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Ebola Tag

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 15, 2019 26 Comments
Legal Insurrection readers may recall that in August, I reported that the world is looking at a potential shortage of bacon and other pork products as African Swine Fever, nicknamed "Pig Ebola," has spread through Asia. Presently, North Korea has only reported 22 pig this May from the deadly and highly contagious disease. However, wayward feral pigs caught along its border with South Korea have officials concerned that the rogue nation is hiding an African swine fever disaster.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on July 19, 2019 9 Comments
Five years after a significant outbreak in Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared another international emergency over Ebola. The spread of the Ebola virus, which began in the central African nation of Congo, has been designated as a "public health emergency of international concern," a WHO spokesperson said.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on November 06, 2016 7 Comments
At the beginning of 2016, I noted that the Ebola epidemic that began in 2014, which West Africa hard and resulted in several Americans being stricken by the often deadly virus, had subsided. Researchers are now reporting that the significant outbreak was the result of a mutation that made the virus easier to transmit and deadlier to human who were infected.
In one study led by 16 researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Broad Institute and elsewhere, genomic analyses pinpointed parts of the Ebola virus that changed during the west African outbreak. One genetic mutation, in particular, appeared to affect a key region of the pathogen where it binds to human cells.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 04, 2016 13 Comments
It looks like Zika virus is truly the new Ebola. Concerns about the Zika virus have grown to the point that Utah Congressman Chris Stewart wants to divert funding from the fight against Ebola to use against this latest epidemic.
Stewart says his bill, which would unlock more than a billion dollars for the CDC and National Institute of Health, would ensure the agencies had the resources they need to research and combat the virus. “Congress has already allocated funding to fight many of the world’s infectious diseases, like Ebola, and I want to make sure this funding can also be used to combat the Zika virus,” Stewart said. The Zika Response and Safety Act would allow federal agencies to use funds allocated for Ebola research in the fight against the Zika virus, according to a press release from Stewart’s office. Stewart states that of the $2.4 billion allocated for Ebola research, about $1.4 billion was unused as of September of 2015.
Dallas County Health and Human Services has confirmed acase of Zika infection that occurred on American soil...through sexual transmission.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 16, 2016 5 Comments
While listening to Obama's "State of the Union" address this week, I noted that he claimed victory over the spread of Ebola.
That's how we stopped the spread of Ebola in West Africa. Our military, our doctors, and our development workers set up the platform that allowed other countries to join us in stamping out that epidemic.
Since Obama's has real talent for making claims that turn out to be the opposite of reality, I remarked that we would likely see another outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever again shortly. Right on cue, and days after West Africa was declared "Ebola free", a new case has been reported in Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone officials have confirmed a death from Ebola, hours after the World Health Organization declared the latest West Africa outbreak over. The country was declared free of the virus on 7 November, and the region as a whole was cleared when Liberia was pronounced Ebola-free on Thursday.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 18, 2015 13 Comments
After declaring "victory" in the war against the Ebola epidemic we were following earlier this year, scientists are now making some disturbing new discoveries about the hemorrhagic fever virus. Chief among those discoveries is that patients who were "cured" of the disease continue to experience debilitating symptoms.
Researchers following 49 survivors of a 2007 Ebola outbreak in Uganda found that — even two years after the illness — they had eye problems like inflammation and blurred vision as well as joint pain, difficulty sleeping, difficulty swallowing and even hearing loss, memory loss and confusion. A third study examining 105 survivors of the 2014-15 outbreak in Guinea found that about 90 percent had chronic joint pain and 98 percent had poor appetites or an aversion to food. They also reported difficulty with short-term memory, headaches, sleeplessness, insomnia, dizziness, abdominal pain, constipation, sexual dysfunction, and decreased libido and exercise tolerance.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on March 15, 2015 4 Comments
In the wake of the Ebola Czar stepping down and a presidential commission laying part of the blame for the spread of Ebola on this country, news comes that nearly a dozen Americans are heading home after potential exposure to the deadly virus.
At least 10 US citizens possibly exposed to the deadly Ebola virus were being flown to the US from Africa for observation, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Saturday. The individuals were set to be transported by non-commercial air transport, on their way to be housed near the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, or Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, the CDC said. It said none of the individuals had been identified as having Ebola. A US healthcare worker who tested positive for Ebola while in Sierra Leone arrived at the NIH on Friday and was in serious condition, the NIH said. CDC spokesman Thomas Skinner said 10 people who may have been exposed to the unidentified Ebola patient or who had a similar exposure to the virus as the patient were being flown to the US. But he said the investigation was continuing and there could be more Americans evacuated from Africa. A CDC statement said the individuals would follow the center’s recommended monitoring and movement guidelines during a 21-day incubation period.
One intrepid American headed to Honduras after a stay in an Ebola-striken area, and now that country is hosting a 21-day quarantine period:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 01, 2015 3 Comments
Finally, a little good news to share with Legal Insurrection readers about epidemics. It looks like we're declaring victory on our "War with Ebola". Recall that after after outrage at this administration's "Keystone Cop" style response to America's first Ebola patient, President Obama appointed political operative Ron Klain as Ebola Czar. He was slated to leave office in March, but now that date has been pushed up:
Ron Klain, the Obama administration's point man in the fight against the Ebola virus, will leave the administration on February just shy of three months after he stepped in to coordinate the government's response to the crisis at home and abroad. In an interview on "Face the Nation" in late December, Klain said that the American people should be "proud" of the work done by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and praised the generosity of Americans who had traveled to West Africa to help provide medical treatment and other services. The World Health Organization said Wednesday that the fight against the disease had moved to a "second phase" focused on ending the epidemic rather than slowing transmission. There were fewer than 100 new confirmed cases last week in the three hardest-hit countries since the end of June 2014.
It is standard practice of political operatives to take modestly good news about a small battle and declare outright victory in a war. So, let's take a look at the number the World Health Organization has reported. While the number of cases on one West African region has fallen, there are troubles elsewhere on the continent:
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