All the Blood in Your Body (re: Ebola in Africa)

[WilliamPitt]

(Photo: European Commission DG ECHO / Flickr)

All the Blood in Your Body
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout | Op-Ed

Tuesday 29 July 2014

A pestilence isn't a thing made to man's measure; therefore we tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away.

- Albert Camus, "The Plague"

It begins with symptoms analogous to influenza: fever, chills, sore throat, muscle aches. Nothing to worry about, right? We've all had the flu.

After that are the headaches, seizures, confusion, exhaustion, as the central nervous system comes under attack. Toward the end, you start bleeding - from the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the anus, the vagina, the skin - and every drop of blood that leaves your body is loaded with the virus that is killing you, in search of a new host to burn down. One by one, your organs fail, your body drowns within itself, and you're gone.

That is Ebola, for close to 90 percent of the people who contract it. It gestates within you for thirteen to twenty-five days before it sinks its teeth into you, so you have from two weeks to almost a month to spread it around - sexual contact is the easiest way, but there are others - before it takes you over. For those first two weeks, you have no idea that you are a ticking bomb.

The worst Ebola outbreak in recorded history is currently burning through several countries in Africa. It began in Guinea back in February. By the end of May, it had spread to the capital, Conakry, a city of some two million people. The disease was found in several counties in Liberia by the end of March, and in Sierra Leone by the end of May. Days ago, a case of Ebola was discovered in Nigeria, carried by a man from Liberia who arrived by airplane in the city of Lagos, which has almost 20 million residents. The man died not long after his arrival, and a resurgence of the disease has since been reported in both Guinea and Liberia.

(snip)

There are some who fear the disease can now be transmitted through the air, which would not only explain the rapid spread of this new outbreak, but would also explain how three trained doctors taking every available precaution also became infected.

I think of that, and remember the man from Liberia carrying the disease who arrived by plane in Lagos. I think of all the people who shared that plane with him, and wonder where they are now. I think of this disease infiltrating densely-populated cities in Guinea, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and all the attached airports that connect to more large cities and more airports, and I remember that the disease sits and waits, sits and waits, sits and waits for two weeks before mimicking the flu, before it explodes. I remember that as many as nine out of ten people do not survive exposure.

The book The Hot Zone, published in 1994, explains in graphic detail what this disease is capable of, and what can happen if it gets loose in the high-traffic international air routes that wrap the planet like a web. Someone once said that a lie can be halfway around the world before the truth puts its pants on. In this instance, Ebola can be strolling blithely through Laguardia, or O'Hare, or LAX, before anyone is the wiser...and if the theory that this disease has become airborne has any validity, that scenario presents a crisis of unprecedented proportions.

We live, here in America, in an age where it is expected that nothing gets done. At this moment, the only groups working to curtail this Ebola outbreak are Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross, and a few Christian missionary organizations. The local medical facilities and staff in the affected countries are woefully inadequate to the task.

In the strongest possible terms, I suggest the Centers for Disease Control, along with any and all pertinent Federal and state agencies, pool their resources and go to Africa as soon as possible. I suggest Congress write them a check sufficient to fund what will doubtless be a highly dangerous medical rescue/research operation. I suggest other nations with sufficient medical capabilities join in this endeavor.

This disease likes to travel, and the first case that pops up in New York or Chicago, thanks to a plane flight, will have the whole country wearing surgical masks behind closed doors. If we're lucky.

Remember the anthrax panic after 9/11? People picking up their mail with oven mitts? That was paranoia. This is all too real, and must be addressed immediately.

The rest: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/25241-all-the-blood-in-your-body

[SidDithers]

1. Fatality rate of the current outbreak is less than 60%, not 90%...

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/guinea/index.html

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_07_27_ebola/en/

Sid

[magical thyme]

2. Correct. The strain Ebola Zaire has a mortality rate of 90%. Don't know which strain this is, but

this outbreak has been less than 60%. So either treatment is getting better, or it's one of the other strains, or the number of people actually infected and already dead or dying could be unknown, as they are refusing to go to the hospital.

Also, *all* body fluids are infectious, not just the blood. So somebody sneezing or coughing or vomiting on you early on is potentially transmitting the pathogen.

[SidDithers]

3. It is Zaire...

The National Post had a good illustrative summary chart here:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/07/28/aid-urgently-needed-for-deadly-ebola-outbreak-canadian-doctor/

You need a few clicks to get to a version that big enough to read.

Sid

[snooper2]

7. VICE did some real reporting on this-

VICE


West Africa is being plagued by a new outbreak of Ebola — a terrifying disease that causes its victims to bleed to death from the inside out. Ebola has no cure, and the latest epidemic is spreading fast.

VICE News visited Liberia, where many feel the new outbreak began, borne from the bushmeat markets of Lofa. Western scientists feel that the consumption and preparation of meat from monkeys, fruit bats, and other forest animals is behind the transmission of Ebola, and possibly a new supervirus, which if left uncontrolled could kill a third of the world's population.

[SidDithers]

8. Vice news has done some really good stuff lately...

Marking so I can come back to watch later.

Sid

[Sheepshank]

9. Just a teeny tiny clarification

those are the death rates to date. I don't think anyone should be implying there is a 40% cure rate just yet.

The outbreak cycle is not yet contained and hasn't run it's full cour, even with the currently infected. We won't know the actual death rate until the outbreak cycle is over. I suspect that by the time it's all said and done, and with the improvement in treatment, the death rate may be somewhat lower than 90%.....but only somewhat.

[L0oniX]

4. Time to invest in medical mask and glove stocks.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

13. Or....

[dembotoz]

5. with ebola is always seemed that is was just a matter of time until we stpped being lucky with

containment.

shit
this could be the monster

[milestogo]

6. The disease spreads most rapidly in countries

where there is poor sanitation.

[Zorra]

10. Bravo. Thank you for writing about Ebola. Things are getting really serious. nt

[AngryDem001]

11. Money to combat Ebola? Nah.

Israel needs it more!

[JEB]

12. I'd like to see some figures of

how much is spent arming various nations, states and factions compared to world health budget. I suspect it would reveal what I would consider misplaced priorities.

[morningfog]

16. Not to make light or minimize either, but Israel has killed about 500 more

people in the past 3 weeks than ebola has killed this year.

[JEB]

24. We just keep sending money and arms to Israel

and expect things to improve. That's what I call crazy. Throwing gas on the fire. Like spraying ebola virus from planes.

[laundry_queen]

17. ugh

I never really thought about that...how both are happening at the same time and how one is getting money and one isn't. As if the bigger threat to the world was Hamas. JFC, the people in charge are not only insane, they are fucking stupid.

[stage left]

14. K&R

[countryjake]

15. K&R!

[LiberalLoner]

18. K&R

[shanti]

19. k&r

scary stuff, this ebola!

[uppityperson]

20. It is scary stuff, but please realize The Hot Zone was sensationalized with errors

Here is an interesting review with a bit more information about ebola.


http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/review-of-the-hot-zone-96325494/?no-ist

Yet the story Preston tells is full of accidents and misjudgments, and enough scientists and monkeyhandlers were exposed so that, had the virus really been the deadly strain of Ebola, a major plague might very well have been unleashed. In the end, the Reston Ebola proved fatal to monkeys but seemed to infect humans without any harm, although it is so nearly identical to the deadly Zaire virus that scientists still cannot see the difference. By the slenderest thread of some unknown molecular detail, this book reads like a prophecy instead of a postmortem.

Preston casts this story as a scientific thriller, which it is. And he writes in the manner of such popular novelists as Michael Crichton, Robin Cook and Stephen King, who have made the "strange virus outbreak" into a literary convention of high-tech, neo-Gothic horror. As a result, this book is hard to put down, very scary, crammed with the detail that can make fiction seem real — or reality read like fiction: "She opened up the space suit and laid it down on the concrete floor and stepped into it, feet first. She pulled it up to her armpits and slid her arms into the sleeves until her fingers entered the gloves. The suit had brown rubber gloves that were attached by gaskets at the cuffs."



(clip)

Current research suggests that viruses may be more like wandering messengers than alien predators, their visitations serving to exchange genetic information among individuals and species in an ecology more intricate and a biochemical balance more delicate than we have yet realized. One promising experimental drug for AIDS is based on this idea: it blocks a receptor site for the virus' message instead of working through the immune response....

[jen63]

21. The only thing I noticed

is that this article says that those carrying the virus can infect others before symptoms appear. Everything else that I've read says that someone with the virus isn't contagious until symptoms appear.

An American doctor has come down with it and his family was with him there. They left to come home to the states for a wedding, but left before his symptoms appeared. They're being monitored for fever etc.

Poor people, this is an awful disease. Let's hope they can get it under control.

[cwydro]

25. There are two Americans who have the disease. Now.

One is from my hometown. I don't know her whereabouts now, but she was working in missionary work, as was the other.

[alfredo]

22. Just as I was leaving Africa, there was an outbreak of Green Monkey Disease (Marburg virus).

Like Ebola, it is a hemorrhagic fever and can be mistaken for ebola. It was in the same region as some believe HIV originated.

Africa is where we were born, and where we are constantly tested for long term viability.

[Warren DeMontague]

23. I agree this is a very important situation. Ebola is scary shit.

Hyperbole about airborne transmission may not be warranted, at least not yet. The people who have contacted it have generally been in close contact with other, very sick people- like health care workers.

The poor gentleman who flew to Nigeria; i believe they are watching at least some of the people he was in contact with, including airline personnel- let's hope none of them get sick.

But absolutely, this is one of those situations where it would be impossible to throw too many resources at the problem. Something that kills humans so effectively needs our combined brainpower to figure out a way to stop it, like a vaccine- sooner rather than later.

[riverwalker]

26. I work with a nurse

here in the Midwest, who is so terrified that he doubled his life insurance. We get people sometimes directly from the airport who became ill on the flight from other countries, we don't know their story, it's just "I picked up my uncle and he's sick".
Nurses are the canaries in the coal mine. We will be on the front lines of this. We are scared.

[randys1]

28. All the more reason for our govt to get MUCH bigger in all areas of health

all the more reason for ALL Americans to have healthcare WITHOUT QUESTION

And we need more primary care docs, but they all wanna be specialists and make more money, well, either you become a primary care doc or we dont give you a god damn license, how about that!

[CoffeeCat]

33. I imagine that people are scared...

…and people like you guys--who worked in the medical field--know how bad this can get.

When I first began reading about the Ebola outbreak, 40 people had died. Now 680 have died.

And it's of concern that articles have reported that infected people have been traveling on airplanes.

This is a growing crisis.

I am concerned because schools start very quickly in the United States. Within the next 2-3 weeks, most US schools will be back in session.

Right now, is a critical time. Although the virus is contained to Africa--it could be spreading around the world. We just don't know yet. The incubation period is 1-2 weeks. That's a long time for people to have the virus and not know it.

I think we will know a lot in the next month or so. Going from 40-680 deaths is not a good sign about where things are headed.

[randys1]

27. Hopefully the teaparty can destroy the CDC and US govt so we have no defense against

this when it gets here...

you can be certain the idiots cant connect two dots on this

[janlyn]

29. My boyfriend and I

were just talking about this a few days ago. If the bubonic plague could spread the way it did during the dark ages,with their modes of transportation, imagine how fast a really nasty bug could spread today!! Scary stuff!! I may be paranoid, but I do believe I should stock my cupboards. If it comes down to it, the least amount of contact with other people the better.

[CoffeeCat]

34. I think it's always a good idea...

…to have some extra food and water and other essentials, like TP, basic medicines, batteries, etc.

The problem with a crisis like this--is that by the time everyone figures out that they have to stockpile--it's way too late.

I'm not saying that this Ebola outbreak will grow into a huge global crisis--but it is ALWAYS good to be prepared. The events we are seeing now are certainly a good reminder that we need to take precautions for ourselves and our families.

[janlyn]

30. William, why do you think

we are not hearing to much about this in mainstream media?

[Agschmid]

32. It was a lead story on all national news networks tonight, best out Israel/Gaza on some networks.

[CoffeeCat]

35. It only became a lead story in the US...

…after two US doctors working in Africa--came down with Ebola.

Suddenly, since there was a "US angle" we are hearing more about it.

I feel for these heroic doctors and their families. I'm happy to see the current coverage. However, the truth is that we should have had CDC people in Africa months ago. This situation should have been taking seriously a long time ago, and the media has barely reported on it until very recently. The first Ebola cases happened in February.

[Crewleader]

31. K & r

[kickysnana]

36. K &R, Will, I hardly do this anymore. n/t

[WilliamPitt]

37. Up

[suffragette]

38. More about the person on the plane who later died

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/31/health/ebola-outbreak/index.html

One American, 40-year-old Patrick Sawyer, died in a Nigerian hospital earlier this month -- having come from Liberia. He was in a plane to Lagos, when he became violently ill. He was planning to go back home to Minnesota to celebrate his daughters' birthdays, but the disease took his life before he could.
The Nigerian government said Thursday it has located 10 more people who had contact with Sawyer, the first American who died in the Ebola outbreak. Meanwhile, none of the 67 people under surveillance and the two people in quarantine have shown symptoms of the disease, Nigerian Minister of Information Labaran Maku said.
A naturalized American citizen who worked in Liberia, Sawyer flew to Nigeria intending to attend a conference.
After exhibiting symptoms upon arrival July 20, he was hospitalized and died on July 25.



Given that it can take from 2-21 days (as noted in the same article) for symptoms to manifest, he could easily have come back to the U.S. as he had planned before even knowing he was infected.

[Aerows]

40. Damn

[Aerows]

39. Even if it isn't airborne

The fact that it has a long incubation period and can be transmitted by saliva AND sweat, not just blood, makes it pretty damn scary.

[suffragette]

44. That combination is scary as hell.

Especially in the close quarters of planes and airports.

[Aerows]

46. I know

This could get out of hand very easily. It already is tragically out of hand for West Africa, but world wide, it could be a tragedy of epic proportions .

[suffragette]

50. In June, Doctors without Borders was saying this is out of control

And they had reached their limits.
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news-stories/press-release/ebola-massive-deployment-needed-fight-epidemic-west-africa


“The epidemic is out of control,” said Dr. Bart Janssens, MSF director of operations. “With the appearance of new sites in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, there is a real risk of it spreading to other areas.”
~~~

“We have reached our limits,” said Janssens. “Despite the human resources and equipment deployed by MSF in the three affected countries, we are no longer able to send teams to the new outbreak sites.”

It has become so much worse since then.

I can't imagine how terrifying this must be for the people in West Africa.
And the impact must be far beyond direct reports about this in the news, especially since early symptoms can be very similar to other diseases there. The fear that engenders must be impacting people who are sick with other diseases, both in worry and in how others would behave toward them.
And global implications are dire if it continues to spread.

[Warren DeMontague]

41. You wanna get pissed off?

Apparently there are several promising vaccines in the works. But will they be put in the pipeline for human approval? Nope. No plans to, not any time soon.

Know why? 5 letter word, starts with "M", ends with "Y".

Apparently it's not profitable enough to big pharma, to stop something with a 90% fatality rate.

[WilliamPitt]

42. Better explanation

Begins and ends with "A," is a large continent filled with people no one in the West gives a fuck about.

[Warren DeMontague]

43. That too.

And not completely unrelated.

[Aerows]

45. You both hit the nail on the head. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

47. "We have the science to build an Ebola vaccine. So why hasn't it happened?"

http://www.vox.com/2014/7/31/5952665/ebola-virus-vaccine-why-hasnt-it-happened

SK: So what stands between that science and getting these drugs to Ebola patients?

DB: Part of that is economics. These outbreaks affect the poorest communities on the planet. Although they do create incredible upheaval, they are relatively rare events. So if you look at the interest of pharmaceutical companies, there is not huge enthusiasm to take an Ebola drug through phase one, two, and three of a trial and make an Ebola vaccine that maybe a few tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people will use.

[Aerows]

48. Oh, well

"Just a few hundred thousands of people."

[Warren DeMontague]

49. I think in addition to a responsibility to the stock price, shareholders and board of directors

pharmaceutical companies have a responsibility to humanity, as human beings.

I guess I'm old fashioned.

[steve2470]

51. I agree ! nt