A New Outbreak of Ebola - Another Conspiracy Theory?

[Figaro]

You know, the first outbreak of Ebola was recorded in August 1976. Then everyone forgot about it and did not pay attention. But during this time surely a vaccine could be developed. But no one was interested. Or someone has dealt with this issue? It's like a conspiracy theory. You know, as if someone just is testing a new biological weapons of mass destruction in Africa...Take your tin-foil hats

 

[waltky]

Civil unrest in Liberia as ebola outbreak worsens...

Ebola Fears Rise as Clinic Is Looted
Aug 17, 2014 - Liberian officials fear Ebola could soon spread through the capital's largest slum after residents raided a quarantine center for suspected patients and took items including bloody sheets and mattresses.

The violence in the West Point slum occurred late Saturday and was led by residents angry that patients were brought to the holding center from other parts of Monrovia, Tolbert Nyenswah, assistant health minister, said Sunday. Up to 30 patients were staying at the center and many of them fled at the time of the raid, said Nyenswah. Once they are located they will be transferred to the Ebola center at Monrovia's largest hospital, he said. West Point residents went on a "looting spree," stealing items from the clinic that were likely infected, said a senior police official, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the press. The residents took medical equipment and mattresses and sheets that had bloodstains, he said. Ebola is spread through bodily fluids including blood, vomit, feces and sweat.

Shuttered School Becomes Ebola Ward

"All between the houses you could see people fleeing with items looted from the patients," the official said, adding that he now feared "the whole of West Point will be infected." Some of the looted items were visibly stained with blood, vomit and excrement, said Richard Kieh, who lives in the area. The incident creates a new challenge for Liberian health officials who were already struggling to contain the outbreak. Liberian police restored order to the West Point neighborhood Sunday. Sitting on land between the Montserrado River and the Atlantic Ocean, West Point is home to at least 50,000 people, according to a 2012 survey.

Distrust of government runs high in West Point, with rumors regularly circulating that the government plans to clear the slum out entirely. Though there had been talk of putting West Point under quarantine should Ebola break out there, assistant health minister Nyenswah said Sunday no such step has been taken. "West Point is not yet quarantined as being reported," he said. Ebola has killed 1,145 people in West Africa, including 413 in Liberia, according to the World Health Organization. Other countries across Africa are grappling to prevent Ebola's spread with travel restrictions, suspensions of airline flights, public health messages and quarantines.

A crowd enters the grounds of an Ebola isolation center in the West Point slum on Aug. 16, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.

Nigeria appears to be making progress in containing the disease. The country has 12 confirmed cases of Ebola, all of which stem from direct contact with the Liberian-American man who flew to Nigeria late last month while ill. He infected several health workers before dying. Since then three others have died in Nigeria from Ebola, according to figures released over the weekend. One Nigerian doctor has survived the disease and was sent home Saturday night and five others confirmed with Ebola have almost fully recovered, said the Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu in a statement Saturday night.

Liberia: Ebola Fears Rise as Clinic Is Looted - ABC News