Tracing Ebola’s Breakout to an African 2-Year-Old

[apples and oranges]

Patient Zero in the Ebola outbreak, researchers suspect, was a 2-year-old boy who died on Dec. 6, just a few days after falling ill in a village in Guéckédou, in southeastern Guinea. Bordering Sierra Leone and Liberia, Guéckédou is at the intersection of three nations, where the disease found an easy entry point to the region.

A week later, it killed the boy’s mother, then his 3-year-old sister, then his grandmother. All had fever, vomiting and diarrhea, but no one knew what had sickened them.

Two mourners at the grandmother’s funeral took the virus home to their village. A health worker carried it to still another, where he died, as did his doctor. They both infected relatives from other towns. By the time Ebola was recognized, in March, dozens of people had died in eight Guinean communities, and suspected cases were popping up in Liberia and Sierra Leone — three of the world’s poorest countries, recovering from years of political dysfunction and civil war.

Public health experts acknowledge that the initial response, both locally and internationally, was inadequate.

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/world/africa/tracing-ebolas-breakout-to-an-african-2-year-old.html

Why did it take over 3 months for WHO and the CDC to identify Ebola?! I smell a rat!

[uppityperson]

1. Why would WHO or CDC not want to identify ebola? Serious question.

Interesting article though 2 months old.

Past Ebola outbreaks have been snuffed out, often within a few months. How, then, did this one spin so far out of control? It is partly a consequence of modernization in Africa, and perhaps a warning that future outbreaks, which are inevitable, will pose tougher challenges. Unlike most previous outbreaks, which occurred in remote, localized spots, this one began in a border region where roads have been improved and people travel a lot. In this case, the disease was on the move before health officials even knew it had struck.

Also, this part of Africa had never seen Ebola before. Health workers did not recognize it and had neither the training nor the equipment to avoid infecting themselves or other patients. Hospitals in the region often lack running water and gloves, and can be fertile ground for epidemics.

[Warpy]

2. WHO has had its budget slashed since 2008

and relies on local health workers to identify clusters of cases.

This case eluded detection since it was spread out. Earlier ebola outbreaks have been restricted to one or two villages, killing a score or more in a tight cluster. This one was spread around over a wide area, three cases here, two there, and so forth.

What you have to realize is that bad water gives people there diarrhea all the time and untreated diarrhea can be fatal, mostly for infants and children but occasionally for adults who can't drink enough to avoid dehydration. Death from dysentery is common.

This is the first instance of having it show up as a European style plague, moving quickly from area to area, family to family.

[Aerows]

3. Because people die in droves

from things like malaria, pertussis, tetanus and diphtheria in Africa?

It probably took them 3 months because people die from things there that Western countries aren't afflicted by, due to our levels of vaccination, and have cultural practices that are different from those in African countries.

If you are implying that the WHO wanted to unleash Ebola on the world, I strongly suggest you rethink that position.

[apples and oranges]

4. I don't think they wanted to, they just didn't care.

But then there's this (from the same article):

But no one can explain how such a small child could have become the first person infected. Contaminated fruit is one possibility. An injection with a contaminated needle is another.

I'd like to know more about the pharmaceutical firm behind Zmapp and information about their travels.

[Aerows]

5. My word

You do realize that people in Africa regularly eat fruit bats, known vectors, and that a woman got it from preparing one for dinner in Rwanda?

Your user name is quite apt. "The pharmaceutical firm behind Zmapp purposefully infected people with Ebola" is apples and oranges away from "people eating bushmeat get infected and an experimental drug that has been in development for a year seems to help."

[Dreamer Tatum]

9. I'm guessing the OP assumes the whole world is Disneyland.

Nice, clean, tidy Disneyland. The only way disease propagates is through the needle of Big Pharma.

[uppityperson]

6. Makers of Zmapp snuck into Guéckédou, injected a child with ebola? Seriously?

o.m.g.

[Warpy]

7. I'm seeing a lot of the conspiracy enthusiasts on DU today

I have to wonder what crackpot website out there is feeding them.

[Aerows]

10. I wonder, too.

Just a bunch of abject silliness.

[Warpy]

13. So much medical ignorance going around

and no vaccine for it, either.

[panader0]

12. Obama did it because slavery and stuff. F'ing Kenyan

[Dreamer Tatum]

8. You mean you really love a good conspiracy movie.

Do the world a favor, and go rent a few.

(Yes, I know...I'm in on the plot. )

[FLyellowdog]

11. So are you saying

silly wabbit...that big pharma tricks are for kids?