue less often discussed, which is the disaster that would unfold here in America if Ebola were to take hold in Central and South America. If such a scenario were to develop, people would be fleeing these regions in droves, crossing our border. Everyone in the GOP needs to be hammering away on this point. (Would that they hammered away on anything.) If you can stomach Crowley, the entire 18-minute interview is worth a listen.
shawnislife 