{"id":36690,"date":"2014-08-04T07:12:55","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T07:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=36690"},"modified":"2014-08-04T07:57:15","modified_gmt":"2014-08-04T07:57:15","slug":"ebola-outbreak-us-experts-to-head-to-west-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/08\/ebola-outbreak-us-experts-to-head-to-west-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebola outbreak: US experts to head to West Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"
The US has announced plans to send at least 50 public health experts to West Africa to help fight the worst-ever outbreak of Ebola.<\/p>\n
A senior US health official said the outbreak was out of control but insisted it could be stopped.<\/p>\n
Ebola has claimed 728 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone this year. The current mortality rate is about 55%.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, an American doctor infected with the virus is improving in hospital after returning to the US from Liberia.<\/p>\n
Dr Kent Brantly arrived at a military base in Georgia on Saturday before being driven to Emory University Hospital.<\/p>\n
Another infected American, aid worker Nancy Writebol, is expected to arrive in the US soon.<\/p>\n
The virus spreads through human contact with a sufferer’s bodily fluids.<\/p>\n
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.<\/p>\n
‘Scary’ disease<\/strong><\/p>\n Dr Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced the new US measures in an interview with ABC’s This Week.<\/p>\n “We do know how to stop Ebola. It’s old-fashioned plain and simple public health: find the patients, make sure they get treated, find their contacts, track them, educate people, do infection control in hospitals.”<\/p>\n The experts would arrive in West Africa within 30 days to fight what he called the “scary” disease.<\/p>\n He rejected fears that this would put more US citizens in harms way.<\/p>\n “The single most important thing we can do to protect Americans is to stop this disease at the source in Africa” he said.<\/p>\n Special plane<\/strong><\/p>\n The plane carrying Dr Brantly was outfitted with a special portable tent designed for transporting patients with highly infectious diseases.<\/p>\n The same aircraft is due to bring missionary Nancy Writebol from West Africa.<\/p>\n The hospital facility which will treat both patients is one of four in the US able to handle Ebola patients.<\/p>\n US officials say they are confident the patients can be treated without putting the public in any danger.<\/p>\n The National Institutes of Health in the US has said it will begin testing a possible Ebola vaccine in September.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Credit: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The US has announced plans to send at least 50 public health experts to West Africa to help fight the worst-ever outbreak of Ebola. A senior US health official said the outbreak was out of control but insisted it could be stopped. Ebola has claimed 728 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone this year. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":9081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n