Okay I decided I probably wouldn’t give this a topic of its own unless something like spread to a health care worker in a “first world” country occurred. I really hope this is an isolated case…
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/06/health/ebola-us/index.html
Spain has outbreak’s 1st known case of contracting Ebola outside of Africa
(CNN) — A nurse’s assistant in Spain is the first person known to have contracted Ebola outside of Africa in the current outbreak.
Spanish Health Minister Ana Mato announced Monday that a test confirmed the assistant has the virus.
The woman helped treat a Spanish missionary and a Spanish priest, both of whom had contracted Ebola in West Africa. Both died after returning to Spain.
Health officials said she developed symptoms on September 30. She was not hospitalized until this week. Her only symptom was a fever.“We are working in coordination to give the best care to the patient and to guarantee the safety of all citizens,” the health minister said.
An investigation is under way to find everyone the assistant may have had contact with while contagious. So far, there are no other known cases.
The assistant was one of about 30 health professionals in Spain who helped to treat the Ebola patients.
The news came amid growing fears in the United States that the disease could spread.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/08/health/ebola-us/index.html
I guess the CDC was correct in their lack of caution. None of the family members have contracted yet. But there is now a lot of talk about airborne ebola.
Breaking News
UK announces Ebola screening plans
The UK will introduce “enhanced screening” for Ebola for people arriving from affected countries at airports and Eurostar terminals, ministers say.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29559444
I posted that article (Israel) saying the Dallas patient was dead two days before he actually died (General thread).
Am I being silly for wondering. That same link now shows what was current at the time ‘patient critical’. AWACS? Can they see into the future?
Is Microsoft Medicine the Solution for Ebola?
The Origins of the Ebola Crisis
by TARIQ ALI and ALLYSON POLLOCK
Tariq Ali: Today we are going to discuss medicine and what is going on in Africa but not just there, in other parts of the world too, and how privatised medicine is now dominating the field except in a few oasis there are still left Cuba, Venezuela, etc. With me is Professor Allyson Pollock, one of the best known public health scientists and experts in her field anywhere. Ebola. What are its origins and how did it spread so quickly in these three African countries and is now causing panic elsewhere?
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/10/the-origins-of-the-ebola-crisis/
“*In Liberia, 129 more confirmed deaths have been reported than have confirmed cases. In addition, the total number of confirmed cases is a relatively small proportion of all cases in Liberia, compared with Guinea and Sierra Leone. Laboratory capacity for case confirmation is being increased. **In Sierra Leone, 105 more probable deaths have been reported than have probable cases. Data are based on official information reported by Ministries of Health up to the end of 7 October 2014 for Guinea and Liberia, and 8 October 2014 for Sierra Leone. These numbers are subject to change due to on-going reclassification, retrospective investigation and availability of laboratory results.”
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/136161/1/roadmapupdate10Oct14_eng.pdf?ua=1
W. Africa is the perfect petri dish for developing mortality tables and infection metrics.
If true it’s as insane as nuclear war. How could anyone imagine there could be a victor in a nuclear theatre between largely matched destructive power? No one could be so stupid as to release a loose-cannon like ebola just to see what happens unless there was a bunker in which to hunker till it blows over. I prefer to think of it as garden-variety bureaucratic incompetence. It’s the worst variety of idiocy.
As just posted by Arbed on Craigs, this is pretty damning, because it left dangerous viruses in the hand of notoriously sloppy operators.
https://cablegatesearch.wikileaks.org/cable.php?id=09BERLIN1588&q=ebola#efmASGA2k
http://us.cnn.com/2014/10/12/health/ebola/index.html
At the press conference just held they stated that the health care worker was in full protective clothing when they interacted with the first patient (Duncan) and considered to be at “low risk”…
I’m actually not that surprised about the supply to USAMRIID (wikileaks cable comment above). The US (and they are not alone of course) loves to have deadly diseases handled by people in military uniforms – it was also the US military that re-created the deadly “Spanish flu”. That’s the sort of thing they do.
As for sloppy handling well that’s true but they are not unique in that sadly.
http://news.sciencemag.org/2009/03/virologist-isolation-after-accident-ebola
This isn’t CDC saying ‘zero’ chance anymore.
“The news that a health care worker might have the disease is not completely unexpected, an infectious disease specialist told CNN’s “New Day.”
Those conspiracy nuts talking about USAMRID being active in Africa are just nutz, aren’t they?
There is no historical precedence for using test subjects without their knowledge. But if they did, they would only use the ‘expendable’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment
CDC; Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
In updated preliminary results from nearly 700 RNs at over 250 hospitals in 31 states released Friday:
80 percent say their hospital has not communicated to them any policy regarding potential admission of patients infected by Ebola
87 percent say their hospital has not provided education on Ebola with the ability for the nurses to interact and ask questions
One-third say their hospital has insufficient supplies of eye protection (face shields or side shields with goggles) and fluid resistant/impermeable gowns
Nearly 40 percent say their hospital does not have plans to equip isolation rooms with plastic covered mattresses and pillows and discard all linens after use, less than 10 percent said they were aware their hospital does have such a plan in place
More than 60 percent say their hospital fails to reduce the number of patients they must care for to accommodate caring for an “isolation” patient
http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/entry/national-nurse-survey-shows-hospitals-still-not-prepared-for-us-ebola/
Press Conference of Second Confirmed Diagnosed Case in Texas (Oct 12, 2014)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpZEhUMHO2A
CDC Live Q&A now at http://www.onlinevideoservice.com/clients/CDC/?mount=CDC3
The system is working according to CDC because nurse was ‘self-monitoring’ and quickly reported her infection. Thanks for that. The NBC crew that was allowed to self-isolate violated, and had to be forced to do so, just like Duncan’s family. Pressers are infuriating, because even so called physicians continue to spout ‘zero chance’. It’s as though they are more focused on controlling the public than controlling the disease.
Not endorsing, just saying it couldn’t hurt. I would steer clear of GMO edame (soy)
http://www.nationofchange.org/2014/10/12/theyre-telling-4-natural-ways-fight-ebola/
http://us.cnn.com/2014/10/15/health/texas-ebola-outbreak/index.html
“explosive diarrhea and projection vomiting” Duncan’s viral contamination of the environment is truly scary. Level 4 containment is the only way this is dealt with in laboratories. A trash-bag over your head doesn’t do it.
Charles Larson writes
We Haven’t Seen Anything Yet
Ebola Catches Fire
by CHARLES R. LARSON
Well, we’ve let it scare the hell out of us.
In total ethnocentric, self-serving fashion, Americans didn’t worry about Ebola until a man died from it in the United States. Now people are reacting as if Ebola will bring about the end of the world by next Tuesday (or is it Thursday?)
It ought not to have happened this way. We’ve known what it is from earlier outbreaks; we even waited and watched as it spread beyond the usual limited areas, until the numbers should have told us that, this time, it could mushroom into something huge and have a significant impact on other areas of the world besides West and Central Africa (which we basically don’t care about).
/..
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/15/ebola-catches-fire/
Carnival Cruises (of Costa Concordia infamy) have a problem.
Port Bars Cruise Ship In Passenger Ebola Scare
Mexico refuses to let the vessel dock, as the US virus-containment effort expands and the White House picks an ebola czar.
http://news.sky.com/story/1355145/port-bars-cruise-ship-in-passenger-ebola-scare
Ralph Nader (a president the US didn’t/wouldn’t have) on Ebola.
Ebola! Prevention and Responsibility
by Ralph Nader / October 18th, 2014
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/10/ebola-prevention-and-responsibility/
The same system is coming to the UK within 5 – 10 years unless you fight for the NHS now.
The Plague of For-Profit Health Care
Ebola, Capitalism and the Idea of Society
by ROB URIE
Thomas Duncan didn’t have health insurance when he entered Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital with Ebola. The hospital claims that he was initially turned away because important information about his condition didn’t find its way to the admitting physician. Without specific knowledge that he had Ebola a temperature of 103C didn’t require the hospital to admit him. With the two days it took the hospital to confirm Ebola on his return visit, Mr. Duncan risked hospital bills in the tens of thousands of dollars that he reportedly didn’t have. The hospital ‘risked’ providing expensive treatment to a man who likely couldn’t have paid for it.
Missing from this ‘process’ that now finds Mr. Duncan dead, two nurses who attended him with Ebola themselves, the American health care system revealed as wholly unprepared to deal with what at present seems a moderately communicable disease, is any notion of a public interest. This can be seen internationally as well with the U.S. sending soldiers to West Africa while Cuba has sent a large contingent of emergency health care workers. The difference is fundamental: Cuba sees both public purpose and moral imperative to help those stricken with Ebola and the U.S. sees a threat to profits at ‘home’ and a military exercise to ‘contain’ the spread of Ebola abroad.
/..
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/17/ebola-capitalism-and-the-idea-of-society/
,
Brian I can only see a comma there against your name??? Talk to us please.
Squonk, please feel free to move this update to a more suitable location – I didn’t know where best to put it.
The Assange defence team’s response to the Swedish prosecutor’s arguments against his appeal to drop the arrest warrant (and hence the EAW) has gone in. The prosecutor now has until 27 October to respond to this document and then the SVEA court will announce what it plans to do next.
http://www.swedenversusassange.com/IMG/pdf/p.pdf
If you are interested in the Assange extradition case, this document is really worth reading in full. It’s 11 pages plus two short appendices, all in English and the legal arguments contained in it are crystal-clear.
TL:DR? The document covers:
1. Various European human rights law directives & precedent cases regarding the arbitrary deprivation of liberty that the Swedish prosecutor is breaking and that, contrary to prosecutor arguments, Assange’s time in the embassy counts towards the length of time he’s been detained. (This will affect the cost of compensation due further down the line.)
2. Matters pertaining to the principle of proportionality in the prosecutor’s attempt to pressure Assange to give up his political asylum.
3. That the prosecutor’s claim that she needs to interrogate Assange in custody in Sweden is incoherent, especially as regards taking a DNA swab – she has already agreed in the UK Supreme Court Agreed Facts that one was taken when Assange was first arrested in December 2010.
4. A motion that the SVEA court rules the prosecutor must hand over the women’s phone and text traffic to the court. Alternatively, a motion that SVEA applies to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling in the matter. (A new Swedish law that suspects have a legal right to know the evidentiary basis of their arrest is derived directly from an ECHR Directive in 2012. The prosecutor has tried to argue against this.) Prosecutor is playing peek-a-boo with the women’s text message evidence again; defence were allowed only a few minutes’ sight of them during the last hearing and not allowed to keep copies, while the Swedish courts have not been allowed access to this evidence AT ALL. What the f**k is she hiding?
5. Discussion of UK law on precedence and how rival extradition requests from the US and Sweden would normally be treated, backed by an affidavit from a UK extradition law expert.
The two short appendices to the Assange appeal are on the Swedish version (in English), not the English version above.
http://t.co/fAUBYHUSVe
Arbed; Isn’t there some push by Stefan Lofven on this?
Ben asked: ” Isn’t there some push by Stefan Lofven on this?”
Not that I’ve seen, Ben, no. But possibly the political climate in Sweden is shifting. The SVEA court is taking things verrrry slowly in hearing this appeal (perhaps waiting for the new Swedish govt to get settled in…?) and it is no longer taboo to quote Wikileaks cables in the Swedish MSM. In fact, there is a very different tenor in reporting on the Assange case in Sweden (not mirrored, alas, in the UK press as yet). Just this morning SvD did an interview with Michael Moore, quoting him saying that he saw “the long arm of my country” in the rape allegations. The article was titled “WikiLeaks did humanity a huge service” – that headline was unthinkable in Swedish MSM a while ago.
This fascist state has collected £93,500 from these individuals acting as sureties for Julian’s bail. It is pure and simple state oppression.
http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2014-09-08/208512
I knew that we would hear of GSK sooner or later.
One million Ebola vaccine doses by end of 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29756301
‘Two experimental vaccines, produced by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the Public Health Agency of Canada, are already in safety trials.
The GSK vaccine is being tested in Mali, the UK and the US. Research on the Canadian vaccine is also under way in the US with further trials expected to start in Europe and Africa soon.’
By appointment to the British royalty.
GSK : Licence To (K) ill : Documenting The Unethical Behaviour Of GlaxoSmithKline: With Particular Focus On The Notorious Seroxat Scandal
https://truthman30.wordpress.com/category/well-child-gsk-prince-harry/
Not averse to a bit of bribery and corruption.
GlaxoSmithKline Found Guilty of Bribery in China
U.K. Drug Maker Handed Largest Ever Corporate Fine in China
http://online.wsj.com/articles/glaxosmithkline-found-guilty-of-bribery-in-china-1411114817
A very bleak poem about Ebola.
When It Matters Most
October 26th, 2014 by Scott Thomas Outlar
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/10/when-it-matters-most/
Texas Hospital Blames EHR For Ebola Mishandling
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas cites lack of interoperability between nurse and physician workflows as reason Ebola patient was sent home. Lack of interoperability between the nurse and physician workflows in its electronic health record system was the reason Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas initially sent home Ebola patient Eric Duncan, according to the healthcare facility. And similar interoperability issues could threaten other healthcare organizations, industry executives caution.
http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/electronic-health-records/texas-hospital-blames-ehr-for-ebola-mishandling/d/d-id/1316353
‘In reviewing its processes and procedures, the hospital determined it had “identified a flaw in the way the physician and nursing portions of our electronic health records (EHR) interacted in this specific case,” noting there were separate nursing and physician workflows. The hospital apparently uses Epic, according to an InformationWeek article in early 2014 and press releases from the past few years.
Addenbrookes Hospital Cambridge has just spent £200m on putting EPIC in, involving 200,000 hours of staff training. That’s £200m which will not be spent on patient care, diagnosis or treatment.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-29777262
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Systems
Remember bloody BLiar’s multi £bn electronic records scheme? It was abandoned.
Anyone know what’s up with Craig Murray’s blog? I’ve tried to post this to his Why I’m Convinced Anna Ardin is a Liar thread – and his current page – and the spam Captchas won’t let me. It’s rather an important update on the Assange case.
Swedish prosecutor got her response to Julian Assange’s appeal into the SVEA court last night on deadline, but what a dog’s dinner her legal argument is:
http://assangeinswedenbook.com/2014/10/28/assange-appeal-prosecutor-response-27-oct/
The SVEA court, clearly embarrassed at the thought of ruling against Assange on the basis of said dog’s dinner, have thrown the ball back to the defence team to buy some more time – until 3 November:
http://www.svea.se/Avgoranden-och-pagaende-mal/Pagaende-langmal/Information-om-overklagandet-av-Julian-Assange-betraffande-haktning/ [includes English translation]
This appeal started in June and all the back-n-forth-ing since then is like watching a match at Wimbledon (though it’s clear who’s delivering all the aces, I still suspect the match may be fixed…)
And here’s another one – especially intriguing for those who like sluething around in the Assange case. Any chance that someone who’s more tech-literate than I am can re-post this and my previous post to Craig’s Why I’m Convinced thread on my behalf, very kindly?
Anyway, to the intrigue…
Rixstep (the translator into English of the leaked Swedish police protocol & best source for news on the Assange case) has written a rather excellent article:
The Curious Case of Assange in Sweden:
http://rixstep.com/2/20141028,00.shtml
It’s quite long but covers all the bases. In the middle, though, there’s this:
“One very well known journalist in Stockholm has reportedly told others in confidence that the second girl [Sofia Wilen] is one of the best honeypots in town. A spook group from a foreign country has reportedly had information to offer on the same girl. Neither lead has ever been followed up.”
Which well-known Swedish MSM journalist? Which foreign intel agency? Which “others” gossip about Wilen as the best local honeypot? Who did the foreign intel agency offer info on Sofia Wilen too? Time for some serious sleuthing…
Not to worry, I’ve tried again and both comments have now gone through on the correct thread of Craig’s blog: http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2012/09/why-i-am-convinced-that-anna-ardin-is-a-liar/comment-page-10/
Would anyone explain to me how Julian Assange is going anywhere even if the SVEA Court quashes his arrest warrant?
He’s not going anywhere, Trowbridge. He’s already confirmed on several occasions that it is not safe for him to leave the embassy even if the Swedish case is dropped. However, that eventuality would make it politically more embarrassing for the UK to carry on refusing him safe passage to Ecuador. And, of course, there is the possibility that, as soon as the Swedish case is gone, the US will unseal its indictment (Assange’s lawyers believe strongly there is already one – it is a criminal offence for any US official to reveal the existence of a sealed indictment; they are usually unsealed once a suspect is already in custody) and put in its extradition request to Theresa May.
29 October 2014
Ebola aid appeal launched by Disasters Emergency Committee
Saleh Saeed, chief executive of the Disasters Emergency Committee: ”This is a race against time”
Ebola outbreak
Six surprising numbers
WHO under fire
Nigeria’s heroine
Vaccine ‘too late’
An appeal for the Ebola crisis in West Africa is to be launched by the Disasters Emergency Committee.
/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29803638
Latest updates:
3:54 P.M. WHO: Ebola death toll likely over 5,000
Better news that the spread of the virus appears to be slowing.
The Ebola death toll is likely over 5,000 out of 13,703 cases, Dr. Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organization said. Aylward said the death rate is currently running at 70 percent, but there is a better rate for people who get to treatment centers.
Aylward added that Mali is putting in a “herculean effort” to trace contacts of the toddler who died from Ebola, and the virus appears to be slowing down in Liberia. (Reuters)
WHO Press Conference just ended.
Cross-posting from Craig’s blog [Squonk – do you have a current ‘general’ page for this sort of stuff?]
Good link here discussing Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny’s tactics as regards the women’s SMS/phone traffic – and why she is withholding all but one or two of the 100 texts known to exist (these 1 or 2 she interprets as providing “probable cause” evidence of rape) from being viewed and analysed by either Assange’s defence team or by the courts themselves:
Assange Case: Something Sick About the SMS
http://rixstep.com/2/20141028,01.shtml
and this article discusses a ruling by Sweden’s SVEA Court of Appeal earlier this year giving Swedish police permission to destroy any evidence a prosecutor elects not to use in court proceedings [known as an investigation’s ‘slops bucket’ – something which must be immediately handed over to a defence team as soon as charges are brought, though this generally gives defence lawyers approx. 10-14 days to analyse whatever’s in those ‘slops’, at least that WAS the case until this SVEA ruling, I believe]. If Assange’s arrest is rescinded and the case dropped – or even if it continues in its current frozen deadlock until the statute of limitations runs out – this would potentially have the effect of putting the women’s SMS forever beyond the reach of any Freedom of Information request or public view.
https://archive.today/DtAwl
Comments, anyone?
Sad to see no discussion of Sweden recognizing Palestine – what resulted in a previous Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh getting assassinated – apparently by a Meir Dagan hypnotized, drugged assassin – when she attempted to put it on an EU basis.
Assange has just worked with the Anglo-American spooks to help shut down the leakers, and it has been quite successful.
Thanks Arbed for keeping us up to date on this terrible incarceration. I hope Julian knows that there are thousands of us who are incensed at the injustice this ‘government’ is inflicting on him.
Your evidence, Trowbridge, for such a wild assumption? Anglo-American spooks are not generally known for locking up their most successful asset for four years… or at least not in such a spectacularly public way…
Don’t be silly, the NSA and GCHQ hate Assange for spilling all their dirty secrets – and helping the century’s most important whistleblower to evade their clutches – with all the passion of their nasty little authoritarian hearts.
PS. I’ve just put a link to RT’s article about Sweden’s formal recognition of Palestine and Israel withdrawing their Swedish ambassador on Craig Murray’s current page. There has already been some discussion of it there; hopefully, there’ll be some more.
Sorry I didn’t answer this earlier Arbed but there’s The General Discussion Thread at https://squonk.tk/blog/2014/01/20/the-general-discussion-thread/
Arbed I never notice your comment on Squonk’s blog till Mary referred to it on CM’s blog today. The laws of Sweden are beyond my comprehension. Surely anyway the SMS messages are widely available on the web from people who have made copies. Or am I wrong?
What the defence team might consider is taking out a claim of defamation of character and the retention of the SMS messages in a separate case. They could then ask for the messages. Is that possible?
Worth a read.
http://nsnbc.me/2014/12/11/project-coast-whos-behind-recent-ebola-outbreak/
Dr Death – Dr Basson.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-30628349
Sky News just said the case is now confirmed.
http://news.stv.tv/west-central/304953-health-worker-treated-for-ebola-in-brownlee-unit-at-gartnavel-glasgow/
Message deleted. Squonk’s second post covered it.
Passengers on BA flight from Heathrow to Glasgow last night arriving at about 11:30pm are being asked to call a helpline for advice.
Patient is being transferred to London according to Sky News.
http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Ebola-case-1414.aspx
Ebola case
Downloads 29/12/2014 18:35
Scotland Health and Community Care
Confirmed case in Glasgow
A confirmed case of Ebola has been diagnosed in Glasgow.
NHS Scotland infectious diseases procedures have now been put into effect and the patient has been isolated and is receiving treatment in the specialist Brownlee Unit for Infectious Diseases on the Gartnavel Hospital campus.
The patient is a health care worker who was helping to combat the disease in west Africa. They returned to Scotland from Sierra Leone late last night via Casablanca and London Heathrow, arriving into Glasgow Airport on a British Airways flight at around 11.30pm.
The patient was admitted to hospital early in the morning after feeling unwell and was placed into isolation at 7.50am. All possible contacts with the patient are now being investigated and anyone deemed to be at risk will be contacted and closely monitored. However, having been diagnosed in the very early stages of the illness, the risk to others is considered extremely low.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Committee (SGoRR) to ensure all necessary steps are being taken, and has also spoken to Prime Minister David Cameron.
According to UK and Scottish protocol for anyone diagnosed with Ebola, the patient will be transferred to the high level isolation unit in the Royal Free hospital, London, as soon as possible. This is where the facilities, staff and systems are in place to ensure the best quality and safest care.
While public health experts have emphasised that the risks are negligible, a telephone helpline has been set up for anyone who was on the Heathrow to Glasgow flight last night.
The number is: 08000 858531
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said:
“Our first thoughts at this time must be with the patient diagnosed with Ebola and their friends and family. I wish them a speedy recovery.
“Scotland has been preparing for this possibility from the beginning of the outbreak in West Africa and I am confident that we are well prepared.
“We have the robust procedures in place to identify cases rapidly. Our health service also has the expertise and facilities to ensure that confirmed Ebola cases such as this are contained and isolated effectively minimising any potential spread of the disease.
“Scotland’s NHS has proved it is well able to cope with infectious diseases in the past, such as swine flu, and I am confident we will be able to respond effectively again.”