The empirical evidence of an airborne Ebola Strain is overwhelming

Hat Tip GWP – Patrick Sawyer was the American businessman, who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia, then collapsed after he got off a plane to Nigeria and died July 25.  He was the first patient in Nigeria with the Ebola virus.  The Nigerian authorities have refused to release the names of other passengers on the plane with Mr. Sawyer, or notify the media of their status.

Sawyer, 40, was a naturalized American citizen who lived in Minneapolis and was working as a consultant for the Liberian finance ministry. Now Patrick Sawyer’s doctor has the disease.  Additionally, three others who treated Sawyer also have the disease.

Despite U.S. CDC reassurances more evidence is surfacing the Ebola outbreak is now “spinning out of control“.
MORE ALARMINGLY – It is now also discovered that in 1995 the ability of Ebola to aerosolize –or transmit via airborne pathogens– was reported, studied and confirmed. Ebola is a communicable airborne virus. (more…)

Amid troubling times, it is imperative to retain a perspective.
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/statuses/496385274516365312

Ebola “On Broadway“

They say the UV lights are bright, on Broadway
They say there’s always virus in the air.
But if you’re walkin’ down the street,
with bleeding people at your feet;
Well then you know you’d better leave Times Square.

They say the Doc’s are something else on Broadway
But seeing haz mat suits gives me the blues;
‘Cause how ya gonna make a dime
While finding masks takes up your time
And one thin mask won’t even block the news.

(more…)

Against the backdrop of the World Health Organization notifying the public the death toll has now reached over 900, and a second Ebola patient is confirmed in Nigeria, a new bulletin reflects a New York hospital may have just encountered a U.S. Ebola patient:

BREAKING IN NYC: Person has been quarantined at Mt Sinai Hospital after returning from a West African country & SHOWING SYMPTOMS OF EBOLA
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 4, 2014

CNN BREAKING: Patient at Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC being tested for #Ebola — high fever, reporting recent travel to west Africa

— Vaughn Sterling (@vplus) August 4, 2014

New York officials are asking the public to remain calm, and if needed to panic in an orderly manner, until further testing can confirm.
Meanwhile in Liberia society has turned downright medieval. (more…)

(Via Washington Free Beacon)  The Director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Dr. Tom Frieden, appeared on four Sunday programs to quell fears that the United States may be at risk for an Ebola outbreak.
“We know that there are travelers from places where there’s Ebola. We know it’s possible that someone will come in. If they go to a hospital and that hospital doesn’t recognize it’s Ebola there could be additional cases or their family members could have cases. That’s all possible, but I don’t think it’s in the cards that we would have an outbreak in this country,” Frieden said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“The way it spreads in Africa is really two things. First, in hospitals where there isn’t really infection control and second in burial practices where people are touching the bodies of people who have died from Ebola. So it’s not going to spread widely in the U.S. Could we have another people here, could we have a case or two, not impossible … but we know how to stop it here.” (more…)

Clear as mud. An update to the original article now adds:

“At around 11pm on Sunday, the Department of Health said that tests for the deadly Ebola virus on the woman who died at Gatwick had proved negative”…

I’m looking for more details….

———————————- Original Story Below —————————–

And So It Begins….. There are two major international aviation hubs in London England;  Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport  (similar to JFK and LaGuardia).  
A 72-year-old woman stricken with Ebola virus collapses AFTER arrival in London and dies in airport.

If all passengers exiting Sierra Leone are screened as claimed, how did this woman board a plane with 128 passengers ?

LONDON –    Airport staff tonight told of their fears of an Ebola outbreak after a passenger from Sierra Leone collapsed and died as she got off a plane at Gatwick.
Workers said they were terrified the virus could spread globally through the busy international hub from the West African country which is in the grip of the deadly epidemic.

The woman, said to be 72, became ill on the gangway after she left a Gambia Bird jet with 128 passengers on board. She died in hospital on Saturday.
Ebola has killed 256 people in Sierra Leone. A total of 826 have died in West Africa since the outbreak began in February. (more…)

ATLANTA (AP) — The first person infected with Ebola to be brought to the United States from Africa was safely escorted into a specialized isolation unit Saturday at one of the nation’s best hospitals, where doctors said they are confident the deadly virus won’t escape.

Fear that the outbreak killing more than 700 people in Africa could spread in the U.S. has generated considerable anxiety among some Americans. But infectious disease experts said the public faces little risk as Emory University Hospital treats the critically ill missionary doctor and his assistant, who is expected to arrive from Liberia in several days.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has received “nasty emails” and at least 100 calls from people saying “How dare you bring Ebola into the country!?” CDC Director Tom Friedman told The Associated Press Saturday. (more…)

One of the American aid workers is going to be airlifted back to the U.S. for treatment and care of the Ebola Virus.   According to the CDC and CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta a special non-stop jet left at 5:00pm on the mission to retrieve “an American” for treatment at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

a long range business jet with isolation pod left Georgia shortly after 5p, headed to Liberia to evac American with #Ebola infection.

— Dr. Sanjay Gupta (@drsanjaygupta) July 31, 2014

Given that only two Americans are known to be infected with the virus, Dr. Kent Brantly (below left), and aid worker Nancy Writebol (below right), both with Samaritans Purse, it can reasonably be assumed one of them will be aboard the transport.
Earlier reports from the region were that Dr. Brantly had given instructions for Mrs. Writebol to be treated first with any limited supplies of medication which might be available.   Consequently the higher probability is that Mrs. Writebol is the patient being transported if only one person is retrieved.

(more…)

Communicable Infection Control Warning Level 3
(Via The Hill) Federal health officials are warning travelers to avoid three West African countries where an Ebola outbreak is getting worse, a sign of the U.S. government’s growing concern about the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a “Level 3” Warning on Thursday, the agency’s most serious travel notice, telling people in the United States not to enter Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone unless absolutely necessary.
CDC Director Tom Frieden said the agency is “surging” its response to the outbreak on the ground in West Africa in addition to warning U.S. travelers about the risk.

“This is the biggest and most complex Ebola outbreak in history,” Frieden said in a statement. “Far too many lives have been lost already. It will take many months, and it won’t be easy, but Ebola can be stopped. We know what needs to be done.” (more…)

WEST AFRICA – Liberia’s government has announced that it is closing down all schools across the country to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.

Some communities would be placed under quarantine as well, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said.

Non-essential government workers will be sent home for 20 days and the army deployed to enforce the measures.
The number of people killed by the virus in West Africa has now reached 672, according to new UN figures.
The BBC’s West Africa correspondent Thomas Fessy says treatment facilities have reportedly been overwhelmed in the Liberian capital Monrovia. (more…)

Watching a media report online I was quite surprised to hear the World Health Organization state they were frustrated by Nigerian government refusing to release the names of other passengers on a flight with a visibly contagious Ebola Patient. Here’s the backstory of why this specific outbreak is so potentially scary:

UPDATE:  The Liberian man, Patrick Sawyer was a U.S. Citizen (details below).

Quartz.Com […] last week’s developments could transform this outbreak from an unusually nasty regional epidemic to something much bigger.
On Jul. 24, Nigerian authorities confirmed that a Liberian man, Patrick Sawyer, had collapsed in Lagos after flying there from the Liberian capital, Monrovia, and tested positive for Ebola; Sawyer died on the night of July 24-25.
This is alarming. So far, Ebola has been confined to Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia—war-torn and largely rural west African countries. But Lagos is different; not only is it Africa’s biggest city, with 21 million people. It’s also one of the world’s most densely populated. And perhaps scariest of all, it’s a center for international travel—meaning that if it’s not contained, the virus could easily go global. Sawyer’s was the first-ever recorded case of Ebola in Nigeria, according to the Nigerian Tribune. (more…)