Monday 3 November 2014

Ebola update - 10/02/2014

In North Korea, fear takes hold over new foreign threat: Ebola
World’s toughest measures against the disease have been imposed in a country far from west Africa, and with few tourists

North Korea fights Ebola




Medical staff dressed in protective suits wait by an ambulance, at the Sunan International Airport, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Photograph: Wong Maye-E/AP

The Guardian,
2 November, 2014


Young children sit on the laps of medical staff, watching intently as a briefing describes the dangers of Ebola. Foreigners and citizens arriving at the capital’s airport are held in quarantine for weeks. Tourists are banned outright.

The world’s most draconian measures against the disease have been imposed not in the worst-affected west African countries, nor their neighbours, but in North Korea, thousands of miles from the outbreak.

They are increasing the isolation of a country already known for its tight controls on contact with outsiders, and risk damaging its fragile economy.

The Guardian was among the small number of foreigners allowed to fly in after the ban on tour groups but before the imposition of quarantine on all those entering from abroad. The fear is tangible; a factory and a research centre which journalists were due to visit cancelled the invitations, citing Ebola concerns.

It’s Ebola hysteria,” said one foreigner in the country. “People are really scared.”

Each night, the country’s television news broadcasts a lengthy section on the disease, filling the screen with images of grieving families, ailing patients and medical workers in protective gear – as well as some coverage of its own measures, including footage of the session at the children’s hospital.

On Friday the state news agency KCNA announced in a one-sentence news report: “A brisk hygienic information service goes on in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to prevent the outbreak of Ebola.”

But the news bulletins appear to have alarmed rather than reassured many North Koreans.

People are asking foreigners for information; they don’t understand Ebola and don’t really know what it is,” said a westerner in the capital.

At Pyongyang’s airport, groups of uniformed soldiers toiled at “Korea speed” – a zealous pace – to complete the gleaming new building that will soon replace the small, dingy terminal. It is evidence of the country’s recent push to attract more international visitors, like the kitschily accomplished aquatic performances at the capital’s dolphinarium, and the sizeable Mirim Riding Club, where tourists can trot around a sawdust-strewn arena with a trainer for $40 (£25). Both are lauded as projects for the people, but promoted to foreigners.

Those plans to expand tourism – earning precious foreign currency – are now on hold indefinitely. The Yanggakdo Hotel, one of the few hotels in Pyongyang where foreigners may stay, was largely deserted, though some Chinese business travellers and a handful of westerners remained. Chinese croupiers in its casino said they had seen few guests.

Some believe the stringent Ebola measures reflect the state’s enduring suspicion towards the outside world, even as it tries to benefit from contact. Others think the real causes are more prosaic, citing the poor state of the country’s health system and the adoption of similar measures when the respiratory disease Sars hit the region in 2003.

I understand the logic of what they are doing, even if it seems extreme. They don’t think they can control any outbreaks of anything like that and with Sars and avian flu they developed what for them are now standard operating procedures,” said Hazel Smith, an expert on North Korea at the University of Central Lancashire.

If there was someone with Ebola coming in, it wouldn’t be easy to avoid contagion: they have problems with electricity, running water and disinfectants.

Sars was close and they were one of the few countries in east Asia that avoided it. They think this approach has proved successful in the past; the question of whether [Ebola] is relevant to them is another matter.”

She noted that there had been intense debates in other countries over what precautions were appropriate. Australia and Canada have introduced visa bans on people from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the countries worst affected by Ebola. Other countries have introduced screening for travellers arriving from those places. But none has taken measures even approaching those in North Korea.

The country announced it was banning all tour groups on 23 October. It also began refusing entry to citizens of countries that had had Ebola cases: a Beijing-based Spanish cameraman was told he could not make a scheduled trip.

Two individuals from African countries – both far from the outbreak zone – were ordered into quarantine after arrival in Pyongyang, though one has since been allowed to leave.

An unknown number of North Korean citizens who have returned from abroad have also been quarantined, although it is not clear if the measure applies to all countries or specific ones. North Korea has diplomatic ties with Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Kim Yong Nam, the head of the country’s parliament, has been touring Africa, visiting Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia with other senior officials including the minister of public health.

On Thursday the country tightened measures further, announcing that all foreigners entering the country would have to undergo a three-week quarantine period.

Foreign visitors who entered in the days before the quarantine announcement were told that daily temperature checks were compulsory.

The DailyNK website, which relies on sources inside the country, has also reported internal travel restrictions preventing many North Koreans from visiting the capital and requiring others to obtain a health certificate before making the journey.

It’s very much a trade-dependent economy, and especially trade with China now is absolutely crucial for the daily life of citizens at every level of society,” warned Andray Abrahamian, executive director of Choson Exchange, a non-profit organisation helping North Koreans to help develop their understanding of business and economics. “To have that cut off for even a few weeks would be debilitating.”

However, he added that exemptions were likely almost immediately, especially for Chinese citizens with multiple entry visas. “The people who do have contacts with Chinese businesspeople can get the message flowing upwards that this is seriously damaging to the economy.”

Smith said: “North Korea is completely different from 10 years ago. There are powerful push factors that will ensure important economic exchanges will continue. The last thing they want is to stop major commercial interchange. All the elite have big commercial interests.”

When it came to smaller-scale trade, officials no longer had full enforcement capacity in Chinese border areas, she added: “There will be bribes and people slipping backhanders to get people in.”

Associated Press said on Friday that Chinese businesspeople on the border had said they were unaffected and China’s state news agency, Xinhua, reported that no Chinese nationals had been quarantined.

Already, officials have said that diplomats and the staff of international organisations – who have to make regular trips to Beijing for cash and other supplies because of sanctions – can serve their quarantine at home rather than at designated quarantine hotels. That is a relaxation of the Sars rules.

Those in the tourism industry say thousands of westerners and perhaps a few hundred thousand Chinese visit North Korea each year, as well as many Malaysians and Singaporeans. Summer is the peak time for visitors, but several upcoming tours have been hit.

The best guess anyone has is that this will last for the rest of this year – and after that we will see,” said Simon Cockerell, general manager of Koryo Tours, which has already cancelled one trip.


If Ebola subsides, they can open up the country and say, ‘We got it right’,” said Gareth Johnson, managing director of the firm Young Pioneers, which had several tours booked this winter. “The problem is that if it gets any worse, or there’s an Ebola case in China, they will feel they cannot open up again.”




Feds Delete Document to Hide Major Ebola Fact



The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed an Ebola poster from its website on Thursday after a media report that its information conflicted with other statements made by the CDC.

The poster revealed that Ebola can be spread by contaminated water droplets — as from a sneeze — despite claims from the CDC that no transmission of Ebola through the air is possible.

The New York Post reported on this poster Wednesday — and by Thursday, the poster had mysteriously disappeared. Thus, the CDC becomes the latest group of government drones to learn that everything is permanent on the WorldWideWeb, courtesy of the Daily Mail:

Ebola poster 1

Ebola is spread through droplets,” the poster said.
According to the Post, the page that previously hosted the poster instead contained a message explaining its disappearance on Thursday:
The ​’​What’s the difference between infections spread through air or by droplets?​’​ ​f​act sheet is being updated and is currently unavailable. Please visit cdc.gov/Ebola for up-to-date information on Ebola,” it read Thursday, according to the report.
Asked about the contradiction, the CDC of the most transparent administration in the history of the country had no comment either Wednesday or Thursday, the Post reported.
Droplet spread happens when germs traveling inside droplets that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose or mouth of another person,” the poster stated. “Droplet spread diseases include: plague, Ebola.”
The CDC said it doesn’t spread at all by air, then they came out with this poster,” Dr. Meryl Nass of the Institute for Public Accuracy in D.C. told the Post. “They admit that these particles or droplets may land on objects such as doorknobs and that Ebola can be transmitted that way.”
Add this to the growing list of inconsistencies from the Barack Obama administration’s response to the Ebola crisis. Travel restrictions would be harmful, but they implemented travel restrictions. The military troops in West Africa will only operate in support roles, but they may be trained for direct exposure to Ebola. Quarantines are unnecessary, but all troops returning from West African duty will be quarantined for 21 days.

When it comes to protecting the health of American citizens, there’s no such thing as “laughably” incompetent. But the Obama administration sure comes close.
Please share this article on Twitter and Facebook if you agree that the Obama administration’s response to the Ebola outbreak has been nothing more or less than incompetent.

UN Ebola patient being 

treated in French hospital

The United Nations worker contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone and has been placed in isolation under high security

Hospital Begin Saint-Mande Paris
The entrance of Hospital Begin in Saint-Mande, eastern Paris, where the UN worker was admitted with Ebola. A French nurse was also treated there for Ebola in September and recovered. Photograph: Philippe Wojazer/Reuters
2 November, 2014

France is treating a UN employee who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone, the health ministry said on Sunday.

This person, who worked in Sierra Leone in the fight against Ebola, has undergone a secure medical evacuation by specialised aircraft,” the ministry said in a statement.

The victim has been placed in isolation under high security in an army training hospital in Saint-Mande near Paris.

A French nurse, who worked for Médecins sans Frontières in Liberia, was treated for Ebola at the same hospital in September and recovered.

Despite around 500 reports of possible Ebola infections in France since June, not one has so far tested positive, the ministry added.

France has 12 research hospitals ready to take in suspected Ebola cases.

The Ebola epidemic had killed at least 4,922 people out of 13,703 cases up to October 27, almost all in the west African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to the latest World Health Organisation figures.




Pharma companies could exploit Ebola, but financing needed – UN Special Envoy


The Ebola outbreak has ravaged communities, destroyed lives and alienated victims from their loved ones. And while drastic measures are being implemented to curb the epidemic, is the situation also challenging our sense of solidarity and the very meaning of humanity? Oksana is joined by Dr David Nabarro, the UN Special Envoy on Ebola, to talk about these issues


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