Pandemics

Associated Press                                                         Oct. 8, 2010

By Mathew Lee

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry made an urgent plea Wednesday for nations to step up their response to the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, saying more money, equipment and personnel are needed now.

In an impassioned appeal, Kerry said progress against the disease was being made, but far too slowly, and that the world is not where it needs to be in stemming Ebola's spread....

"We need people to step up now," he said. "Now is the time for action, not words. And frankly, there is not a moment to waste in this effort."

Speaking with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Kerry added that it is essential for airlines to keep flying to West Africa and for borders to remain open to allow for the movement of assistance and medical staff.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/08/john-kerry-ebola_n_5952798.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Text of full remarks, with charts

NEW YORK TIMES          Oct. 7, 2014

At least 14 Ebola cases have been treated outside of West Africa in the current outbreak. Most of these involve health and aid workers who contracted Ebola in West Africa and were transported back to their home country for treatment.

Two people were diagnosed outside of West Africa: one, a Liberian man who began showing symptoms four days after arriving in Dallas, and the other, a Spanish nurse who became ill after treating a missionary in a Madrid Hospital. These cases are compiled from reports by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, Doctors Without Borders and other official agencies.

See chart and full article

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/31/world/africa/ebola-virus-outbreak-qa.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

UPDATED  With additional information  (Scroll below).

TIME

By Zeke J. Miller                              Oct. 6. 2014                5:24 PM

President Barack Obama said Monday that the U.S. is working on additional passenger screenings for airline passengers flying from Ebola-stricken West Africa, two weeks after a Liberian man infected with the disease entered the country.

Officials are “going to be working on protocols to do additional passenger screenings both at the source and here in the United States,” Obama said, addressing reporters following a briefing on his administration’s response to the epidemic in Africa and efforts to keep the disease from spreading to the U.S. “All of these things make me confident that here in the United States at least the chances of an outbreak, of an epidemic here are extraordinarily low.”

The president did not give specifics on the new screening measures, and Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declined to elaborate further in an interview with CNN after the meeting.

EBOLA VICTIM IN DALLAS IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION WHILE FAMILY MEMBERS SUFFER FROM STIGMA AND ISOLATION

WASHINGTON POST

By DeNeen L. Brown, Abby Phillip and Sean Sullivan October 5 at 8:05 PM

DALLAS — As a Liberian man diagnosed with Ebola was fighting to survive Sunday in a Texas hospital, his worried family members and others who were in contact with him said they are being ostracized by the local Liberian community, which is struggling to cope with fear, isolation and the stigma associated with the deadly disease.

A cleanup crew on Sunday sanitizes the apartment where Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan was staying before being admitted to a hospital in Dallas. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)