Although politicking and political elections are important to many US citizens, the self-indulgent grandeur of it all, done-up by the political machine and its dutiful broadcasters, should never have been allowed to bogart media coverage of the EBOLA pandemic.  Yes, of course politics and its elections deserve necessary attention, but not to the extent of nearly blotting out updates concerning EBOLA and reducing it to the (infrequent) scrolling text on the  mainstream media ticker-tape.

While the politicians were stumping, their monetary donors were attending and hosting $1000 a plate fundraiser dinners,  their grassroots campaign workers labored door to door, and the media broadcasts indulged in political pomp and pageantry, most of the general public were unaware of the issuance of more in-depth  medical protection guidelines against EBOLA, new (to the general public) EBOLA incubation period revelations, updates on specifically assigned locations to quarantine and monitor military personnel and civilians returning from EBOLA plagued regions to the EU and the USA, and field reports of new regions, as well as former regions with (“renewed”) EBOLA outbreaks.

According to the Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) October 30, 2014 publication The InfoGRAM, within section subtitled: “Updated Ebola Guidance from the IAB, CDC, HHS”, it states, “…the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) and IAB (InterAgency Board) recently published or updated four  (4)  procedural documents aimed at keeping first responders safe from Ebola exposure during the course of their duties…” [1.para.1]

The published or updated documents are as follows:

The IAB published  “Recommendations on Selection and Use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for First Responders against Ebola Exposure Hazards” (PDF, 623 Kb).”  This document entails, “…the selection and use of specific PPE based upon the risks of exposure,…a quick table to help determine that risk,…discusses PPE decontamination, donning and doffing, and provides a detailed description of different PPE.” [1. para.2]

The InfoGRAM also mentions The HHS (The Department of Health and Human Services) development of an Ebola Presentation Template (PDF, 1.5 mb), “…which consists of 35 slides, for organizations and public health departments interested in giving slide presentations on EBOLA to their employees or staff.” [1. para.3]

The CDC‘ has recently issued and/or revised and re-issued the following documents as it pertains to the EBOLA crisis:

1.  Guidance on PPE to be Used by Healthcare Workers During Management of Patients with EBOLA Virus Disease in US Hospitals, Including Procedures for Putting on (Donning) and Removing (Doffing). [1. para.4]

2.  Interim Guidance for EMS Systems and 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) for Management of Patients with Known or Suspected EBOLA Virus Disease in The United States. [1. para.5]

3.  Monitoring Systems and Controlling Movement to Stop Spread of EBOLA. As per the CDC, “…this document will serve as guidance on monitoring people traveling back to the US from EBOLA stricken areas of the world, and who may have been exposed.”  [1. para.6]

Being that the CDC, government politicians, the medical community, and local health departments have often stated emphatically, the incubation period for the EBOLA Virus Disease is 21 days, most of the general public is probably shocked (to say the least) to find the WHO (World Health Organization) only half-heartedly agrees with their statement.  Why “half-heartedly” you ask? Let’s allow the following information from the WHO to answer this question.

The WHO explains the incubation period for individual patients, healthcare workers in PPE who have treated EBOLA patients, and for the populace/country affected by the outbreak as a whole. This explanation is given in an October 14, 2014, WHO Media Centre article, titled: Are the Ebola outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal over? Ebola situation assessment. Their definition and explanation of the incubation period is mentioned in the following article excerpts:

“….How does WHO declare the end of an Ebola outbreak?….”

“According to WHO recommendations, health care workers who have attended patients or cleaned their rooms should be considered as “close contacts” and monitored for 21 days after the last exposure, even if their contact with a patient occurred when they were fully protected by wearing personal protective equipment…

For health care workers, the date of the “last infectious contact” is the day when the last patient in a health facility tests negative using a real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.

For WHO to declare an Ebola outbreak over, a country must pass through 42 days, with active surveillance demonstrably in place, supported by good diagnostic capacity, and with no new cases detected. Active surveillance is essential to detect chains of transmission that might otherwise remain hidden.” [2]

“…Incubation period.”

“The period of 42 days, with active case-finding in place, is twice the maximum incubation period for Ebola virus disease and is considered by WHO as sufficient to generate confidence in a declaration that an Ebola outbreak has ended.

Recent studies conducted in West Africa have demonstrated that 95% of confirmed cases have an incubation period in the range of 1 to 21 days; 98% have an incubation period that falls within the 1 to 42 day interval. WHO is therefore confident that detection of no new cases, with active surveillance in place, throughout this 42-day period means that an Ebola outbreak is indeed over.

The announcement that the outbreaks are over, in line with the dates fixed by the subcommittee on surveillance, epidemiology, and laboratory testing, is made by the governments of the affected countries in close collaboration with WHO and its international partners.” [2]

Based upon the information from this article, it is clear the EBOLA Virus Disease incubation period is between 1 to 21 to 42 days, as defined and expected. This WHO clarification would not prove the CDC and other associated alphabet abbreviation organizations and government agencies to be incompetent, on the contrary, it proves these organizations have a need or desire to with-hold pertinent information from all sectors of the general public, and from “general medicine” hospitals and medical center staff.  But why, you ask?  That is an excellent question which deserves an immediate reply from the government and medical community. The general public needs to respectfully demand an answer, and soon.

Another important Ebola update comes from Army General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Department of Defense.  Chairman General Dempsey listed 7 (total) US Military Bases to be utilized as locations of quarantine for EBOLA Mission Troops returning to the USA or to the 2 bases in the EU, from EBOLA stricken regions of the world. According to an Associated Press article, the list of the 5 bases stateside and the 2 bases abroad are as follows:

1. Fort Hood, Texas

2. Fort Bliss, Texas

3. Fort Bragg, North Carolina

4. Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington

5. Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia

6.  Military Base in Italy

7.  Military Base in Germany.

The EBOLA Mission Troops will be quarantine and medically monitored state-side at these 5 locations and the 2 US military bases abroad for a period of 21 days. However, US DOD Civilian Personnel can choose whether to go through the quarantine at these particular military installations or not.  In addition, Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said Friday any department civilians who become ill will receive medical treatment at military facilities at no cost. [3. AP]

The gloomy reality is as of today, EBOLA is still spreading in West Africa. Jene-Wonde in Grand Cape Mount County, Liberia, a small village neighboring Sierra Leone, has now become the latest deadly EBOLA epicenter.  Ten percent of their population has already died from EBOLA due to the lack of healthcare and some locals claim their government has remained unresponsive to their cries for help. [4.]

Mali, West Africa, very recently (this November) had 2 confirmed deadly cases of EBOLA, where both patients died in a just a few days.   Although both cases were associated with contact in Guinea, they traveled to different regions, and thus had no known personal associations nor acquaintance. They are not linked. The victims were a female nurse at a local clinic, and also a seventy year old male, Muslim Grand Imam. As per the WHO contract trace investigation concerning the Grand Imam, the collected data is as follows: ,

“He was a 70-year-old male resident of Kourémalé village, in the Siguiri prefecture of Guinea, had onset of symptoms from an undiagnosed disease on 17 October. On 18 October, he was admitted to a private clinic in the mining town of Siguiri.”

“As his condition did not improve, he was transferred to another clinic located just across the border in Mali. On 25 October, he travelled by car, together with 4 family members to seek treatment at the Pasteur Clinic in Bamako.”

He was treated at the Pasteur Clinic from 25 October until his death, from kidney failure, on 27 October. In addition, a friend who visited him at the clinic also died abruptly from an undiagnosed disease. Both are considered probable Ebola cases. For both, no samples are available for testing.

The nurse, whose fatal Ebola infection was confirmed on 11 November, worked at the Pasteur Clinic.

Because of his religious status as a Grand Imam, his body was transported to a mosque for a ritual washing ceremony/ The body was then returned to the native village of Kourémalé for formal funeral and burial ceremonies. Although these events are still under investigation, WHO staff assume that many mourners attended the ceremonies.

In that same village, the deceased patient’s first wife died of an undiagnosed disease on 6 November. His brother and his second wife are currently being managed at an Ebola treatment centre in Gueckedou, Guinea. All 3 accompanied the patient during the car trip to Bamako.

On 10 November, his daughter died from an undiagnosed disease. The family declined offers of a safe burial.

On 11 November, the man’s son, who is currently at the Ebola treatment center in Gueckedou, tested positive for Ebola at the European Union’s mobile biosafety level 3 laboratory there. He was the fourth family member in the car trip to Bamako. Confirmation of his infection further increases the likelihood that deaths in other family members were caused by Ebola.” [5. WHO]

There are at least 2 main reasons why  it is vitally important to pay attention to the contact trace data  of those showing any of the symptoms of EBOLA. First, it enables a quick quarantining response and prompt treatment of individuals in hopes of staving off the disease. Secondly, the investigation of physical contacts with the infected host, may reveal if there are any changes in the characteristics of the spreading of the virus, as well as if the EBOLA virus scientific markers have changed, which may or may not reveal if the virus has mutated, become more lethal, and if there is evidence of it becoming aerosolized or airborne.

How people respond to prevention and protective medical protocols is very important. No matter how many differing opinions there are regarding the onset of the first human case in West Africa, the point is it is here and deadly! Denial of any aspect of  this virus, its incubation period, its symptoms, and how it is spread will put other peoples’ lives at risk. Taking precautionary measures of prevention and protection, is prudent, in which the well known phrase, “it’s better to be safe than sorry” would definitely apply.

Let us stay safe, show remorse for our wrongs, seek to do what is right, show true care and love, and make wholesome lasting memories, because life in this world is fragile.

For those who believe like me, let us encourage one another and comfort one another in AhaYAH and The Messiah’s Love with Psalm 91:

¹ Who so dwelleth in the ^[a]secret of the most High, shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

^2 [b]I will say unto the Lord, O my hope, and my fortress: he is my God, in him will I trust.

³ Surely I will deliver thee from the ^[c]snare of the hunter, and from the noisome pestilence.

⁴ He will cover thee under his wings, and thou shalt be sure under his feathers: his ^[d]truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

^5 [e]Thou shalt not be afraid of the fear of the night: nor of the arrow that flieth by day:

⁶ Nor of the pestilence that walketh in the darkness: nor of the plague that destroyeth at noon day.

⁷ A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come near thee.

⁸ Doubtless with thine ^[f]eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

⁹ For thou hast said, The Lord is mine hope: thou hast set the most High for thy refuge.

¹⁰ There shall none evil come unto thee, neither shall any plague come near thy tabernacle.

^11 [g]For he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.

¹² They shall bear thee in their hands, that thou hurt not thy foot against a stone.

¹³ Thou shalt walk upon the lion and asp: the ^[h]young lion, and the dragon shalt thou tread under feet.

^14 [i]Because he hath loved me, therefore will I deliver him: I will exalt him because he hath known my Name.

¹⁵ He shall call upon me, and I will hear him: I will be with him in trouble: I will deliver him, and glorify him.

¹⁶ With ^[j]long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.  [6]

May His Loving Peace, Blessing, and Protection be upon you.

Tonya Woodbury Sloan, TCLS.

 

 SOURCES:

1.  Updated Ebola Guidance from the IAB, CDC, HHS. The InfoGRAM. Vol. 14 – Issue 44. 30 October 2014. Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC). http://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USDHSFACIR/2014/10/30/file_attachments/337040/October%2B30%252C%2B2014%2BInfoGram.pdf.

2.  Are the Ebola outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal over? Media centre. World Health Organization. Ebola situation assessment – 14 October 2014. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/14-october-2014/en/

3.  Military Names 5 US Bases for Ebola Mission Troops. Associated Press. Nov 7, 2014. LOLITA C. BALDOR.

4.  Liberia village becomes a new Ebola epicenter. Associated Press. Nov. 12, 2014. WILLIAMS, WADE.

5.  Mali confirms its second fatal case of Ebola virus disease. Media Centre. World Health Organization. Ebola situation assessment. 12 November 2014.  http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/12-november-2014-mali/en/

6.  PSALM 91. Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition GNV. Tolle Lege Press.  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+91&version=GNV

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