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Health See other Health Articles Title: Ebola kills Liberian doctor, 2 Americans infected In this 2014 photo provided by the Samaritan's Purse aid organization, Dr. Kent Brantly, left, treats an Ebola patient at the Samaritan's Purse Ebola Case Management Center in Monrovia, Liberia. On Saturday, July 26, 2014, the North Carolina-based aid organization said Brantly tested positive for the disease and was being treated at a hospital in Monrovia. . MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — One of Liberia's most high-profile doctors has died of Ebola, officials said Sunday, and an American physician was being treated for the deadly virus, highlighting the risks facing health workers trying to combat an outbreak that has killed more than 670 people in West Africa — the largest ever recorded. A second American, a missionary working in the Liberian capital, was also taken ill and was being treated in isolation there, said the pastor of a North Carolina church that sponsored her work. Dr. Samuel Brisbane, a top Liberian health official, was treating Ebola patients at the country's largest hospital, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Center in Monrovia, when he fell ill. He died Saturday, said Tolbert Nyenswah, an assistant health minister. A Ugandan doctor died earlier this month. The American physician, 33-year-old Dr. Kent Brantly, was in Liberia helping to respond to the outbreak that has killed 129 people nationwide when he fell ill, according to the North Carolina-based medical charity, Samaritan's Purse. He was receiving intensive medical care in a Monrovia hospital and was in stable condition, according to a spokeswoman for the aid group, Melissa Strickland. "We are hopeful, but he is certainly not out of the woods yet," she said.Early treatment improves a patient's chances of survival, and Brantly recognized his own symptoms and began receiving care immediately, Strickland said. The American missionary, Nancy Writebol, was gravely ill and in isolation in Monrovia, her husband, David, told a church elder via Skype, according to the Rev. John Munro, pastor of Calvary Church in Charlotte, N.C. Munro said the couple, who had been in Liberia for about a year, insisted on staying there despite the Ebola threat. "These are real heroes — people who do things quietly behind the scenes, people with a very strong vocation and very strong faith," Munro said. View gallery A man reads a newspaper on a Lagos street with the … A man reads a newspaper on a Lagos street with the headline Ebola Virus kills Liberian in Lagos, Sat … There is no known cure for the highly contagious virus, which is one of the deadliest in the world. At least 1,201 people have been infected in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to the World Health Organization, and 672 have died. Besides the Liberian fatalities, 319 people have died in Guinea and 224 in Sierra Leone. Ominously, Nigerian authorities said Friday that a Liberian man died of Ebola after flying from Monrovia to Lagos via Lome, Togo. The case underscored the difficulty of preventing Ebola victims from traveling given weak screening systems and the fact that the initial symptoms of the disease — including fever and sore throat — resemble many other illnesses. Health workers are among those at greatest risk of contracting the disease, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids. Photos of Brantly working in Liberia show him swathed head-to-toe in white protective coveralls, gloves and a head-and-face mask that he wore for hours a day while treating Ebola patients. Earlier this year, the American was quoted in a posting about the dangers facing health workers trying to contain the disease. "In past Ebola outbreaks, many of the casualties have been health care workers who contracted the disease through their work caring for infected individuals," he said. There is no known cure for Ebola, which begins with symptoms including fever and sore throat and escalates to vomiting, diarrhea and internal and external bleeding. The WHO says the disease is not contagious until a person begins to show symptoms. Brantly's wife and children had been living with him in Liberia but flew home to the U.S. about a week ago, before the doctor started showing any signs of illness, Strickland said. View gallery Men read newspapers on a street with headlines about … Men read newspapers on a street with headlines about Ebola Virus killing a Liberian in Lagos, Nigeri … "They have absolutely shown no symptoms," she said. A woman who identified herself as Brantly's mother said the family was declining immediate comment when reached by phone in Indiana. Besides Brantly and the two doctors in Liberia, Sierra Leone's top Ebola doctor and a doctor in Liberia's central Bong County have also fallen ill. The situation "is getting more and more scary," said Nyenswah, the country's assistant health minister. Meanwhile, the fact that a sick Liberian could board a flight to Nigeria raised new fears that other passengers could take the disease beyond Africa. Nigeria's international airports were screening passengers arriving from foreign countries, and health officials were also working with ports and land borders to raise awareness of the disease. Togo's government also said it was on high alert. Security analysts were skeptical about the usefulness of these measures. "In Nigeria's case, the security set-up is currently bad, so I doubt it will help or have the minimum effectiveness they are hoping for," said Yan St. Pierre, CEO of the Berlin-based security consulting firm MOSECON. An outbreak in Lagos, a megacity where many lived in cramped conditions, could be a major public health disaster. The West Africa outbreak is believed to have begun as far back as January in southeast Guinea, though the first cases weren't confirmed until March. Since then, officials have tried to contain the disease by isolating victims and educating populations on how to avoid transmission, though porous borders and widespread distrust of health workers have made the outbreak difficult to bring under control. News of Brisbane's death first began circulating on Saturday, a national holiday marking Liberia's independence in 1847. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf used her Independence Day address to discuss a new taskforce to combat Ebola. Information Minister Lewis Brown said the taskforce would go "from community to community, from village to village, from town to town" to try to increase awareness. In Sierra Leone, which has recorded the highest number of new cases in recent days, the first case originating in Freetown, the capital, came when a hairdresser, Saudata Koroma, fell ill. She was forcibly removed from a government hospital by her family, sparking a frantic search that ended Friday. Kargbo, the chief medical officer, said Sunday that Koroma died while being transported to a treatment center in the east of the country. __ Associated Press writers Colleen Slevin in Denver, Clarence Roy-Macaulay in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Heather Murdock in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed reporting. Poster Comment: The Nautilus Project Ebola is HIGHLY contagious. Incubation period is 2 DAYS to 3 WEEKS!! Has a fatality rate of 90 PERCENT!! Its characterized by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding. That is insane! Some could conceivably go THREE WEEKS infecting everyone they come in contact with before they get sick...and so on and so on...but is this the #1 priority in the world right now? NO! 3 cyndi those gowns look flimsy and I bet they are porous. not good enuf for something like Ebola virus.If that fabric comes in contact with bodily secretions from patients, would the fluid seep thru it? My guess is, it would. Looks like the gowns we would wear in doctor's offices for exams and such. And are they single use disposable or are they reusable? If reusable, very dangerous cuz I doubt African facilities/equipment have the equipment to properly sterilize them. I doubt if they are even steriizable. very flimsy looking. A series of pictures I saw online from infected sites show gloves and boots drying in the sun How were they sterilized? how about the gowns; how are they sterilized??These doctors should know if they are adequate protection and they should refuse to work under those conditions. that is sure death if they do so2 . Hank The reason why Ebola is able to run amuck in our bodies and turn into a devastating illness is that the virus plays a game of misdirection with our immune system. It creates proteins as a distraction. Our immune system gears up to fight them while the virus itself hides and replicates, invading our organs- it can touch almost any cell in our bodies. Then once a critical virulency is reached (1-3 weeks) Ebola unleashes hell. To use an analogy Ebola primes our bodies to fight tank warfare, and suddenly it stops playing by the rules, dropping bombs on us.2 Frisco_Kid_51"...officials announced on Friday that a Liberian official died of Ebola after flying from Monrovia to Lagos via Lome, Togo." Once the disease gets off the African continent, all bets are off. Researcher Laurie Garrett warned of this in her 1994 book, The Coming Plague. The global community needs to wake up and enforce an absolute travel ban into and out of the 3 countries involved (Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia), as well as their immediate neighbors until this is under control, or the world could be in for the mother of all medical (s)hit storms.58-1 tcquilter Civilizations have been wiped out for thousands of years by various plagues. Black fever, bubonic plague (which we still see about a dozen or so cases a year in the USA), dengue fever, cholera, AIDS, typhoid, TB, measles, smallpox, and our ever present mutations of influenza. We are way overdue for a super flu to wipe out millions. The Spanish flu in the early 1900's did a pretty decent job of doing it. Swine flu in the 1960's was a pretty big hit, but not devastating. We should never be surprised at what is out there and what is coming that we can't see, but has the potential to wipe us off this planet. I think it is Mother Nature's way of cleaning house occasionally, and it might be the only thing that gives this planet the ability to survive all that we have done to try to kill it. We are our own worst enemies in the cycle of life, and all the technology we have just enables these lethal viruses from getting spread all over the world that much faster. It takes YEARS to develop vaccines, and by then, a virus can mutate to the point the vaccines are less effective. We are damaging our own immune systems by sterilizing everything in our paths with antibacterial/antiviral products. Your immune system can't become strong unless it is introduced to germs in our environment. The more you get exposed to, the more antibodies you build, and the better you are able to survive. 18-1 I am a physician in Ifugao Province, Philippines and I would like to give a hero's salute to all health workers who forgot self to help contain the ebola epidemic. I have a lot of experience in treating dengue hemorrhagic fever which is also viral and kills many in the Philippines. May I share my insight on Dengue that officially have no cure too. I try to control viral spread in the patient the earliest possible time by giving an antiviral Euphorbia hirta (tawa-tawa in local linggo) tea. Controlling the virus early would mitigate cellular damage due to the virus itself and the toxins that they produce. I also give steroids early (not in the late stage where it does not work) to control the formation of antigen-antibody complexes which activates the complement pathway that leads to hemorrhage and shock. I too give maximum coverage of antioxidant multivitamins and minerals like Vit D-3 5000IU. All the time, I guard against dehydration and metabolic problems like acidosis where I use Sodium bicarbonate. Our Dept. of Health do not prescribe this but studying viral infections, I appreciated these three important factors in the control of dengue: control the virus, prevent toxin formation and release and prevent antigen-antibody complex activation of the complement pathway. I hope and pray this will help. My prayers through our Lord Jesus Christ.29-1 buzz @ayahaof, Yes, blessings to you and your staff, Doctor. It is interesting to see your combination of treatments, including the anti-viral tea. I have read about an Israeli doctor who discovered that elderberry extract is a strong anti-viral that stops flu virus in one to two days. I've since ordered and used that preparation, it comes in a capsule or a liquid extract. I haven't had flu or the fevers that ticks can cause. But I take it when I get bitten by ticks or if I believe I have been exposed to the flu. So far, so good. I've read of others who have used that and found it to be good as well. I do not know how wide a variety of viruses it would work against but might be worth investigating. It is prepared using the variety, elderberry sambucus. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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