10-15-2018, 10:27 PM
*** 16-Oct-18 World View -- WHO considers declaring Ebola outbreak as an international emergency
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** American CDC Ebola experts have been blocked from the outbreak zone in DR Congo
****
![[Image: g181015b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g181015b.jpg)
Ebola health worker in DR Congo (CNN)
It has now emerged that American Ebola experts from the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) have been withdrawn from the outbreak zone in
North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This
will make the new outbreak more difficult to contain.
There are experts on the ground from other organizations, including
the World Health Organization (WHO), Doctors Without Borders (Médecins
Sans Frontières, MSF), and The Alliance for International Medical
Action (Alima).
The CDC experts are among the most experience Ebola experts on the
planet. According to Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health
Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health:
<QUOTE>"CDC has responded to nearly two dozen filovirus
outbreaks in its history and has people who’ve been working on
these issues for 30 years. It doesn’t make sense to have those
people hundreds or thousands of miles away from where the disease
is actually spreading.
It would provide a lot of value to have experienced leaders at
CDC who’ve been in the situation before contributing what they can
to the larger effort. I think it’s an important moment to think
about that."<END QUOTE>
Instead of being on the ground in the outbreak zone, CDC experts are
being given other assignments thousands of miles away, such as
advising DRC's ministry of health in the capital city Kinshasa.
News stories are providing few details about why they're blocked from
the outbreak zone, except that it's related to the attack in 2010 in
Benghazi, Libya, that killed US ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and
three other Americans. The inference that we're to draw, apparently,
is that Americans in the North Kivu war zone would be targets of
attacks similar to those against ambassador Stevens. Stat News and CNN
****
**** WHO considers declaring Ebola outbreak as an international emergency
****
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday that it will
hold an emergency committee meeting on Wednesday in Geneva. According
to a statement: "The committee will meet on October 17 in Geneva to
ascertain whether the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency
of international concern."
The designation "public health emergency of international concern"
refers to a pandemic that is so serious that it might spread to other
countries. There are now concerns that it could soon spread to Uganda
and Rwanda.
WHO has resisted that designation so far in eastern DRC, but over the
weekend a "second wave" of the Ebola virus was confirmed. There are
now 211 registered cases of Ebola, 176 confirmed and 35 probable, with
135 deaths. The number of cases has been expanding rapidly, more than
twice as fast as in September. There were six new cases over
the weekend.
Many new cases come out of funerals for previous victims. Even if a
funeral is conducted in a secure manner, the risk for Ebola
transmission is high, because viral loads are at their highest level
at the time of death.
The situation in North Kivu province is the worst possible scenario.
There is a major ethnic war in progress, and Ebola is now spreading in
the densely populated city of Beni, which has become the epicenter of
the pandemic.
The entire region is a war zone, and over one million people have been
driven from their homes by armed rebel groups, the Allied Democratic
Forces (ADF), fighting government troops. The fighting is preventing
doctors and experts from reaching infected people, in order to educate
the population and do contact tracing. Without contact tracing, there
is no way to stop or slow the spread of the disease.
AFP and Reuters and Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDRAP)
Related Articles:
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Ebola,
Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, North Kivu, Beni,
Centers for Disease Control, CDC, Tom Inglesby,
World Health Organization, WHO,
Doctors Without Borders, Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF,
Alliance for International Medical Action, Alima,
J. Christopher Stevens, Benghazi, Libya,
Allied Democratic Forces, ADF
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- American CDC Ebola experts have been blocked from the outbreak zone in DR Congo
- WHO considers declaring Ebola outbreak as an international emergency
****
**** American CDC Ebola experts have been blocked from the outbreak zone in DR Congo
****
Ebola health worker in DR Congo (CNN)
It has now emerged that American Ebola experts from the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) have been withdrawn from the outbreak zone in
North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This
will make the new outbreak more difficult to contain.
There are experts on the ground from other organizations, including
the World Health Organization (WHO), Doctors Without Borders (Médecins
Sans Frontières, MSF), and The Alliance for International Medical
Action (Alima).
The CDC experts are among the most experience Ebola experts on the
planet. According to Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health
Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health:
<QUOTE>"CDC has responded to nearly two dozen filovirus
outbreaks in its history and has people who’ve been working on
these issues for 30 years. It doesn’t make sense to have those
people hundreds or thousands of miles away from where the disease
is actually spreading.
It would provide a lot of value to have experienced leaders at
CDC who’ve been in the situation before contributing what they can
to the larger effort. I think it’s an important moment to think
about that."<END QUOTE>
Instead of being on the ground in the outbreak zone, CDC experts are
being given other assignments thousands of miles away, such as
advising DRC's ministry of health in the capital city Kinshasa.
News stories are providing few details about why they're blocked from
the outbreak zone, except that it's related to the attack in 2010 in
Benghazi, Libya, that killed US ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and
three other Americans. The inference that we're to draw, apparently,
is that Americans in the North Kivu war zone would be targets of
attacks similar to those against ambassador Stevens. Stat News and CNN
****
**** WHO considers declaring Ebola outbreak as an international emergency
****
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday that it will
hold an emergency committee meeting on Wednesday in Geneva. According
to a statement: "The committee will meet on October 17 in Geneva to
ascertain whether the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency
of international concern."
The designation "public health emergency of international concern"
refers to a pandemic that is so serious that it might spread to other
countries. There are now concerns that it could soon spread to Uganda
and Rwanda.
WHO has resisted that designation so far in eastern DRC, but over the
weekend a "second wave" of the Ebola virus was confirmed. There are
now 211 registered cases of Ebola, 176 confirmed and 35 probable, with
135 deaths. The number of cases has been expanding rapidly, more than
twice as fast as in September. There were six new cases over
the weekend.
Many new cases come out of funerals for previous victims. Even if a
funeral is conducted in a secure manner, the risk for Ebola
transmission is high, because viral loads are at their highest level
at the time of death.
The situation in North Kivu province is the worst possible scenario.
There is a major ethnic war in progress, and Ebola is now spreading in
the densely populated city of Beni, which has become the epicenter of
the pandemic.
The entire region is a war zone, and over one million people have been
driven from their homes by armed rebel groups, the Allied Democratic
Forces (ADF), fighting government troops. The fighting is preventing
doctors and experts from reaching infected people, in order to educate
the population and do contact tracing. Without contact tracing, there
is no way to stop or slow the spread of the disease.
AFP and Reuters and Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDRAP)
Related Articles:
- Growth of Ebola cases suddenly surges in DR Congo, threatening Uganda, Rwanda (13-Oct-2018)
- World Health Organization fears 'perfect storm' could spread Ebola rapidly in DR Congo (26-Sep-2018)
- In dreaded scenario, Ebola spreads to densely populated war zone in Congo (25-Aug-2018)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Ebola,
Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, North Kivu, Beni,
Centers for Disease Control, CDC, Tom Inglesby,
World Health Organization, WHO,
Doctors Without Borders, Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF,
Alliance for International Medical Action, Alima,
J. Christopher Stevens, Benghazi, Libya,
Allied Democratic Forces, ADF
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
