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Jihadi Online Chatter Discusses Using Ebola as Weapon Against the West

Mon, 2014-10-06 13:42 — mike kraft

HOMELAND SECURITY TODAY Oct. 3, 2014

By: Anthony Kimery, Editor-in-Chief

Jihadists and supporters of the Islamic State have stepped up discussions on jihadist social media websites about the possibility and ease of using Ebola, as well as other virulent pathogens and poisons, as weapons against the US and the West, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) said Friday.

Homeland Security Today first reported on August 4 that US counterterrorism officials were concerned that African-based, Al Qaeda-tied ihadist groups might try to take advantage of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa by sending Ebola infected “bio-martyrs” to the US. The officials said they could be members of Al Shabaab -- who have been caught this past year trying to enter the US through the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, according to intelligence sources -- Nigeria’s savage Boko Haram or Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

... officials discussed their concerns with Homeland Security Todayat the time because, they explained, the terrorist component of a pandemic “must” be taken into any response planning consideration “because it changes the dynamics of a natural pandemic and requires considerably different planning and far more resources to deal with it,” as one explained.

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As Ebola patient in Texas fights for his life, his family copes with stigma and isolation

Sun, 2014-10-05 23:11 — mike kraft

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)

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http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v514/n7520/full/nature13746.html

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Medical Research: Ebola Therapy Protects Severely Ill Monkeys

Sun, 2014-10-05 21:34 — Kathy Gilbeaux

nature.com

Thomas W. Geisbert

Nature 514, 41–43 (02 October 2014) doi:10.1038/nature13746 - Published online 29 August 2014

A blend of three monoclonal antibodies has completely protected monkeys against a lethal dose of Ebola virus. Unlike other post-infection therapies, the treatment works even at advanced stages of the disease. See Article p.47

Reversion of advanced Ebola virus disease in nonhuman primates with ZMapp

Nature 514, 47–53 (02 October 2014) doi:10.1038/nature13777
Received 05 August 2014 - Accepted 21 August 2014 - Published online 29 August 2014

Abstract

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5 Reasons We May Never Know Ebola’s True Impact

Sun, 2014-10-05 18:27 — Maeryn Obley

Image: A Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) worker is sprayed and disinfected as he leaves a high risk zone of MSF's Ebola isolation and treatment center in Monrovia, Liberia, Sept. 29, 2014. Jerome Delay—AP

time.com - September 30th, 2014 - Jack Linshi

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report in mid-September estimating that if current trends in the Ebola outbreak continue without a ramped up effort, then Ebola cases in West Africa would double every 20 days. In that situation, Ebola cases could reach up 1.4 million by January.

Ebola Contact Found By Dallas Law EnforcementLiberians in Dallas Convey Hope Back HomeEn Route: NBC News Freelancer With Ebola Leaves Liberia for U.S. NBC NewsFound: Homeless Man Sought in Ebola Case Being Monitored NBC NewsLast Call! Oktoberfest Wraps After Three Weeks of Beer NBC News

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OUT OF CONTROL: How the world’s health organizations failed to stop the Ebola Disaster

Sun, 2014-10-05 12:16 — mike kraft

WASHINGTON POST's detailed front page account of how the Ebola epidemic got out of control in West Africa. Oct. 5, 2014

by Lena Sun, Bradly Dennis, Lenny Bernstein and Joel Achenbach

The glow from a crematorium lights the sky as the bodies of people who died from Ebola are cremated last month in Monrovia

---Michel Du Cille, THE WASHINGTON POST

.... "The virus easily outran the plodding response. The WHO, an arm of the United Nations, is responsible for coordinating international action in a crisis like this, but it has suffered budget cuts, has lost many of its brightest minds and was slow to sound a global alarm on Ebola. Not until Aug. 8, 4 1 ⁄ 2 months into the epidemic, did the organization declare a global emergency. Its Africa office, which oversees the region, initially did not welcome a robust role by the CDC in the response to the outbreak.

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http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/cdc-director-tom-frieden-ebola-drug-pipeline-will-be-slow-n218666

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Why We Won't Have An Ebola Cure Or Vaccine For Years

Sun, 2014-10-05 02:48 — Maeryn Obley

UPDATE with comments from interviw with CDC Director Tom Frieden. Scroll below.

huffingtonpost.com - October 2nd, 2014 - Jeffery Young

The world has known about Ebola for almost 40 years, yet there's no cure or vaccine on the market.

That could change amid worldwide attention to the ongoing outbreak of the virus in West Africa, which has claimed more than 3,000 lives already, and the first diagnosis of a patient with the disease in the United States. But not for a few more years -- at least.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Update: Comments by CDC Director on Sunday TV interview

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Ebola Victim's Air Journey shows weak spots in screening.

Sat, 2014-10-04 17:00 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES October 3, 2014

MONROVIA, Liberia — The arrival in the United States of a Liberian man infected with the Ebola virus shows how difficult it is to control or restrict the disease from spreading, and how porous current procedures are in a world of globalized air travel.

Liberian officials said on Thursday that they planned to prosecute the passenger, Thomas E. Duncan, for lying on an airport questionnaire about not having contact with a person infected with Ebola before his travel — a pivotal part of the country’s screening process.

Mr. Duncan took three planes as he flew from Monrovia, the Liberian capital, to Dallas last month, connecting in Brussels and Washington.

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