Ebola is here.

[coastal steelheader]

Not My Go To source but.....
Anti-quarantine nurse Hickox was trained as intelligence officer by the CDCNurse Kaci Hickox, who has made headlines over the last few days by refusing to quarantine herself after returning from the Ebola front lines in Africa, turns out to have been trained as an "intelligence officer" under a two-year CDC program modeled after the U.S. military.

As you can see from the document below, Hickox graduated from a two-year CDC intelligence officer training program in 2012. This is the same nurse whose LinkedIn page was recently scrubbed to hide her ties to the CDC, an agency that stands to benefit tremendously in both political power and budgets if an Ebola outbreak sweeps across America.

The official intelligence designation granted to Nurse Hickox by the CDC was "Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer," and she is a graduate of the 2012 EIS program according to this CDC document (PDF). (See page 138 - 139 for her name and photo, or view photo below.)

That same year, the CDC graduated 81 such "intelligence officers" whose names and photos are also listed in the public document.

View attachment 110341

The CDC models its operations after the U.S. military

What is a CDC intelligence officer? To understand the answer, you first have to realize that the CDC models itself after the U.S. military which is why CDC "officers" wear military costumes when appearing before Congress, complete with shoulder stripes, stars and badges.

Just as with the U.S. Army, the CDC also has "intelligence officers" whose jobs include gathering intelligence, analyzing intelligence and conducting counterintelligence ops. The CDC's sanitized description of this job is found on this web page which states:

EIS officers are on the public health frontlines, conducting epidemiologic investigations, research, and public health surveillance both nationally and internationally.

View attachment 110342That same page shows a photograph of a CDC intelligence officer wearing a military costume, complete with multiple stars on the shirt collar and a military-style name tag. These are symbols used to project the appearance of authority by adopting military dress even though the CDC isn't even under the command of the Dept. of Defense.

The uniforms are just one sign of the militarization of the CDC, an organization so steeped in delusional theatrics that it still won't admit sneeze particles can travel farther than 3 feet or that Ebola actually has a 42-day incubation period, not the 21 days we are repeatedly told.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/047444_Eb...#ixzz3Hgqrzdbb

That is damned creepy.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Kaci, you are one selfish ........................uh .....lady!

 

[erudne]

Another suspected (non-insured) Ebola patient is receiving expensive, time consuming medical attention after landing at Newark International Airport on Friday, clearing US Border and Customs Inspection and taking a long bus ride from New Jersey to a relative's home in North Carolina before spiking a fever and contacting the CDC which triggered the hospital admission:
"….A male patient, age unknown, was transported today to Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and is being tested this evening for Ebola virus infection.
The individual flew into Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday after traveling from Liberia through an unknown destination, then traveled to the Durham area on a commercial bus, according Aldona Wos, MD, secretary of the NC Department of Health and Human Services.
On Saturday, the individual was picked up by a relative and taken to the family's home in Person County, north of Durham. After spiking a fever this morning, temperature unknown, the individual was transported to Duke Hospital and is currently isolated in a contained unit designated previous during training as the site for treatment of a potential Ebola patient.
Continue reading →

 

[erudne]

Ebola is spreading up to nine times faster in parts of Sierra Leone than it was two months ago, according to a new report from health specialists.
On average, 12 new cases a day were seen in the rural areas surrounding Freetown in late October, nine times more than the 1.3 cases seen in early September.
Transmission was also increasing rapidly in Freetown, with the average number of daily cases six times higher than two months ago.
"Whilst new cases appear to have slowed in Liberia, Ebola is continuing to spread frighteningly quickly in parts of Sierra Leone," the Africa Governance Initiative (AGI) report said on Sunday.
The analysis was based on three-day averages of new cases recorded by Sierra Leone's health ministry.

More: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-0...-leone/5861944

 

[erudne]

unconfirmed
Portland woman becoming "symptomatic"

 

[rick benjamin]

Last nite Ch 2 news reported the Portland woman's test results came back negative for Ebola

 

[erudne]

Another front line medical worker in Ebola Zone dies
Posted on November 3, 2014 by ytz4mee
FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE—A doctor in Sierra Leone has died of Ebola — the fifth local doctor in the West African nation to die of the disease, authorities said Monday.
The death of Dr. Godfrey George, medical superintendent of Kambia Government Hospital in northern Sierra Leone, was a blow to efforts to keep desperately needed health-care workers safe in a country ravaged by the deadly virus.
Sierra Leone's health-care system was already fragile before the Ebola epidemic because of past conflict and a lack of resources. The country had two doctors for every 100,000 people in 2010, compared to about 240 doctors for the same number of people in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.
Doctors and nurses have been particularly vulnerable to contracting Ebola, as the virus is spread through bodily fluids.

*Graph courtesy of the CDC MMWR dated 16 Sept 2014.
Ebola is high on the agenda of a regional meeting of the World Health Organization that opened Monday in Benin, a West African nation that has not had any Ebola cases.
The Ebola epidemic has set back political stability and economic recovery in the afflicted countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, WHO chief Margaret Chan said at the meeting. She also noted the disease's "heavy toll on frontline domestic medical staff."
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/local-doctor-sierra-leone-died-ebola-article-1.1997206
*Graph: cited in CDC "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)" for September 26, 2014
Their research states:
If trends continue without additional interventions, the model estimates that Liberia and Sierra Leone will have approximately 8,000 total Ebola cases (21,000 total cases when corrected for under reporting) by September 30, 2014. Liberia will account for approximately 6,000 cases (16,000 corrected for underreporting). Total cases in the two countries combined are doubling approximately every 20 days. Cases in Liberia are doubling every 15–20 days, and those in Sierra Leone are doubling every 30–40 days).
Everything is fine. We are in the very best of hands. It's not like the Obola Administration would knowingly lie to you, right? Right?
Oh. And voting day is tomorrow.
Math Just

Singapore begins requiring Visas for visitors from Ebola zone countries
Posted on November 3, 2014 by ytz4mee
Citing the experiences gleaned from responding to the SARS outbreak which impacted Singapore economically, the health ministy of Singapore announced the new restrictions which will become effective on Wednesday.
Singapore has negligible direct trade/ethnic ties to the affected west African nations, but did open a <broken link removed> in an effort to secure a place as a clearing house/launching pad for west African trade with Asia and position itself at the head of the expected bow wave of development.
Citizens of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone will need a visa to enter Singapore as part of measures against the spread of Ebola, the city-state's health ministry said Monday.
The three West African countries are the worst-hit by the Ebola epidemic that has killed more than 4,900 people.
Singapore's health ministry said the visa requirement for citizens of the three countries, who don't currently need a visa to travel to the city-state, will take effect from Wednesday.
"The visa requirement will allow for better oversight of the entry of nationals from these countries, as well as facilitate possible contact tracing," the ministry said in a statement.
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/11/03/Singapore-requires-visa-for-Ebola-hit-African-states



Pandemic risk expert Dominic Smith, a senior manager for life risks at Newark, California-based RMS, a leading catastrophe-modeling firm, ran a U.S. simulation this week that projected 15 to 130 cases between now and the end of December. That's less than one case per 2 million people.
Smith's method assumes that most cases imported to the U.S. will be American medical professionals who worked in West Africa and returned home.
Smith said the high end may be a bit of an overestimate as it does not include the automatic quarantining measures that some areas in the U.S. are implementing.
Those quarantines "could both reduce the number of contacts for imported cases, as well as increase the travel burden on — and perhaps reduce the number of — U.S. volunteers planning to support the effort in West Africa," he said.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...cases-in-u-s-by-end-of-2014-experts-weigh-in/

 

[U201491]

So now is it CIA-CDC or WTH is it.................
What better way to start a pandemic than to be in the place that stores and treats it all.
Who started this intelligence thing...... Obunga or another of his recent predecessors?

 

[PiratePast40]

Can't believe all of this frantic energy devoted to ebola. ISIl planners and foot soldiers coming into the US is a much more real and dangerous situation.

 

[erudne]

Can't believe all of this frantic energy devoted to ebola. ISIl planners and foot soldiers coming into the US is a much more real and dangerous situation.

Not to worry; we have plenty of pills for that fungal infection, far more cures, and the skill to administer them then we do Ebola

 

[erudne]

"Active Monitoring" for Ebola in NYC Triples, City

Wednesday, Nov 5, 2014 • Updated at 5:06 PM EST
The number of people under "active monitoring" for Ebola symptoms has increased from 117 on Monday to 357 people Wednesday, health officials said.
The vast majority of those being monitored arrived in New York City within the past 21 days from the three Ebola-affected countries, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation said in a statement.

• UpdatedMaine Nurse "Humbled" After Judge Nixes Quarantine

Others being monitored are the staff caring for Dr. Craig Spencer, the physician being treated for Ebola at Bellevue Hospital, the lab workers who conducted his blood tests and the FDNY EMTs who transported the doctor.
All of those being monitored showed no symptoms but are being checked on out of "an abundance of caution," the statement said.
NYC "Actively Monitoring" 117 People at Risk for Ebola

The city is actively monitoring nearly 120 people who have recently returned from Ebola-stricken countries out of an abundance of caution. Andrew Siff reports (Published Friday, Oct 31, 2014)
One of the people under quarantine for coming into contact with Spencer will now be also subject to active monitoring because "the individual poses no public threat and is showing no symptoms," health officials said. The person's movements will not be restricted, but the person will be assessed twice a day by city health workers.
Authorities also said Spencer's condition also continues to improve. The latest good news about Spencer comes just four days after health officials upgraded his condition from "serious but stable" to "stable."

• VideoWho Is Craig Spencer, 1st New York Ebola Patient?

That announcement Saturday was made "based on our patient's clinical progress and response to treatment," city health officials said. "The patient will remain in isolation and continue to receive full treatment."
Officials also announced Saturday that one person under quarantine because of contact with Spencer will only be subject to direct active monitoring.
NYC Disease Doctor Answers Questions on Ebola

Dr. Abdulrahman El-Sayed, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, answers NBC 4 New York viewer questions on how Ebola is spread. (Published Friday, Oct 24, 2014)
The announcements came almost a week after authorities said Spencer had entered the next phase of his illness and warned that he was expected to get worse before he could get better.
He received a plasma transfusion from the second American Ebola patient, Nancy Writebol, on Oct. 25, according to SIM, the Christian organization that Writebol worked with before she was admitted to Emory University Hospital in August.

• Ebola Risk "Close to Nil" for Subway Riders: Officials

Authorities have said Spencer was awake, communicating and undergoing plasma and antiviral therapies, treatments that have been used to treat Ebola patients at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and at the Nebraska Medical Center.
His fiancee, Morgan Dixon, was released from the hospital days ago and returned to the couple's Hamilton Heights apartment. She had not developed any sign of the illness, and she was to remain under quarantine at home.
Doctor With Ebola Enters Next Phase of Illness: Officials

Dr. Craig Spencer, the physician being treated for Ebola at Bellevue Hospital, has entered the next phase of the illness: the onset of gastrointestinal symptoms, health officials said Saturday evening. News 4's Michael George reports. (Published Saturday, Oct 25, 2014)

 

[mjbskwim]

Ummm,so,what about the poor bubblegums that were on the plane with these idiots that thought it would be fun to bring ebola to the US?
Why are they not quarantined?
And man would I cause a stir if I found out at 10kft that the SOB in back came from that region and I wasn't told when I got on the plane
I'm missing something here for sure

 

[mrblond]

Ummm,so,what about the poor bubblegums that were on the plane with these idiots that thought it would be fun to bring ebola to the US?
Why are they not quarantined?
And man would I cause a stir if I found out at 10kft that the SOB in back came from that region and I wasn't told when I got on the plane
I'm missing something here for sure

well, if they really have it.. yer foked.

 

[erudne]

USGOV In New Scramble to Prepare for Ebola
50 Ebola Treatment Centers Planned For The U.S.
CDC: Ebola From a Handshake
Nov 8, 2014
Between Nov 4-5, 2014, AlertsUSA issued the following
related Flash messages to subscriber mobile devices:
11/5 - The Ebola threat is not over. Obama Admin seeking $6B in emerg funds to boost Strategic Nat'l Stockpile readiness for domestic outbreak + overseas efforts.
11/4 - A major national nursing strike is taking shape for next Tues/Wed over insufficient protocols, training & protective gear for handling Ebola cases.
What You Need To Know
Twice this week AlertsUSA subscribers were notified via text messages to their mobile devices regarding the latest moves on the part of the U.S. government and the private sector in relation to the ongoing Ebola crisis.

AMERICA'S NURSES TO STRIKE OVER EBOLA PREPS
On Tuesday, AlertsUSA subscribers were notified of an upcoming nurses strike scheduled for Nov. 11-12th in at least 14 states to press demands for tougher Ebola safety precautions in the nation's hospitals, as well additional training and the provision of optimal personal protective equipment.

What independent nurses and nurse's unions nationwide are demanding are optimal personal protective equipment including full-body hazmat suits meeting top standards for the prevention of blood and viral penetration, as well as National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) approved powered air purifying respirators. They are also demanding that all facilities provide rigorous training for health workers who might encounter an Ebola patient, including practice donning and doffing hazmat suits which is where some of the greatest risk of infection can occur.

CDC CHANGES EBOLA CASE DEFINITION AND RISK FACTORS
Late last week, the CDC quietly changed their Ebola Case Definition, replacing the specification of a fever above 101.5 with the simple phrase "elevated body temperature". The differences in this definition are dramatic when considering the topic of quarantines.
OLD EBOLA CASE DEFINITION (LINK)
Person Under Investigation (PUI)
A person who has both consistent signs or symptoms and risk factors as follows

1. Clinical criteria, which includes fever of greater than 38.6 degrees Celsius or 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and additional symptoms such as severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, or unexplained hemorrhage;
   AND
2. Epidemiologic risk factors within the past 21 days before the onset of symptoms, such as contact with blood or other body fluids or human remains of a patient known to have or suspected to have EVD; residence in—or travel to—an area where EVD transmission is active*; or direct handling of bats or non-human primates from disease-endemic areas.

NEW EBOLA CASE DEFINITION (LINK)
Person Under Investigation (PUI)A person who has both consistent signs or symptoms and risk factors as follows:

1. Elevated body temperature or subjective fever or symptoms, including severe headache, fatigue, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, or unexplained hemorrhage;
   AND
2. An epidemiologic risk factor within the 21 days before the onset of symptoms.

Perhaps more importantly, the CDC also added new risk factors to their Ebola Case Definition, including being in the same room for a brief period of time with an individual who was merely symptomatic, which would suggest potential for infection via respiratory means without actually saying the dreaded word "airborne", as well as brief contact, such as a simple hand shake, with an individual in the early stages of the disease.
OLD EBOLA RISK FACTORS (LINK)
Person Under Investigation (PUI)A low risk exposure includes any of the following

• Household contact with an EVD patient
• Other close contact with EVD patients in health care facilities or community settings. Close contact is defined as
  1. being within approximately 3 feet (1 meter) of an EVD patient or within the patient's room or care area for a prolonged period of time (e.g., health care personnel, household members) while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment (i.e., standard, droplet, and contact precautions; see Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations)
  2. having direct brief contact (e.g., shaking hands) with an EVD patient while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment.
• Brief interactions, such as walking by a person or moving through a hospital, do not constitute close contact

NEW EBOLA RISK FACTORS (LINK)
Low (but not zero) risk includes any of the following:

• Having been in a country with widespread Ebola virus transmission within the past 21 days and having had no known exposures
• Having brief direct contact (e.g., shaking hands) while not wearing appropriate PPE, with a person with Ebola while the person was in the early stage of disease
• Brief proximity, such as being in the same room for a brief period of time, with a person with Ebola while the person was symptomatic
• In countries without widespread Ebola virus transmission: direct contact while using appropriate PPE with a person with Ebola while the person was symptomatic
• Traveled on an aircraft with a person with Ebola while the person was symptomatic.

Here again, this is all very different than the standard line still being fed to the American public by politicians and public health personalities that there is nothing to worry about and that you have to come into contact with bodily fluids.
OBAMA ADMiN SEEKS 6 BILLION FOR EBOLA PREPAREDNESS
Perhaps in response to the looming nursing strike, as well as the CDC's changing view on potential risk factors, <broken link removed> to fortify domestic Ebola preparedness efforts as well as overseas operations.

According to White House documents, a sizeable portion of the request would boost domestic readiness by funding 50 Ebola treatment centers across the U.S., providing protective equipment and training to healthcare workers, increased monitoring of travelers entering the homeland from abroad and to fortify supplies within the Strategic National Stockpile.

FIVE U.S. MILITARY BASES DESIGNATED AS QUARINTINE SITES
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, has <broken link removed> serving in Ebola-affected countries as well as outbreak areas in the U.S.. The bases selected are Fort Hood and Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington; and Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.

UNIFORMED SERVICE MEMBERS TREATING EBOLA PATIENTS
Despite Obama administration assurances that no U.S. forces serving in West Africa will be treating Ebola patients, it turns out that this is not quite the case. It is being reported this week that in fact 70 uniformed officers of the <broken link removed> will be treating local healthcare workers who become infected.

PHSCC is the federal uniformed service of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS), is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States, consists of only commissioned officers and has no enlisted or warrant officer ranks. While regarded as noncombatants, they can be detailed to a service branch of the armed forces by the President. Members of the PHSCC wear the same uniforms as the U.S. Navy with special corps insignia and hold ranks equivalent to those of naval officers.

Additionally, the Naval Medical Research Center in Silver Spring, Maryland has deployed two mobile testing labs to Liberia to support Operation United Assistance. Both labs, operated by naval officers, provide Ebola diagnostic services for local hospitals.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MAINSTREAM EBOLA COVERAGE?
On Tues of this week, AlertsUSA subscribers were sent a special update discussing the dramatic drop off in news stories and media reports on the topic of Ebola and the near nationwide halt in reports of suspected cases.
Readers will recall that on October 21, AlertsUSA subscribers received the following SMS message on their mobile devices:
10/21 - FLASH: CDC insider tells AlertsUSA that U.S. hospitals being advised to NOT publicly report suspected / confirmed Ebola cases using privacy laws as shield.
Early this week we were informed by other sources in Washington that the Obama Administration was hard at work attempting to tamp down mainstream reporting on the topic. This was followed by a single line appearing in a <broken link removed>
"The Associated Press and other press outlets have agreed not to report on suspected cases of Ebola in the United States until a positive viral RNA test is completed."
(While the statement has since been retracted, considering the information from other sources and the fact that most other mainstream outlets, as if in unison, have dramatically cut back reporting on the topic, the retraction is at the very least highly suspect.)
And there you have it.

1.) Control the source of the news (hospitals and health departments)
2.) Control the propagation of the news (news outlets and wire services)
It should come as no surprise that these efforts were undertaken in the final two weeks leading up to the midterm elections.

Despite this blackout of sorts, AlertsUSA receives a steady stream of information from other sources nationally and globally. Before anything is reported to you, we always seek secondary and tertiary confirmation so as to maintain accuracy. As AlertsUSA subscribers are well aware, we deal in black and white facts. No gray matter. No rumors. That said, healthcare workers, public health professionals and members of the armed services have privately informed us of numerous additional laboratory-confirmed cases of Ebola in the U.S. or involving U.S. citizens. But without solid confirmation upon which we can stake the reputation of the company, we can not send this information out as an alert message. The blowback could be significant.

In a strange twist of irony, what do most members of the general public consider solid confirmation? A hyperlink to a story by mainstream news outlets or wire services who regularly lie and twist facts about most other topics OR who agree to not publish stories at the request of politicians or for political expedience. Go figure...
Given this environment, AlertsUSA has established a web-based resource listing some of these tips, but which are marked out as UNCONFIRMED. No details will ever be publicly revealed alluding to the sources of the information, but if it is listed, you can expect that it meets a certain threshold of validity. This list can be found on the EbolaReady.com website.

KEEP THE TOPIC ON YOUR RADAR
In summary, we urge readers to not grow complacent because mainstream coverage has dropped off. We are now at the start of flu season and the government is going to great lengths to make Ebola a non-story while scrambling behind the scene to prepare a stronger domestic response. This should speak volumes to anyone paying attention.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF
1. If Ebola is not a threat, why the overriding effort to stamp out reporting?
2. If Ebola is not a threat, why have more soldiers been deployed to West Africa than to Iraq to face the growing threat from the Islamic State?
3. If Ebola is not a threat, why is the government suddenly establishing 50 Ebola treatment centers around the country?
4. If Ebola is not a threat, why is the government outfitting and/or retrofitting many VA medical centers to accommodate Ebola patients? (Here are just a few examples: See <broken link removed>, this,and this)

 

[Sstrand]

Perhaps the 50 ebola treatment centers is a dress rehearsal for opening the DHS camps . . . for other purposes!

Sheldon

 

[erudne]

California nurses strike ahead of larger protest over Ebola measures




By Alex Dobuzinskis
Related Stories

• U.S. nurses union to stage strikes over Ebola protections Reuters
• <broken link removed> PR Newswire
• <broken link removed> Huffington Post
• <broken link removed> Associated Press
• <broken link removed> Associated Press

(Reuters) - Nearly 20,000 nurses went on strike in California on Tuesday over patient care issues that include what their union views as insufficient protection for nurses who may care for patients stricken with the deadly Ebola virus, in a prelude to broader national protests expected on Wednesday.
The two-day California strike, by nurses whose union is in the midst of acrimonious contract talks, targeted 86 hospitals and clinics operated by Kaiser Permanente in the northern part of the state and two hospitals run by other healthcare providers, according to National Nurses United.
"Inadequate preparedness for Ebola symbolizes the erosion of patient care standards generally," National Nurses United spokesman Charles Idelson said. "We have a lot of patient care issues that we have presented to them that they have stonewalled and ignored."
A Kaiser Permanente representative could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, but the organization has previously accused the union of using Ebola as a pretext to justify labor action.
The strike came a day ahead of a broader planned protest by National Nurses United set for Wednesday involving 100,000 nurses in 15 U.S. states and the District of Columbia over complaints that hospitals are poorly equipped to handle potential Ebola patients. The roughly 20,000 striking California nurses will be part of that campaign.
An Ebola epidemic in West Africa has killed over 4,900 people this year, although there are no current Ebola cases in the United States. A handful of patients have been treated in U.S. hospitals, including a Liberian man who passed the disease to two nurses before dying of it at a Dallas hospital.
On Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had ordered $2.7 million in personal protective equipment to help hospitals care for Ebola patients, in what the agency described as a limited supply of materials to meet the short-term needs of hospitals. A CDC representative could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
National Nurses United contends that hospitals still do not have enough hazardous materials suits that leave no skin exposed nor enough powered air-purifying respirators to properly protect nurses from exposure to Ebola.
Most nurses participating in the campaign on Wednesday will not walk off the job, Idelson said. Instead, they will hold vigils and rallies at numerous locations, including outside the White House

 

[erudne]

Two more suspected Ebola deaths in Mali

by Serge Daniel

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-1...ths-mali.html?

Two people who died after exposure to the body of a Muslim cleric killed by Ebola in Mali were "highly suspected" of having contracted the virus, a government official said Friday.
View attachment 122230

The west African nation has been scrambling to prevent an isolated outbreak turning into a major crisis after the deaths of the Guinean imam and the Malian nurse who treated him in the capital Bamako.

A health ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that a doctor in the Pasteur clinic, where the cleric died, had also contracted the virus.

"A Malian doctor who has been in contact with the nurse who died of Ebola, is positive. He is alive, and is being closely monitored. He is in the intensive care unit," the official said.

"In addition, samples were taken from two other patients who died and are considered highly suspicious cases. We are awaiting test results."

The official said the two new fatal cases occurred in a house in Bamako where the imam had been taken after he died.

The outbreak has dashed hopes that Mali is free of Ebola and has caused alarm in Bamako, where the imam was washed by mourners at a mosque after his death.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Friday that the outbreak—almost entirely confined to west Africa—had left 5,177 people dead from around 14,500 cases since Ebola emerged in Guinea in December.

Teams of investigators are tracing Malian health workers and scouring Bamako and the imam's home village of Kouremale, which straddles the border between Mali and Guinea, for people who could have been exposed.

The deaths have raised fears of widespread contamination as they were unrelated to Mali's only other confirmed fatality, a two-year-old girl who had also arrived from Guinea in October.

A friend who had visited the imam in the Pasteur clinic also died of probable Ebola, according to the WHO.

The 70-year-old cleric, named as Goika Sekou, fell sick at home and was transferred via several treatment centres to the Pasteur clinic.

He had travelled to Bamako by car with four family members—all of whom have since got sick or died at home in Guinea.

Traditional African funeral rites are considered one of the main causes of Ebola spreading, as it is transmitted through bodily fluids and those who have recently died are particularly infectious.

The virus is estimated to have killed around 70 percent of its victims, often shutting down their organs and causing unstoppable bleeding.

Malian information minister Mahamadou Camaraa told reporters in Bamako the government was limiting land border crossings from Guinea to a single entry point with strengthened health checks.

He announced the installation "within 72 hours" of an isolation centre on the Malian side of Kouremale.
We cannot solve problems with the same thinking we used when

 

[erudne]

A doctor's mistaken Ebola test: 'We were celebrating. . . . Then everything fell apart'

A doctor's mistaken Ebola test proves potentially tragic

Martin Salia's friends hugged him when his first test showed he was free of Ebola. Now he has died, and questions remain.
Nov. 16, 2014 Friends and colleagues of Martin Salia, a doctor who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone, talk about his illness at Kissy Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Salia died Monday at a hospital in Omaha. Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post

 

[olddanshooter]

Well it sure is good for us that Ebola has gone away! Since it isn't in the news anymore it must've been fully eradicated in Western Africa and therefore no longer a threat.

Since the news coverage has been basically covering the various riots and protests happening around the country, issues such as ISIS, Ebola and other real and present dangers must surely be fully under control.

I feel very fortunate to live in country where the news focuses on the important things. Now I can get back to reading about the Prince of Wales, what Mrs Obama is wearing and important NFL player opinions on various subjects.

 

[PiratePast40]

U.S hospitals aren't being overrun with ebola patients, and the dead from ebola aren't actually stacking up in the streets. Wouldn't say that it's a non-issue here in the states, but is it really worth that much stress right now?