Horror Report

Tag: ebola

  • Slow burn to real burning: Ebola outbreak in Congo poses ‘very high’ risk

    Slow burn to real burning: Ebola outbreak in Congo poses ‘very high’ risk

    The AP dispatch from Congo:

    BUNIA, Congo (AP) — Authorities in northeastern Congo banned funeral wakes and gatherings of more 50 people Friday in an effort to curb a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak in a region where medical workers have struggled with a lack of resources and pushback from angry residents.

    The World Health Organization said that the outbreak now poses a “very high” risk for Congo — up from a previous categorization of “high” — but that the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low.

    WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 82 cases and seven deaths have been confirmed in Congo, but that the outbreak is believed to be “much larger.”

    DEVELOPING… READ THE FULL STORY HERE..

    MORE..

    People set fire to an Ebola treatment center in a town at the heart of the outbreak in eastern Congo on Thursday after being stopped from retrieving the body of a local man, a witness and a senior police officer said, as fear and anger grow over a health crisis that doctors are struggling to contain.

    The arson attack in Rwampara reflects the challenges of health workers trying to curb a rare Ebola virus by using stringent measures that might clash with local customs, such as burial rites. The disease has been spreading for weeks in a region lacking in adequate health facilities and where many people are on the move to escape armed conflicts.

  • Ebola tells hantavirus, ‘hold my beer’

    Ebola tells hantavirus, ‘hold my beer’

    While not really a joking making, as the world continues to deal with health scares ranging from hantavirus fears to endless social media speculation about future pandemics, another very real outbreak is now unfolding in Africa and it has officially caught the attention of the World Health Organization.

    Ebola.. this time it is a rare strain..

    The Democratic Republic of the Congo is now dealing with a deadly Ebola outbreak tied to the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, and according to reports more than 65 people are already dead with hundreds of suspected cases under investigation. Some reports now place the death toll even higher.

    What has health officials are nervous is that this does not appear to be the dominant Ebola strain that many vaccines and treatments were designed around.

    The Bundibugyo strain is considered more rare and currently does not have approved vaccines specifically tailored to it.

    More from the CDC..

    Information from the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION..

    MORE..

    Now the World Health Organization has declared the situation a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern”…

    This does not mean the world is facing another COVID style pandemic at least at the moment.

    From health officials, Ebola spreads very differently and generally requires direct contact with bodily fluids rather than airborne transmission. .. The WHO officials believe this situation is serious enough that the world should be paying close attention.

    The outbreak is reportedly centered in the conflict plagued Ituri Province of the Congo.. there has been movement between neighboring countries including Uganda causing the virus to spread..

    We need the TIME magazine persons of the year again.. calling all Ebola hunters and fighters across the planet..

    DEVELOPING..

  • In a study of 93 men in Sierra Leone, scientists found the Ebola virus in semen samples from about half of them. The risk seemed to decline over time. Ebola was detected in all nine men tested at two to three months after their illness began but in only 11 of the 43 survivors tested at seven to nine months

    In a study of 93 men in Sierra Leone, scientists found the Ebola virus in semen samples from about half of them. The risk seemed to decline over time. Ebola was detected in all nine men tested at two to three months after their illness began but in only 11 of the 43 survivors tested at seven to nine months

    In a study of 93 men in Sierra Leone, scientists found the Ebola virus in semen samples from about half of them. The risk seemed to decline over time. Ebola was detected in all nine men tested at two to three months after their illness began but in only 11 of the 43 survivors tested at seven to nine months

  • THE TIME PICK: EBOLA FIGHTERS

    TIME made its call.. the yearly ritual of waiting to see who a nearly irreverent magazine will decide was the most important person of the year is here again. This one was out of left field for me.. I did not expect them to choose a series of people, ‘the Ebola fighters,’ as the person that mattered.. I thought for sure TIME would focus in on the Ferguson story and name the ‘protester’ as the person—though they did that in 2011..  I was wrong.

    Perhaps if EBOLA gets really, really bad, next year’s person could be the EBOLA patient. And then TIME could just include another mirror on the cover like they did for the ‘You’ as the person of the year in 2006.

    This could also be a clever way to sell magazine—five covers?? I have always been aware of the theory that local newspapers utilize local sports to sell fishwrappers—every high school football player, baseball player, or track star buys up the issue when they are featured. As do their family members and friends.

    In this regard, TIME will sell at least 5 magazine this year, and maybe a few dozen more will buy because they know the person on the cover.

    But seriously..The reception for TIME’s choice has been positives, according to the TWITTER feeds I follow. People are roundly applauding TIME for picking brave people who fought Ebola and risked their own safety..

    I personally think this is a safe choice for TIME to make—one that will have no opponents and be affectionately thought of as a positive decision for the corporate magazine..Nurses and doctors could get the choice as person of the year every year.. As could police officers and others.

    I think my choice for person of the year—the one who most influenced the news and changed the course of history over the past 12 months (by definition, this is how TIME decides) would be: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the soccer playing Ph.D. who became the leader of ISIS.

     

  • Posse Ignoratatus

    Posse Ignoratatus

    Posse Comitatus, Section 15 of chapter 263 of the Act states:

    From and after the passage of this act it shall not be lawful to employ any part of the Army of the United States, as a posse comitatus, or otherwise, for the purpose of executing the laws, except in such cases and under such circumstances as such employment of said force may be expressly authorized by the Constitution or by act of Congress.

    Words..Just words.

    The military is prepping a ‘strike force’ capable of ‘dealing’ with Ebola patients in the United states..

    CNN first reported this bombshell news today during a somewhat slow news cycle. I cannot help but think that the ‘strike force’ will somehow be forgotten about by the time Monday morning coffee is brewed in diners across America..

    The team is going to be ready to deploy, over the next month, within 72 hours. Anyplace.. any time.

    There have been few if any news outlets referring to the potential POSSE COMITATUS issue..

    It has been around since 1878.. is there an erosion of it? Surely.. does latest Ebola team constitute a violation of it? I suppose lawyers and Constitutional scholars will argue that point until their insides turn into liquid..

    And quite frankly, if a ‘STAND’ scenario developed, would anyone even care if a violation took place? Instead, we’d cheer on troops shooting Ray Flowers live on the radio and perhaps just ask for more..

    I am a little uncomfortable with this news..
    Am I the only one?

    Posse_Comitatus.jpg

  • More Art Bell commentary on the Ebola crisis

    We may not be able to hear him nightly on the radio until his non compete clause with SIRIUS expires in 2015, but that is not stopping the talk show legend from taking to the Internet to express his anger over the apparent mishandling of the Ebola situation in the United States.

    Bell posted several links over the past week concerning the outbreak. The latest update from his Pahrump homestead featured a photograph of a clearly unprepared person at the airport in Dallas as an Ebola patient was loaded no an airplane to Atlanta for treatment.

    bell1

    Minutes later, Bell said,

    It seems to me that as long as Ebola remains spread only by bodily fluids that we will survive it, I am not sure we can survive the present level of stupid. Turns out the Nurse in Ohio actually called the CDC before boarding with a fever and they said no problem…..

    And he was right.

    When news today was revealed that the second nurse in Dallas actually was on two airline flights over the weekend, the government seemed to initially blame her… At one point the CDC said it was the wrong thing for patient number 3 to do. But news broke late in the day that the nurse actually called the CDC and they said it was permissible for her to take the flights! The CDC said that since her fever was below 100 she was not in the category of high risk.. Hours after taking a flight from Cincinnati to Dallas, she was in an isolation ward ..

    Bell’s words are right on the money.. A ‘present level of stupid.’ The problem is if the ‘stupid’ continues, the present level of reality may change.. The United States cannot afford many more stupid mistakes in the Ebola nightmare..

    Tonight in an apparent attempt to save some face, President Obama addressed the nation concerning the crisis, saying that “Ebola swat teams” were prepared to respond to infections.. That term raised the eyebrows of some, with the term seemingly implying that violence against patients infected may be administered.. Instead, the nation was reassured that it simply means the CDC will be able to get to any hospital in all 50 states within 24 hours should another case pop up..

    The same CDC that blamed the first nurse in Dallas, and now the same CDC that permitted a second nurse to board a flight while being in an Ebola watch group.

    Art Bell is not the only former radio host who is speaking out about the latest news. Today, Matt Drudge broke his Twitter silence to post one of his first Tweets in months–after all of his others were deleted–simply saying “self quarantine.” 

    While Art Bell may not be heard nightly at this time, his words still register with the thousands of followers who like or comment on his semi-regular status updates. It’s notable that as of late, Bell seems to be more active on Facebook. Perhaps that is because, as any veteran listener could testify, his eyes and ears have always been on the Ebola story since the early 1990s.

    Without a doubt, the high desert will be active with typed words from Bell until his voice will again be on the Dark  Matter Radio Network in the late summer of 2015.

    And interestingly to contemplate, but then we will know what type of story Ebola turned out to be: A scare or a culling.

  • Patient three

    The Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas Texas confirmed that another hospital worker tested positive for Ebola..

    The worker apparently had a fever on Tuesday, was quickly tested, and was isolated within 90 minutes because results showed that the 70% fatal disease is present..

    Unknown at this time are several facts, including who the person is and what contact with Thomas Duncan there may have been.. Regular? Occasional? Was protective gear malfunctioning in Duncan’s room? Another fact missing is whether or not this person was among the 70 people already being monitored for the disease…

    Also unknown at this time as how many people this new patient, and hospital worker, actually came in contact with! The ever broadening Ebola crisis is now taking center stage deep in the heart of Dallas.

    It seems very likely that we will hear more cases pop up over the coming days, if not hours. That 21 day incubation period has come and gone in many cases, and now the people who have been exposed to Ebola will undoubtedly begin to get revealed as the disease takes over their internal organs and begins to cause hemorrhagic conditions..

    The concerning part, too, is that American hospitals may not be equipped for a rush of hundreds of patients coming to emergency rooms with symptoms of Ebola, even though many of the people who think they have it will not and fear will guide them to the hospital… Hypochondriacs exist.. But what if one actually has Ebola…?

    The World Health Organization warned that 10,000 people per week will soon get Ebola…

    I think back to the Georgia Guide stones intrigue from a few days ago, when the new pillar that said 2014 was installed–and removed a few days later. It would certainly seem that somebody knows something more about big events place final months of this year

    All of the strange blood moons may now make sense. Blood above and below.

    Is it raining is it snowing, is a hurricane a blowing? The danger must be growing.. IMG_1878.JPG

  • Going deep into the tunnel

    Going deep into the tunnel

    In the words of Willie Wonka as he took a boat of children through hell in his chocolate factory,

    There’s no earthly way of knowing
    Which direction we are going
    There’s no knowing where we’re rowing
    Or which way the river’s flowing

    Is it raining, is it snowing
    Is a hurricane a-blowing?

    Not a speck of light is showing
    So the danger must be growing
    Are the fires of Hell a-glowing
    Is the grisly reaper mowing?

    Yes, the danger must be growing
    For the rowers keep on rowing
    And they’re certainly not showing
    Any signs that they are slowing!

    It feels a bit like we are moving into uncharted territory for our generation.. A time where disease and pestilence plague the landscape.. a time when the young eat the old, and where the demons inhabit the most innocent people and places on the planet.

    This is the new world..
    A ravaged population..

    The Halloween season upon us again, and yet again there are things taking place in the real world that make the symbols of the season of the witch look tame. Images of Thomas Eric Duncan’s family after his death, and now a new nurse infected–with up to 70 other hospital workers deep in the heart of Texas coming in contact with the dying Duncan before he succumbed to his fate on earth..

    The United States and Europe are attracting the majority of headlines–amazing since they have the vast minority of cases. Nonetheless, they want to keep it that way. Budget cuts over the past few years may make that difficult to do.. Lawmakers are now rushing to fund anything they can throw money at to keep Ebola at bay. At least until the November election passes and it doesn’t turn into a November insurrection.

    But here is the problem: We are a free-flowing population of billions of people. Airfare happens. And with it comes sickness, as we saw from the Duncan case.  The WHO is warning us that air travel may even become more dangerous–even if that is implied. the WHO said that there is strong evidence that the Ebola epidemic in Africa is still spreading. The number of cases in West Africa will exceed 9000 this year.. This plague of the people has gone on for months now, and there are some signs that the hardest hit areas are seeing less cases. On the flipside: There are more prefectures and districts coming in contact with Ebola..

    The other problem may be the underreporting of cases on the African continent.

    The media isn’t helping.
    Their focus has solely been on the spread of Ebola to nations that are not in Africa. That is typical of their journalistic style but not doing anything to address the root cause of the problem or find solutions so future epidemics don’t happen. The ignorance of Africa is appalling. On many levels. Even from me.. I took a quiz on JetPunk days ago and had to take a long look in the mirror. My least strong continent was Africa. We don’t hear about it from our news sources unless there is a ‘strange’ or bizarre story that only reinforces the images that the Western world has of the land.. That has not done anything to help this Ebola situation.

    When the disease began to ravage, instead of completely ignoring information, the media should have been quick to report it.

    I recall the 1990s outbreak.. Ebola always felt like it was ‘there.’  Though I go back in memory and recall old Art Bell shows in which he was worried Ebola would break out here, things were not nearly as close together as now.

    Now.. no screening for Ebola takes place at airports, but hands are quickly down pants of every age to sniff out the shoe bomber .. even though the shoe bomber had a well dressed man helping him on board. I digress…

    Now, as Halloween approaches, we are forced to deal with a potential outbreak. At this point, it appears that the fear is catching on quicker than the actual plague. That could change, though.. especially if 70 people handled the blood, sweat, vomit, and tears of Mr. Duncan. Seventy people can multiply like wildfire.. Breed like rabbits.. and hop from continent to continent.

    EBOLA is not just ‘there’ in one of those countries run by warlords on a continent far away. It’s here. And it could be everywhere..

    Maybe this is a lesson: The next time that a disease breaks out among poor indigenous people someone on the planet, the media should pay attention, report, and realize that we are all connected. Not only by plane, train, and automobile, but in spirit. And for that, the media owes it to other humans just to report their plight–before it takes flight.

    Yes, the danger must be growing
    For the rowers keep on rowing
    And they’re certainly not showing
    Any signs that they are slowing!

  • The Dallas death: Patient 0

    The Dallas death: Patient 0

    THOMAS DUNCAN IS DEAD.. BREAKING NEWS TODAY NBC NEWS REPORTS.. And I cannot help but think of those rumors days ago that Duncan already had died but there were emergency crews rushing to the hospital to properly dispose of the body, hence the news wasn’t revealed. So either he was dead then or now.. but he’s dead.Ebola kills the first US patient..

    THOMAS DUNCAN IS DEAD.. BREAKING NEWS TODAY

    NBC NEWS REPORTS..

    And I cannot help but think of those rumors days ago that Duncan already had died but there were emergency crews rushing to the hospital to properly dispose of the body, hence the news wasn’t revealed.

    So either he was dead then or now.. but he’s dead.
    Ebola kills the first US patient..

    MEANWHILE..

    FLASHBACK OCTOBER 3 2014: Sgt. Monnig and the other deputies were not wearing any type of protective gear when they accompanied county health officials into the apartment late Wednesday to issue an order to the people inside, forbidding them from leaving the apartment. »

    And now, days later.. Monnig is being tested for EBOLA..

    Could take 48 hours to confirm if deputy has Ebola »

    More on this as it develops.. But here is what is known so far according to the WFAA reports:

    The patient was identified as Dallas County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Michael Monnig, who accompanied county health officials Zachary Thompson and Christopher Perkins into the Dallas apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan had been staying when he fell ill with Ebola.

    “Initial reports from the urgent care facility indicated the patient had direct contact with the Dallas ‘patient zero’; however, Frisco firefighter-paramedics now report the patient says he had contact with the apartment and family members related to the Dallas ‘patient zero’ prior to the apartment being decontaminated,” said city of Frisco spokesperson Dana Baird.

  • ART BELL BREAKS SILENCE ON EBOLA

    ART BELL BREAKS SILENCE ON EBOLA

    FROM THE HIGH DESERT..

    The talk show was that was and will be in 2015 went to Facebook to speak to the thousands of friends and followers .. He wasn’t cryptic, but instead sounded alarms.

    Art Bell has broken his silence online concerning EBOLA.. and I agree with his statements..

    He said both of these tonight on FACEBOOK:

    Watching Ebola closely: Not at all sure we are being told the truth. Pretty sure we should start thinking of stopping flights from infected areas and if it gets any worse, perhaps closing borders.

    The facts on the ground do not support what the CDC is saying about the way it is and is not spread. The borders should be closed to any Civil traffic from infected nations at a minimum.