#AceNewsServices – October 06 – The International Rescue Committee (IRC), on behalf of 34 NGOs battling Ebola in West Africa, has warned that the number of cases is doubling roughly every three weeks and the globe has only four weeks to stop the crisis from spiralling out of control.

‘ IRC Warns of Spiralling Ebola Epidemic ‘

Recently the Aid organizations have called for a six-point plan to combat the virus at an international summit convened in London to tackle the epidemic.

The charity Save the Children warned that five people are being infected with the virus every hour.

World Health Organization building from the South-East, Geneva (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced earlier this week that more than 3,000 people have died from Ebola so-far in West Africa. 6,500 cases have been officially recorded, but the real number is expected to be far higher, as many victims are dying unreported.

The ‘Defeating Ebola’ conference commenced in London on September 02 Highlighted scale of crisis!   

Dr. David Nabarro, leading the United Nation’s Ebola response, said that epidemic scares him more than either the early years of the HIV virus and SARS.

Airport screenings for Ebola don’t give a 100 percent guarantee of preventing the spread of the disease. Airport staff may lack competence and the infected can use anti-fever drugs and lies to get aboard the plane, healthcare experts warn.

Passengers flying from Ebola-stricken countries – Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone – are mostly being health screened at departure gates, while the same should be done on arrival as well, believes infection control specialist Sean Kaufman, who was interviewed by Reuters.

Kaufman, who is president of Atlanta-based biosafety company, Behavioral-Based Improvement Solutions, recently travelled from Monrovia to Casablanca to London to Atlanta. At the last two stops he was not fever-screened.

While he was surprised to discover such relaxed attitudes to those arriving from Ebola-stricken regions of Africa in the US and the UK airports, he is simultaneously being skeptical of the airport screenings.

“The fever-screening instruments run low and aren’t that accurate,” he said. “And people can take ibuprofen to reduce their fever enough to pass screening, and why wouldn’t they? If it will get them on a plane so they can come to the United States and get effective treatment after they’re exposed to Ebola, wouldn’t you do that to save your life?”

Travelers flying from Liberia also have to fill in a questionnaire at the airport, asking them whether they had contacts with those sick.

A medical worker from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Tai Chen, described it in an interview with Reuters as “process relying on an honour system.”

Sources: Reuters – RT – AP – AFP – IRC – WHO – CDC 

#ANS2014

#atlanta, #casablanca, #ebola, #hiv, #london, #monrovia, #sars, #west-africa