A SMALL TASTE OF WHAT’S COMING TO AMERICA
SIERRA LEONE (INTELLIHUB) — The country’s President, Ernest Bai Koroma, has declared a state of emergency amidst the worst Ebola outbreak in history, calling in Army troops to quarantine neighborhoods and conduct door-to-door sweeps searching for the infected.
Ohio.com reported:
There is no licensed drug or vaccine for Ebola, and patients can only be given supportive care to keep them hydrated. There are a handful of experimental drug and vaccine candidates for Ebola and while some have had promising results in animals including monkeys, none has been rigorously tested in humans.
The disease has continued to spread through bodily fluids as sick people remain out in the community and cared for by relatives without protective gear. People have become ill from touching sick family members and in some cases from soiled linens.
In Sierra Leone, which borders Liberia to the northwest, authorities are vowing to quarantine all those at home who have refused to go to isolation centers. Many families have kept relatives at home to pray for their survival instead of bringing them to clinics that have had a 60 percent fatality rate. Those in the throngs of death can bleed from their eyes, mouth and ears.
Rosa Crestani, Ebola emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said it is “crucial” at this point to gain the trust of communities that have been afraid to let health workers in and to deploy more medical staff.
This all follows lockstep with World Health Organization (WHO) and international protocols pertaining to viral outbreaks and pandemics and will likely set the pace for coming UK and U.S. quarantines.
So far the WHO has pledged $100 million in Ebola aid for West Africa which was recently inundated with the virus which has already claimed over 700 lives. However, it has been reported that the outbreaks in the region are now so bad that humanitarian teams are even evacuating the area.
All inbound air traffic from West Africa has been diverted to run through three major U.S. hubs, Austin, Atlanta and New York. At least 19 airports in the U.S. are on high alert as officials search for noticeably sickened travelers to be forcefully quarantined by law.
At least 20 quarantine stations throughout the U.S. have been designated for Ebola by the CDC.
Officials in the UK have announced that they are scouting for doctors capable of treating infectious diseases.
Ebola stays alive on the surface for up to 48 hours and has a 90% kill rate in most cases.
Sources:
Ebola outbreak: Sierra Leone declares state of emergency as death toll climbs to almost 730 — abc.net.au
About the author:
Shepard Ambellas is the founder and editor-in-chief of Intellihub News and the maker of SHADE the Motion Picture. You can also find him on Twitter and Facebook. Shepard also appears on the Travel Channel series America Declassified.
