WHO Worker Ebola Infections Mount: Sierra Leone Lab Shut, Senegal Doctor Flown To Hamburg

There is reason to be concerned "about whether the proposed resources would be adequate," warns a Harvard professor as the World Health Organization 'battle strategy' draft calls for more than $430 million to bring the worst Ebola outbreak on record under control. This morning we hear of yet another health worker infected - and being flown home to Hamburg for treatment from Sengal and the WHO has shut a lab in Sierra Leone after health workers became infected. A glimpse at the following 3 charts should have the entire world throwing money at at them...

As Bloomberg reports,

More than $430 million will be needed to bring the worst Ebola outbreak on record under control, according to a draft document laying out the World Health Organization’s battle strategy.

The plan sets a goal of reversing the trend in new cases within two months, and stopping all transmission in six to nine months. It requires funding by governments, development banks, the private sector and in-kind contributions, according to the document obtained by Bloomberg News.

...

There is reason to be concerned “about whether the proposed resources would be adequate,” said Barry Bloom, a public health professor at Harvard University who also questioned whether the funds would be made available fast enough, and whether the organization’s latest plan “would ensure the expertise from WHO that is needed.”

The WHO plans to publish the plan by the end of this week at the earliest and details may change, said Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based agency. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon this month appointed health crisis expert David Nabarro to coordinate the UN response.

Previous outbreaks pale in significance...

and it is getting worse very fast...

Charts: Bloomberg, WHO, and Ecologically Oriented

* * *

And it gets worse - WHO shuts Sierra Leone Lab...

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday it had shut a laboratory in Sierra Leone after a health worker there was infected with Ebola, a move that may hamper efforts to boost the global response to the worst ever outbreak of the disease

The WHO said it had withdrawn staff from the laboratory testing for Ebola at Kailahun -- one of only two in Sierra Leone -- after a Senegalese epidemiologist was infected with Ebola.

"It's a temporary measure to take care of the welfare of our remaining workers," WHO spokesperson Christy Feig said, without specifying how long the measure would last. "After our assessment, they will return."

And another WHO health worker is sick (and being flown home to Hamburg)

An employee of the World Health Organization (WHO) who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone will be flown to the German city of Hamburg for treatment, a spokesman for the city said.

Rico Schmidt, spokesman for the Hamburg Health Senate, said the patient would arrive later on Wednesday and be treated at Hamburg university clinic's tropical medicine institute. The WHO in Geneva said the patient was a Senegalese epidemiologist.

One of the deadliest diseases known to man, Ebola is transmitted by contact with body fluids and the current outbreak has killed at least 120 healthcare workers.

  *  *

We leave it to the WHO to conclude:

It’s not “a
question of incompetence or complacency,” according to Morrison, who
said the WHO should be able to raise the money needed. “It’s the fact we’re catching up with the unknown, and it’s way ahead of us.”

Comments

[wizardofOZ]

@Hephaestus

Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is a disinfection method that uses ultraviolet (UV) light at sufficiently short wavelength to kill microorganisms.[1] It is used in a variety of applications, such as food, air, and water purification. UVGI utilises short-wavelength ultraviolet radiation (UV-C) that is harmful to microorganisms. It is effective in destroying the nucleic acids in these organisms so that their DNA is disrupted by the UV radiation, leaving them unable to perform vital cellular functions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_germicidal_irradiation

The effects of ultraviolet light irradiation on viral infections.

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation is associated with the development of cutaneous carcinomas, and with suppression of immune responses to a variety of antigens, including those of fungal, bacterial and parasitic origin, and contact sensitizers. UV irradiation also influences viral infections. It can affect viral mutation, the photolocalization of viral exanthems, viral oncogenesis, activation of viral genomes, and the suppression of immune responses to viruses. The evidence for, and mechanisms involved in, each of these categories is presented, and the effect of UV radiation on the virus-host interaction, particularly during persistent infections, is discussed.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8011492