EBOLA Ebola in Sierra Leone increasing to rate of more than 20 deaths per day

[imaginative]

The number of people infected with Ebola in western Sierra Leone is increasing to more than 20 deaths daily, according to government estimates.

Forty-nine new cases of were confirmed on Monday in two Ebola zones in and around the capital Freetown, the National Ebola Response Center reported on Tuesday. There are 851 total confirmed cases in the two zones, called Western Area Urban and Western Area Rural, the centre said. The Ebola outbreak previously primarily affected eastern Sierra Leone.

Claude Kamanda, a lawmaker who represents a western area, told local newspaper Politico that more than 20 deaths are being reported daily, and authorities are struggling to keep up with the collection of corpses from homes in the area.

Authorities say the rise in the number of cases in the west can be attributed to the movement of people from the interior of the country to Waterloo, which is the gateway to Freetown, the capital. In response to the increased number of cases, authorities have quarantined Waterloo, in Western Area Rural, a local newspaper reported.

“The growing fear has left the public with no choice but to call on the government for Waterloo to be quarantined as was done to other places including Kailahun, Kenema, Bombali, Port Loko and Moyamba districts,” the Exclusive newspaper said. The World Food Programme (WFP) delivered emergency food rations to people in the area over the weekend.

In the west African nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea – where the outbreak first began 10 months ago – Ebola cases have risen sharply with the death toll exceeding 4,500, according to World Health Organisation estimates. Some cases have also emerged in the United States and Spain.

On Monday, there were no new cases reported in the eastern districts of Kenema and Kailahun, which previously had been at the epicentre of the outbreak in Sierra Leone earlier this year. There have been a total of 1,012 confirmed cases in that region so far. There was no immediate official explanation of what has caused the drop in reported new cases in those eastern areas. Margaret Harris, the WHO spokeswoman in Sierra Leone, said it was “definitely too early to say its been beaten there.”

Denial from community leaders and mismanagement of the response to the crisis have been blamed for failures in tackling the outbreak. With the number of cases mounting, health workers have struggled to bring Ebola patients into clinics and hospitals for treatment. Last week a meeting of international health officials voted in favour of treating people in their homes by providing them with painkillers, protective gloves and rehydration fluid. The timely collection of highly infectious corpses is an important part of attempts to contain the outbreak.

Ebola was declared an international health emergency earlier this year. There have been three confirmed cases in the US, and one in Spain. Several airlines have grounded flights to affected west African countries.

A programme of screening for passengers with Ebola-like symptoms began at London’s Heathrow airport last week. Gatwick followed suit on Monday, and the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras station is expected to start soon.

On Tuesday Rwanda’s ministry of health singled out passengers arriving from all five affected countries, saying they will have their temperatures taken upon arrival, and if they are found to have a fever, he or she will be denied entry. According to the CDC, signs of infection include a temperature in excess of 38.6C, as well as additional symptoms such as headache, muscle pain, vomiting and diarrhoea. Rwanda’s health ministry said that even if a passenger exhibits no signs of fever, they must still report their health condition daily to authorities.

Ebola is believed to have claimed the lives of eight people in Nigeria earlier this year. After six weeks without a new case of the virus, however, it was declared Ebola-free on Monday after launching a very successful public health policy which could serve as a model for the rest of the world.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/21/ebola-cases-sierra-leone-increasing-above-20-deaths-day

 

[Kris Gandillon]

About right.

I show a bit over 100 Ebola deaths per day for ALL of West Africa. Minimum.

Officially reported through Ministry of Health to WHO.

If we go with the 4X figure that would be closer to 450 deaths per day for all of West Africa.

 

[imaginative]

Just to make this easier to visualize; Sierra Leone has a population for about 6 million & the US of A has roughly 320 million. So this would be on par with us here experiencing about 1070 deaths daily.

When it says that "struggling to keep up with the collection of corpses"...I can only imagine what a nightmare. Especially given both the small size of their country and the lack of sanitation, water and machinery there.

 

[imaginative]

Land mass-wise, we are 134 times larger than Sierra Leone and have about 53 times the population. So, if my math is right- this would be like us dealing with 2700 new dead ebola victims every day. And given their 3rd world status...thats a sincere apocalypse

 

[Kris Gandillon]

Look at what 3 infections and 1 death in the last MONTH did to us. Imagine if those were weekly numbers. 3 new infections a week and another death each week. Or daily. 3 new infections a day and 1 new death each day. Sierra Leone would be laughing at us.

 

[imaginative]

And us Americans are far far more traveled than those of Sierra Leone. Banks,movies restaurants, planes, malls ect. Each of us have a much larger circle of social interaction than they do.

 

[Babs]

And us Americans are far far more traveled than those of Sierra Leone. Banks,movies restaurants, planes, malls ect. Each of us have a much larger circle of social interaction than they do.

I was wondering about that. I didn't think that they were able to travel as often and as far as we Americans do. So the spread throughout the entire country could happen much faster here.

 

[Mulder]

And us Americans are far far more traveled than those of Sierra Leone. Banks,movies restaurants, planes, malls ect. Each of us have a much larger circle of social interaction than they do.

Exactly. And that's the problem.

 

[imaginative]

Apparently it is even worse than is being reported; it looks like the ebola numbers are very under-reported...


Sierra Leone's Largest Paper Accuses Government of Publishing 'Fake' Ebola Death Tolls

"We need to STOP announcing fake deaths numbers," writes the editor of the largest newspaper in Sierra Leone, Dr. Sylvia Blyden, in the Awareness Times. The paper had previously accused the government of fudging the math on the Ebola death toll, resulting in hundreds of missing patients, but now, Blyden claims the government is artificially deflating the Ebola death toll deliberately.

In her column, Blyden responds to the latest numbers from Sierra Leone's Health Ministry, which announced the new death toll as 973 nationwide out of 3,156 cases. She argues that "the reality is more like 2,200 deaths (70%)," but any of these are reported as missing individuals, not dead patients. The latest tally included 1,549 "uncategorized" cases-- individuals who were not currently interned at a hospital, officially dead, or cured of the disease and released.

Blyden notes that, perhaps, the government is attempting to mask the depth of its inadequacy in responding to the Ebola crisis, but she notes that transparency is key. "Even United Nations WHO is now openly admitting it made gross bungles in managing this crisis," she writes, "So why is Government of Sierra Leone behaving as if it is inconceivable for them to correct the erroneous numbers? Why are authorities in Sierra Leone continuing to give us under reported deaths numbers? Why?"

Blyden appeals to the people of Sierra Leone to call for greater government transparency. "For God's sake," she writes, "how long will citizens continue to unquestionably accept the under-reported nature of the catastrophe unfolding on Sierra Leone? Ebola cannot be fought on a Platform of LIES." She adds that, as Africans, they have an especial duty to be true to the dead: "Moreover, we are Africans. The spirits of the dead need to be appeased and the minimum we can do is to acknowledge that those who died, have died."

The Awareness Times report is not the first of its kind, nor is it even the first within the same paper. In September, the newspaper reported that nearly 1,000 Ebola patients had remained unaccounted for in the statistics. That same month, the New York Times reported that health experts on the ground had found Sierra Leone's government officials to be highly untrustworthy and their numbers "largely inaccurate."

Sierra Leone is not the only nation with significant problems in keeping reliable Ebola death tallies. In Liberia, accusations are flying that the government's tally of Ebola cases and deaths are both wildly inaccurate, though not just because the government is having difficulty keeping up. In many cases, the stigma that Ebola carries leads family members to hide relatives to are believed to carry the virus, rather than bring them to a hospital or other medical facility. Other families have been known to attack medical personnel who try to give their relatives care.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/...vernment-of-Publishing-Fake-Ebola-Death-Tolls

 

[imaginative]

She adds that, as Africans, they have an especial duty to be true to the dead: "Moreover, we are Africans. The spirits of the dead need to be appeased and the minimum we can do is to acknowledge that those who died, have died."

The Awareness Times report is not the first of its kind, nor is it even the first within the same paper. In September, the newspaper reported that nearly 1,000 Ebola patients had remained unaccounted for in the statistics. That same month, the New York Times reported that health experts on the ground had found Sierra Leone's government officials to be highly untrustworthy and their numbers "largely inaccurate."

Sierra Leone is not the only nation with significant problems in keeping reliable Ebola death tallies. In Liberia, accusations are flying that the government's tally of Ebola cases and deaths are both wildly inaccurate, though not just because the government is having difficulty keeping up. In many cases, the stigma that Ebola carries leads family members to hide relatives to are believed to carry the virus, rather than bring them to a hospital or other medical facility. Other families have been known to attack medical personnel who try to give their relatives care.

The superstitious backward voodoo brains are their own worst enemy. It seems that the doctors over there who are working on a cure need to constantly look over their shoulders because the people they are trying to help are always attacking them. Yeah, lets fast-track and expedite these zulus into our country

Two die in Sierra Leone riot sparked by Ebola tests

Two people died in a riot in Sierra Leone sparked when health workers struggling to contain the Ebola epidemic tried to take a blood sample from an elderly woman, doctors told AFP on Wednesday.

A machete-wielding mob clashed with security personnel in the eastern town of Koidu and then went on a rampage on Tuesday, after preventing a medical team from taking the blood from the 90-year-old mother of a youth leader, doctors from the local government hospital said.

The woman, who had been suspected to be infected with Ebola, had died and was thought to have high blood pressure.

Sierra Leone is one of three west African nations hardest hit by the deadly Ebola epidemic, the world's worst ever.

At least 1,200 people have died in the country, from 3,410 infections, as of October 14, according to latest World Health Organization figures.

Globally, more than 4,500 people have died, most of them in Sierra Leone and neighbouring Liberia and Guinea.

Health teams are working desperately in those African states to try to slow the alarming spread of the virus, which is fatal in most cases and has no vaccine nor sure treatment.

Tuesday's unrest erupted when a crowd holding machetes and shovels stopped one team in the diamond mining town of Koidu from testing the elderly woman.

When the health workers called in security guards for protection, the violence grew into a riot, resulting in the two deaths and 10 people being wounded, the doctors the Koidu Government Hospital said.

"Two bodies are now at the mortuary. I cannot say whether they have bullet wounds or what caused their deaths as the corpses have not yet been examined," said one of the doctors who asked not to be identified.

He said a number of people including security personnel had been brought in with non life-threatening wounds.

"Ebola contact tracers visited the house of a prominent youth leader to take a blood sample of his ailing 90-year-old mother but were barred by a gang of youths" who angrily disputed that the woman had the disease, a witness said.

In the ensuing rampage, several buildings including the community-run Eastern Radio station were attacked.

A day-long curfew was imposed by police as gangs of youths roamed the streets shouting "No more Ebola!"

The son of the elderly woman, a youth leader named Adamu Eze, commands wide support in the town. Police were looking for him but he was said to have gone into hiding.

Local police chief David Koroma told AFP that calm had returned to Koidu Wednesday but that the area remained tense.

He added that officers were watching the situation and that "people should go about their normal business without fear".

http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/...ne-riot-sparked-by-ebola-tests/article/410086