The Barbados government has established an Ebola isolation centre on an adjacent compound to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital overlooking two popular schools. This week we learned about health care workers who have become infected with Ebola after treating Ebola patients and the reason given by the … National Nurses United, the largest registered nurse union, surveys of their membership indicate that most nurses feel hospital administrations have not communicated adequately with staff about Ebola response plans – Ebola Protocol Breach Raises Questions About Where to Treat Patients
The latest development is important because if health workers like those in Jamaica threaten not to treat Ebola patients, we have a problem. The following two comments by BU family members are important to the Ebola conversation.
Two Comments by are-we-there-yet extracted from the EBOLA Virus Enters the White Man’s World #2 blog
Miller; You’ve brought up just one good point in your post above. That is “the issue of the need for people dealing with the Ebola virus to be outfitted in spacesuits as if the infection has been brought in by aliens from another world?”
Yes! It would appear to be absolutely necessary that caregivers at all phases of the development of the disease in a potential ebola stricken patient must be outfitted in adequate fool proof Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and that they be totally trained in how to put on, take off and use that equipment. Failure to secure PPE’s of the absolutely highest standards and to use them properly appears to be an absolute death sentence.
The case histories of the persons who have contracted ebola all suggest that the disease is very infective and that absolutely strictly observed guidelines must be followed and enforced in robing, using and disrobing from those PPEs. Two of the cases of spread outside Africa so far appear to have been due to improper disrobing from the PPE’s.
If, heaven forfend, the disease gets into Barbados we will have a number of challenges re. the use of PPEs. One challenge will be getting workers to use the PPE’s in our sweltering heat. I expect that even if light weight PPE’s are used there might be a trade off between the procurement of heavy weight effective suits and lightweight (also claimed and even proven to be effective) suits that are more likely to be used sensibly by the caregivers.
Spain and the USA would not have had any such problem.
Back in Liberia, 10 of the people who assisted in getting the sick pregnant woman to the hospital there with Duncan have already died and it is likely that that is not the end of spread from that source of the virus. The video of the enclave that Duncan lived in suggests that those people in the compound wear no protective clothing whatever and that the Government workers are doing their best (also without wearing your spacesuits) to identify all contacts and move them out to quarantine areas. The conditions do not appear the best for containment of further spread.
The short history of the spread of this outbreak, its ability to infect workers in the US and Spain who are fully protected by PPE’s and its galloping spread in the infected countries in West Africa suggests to me, FWLIT, that the authorities have got it a bit wrong re. the method of spread and the infectivity of the virus. If they continue to publish the information that they are currently providing many more will die.
In the meantime, I think tightening up on the protocols for use of the PPE’s and allowing for the possibility of its spread through the air and by inactive carriers such as mammalian pets who might inadvertently transmit infective material from one human host to another, could reduce the spread potential and thereby limit the movement of the disease from where it currently has taken hold.
Note that there is no outbreak in the US or Spain. It has not reached that stage yet and we should all pray that the authorities there can contain it.
Why do you think Obama is sending so many troops into harms way. He and his advisors realises that they have no choice. I hope he is successful.
#2 comment
There are some very interesting questions raised by today’s developments in the Ebola story. viz; One or more caregivers of Ebola infected patients have contracted the Disease in the USA and Spain. There is possibly another carrier of the disease from Liberia to another part of the USA. None of the persons closest to Duncan and who were in unprotected close contact with him when he first started showing symptoms have yet shown any signs or symptoms of the disease while 2 presumably well protected professionals have come down with the disease. The Health workers around the US have been protesting that they have not been advised of the protocols which CDC says that hospitals are operating under while being blamed for not strictly adhering to those protocols. The system in the US and Europe seems rather chaotic at this time.
The questions are?
Are the US health services or indeed any country’s health services really ready for the complicated task of containing and controlling this outbreak?
Are the Health workers who might come in contact with carriers of the disease being told the full story of the epidemiology of this strain of the virus?
What does this portend for Caribbean health services in general and Barbados in particular?
Why should the virus either take longer to develop or doesn’t develop at all in unprotected black persons who were in intimate contact with Duncan at an eminently infective stage of his illness while some professional well protected caregivers and presumably white have contracted it? Is there a genetic difference? Could wearing the PPE’s be actually providing a better chance for the the virus to infect persons than if they were not worn at all? Should there be some trials done on identifying the best wear for eliminating transmission of the virus?
Was there a distinct difference in the care in the US of Duncan as compared with that of the others who had contracted the virus and been treated using experimental medicines. If there is a difference could that explain to some reasonable extent why Duncan died and the others have survived?
Should Barbados and the Caribbean seek to have some of its IT professionals in collaboration with our health professionals, work out and develop a total epidemiological package for Ebola that would allow us to manage Ebola better when it gets here?
Comment by Sargeant extracted from the EBOLA Virus Enters the White Man’s World #2 blog
@David
What is happening with these health workers contracting Ebola? A worker who nursed Duncan affected
+++++++++++
They are overlooking basic precautions, wearing the Hazmat suit is not enough, you have to be careful when removing it also, the exterior has to be disinfected prior to removal less any of the virus is present on it. Like going to a public washroom and washing your hands but opening the door with your bare hands which is a no-no. One should always try to avoid public washrooms but if you must go grab a paper towel to hold onto that door handle on your way out.
173 responses to “ebola, EBOLA”
Georgie Porgie
PLEASE GO TO LEVITICUS 11:13-19 SIR. And if possible, put it on the blog and let us read it together.
Nurse infected with Ebola says she’s ‘doing well’
http://news.yahoo.com/texas-nurse-contracted-ebola-understood-risks-153314500.html
I was reading news from the Associated Press and saw the following article
“AREQUIPA, Peru (AP) – The coming winter vacation season is raising worries about the potential for Ebola cases in Caribbean and Central American countries, the top U.S. military commander in South America says, noting that smaller countries may be less equipped to deal with the problem.
Gen. John Kelly, head of U.S. Southern Command, told The Associated Press on Monday that leaders from the Caribbean and Central American countries are voicing concerns because many vacationers will be traveling to and from the islands, often without going through airport screenings the U.S. is putting in place. He said small nations such as Haiti would have a difficult time coping with an Ebola outbreak.”
This takes me back to one of my concerns I alluded to in a previous post. Will our immigration officers be trained to make the necessary judgment calls relative to them examining passports of regional or international visitors and discovering one or more persons may have visited a country under “Ebola alert”? Will there be designated quarantine areas at the ports of entry?
I believe issues like these deserve serious discussions rather than us playing doctor or biologist by trying to determine if a bat is a bird or not.
Artax, definition of a Bat is written upon the pages of the Holy Scriptures. It is a souce of knowlege which shaped the moral and intellectual tradition of the West.
Now GP where are you? And has the cat got your tongue?
WHO warns there could be 10,000 new cases of Ebola every week for next two months – as death rate increases to 70%
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2792468/world-health-organisation-warns-10-000-new-cases-ebola-week-two-months.html
How Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan’s organs slowly failed and he begged to be put in a diaper as he lay dying
Duncan, a Liberian, flew to the U.S. carrying Ebola and died on October 8
Newly-released medical records chart harrowing effects of the disease
Duncan was beset by diarrhea and projectile vomiting in Texas hospital
Begged to be given a diaper as he was too exhausted to walk to the toilet
At one point showed signs of hope – asking for food and an action movie
But soon declined again as organs failed and infection ravaged his body
Family visiting him in hospital said that he looked dead already
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2791171/ebola-victim-thomas-eric-duncan-s-organs-slowly-failed-begged-diaper-lay-dying.html
This Ebola threat warrants a robust national debate and response by all stakeholders surely.
bats are mammals not birds
some may question why the English word “bird” is used for the category in which bats are listed. Why not simply call this group of animals “the flying creatures”? Actually, the term “bird” in Leviticus 11:13 (as well as Genesis 1:20-30) is translated from the Hebrew word ‘ôp, which literally means “flying creatures” (Harris, et al., 1980, p. 654; cf. Brown, et al., 1993). It is derived from ‘ûp, meaning to “fly, fly about, fly away” (Harris, et al., pp. 654-655). That this word is not used solely for “birds” is evident from Leviticus 11:20-23, where it is used with sherets in reference to “winged creeping things” (ASV), i.e., flying insects.
Admittedly, bats and birds have many differences, but one major commonality—the ability to fly—is the very characteristic God used to group them together. Why are no other mammals included in this list? Because “bats are the only mammals capable of true flight” (Jones, n.d.)—another reason why Bible translators have chosen to use the term “birds” in these passages, instead of the more general terms “flying creatures.”
The rationale among translators seems to be, “if 99.9% of all ‘flying creatures’ are birds, then we will use the term ‘birds’ to translate the word (‘ôp).” Since Bible students should be very familiar with the figure of speech known as synecdoche (“by which a part is put for the whole”—“Synecdoche,” 2009; see Dungan, 1888, pp. 300-309; cf. Genesis 8:4; 21:7), they should have little trouble understanding why translators continue to use the term “birds” to categorize all the flying creatures, including bats. After all, bats make up a very small percentage of all of the animals that fly.
What’s more, notice that bats are placed at the end of the list of birds and just before the list of flying insects. This placement is entirely proper for the only living “flying creature” that is neither a true bird nor an insect.
Dompey | October 14, 2014 at 3:19 PM |
“Artax, definition of a Bat is written upon the pages of the Holy Scriptures. It is a souce of knowlege which shaped the moral and intellectual tradition of the West.”
Ok, fine the Bible is a source of knowledge…… but, according to Rick | October 14, 2014 at 3:27 PM |: “Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan’s organs slowly failed and he begged to be put in a diaper as he lay dying…”, how would knowing if a bird is a bat or a bat a bird helped Duncan during his demise?
I’m sure he would have preferred if either the bat or bird could have offered him a cure.
Sometimes we waste time on this blog with trivial nonsense when it comes to serious matters. I too am guilty of this from time to time.
Who is to stop an illegal Ghanian or Nigerian immigrant from entering Barbados throught the back-door and clothe in the virus of Eboloa? SOMETIME TO THINK SERIOUSLY ABOUT! I have been told by several Ghanian individuals who lives in my community here in the States, that their have used Barbados as a pathway to America.
David | October 14, 2014 at 3:29 PM |
“This Ebola threat warrants a robust national debate and response by all stakeholders surely.”
David, I agree with your comments……. that’s why I asked questions about the Barbados Registered Nurses’ Association and BAMP advocating for training of front-line nurses and doctors respectively, and the MoH taking the initiative to facilitate such training.
The ministries of health, foreign affairs, national security, tourism and international transport and immigration could join in a collaborative effort to formulate and implement the necessary protocols to minimize the Ebola threat in Barbados and protect Barbadians from the disease.
@ Dompey | October 14, 2014 at 3:19 PM |
“Artax, definition of a Bat is written upon the pages of the Holy Scriptures. It is a souce of knowlege which shaped the moral and intellectual tradition of the West.”
Is this supposed to be your definition of a joke, Donkey?
So you want us to accept in this modern scientific age a bat is a bird because it flies?
Well,well, dearie dreary Dompey the dromedary I was also told as a child a bat was a flying mouse. But you have now convinced us all that a bat is really a flying jackass called Batty Dompey.
Man get serious and tell us what the Bible has to say about Ebola. Is it one of the seven plagues sent by your god on the black race or is it the colourful apocalyptic horseman called Pestilence mentioned in the Book Revelation?
Georgie Porgie
I have any problem with your historian vivisecting the etymology of the definition of a bird, but I’ll follow the literal text of the Bible.
Artaxerxes;
I am a trained and qualified Biologist and Epidemiologist.
The debate about whether or not Bats are Birds is very important in the context of the epidemiology of Ebola. The literature clearly establishes that the bat family is a primary host of Ebola. It also establishes that Ebola can infect other mammalian animals and that such host status is restricted to mammals. Therefore birds, reptiles, Insects, etc. have not been found to be hosts of the virus but could possibly assist in transient mechanical spread
There is no record as far as I am aware that Ebola can infect birds. It is therefore of some importance to not allow AC and Dompey to muddy the waters of the understanding of Ebola by suggesting that Ebola is spread by Birds and thereby to possibly create panic and misunderstanding where there should be none.
Birds have not been found to transmit Ebola. Bats are the primary hosts of Ebola in West Africa. Bats are not Birds in the biological sense. They are flying mammals.
Here is what the CDC website declares the hosting of Ebola.
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/qas-pets.html
@ Artaxerxes | October 14, 2014 at 3:52 PM |
“The ministries of health, foreign affairs, national security, tourism and international transport and immigration could join in a collaborative effort to formulate and implement the necessary protocols to minimize the Ebola threat in Barbados and protect Barbadians from the disease.”
Such a farsighted proactive approach to policy formulation and implementation to meet challenges and serious threats to national health, security and economic survival is not a trait of competence found in the current congenitally defective administration.
Such a collaboratively dynamic approach to management requires leadership of the highest or prime ministerial quality. Where can that be found among the current crop of indecisive misfits?
We ought to remember the first responsibility of the State is to protect its citizens from both internal and external threats, dangers and aggressions.
The current lot can’t even manage the lesser challenging issues of maintaining basic sanitation standards such as:
collecting garbage in a timely manner (especially in a hot tropical country);
the reduction of the large build up indiscriminate litter along the streets;
even the quick removal of bush and detritus accumulated from the ‘de-bushing’ and weeding of roads and gutters to minimize the inconvenience to both drivers and pedestrians many of whom are visitors to the island.
How, therefore, can we expect them to be prepared for such a previously unknown scenario and even to attract a modicum of confidence in them to handle the job when we can only witness on a daily basis a parody of a game of folly being played out by a cabinet of jokers like monkeys in a circus of clowns and passing for serious administration of the people’s business.
Is it a useful exercise for the parliament of Barbados to meet in emergency session to debate the issue of how as a country we should face the threat?
The economic cost of Ebola beginning to take form.
very unlikely ,,,,,the virus could not survive the first two days of migatory process..
AND rearch shows
Birds
There is limited data about the prevalence of Ebola in birds but a 2002 study from Purdue University found that the Ebola virus closely resembles the structure of several bird viruses. This means birds may be able to spread the virus to humans. Head researcher David Sanders said “while bird transmission of Ebola is by no means certain, the resemblance among all these viruses should encourage health officials to be on guard for it.”
http://time.com/3480961/ebola-animals-transmission/
Greaogie Porgie/ Miller
Leviticus 11;13-19
Here the words of God:
These are the birds you are to regard as unclean and not eat.
1) Vulture
2) Black Kite
3) Horn Owl
4) White Owl
5) Osprey
6) Any kind of Horn
7) And the “Bat”
David
When is Parliament due to reconvene?
@Vincent
Believe on 21 October 2014.
Continue the discussion here:
https://barbadosunderground.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/dispelling-a-myth-about-ebola/