Roundel or pondok [hut] circa 40,000 B.C.
Modern pondok.
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| Africa Subsaharan | |
| Ebola out of control in West Africa | |
| 2014-06-22 | |
| DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa is ''totally out of control,'' according to a senior official for Doctors Without Borders, who says the medical group is stretched to the limit in responding. The outbreak has caused more deaths than any other of the disease, said another official with the medical charity. Ebola has been linked to more than 330 deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, according to the World Health Organization. International organizations and the governments involved need to send in more health experts and increase public education messages about how to stop the spread of the disease, Bart Janssens, the director of operations for the medical group in Brussels, told The Associated Press on Friday. ''The reality is clear that the epidemic is now in a second wave,'' Janssens said. ''And, for me, it is totally out of control.'' The Ebola virus, which causes internal bleeding and organ failure, spreads through direct contact with infected people. There is no cure or vaccine, so containing an outbreak focuses on supportive care for the ill and isolating them to limit the spread of the virus. The current outbreak, which began in Guinea either late last year or early this year, had appeared to slow before picking up pace again in recent weeks, including spreading to the Liberian capital for the first time. ''This is the highest outbreak on record and has the highest number of deaths, so this is unprecedented so far,'' said Armand Sprecher, a public health specialist with Doctors Without Borders. According to the WHO, the highest previous death toll was in the first recorded Ebola outbreak in Congo in 1976, when 280 deaths were reported. Because Ebola often touches remote areas and the first cases sometimes go unrecognized, it is likely that there are deaths that go uncounted during outbreaks. The multiple locations of the current outbreak and its movement across borders make it one of the ''most challenging Ebola outbreaks ever,'' Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, said earlier in the week. But Janssens' description of the Ebola outbreak was even more alarming, and he warned that the countries involved had not recognized the gravity of the situation. He criticized WHO for not doing enough to prod local leaders; the U.N. health agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment. ''There needs to be a real political commitment that this is a very big emergency,'' he said. ''Otherwise, it will continue to spread, and for sure it will spread to more countries.'' But Tolbert Nyenswah, Liberia's deputy minister of health, said the highest levels of government are working to contain the outbreak, noting that Liberia had a long period with no new cases before this second wave. With more than 40 international staff currently on the ground and four treatment centers, Doctors Without Borders has reached its limit to respond, Janssens said. It is unclear, for instance, if the group will be able to set up a treatment center in Liberia, like the ones it is running in in Guinea and Sierra Leone, he said. Janssens said the only way to stop the disease's spread is to persuade people to come forward when symptoms occur and to avoid touching the sick and dead. He said this outbreak is particularly challenging because it began in an area where people are very mobile and has spread to even more densely populated areas, like the capitals of Guinea and Liberia. The disease typically strikes sparsely populated areas in central or eastern Africa, where it spreads less easily, he said. By contrast, the epicenter of this outbreak is near a major regional transport hub, the Guinean city of Gueckedou.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #11 Squinty asks, Are cultures eligible to receive Darwin awards? Of course they are. Some even elect Obama, downhill all the way. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2014-06-22 15:00 |
| #10 Frank, one of the problems has been getting the word out about washing the bodies. In a big area you focus your efforts on places you know have the disease nearby. Then the disease pops up someplace unexpected. |
| Posted by: James 2014-06-22 14:56 |
| #9 It is my understanding that the causes of the virus are unknown but it appears to be a zoonotic, that is finding it's origin in non-human primates. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-06-22 12:20 |
| #8 Washingdead bodies with Ebola is a known transmission vector, yet their "Culture" compels them to do it. Are cultures eligible to receive Darwin awards? |
| Posted by: Squinty 2014-06-22 12:13 |
| #7 Genital Mutilation is a disease? How about an insane barbaric cultural norm? Washing dead bodies with Ebola is a known transmission vector, yet their "Culture" compels them to do it. Yes their conditions are hellacious at times, but I see too few going beyond tribalism and ignorance to help themselves rise above. See: the next tribal militia attack |
| Posted by: Frank G 2014-06-22 12:07 |
| #6 Gentlemen, people are suffering from a hellacious disease, and all you want to do is snark about it? There are people I know personally and care about in Liberia. People with good sense, love for their neighbors, and the drive and guts to fight the ignorance that causes so much suffering. I dare you to take the two minutes you would ordinarily use to make a snotty comment, and go look up a way to help improve health in Africa. Here are a few: Tostan, http://www.tostan.org/ Fights against Female Genital Mutilation throughout Africa. Grassroots women's efforts begun in Senegal Dignity Liberia http://www.dignityliberia.org/ Provides medical treatment for women with obstetric fistula. Some women suffer from complications for years without treatment. Compassion International, Compassion.com and Vision Trust visiontrust.org Both organizations specialize in children's health, education, and nutrition through child sponsorship. |
| Posted by: mom 2014-06-22 11:43 |
| #5 But ... how is this related to Global Man-made Climate Modification? "Change", you know, might allow for natural causes, whereas "modification" suggests a conscious intent. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2014-06-22 10:42 |
#4 Then there were the dark ages after 40,000BC, when the art of photography remained lost.
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| Posted by: KBK 2014-06-22 07:57 |
| #3 I blame poverty, lack of job opportunity, and the secondary effects of a 300 year period of western colonial oppression. Prior to the modern era, the region enjoyed 40,000 to 60,000 yeas of unparalleled progress and growth. Roundel or pondok [hut] circa 40,000 B.C. Modern pondok. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-06-22 06:33 |
| #2 Hell, just pray to Allah for health, course you know, you won't get it, not that you would want GOOD health. Just take what Allah sends you. |
| Posted by: Redeck Jim 2014-06-22 04:30 |
| #1 Hell they got something better than Ebola TW, they got Holy Mens, Automatic Weapons, they got Jihad! |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-06-22 03:55 |