Welcome To Michael Ajah's Blog

In a turning of tables on Ebola monitoring, the East
African nation of Rwanda is screening all visitors
from the United States and Spain for the deadly virus.

The U.S. Embassy in Rwanda posted the following
notice on its website today.
"On October 19, the Rwandan Ministry of Health
introduced new Ebola Virus Disease screening
requirements. Visitors who have been in the United
States or Spain during the last 22 days are now
required to report their medical condition -- regardless
of whether they are experiencing symptoms of Ebola --
by telephone by dialing 114 between 7:00 a.m. and
8:00 p.m. for the duration of their visit to Rwanda (if
less than 21 days), or for the first 21 days of their visit
to Rwanda. Rwandan authorities continue to deny
entry to visitors who traveled to Guinea, Liberia,
Senegal, or Sierra Leone within the past 22 days."
The incubation period of Ebola is generally accepted
by health officials as 21 days.
The notice appears to be in response to recent cases in
both countries. In addition to the three people
diagnosed with the deadly virus in Dallas, an
additional five patients transported from West Africa
have received treatment for Ebola on American soil.
Spain has seen three cases, according to health
officials.
"Rwanda is wasting incredible resources screening for
something that doesn't exist, an American traveler
with Ebola," said Dr. Richard Besser, chief health and
medical editor for ABC News.
Meanwhile, a rally cry to close American borders to
travelers from Ebola-stricken countries appears to have
hit home. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security
announced travel restrictions today in the form of
additional screening and protective measures.
Beginning Wednesday, all travelers to the Unites
States whose travel originates in Liberia, Sierra Leone
or Guinea -- the countries hardest hit by the ongoing
Ebola outbreak -- will be required to fly into one of the
five U.S. airports that have the enhanced screening
and additional resources in place: New York’s JFK,
Newark, Dulles, Atlanta and Chicago, Homeland
Security officials said.
Besser said the DHS move makes sense if you are
going to do entry screening.
"Given we are doing it, this increases to 100% the
travelers coming here who will get screened," Besser
said.
"However, remember, entry screening would not have
picked up the one traveler who has ever introduced
Ebola anywhere. His symptoms did not develop until
he had been here for four days," Besser said, referring
to Thomas Eric Duncan.

A plane from Nigeria landed at JFK Airport
Thursday with a male passenger aboard
who had died during the flight after a fit
of vomiting — and CDC officials conducted
a “cursory” exam before announcing there
was no Ebola and turning the corpse over
to Port Authority cops to remove, Rep.
Peter King said on Thursday.
The congressman was so alarmed by the
incident — and by what he and employees
see as troubling Ebola vulnerabilities at JFK
— that he fired off a letter to the federal
Department of Homeland Security
demanding more training and tougher
protocols for handling possible cases there.
The unnamed, 63-year-old passenger had
boarded an Arik Air plane out of Lagos,
Nigeria, on Wednesday night, a federal law
enforcement source said.
During the flight, the man had been
vomiting in his seat, the source said. Some
time before the plane landed, he passed
away. Flight crew contacted the CDC,
federal customs officials and Port Authority
police, who all boarded the plane at around
6 a.m. as about 145 worried passengers
remained on board, the source said.
“The door [to the terminal] was left open,
which a lot of the first responders found
alarming,” said the source.

“My understanding was that the passenger
was vomiting in the seat,” King (R-LI) said.
“The CDC went on the plane, examined the
dead body and said the person did not
have Ebola,” King said.
“It was what I was told a cursory
examination. The Port Authority cops and
personnel from Customs and Border
Protection were there, and they were told
there was no danger because the person
did not have Ebola,” King said.
“But their concern was, how could you tell
so quickly? And what adds to the concern
is how wrong the CDC has been over the
past few weeks.”

Between 70 and 100 passengers a day
arrive at JFK from Liberia, Sierra Leone
and Guinea, the three West African
countries that are the epicenter of the
outbreak, King said.
“These individuals transit the airport with
the rest of the traveling population,
including using the restrooms,” King wrote
to Jeh Johnson, secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security, in a
letter Thursday.
“Only after they arrive at the Customs and
Border Patrol primary screening location
that they are separated and sent to
secondary inspection for a medical check
and to complete the questionnaire,” he
wrote Johnson.
King’s letter demands that Homeland
Security immediately beef up protocols for
what happens to potentially infected
passengers in flight and at the terminal
itself, prior to their reaching the screening
location.

The letter also demands that training and
safety equipment improve for the Port
Authority police and Customs and Border
Patrol officials who can come into contact
with high-risk passengers.
“I believe there should be a suspension of
direct flights and connecting flights from
these three countries,” King said. “And
maybe anyone with a visa from those
countries, and who has been living in those
countries, should be barred” from entering
the US, he added.
No other information was immediately
available about the deceased Nigerian
passenger.
Nigeria is 1,000 miles east of the three
West African countries suffering from an
Ebola outbreak, but has had 19 confirmed
cases of the deadly virus. The country has
had no new cases over the past month; the
World Health Organization has said that if
there are still no new cases of Ebola by
Monday, they will officially declare the
country “Ebola-free.”

With the Second Death Due To Ebola In Germany, The First Occurring In Spain. Authorities may decide to stop sporting activities if the virus spreads at an alarming rate
For lovers of the Spanish La liga and German Bundesliga. This might really be something bad for them. Here Are The Details of the second Ebola casualty in Germany
Extracted from m.thelocal.de

UPDATE : A UN worker being treated for Ebola
in Leipzig died overnight , the hospital caring
for him said on Tuesday.

He is the first ever
victim to die in Germany of the highly -
infectious disease.
The 56- year-old Sudanese doctor died in the early
hours of Tuesday morning , after he was flown to
Germany from Liberia on Thursday for treatment
at St Georg Clinic in Leipzig .
On arrival from Liberia , doctors warned his
condition was "highly critical, but stable" .
The man was transported from Leipzig airport to
the hospital last Thursday morning under tight
security and treated on an isolation ward .
But the hospital said on Tuesday that "despite
intensive medical measures and maximum efforts
by the medical team , the 56- year-old UN employee
succumbed ."
He was the third Ebola patient from Africa to be
treated in Germany since the outbreak started in
West Africa this year .
One doctor from Uganda arrived in Frankfurt in
early October and is currently undergoing
treatment , while a patient from Senegal was
treated in Hamburg and cured of the disease
after five weeks in hospital .
Leipzig 's St Georg Clinic can handle up to 12 cases
of Ebola in six separate rooms . It is one of just
seven hospitals in Germany with such a highly -
rated isolation ward .
On Monday , Germany 's health ministry
suggested further Ebola cases could arrive from
West Africa, announcing that they had 50 beds
available for patients of the fatal disease.
It is the first recorded case of anyone dying from
Ebola in Germany .
The outbreak has claimed the lives of more than
4 ,000 people so far and infected around 8, 400
people, according to the World Health
Organisation ( WHO) .

Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
could turn themselves into Ebola “suicide bombers”
against the Western world, terrorism experts have warned.
ISIS or other terrorist groups could simply dispatch
individuals to Ebola-infected areas in West Africa where
they would intentionally infect themselves and then
spread the virus through the world’s air transportation
network.
Capt. Al Shimkus, a professor of national security affairs
at the U.S. Naval War College, said the scenario was
plausible.
“The individual exposed to the Ebola virus would be the
carrier,” Shimkus told Forbes.
“In the context of terrorist activity, it doesn’t take much
sophistication to go to that next step to use a human
being as a carrier,” he added.
Professor Anthony Glees, director at Buckingham
University’s Center for Security and Intelligence Studies,
also warned that terrorists may consider such a plan.
“In some ways it’s a plausible theory – IS [ISIS] fighters
believe in suicide and this is a potential job for a suicide
mission. They are sufficiently murderous and well-
informed to consider it, and they know that we’ve been
remiss in the UK,” Glees told Forbes.
Amanda Teckman, who authored a paper on Ebola’s
bioterrorist threat in East Africa, told Forbes : “the threat
of an Ebola bioterrorist attack in East Africa is a global
health and security concern, and should not be
ignored.”
ISIS has already contemplated the use of biological
weaponry, according to recent media reports.
Documents found on a laptop seized from ISIS militants
in Syria show instructions on how to “develop biological
weapons and how to weaponize the bubonic plague from
infected animals,” according to a Foreign Policy report .
The laptop reportedly belonged to a Tunisian militant
named Mohammad S., who studied chemistry and
physics in his country’s northeast.
“The advantage of biological weapons is that they do
not cost a lot of money, while the human casualties can
be huge,” according to one document. “When the microbe
is injected in small mice, the symptoms of the disease
should start to appear within 24 hours.”

The Al Arabiya

According to news reports, the dreaded EVD(Ebola Viral Disease) has hit both the United States And Spain. Citizens of Both Countries Are In panic as different rumors about the virus are in circulation. One may wonder if the Nigerian salt and water rumour may resurface, Below are the reports extracted from osundefender.org and bbc.com

Osundefender
From Guinea, a country of 11 million people, the EbolaVirus Disease has spread to four other West African nations nations Senegal, Liberia,Nigeria and Sierra Leone killing more than 3,000 people in a matter of days. The latestdestination for this near-genocide is Dallas, a small city in Texas, United States, where the first person diagnosed in the country has been quarantined alongside 80 other possible contacts.
The trip made by Thomas Eric Duncan, a former chauffeur, from Liberia to the United
States on September 20 has now raised controversies on how far the virus can travel
and may force countries to rethink the flight restriction policy against countries where
the disease has been endemic.
Until September 17 when President Barrack Obama sent 3,000 troops to help with the
transportation of medical equipments, the US been sitting on the sidelines.
Speaking at the US Centre for Disease Control, Atlanta, Obama announced a
comprehensive plan, which involves the construction of 17 treatment centres with 100
bed facilities each. Some 500 health care workers will also be trained weekly.
“Faced with this outbreak, the world is looking to us, the United States, and it is a
responsibility that we embrace. We are prepared to take leadership on this, to provide
the type of capabilities that only America has and mobilize our resources in ways that
only America can do,’’ Obama had said.
However, Duncan’s trip to the US has thrown up several issues. First is the inability of
officials at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to isolate Duncan on September 26,
the day he first reported to the hospital.
Reacting to the development, a Consultant Gynecologist, Dr. Rotimi Akinola expressed
hope that the situation would be brought under control soon. He however, remarked
that the failure to isolate Duncan on his first visit to the hospital shows a natural
weakness in any human system.
“There is no human system anywhere in the world that is above mistake. But they
have an effective contract tracing mechanism and better record keeping. I am sure
that system will rise to the occasion,’’ he enthused.
Texas hospital explains
A nurse at the Texas hospital was said to have asked Duncan about his recent travels
while he was in the emergency room, and the patient was said to have told the nurse
that he had been in Africa.
Executive Vice President of Texas Health Resources, Dr. Mark Lester confirmed this
but that the information was not “fully communicated” to the medical team.
The man underwent basic blood tests, but not an Ebola screening, and was sent home
with antibiotics, said Dr. Edward Goodman with Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
Three days later, the man returned to the facility, where it was determined that he
probably had Ebola. He was then isolated.
“The hospital followed all suggested CDC protocols at that time. Texas Health
Presbyterian Hospital Dallas’ staff is thoroughly trained in infection control procedures
and protocols,” the hospital said Wednesday.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which has helped to lead the
international response to Ebola, advises that all medical facilities should ask patients
with symptoms consistent with Ebola for their travel history.
Duncan’s travel history “was not acted upon in an appropriate way,” said Dr. Sanjay
Gupta, CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent.
“A nurse did ask the question and he did respond that he was in Liberia and that
wasn’t transmitted to people who were in charge of his care,” Gupta said. “There’s no
excuse for this.”
A U.S. official told CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen that the
situation was clearly “a screw-up.” A patient who shows up to a hospital with a fever
and a history of travel to Liberia should be treated as an infection risk, the official
said.
Asked repeatedly by Gupta whether the patient should have been tested for Ebola
during his first visit to the hospital, CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said officials
were still looking at details about how the case was handled.
“We know that in busy emergency departments all over the country, people may not
ask travel histories. I don’t know if that was done here,” Frieden said. “But we need
to make sure that it is done going forward.”
Duncan is a 42-year-old Liberian national, according to his friend. This is Duncan’s
first trip to the US, where he was visiting family and friends.
The close associate, who does not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of
the case, contacted the CDC with concerns that the hospital was not moving quickly
enough after Duncan’s second hospital visit.
The associate said Duncan is “all right” now, but is in pain and hasn’t eaten in a week.
He is in serious condition, the hospital told CNN. Neither the hospital nor government
officials have identified Duncan by name.
Tracing contacts
A CDC team is in Dallas helping to find anyone Duncan may have come in contact with,
Frieden said.
Once those people are identified, they will be monitored for 21 days — taking their
temperatures twice a day — in cooperation with local and state health officials,
Frieden said.
Some school-age children have been in contact with the Ebola patient, but the students
haven’t exhibited symptoms of the deadly virus, authorities said.
Five students at four different schools came into contact with the man, Dallas
Superintendent Mike Miles said.
The children are being monitored at home, and the schools they attended remain open,
he said.
Paramedics who transported the patient to the hospital have been isolated, Rawlings’
chief of staff said. They have not shown symptoms of the disease so far, Frieden said.
The ambulance used to carry the patient was still in use for two days after the
transport, city of Dallas spokeswoman Sana Syed said.
But she emphasised that the paramedics decontaminated the ambulance, as they do
after every transport, according to national standards.
Pupils stay at home
Worries over Ebola kept some Dallas schoolchildren home Thursday after school
officials identified five students who might have come into contact with the first
person in the US to be diagnosed with the virus.
The Dallas Independent School District was still gathering morning attendance figures
from four campuses where the affected students were in class earlier this week,
spokesman Andre Riley said. Those students have shown no symptoms and are being
monitored at home, where they are expected to remain for three weeks.
But there are already signs of parents taking no chances.
Yah Zuo left L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary on Thursday morning with her two children,
including a six-year-old daughter. Zuo hoped to enrol her elsewhere.
Zuo is of Liberian origin and said she knows the family of Duncan.
“In situations like this, you cannot stay friends. You have to protect the ones you
love,” ,” Zuo said.
She added, “This virus is not something you play with.”
It was not exactly clear how Duncan knew the students, but his sister said he had
been visiting with family, including two nephews.

For Spain
BBC
The Spanish health minister has confirmed that a
nurse who treated a victim of Ebola in Madrid has
tested positive for the disease.
The nurse is said to be the first person in the current
outbreak known to have contracted Ebola outside
Africa.
Health Minister Ana Mato said the woman was part
of the team that treated Spanish priest Manuel
Garcia Viejo, who died of the virus on 25 September.
Some 3,400 people have died in the outbreak - mostly
in West Africa.
The Spanish nurse is in a stable condition, Reuters
quoted health officials as saying. She started to feel
ill last week when she was on holiday.
The nurse was admitted to hospital in Alcorcon, near
Madrid, on Monday morning with a high fever, Ms
Mato said.
Doctors isolated the emergency treatment room.
The infection was confirmed by two tests, the minister
said. Manuel Garcia Viejo died in the hospital Carlos III de
Madrid after catching Ebola in Sierra Leone.
Another Spanish priest, Miguel Pajares, died in
August after contracting the virus in Liberia.
Ebola spreads through contact with the bodily fluids
of someone who has the virus and the only way to
stop an outbreak is to isolate those who are infected.
There have been nearly 7,500 confirmed infections
worldwide, with officials saying the figure is likely to
be much higher in reality.
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have been hardest
hit.
Celebrations in West Africa for the Muslim festival of
Eid al-Adha are being badly affected by the Ebola
outbreak, with many public places deserted this
weekend.
Earlier health officials said people arriving in the US
from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa could be
subject to extra screening at airports.
But the White House said on Monday it was not
considering a ban on travellers from such countries,
according to Reuters news agency.
It comes as the US tries to limit the spread from its first
confirmed case, a Liberian in Dallas.
Thomas Duncan's condition is critical but stable,
Reuters quoted doctors in the state of Texas as saying
on Monday.

Meanwhile Medical Experts from the United States are in Nigeria to know how the virus was eliminated from the country