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Ebola is legging it for Congo 2001-12-12 From CNN today: LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) -- A woman infected with the deadly Ebola virus has disappeared from her village in the Central African nation of Gabon, and health officials fear she fled to neighboring Republic of Congo and could spread the disease. Villagers told local authorities the woman believed she had been bewitched and left the remote village of Ntolo to join relatives on the other side of the border, said provincial health director Dr. Prosper Abessolo-Mengue. The woman is one of at least two people infected with Ebola in a recent outbreak that has killed 10 others in Gabon. Authorities have been trying to keep the highly contagious disease from spreading beyond the affected region in the northeastern province of Ogooue Ivindo. Upon hearing about the woman's disappearance, Gabon authorities notified their counterparts in Republic of Congo. They asked for help in finding her and in restricting movement across the border. "We are very worried," Republic of Congo Health Minister Leon Opimbat said by telephone from the capital, Brazzaville. Health officials in Republic of Congo were educating the local population about Ebola and encouraging them to report any suspect fever outbreaks, he said. A World Health Organization team arrived Tuesday in the capital, Libreville, and was expected to travel in the coming days to Ogooue Ivindo. The five-member team -- including experts from France and the United States -- will help local authorities isolate and treat victims, as well as distribute protective equipment like gloves and masks to prevent contact with the bodily fluids of patients. A quarantine has not been imposed on the affected region, but local authorities are monitoring movement to and from the area, Abessolo-Mengue said. Journalists have been barred from traveling there. This is the first documented outbreak of Ebola since last year, when 224 people -- including health workers -- died from the virus in Uganda. Ebola is one of the most virulent viral diseases known to humankind, causing death in 50 to 90 percent of all clinically ill cases. But it usually kills its victims faster than it can spread, burning out before it can reach too far. The virus is passed through contact with bodily fluids, such as mucus, saliva and blood, but is not airborne. It incubates for four to 10 days before flu-like symptoms set in. Eventually, the virus causes severe internal bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea. There is no cure, but patients treated early for dehydration have a good chance of survival. ------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, so why aren't we hearing about this on the news?! I know we get very little real news here in the US, but this story hasn't even been featured on The Lehrer News Hour, as far as I've seen, because even They are All Afghanistan All The Time. And I generally trust the Lehrer to provide more accurate/in-depth news, so why no story on the Ebola? See, while Gabon is admittedly a somewhat isolated, rural country, all it would take is this woman to infect someone (or to infect someone who infected someone, and so on) who then got on a plane, and holy mary mother of god, it would be a shitstorm of epic proportions. If Ebola went global, can you even imagine the number of people who would die? We have dodged that particular bullet up until now, but our luck can't hold out forever, especially since ours is an increasingly global society. The article says Ebola is not airborne, but that is not correct. There have been outbreaks that have clearly been at least partially spread through the air, and even if this particular strain is not currently airborne, viruses mutate, and it could become airborne. And yeah, if it's not airborne, why do CDC and other agencies working with it use Level 4 containment procedures? Huh? Tell us That, CNN! Poor fools. Sorry to get so worked up, but as many of you know, Ebola is a particular fascination of mine, and it frustrates me that an important story such as this one gets so little press. I found this story buried on the CNN site, under World, and Africa. If I hadn't been looking for it, I wouldn't have known. My migraine went away yesterday and I feel a lot better, although still a little wilty. I spent my time yesterday knitting and reading and also I made a lot of oven-roasted potatoes (in slices) because we had a bag of red potatoes on the verge of self-annhilation. It was a quiet evening, but that was okay. This morning I came to work and had to attend yet another soul-sucking meeting, and this one was longer because we went out to lunch at the end of it. Granted, the food was good, but I had to put up with my boss, and that more than offsets the goodness of my tagliatele con spinach. Fortunately one of the other people in the meeting tends to talk a lot, so she pretty much dominated, and my boss didn't get much in edgewise. He did find time to put down foreign foods of all kinds (I guess Northern Italian doesn't count as foreign), which is just another manifestation of his Amerocentric arrogance. I find myself wanting to grind my teeth a lot when he talks. Tonight Francisco is having some people over for a reading group (academic reading, not fun reading), so Boy and I will hibernate in the bedroom. I figure we will read--we're finishing a good book called The Amber Spyglass, by Phil Pullman--and then at 8:00 we can watch Ed, which we both enjoy. Francisco needs to kick his people out before 9:00, as West Wing will be on, but I doubt that will happen. I'll just try to fill him in whenever he is able to join me. I guess that's all I have to report, other than being very close to done with Xmas shopping/gifts. I just need to finish the blanket, shop for some Boy gifts, make one other gift, and make a few more magnets. We fly to Seattle one week from tomorrow. I can do it, I know I can! I have less than one foot to go on the blanket--I'll be finished on Saturday and then I'll make the magnets and the other gift. Francisco and I are doing Boy gift shopping tomorrow during lunch time, so no problem. Okay, I'm done for now. I'll hopefully have a better update tomorrow. Let's all be nice to each other, even when we don't want to. Love,
come over some time & see me - 2011-02-25 |
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