First Ebola infected fly to Europe

Spanish government has a Ebola sufferer from West Africa brought back

08/07/2014

The number of people who become infected with the life-threatening Ebola virus is rising and rising. Until tomorrow, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) are discussing ways in Geneva to stem the epidemic in West Africa. As long as no improvement in the situation is in sight, travelers should definitely avoid the affected regions on the advice of the Foreign Office.

WHO Emergency Committee advises on strategies to control the epidemic in West Africa
Since Wednesday, an international team of experts on viral infections and epidemics in Geneva is discussing strategies and ways to stop the currently rampant Ebola epidemic in West Africa. According to the WHO, it is mainly discussed whether, according to the WHO emergency committee, the current situation should be classified as an international health emergency or not. For the WHO emergency committee and the general director Dr. Ing. Margaret Chan a whole new challenge, because due to Ebola, the experts had not previously had to consult - unlike the so-called „poliomyelitis“ (Poliomyelitis, polio for short) which had spread in the spring of 2014, including in Cameroon, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Syria. In this case, on May 5, the WHO had one of the outbreaks of the disease „extraordinary event“ and thus imposed for the second time in their history concrete travel restrictions, which included, among other things, that residents of Cameroon, Syria and Pakistan had to be vaccinated before leaving.

So far more than 1600 cases of Ebola or Ebola suspicion reported
Such restrictions could soon apply to West Africa as well - if the committee also identified the Ebola epidemic as a health emergency, WHO would have to take international precautionary measures in this case as well. A realistic idea, because like the „dpa“ According to the authorities in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, about 900 patients have died from the disease and a total of more than 1,600 cases of Ebola or Ebola suspicion have been reported. Already on Tuesday, the Foreign Office had responded to the current situation and tightened the warning of a trip to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. „Travel to these countries is strongly discouraged“, according to the Office's urgent recommendation, it is also quite possible that exits from these countries will soon be restricted. Accordingly, be the „deficient medical care anyway“ due to the epidemic „There is currently a further limited risk in all the countries concerned and, moreover, there is an increased risk of infection in hospitals“, the office continues.

WHO calls medical ethicists for advice
To take full advantage of the opportunity to fight the epidemic, WHO would also meet a group of medical ethicists early next week to explore the potential use of experimental treatments during the ongoing Ebola epidemic. For there are currently no registered drugs or a vaccine against the virus - but according to the WHO, there are some experimental possibilities in development. „We are in an unusual situation during this outbreak. We have a high-mortality disease with no proven treatment or vaccine, "said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, vice director of the World Health Organization." We need to ask the medical ethicist to advise us on how we can act responsibly.“

Diseased clergyman Miguel Pajares returns from Liberia to Spain
Meanwhile, the Spanish government has stated after stating „dpa“ flown into Europe for the first time a patient infected with Ebola. The diseased clergyman Miguel Pajares had landed with an aircraft of the Air Force at the Air Force Base Torrejón de Ardoz near Madrid. A Spanish nun, who had worked with the priest in Liberia, had been on board the plane, according to the Ministry of Defense - but the woman has been found so far no infection. The 75-year-old from the Toledo area of ​​central Spain had previously worked in Liberias' capital, Monrovia, in a now-closed hospital, where he later cared for director Patrick Nshamdzea, who later died of Ebola. Earlier this week, a test showed that he had also infected himself. The return transport of the infected was finally on the initiative of the aid organization „Juan Ciudad“ which Pajares has been advocating in Liberia for the past eight years. The organization had asked the Spanish government to bring the man back to his homeland and was supported by tens of thousands of Spaniards via Internet petition.

Spain is the second country after the USA to take in victims
Spain is thus the second western state after the United States, which has brought back infected victims in the wake of the current epidemic. In the case of the newly flown Spaniards, care would now take place in a Madrid hospital under the strictest security and quarantine arrangements of WHO. (No)