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W.H.O. Weighing Emergency Decree on Ebola Expert Panel To Consult On Ebola
(about 5 hours later)
Scrambling to catch up with the worst outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday that it was considering the declaration of an international public health emergency and would convene a panel of experts in coming days to explore the use of experimental treatments for the incurable disease.Scrambling to catch up with the worst outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday that it was considering the declaration of an international public health emergency and would convene a panel of experts in coming days to explore the use of experimental treatments for the incurable disease.
The announcements came as fears spread that a Saudi citizen may have brought the Ebola virus home to Saudi Arabia, which is still reeling from a mismanaged epidemic of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome that has killed nearly 300 people in the last two years. Saudi news media said that the citizen, a businessman in his 40s, died on Wednesday at King Fahd Hospital in Jidda after exhibiting Ebola-like symptoms, and that Saudi health officials had submitted biological samples from the patient to laboratories in the United States and Germany. The announcements came as fears spread that a Saudi citizen may have taken the Ebola virus home to Saudi Arabia, which is still reeling from a mismanaged epidemic of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome that has killed nearly 300 people in the last two years. Saudi news media said that the citizen, a businessman in his 40s, died on Wednesday at King Fahd Hospital in Jidda after exhibiting Ebola-like symptoms, and that Saudi health officials had submitted biological samples from the patient to laboratories in the United States and Germany.
The Saudi accounts emphasized that the illness had not yet been identified, and they did not specify where the patient got sick. But Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for the World Health Organization in Geneva, said in an email that the patient appeared to have been in Sierra Leone on business in some of the affected areas. The Saudi accounts emphasized that the illness had not yet been identified. Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for the World Health Organization in Geneva, said in an email that the patient appeared to have visited affected areas in Sierra Leone.
The organization also announced 108 new Ebola cases recorded from Saturday to Monday, bringing the total to 1,711, with 932 deaths. Nearly all are in the three afflicted West African countries at the epicenter of the outbreak: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The organization also announced 108 new Ebola cases recorded from Saturday to Monday, bringing the total to 1,711, with 932 deaths. Nearly all are in the West African countries afflicted by the outbreak: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
But in a sign of the spread of the disease internationally, the organization listed five new cases in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, bringing the Nigerian total to nine. The virus was discovered to have leapfrogged there by plane last week, carried by an American who had been working in Liberia and died in a Nigerian hospital.But in a sign of the spread of the disease internationally, the organization listed five new cases in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, bringing the Nigerian total to nine. The virus was discovered to have leapfrogged there by plane last week, carried by an American who had been working in Liberia and died in a Nigerian hospital.
The health organization said an emergency committee of international experts was evaluating whether the Ebola outbreak constituted a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” a classification that has only rarely been invoked to combat deadly contagions. The classification gives health authorities greater powers that include quarantining people in affected areas. The committee’s recommendations are expected by Friday.The health organization said an emergency committee of international experts was evaluating whether the Ebola outbreak constituted a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” a classification that has only rarely been invoked to combat deadly contagions. The classification gives health authorities greater powers that include quarantining people in affected areas. The committee’s recommendations are expected by Friday.
In a separate announcement, the organization said it was convening a panel of medical ethicists to explore the use of experimental treatments for Ebola, which has a mortality rate as high as 90 percent. The virus, which causes high fevers, aches and severe internal bleeding, is named after the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, where it was first discovered in 1976. In a separate announcement, the organization said it was convening a panel of medical ethicists to explore the use of experimental treatments for Ebola, which has a mortality rate as high as 90 percent. The virus causes high fevers, aches and severe internal bleeding.
“We are in an unusual situation in this outbreak,” Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, the organization’s assistant director general, said in the announcement. “We have a disease with a high fatality rate without any proven treatment or vaccine.” “We are in an unusual situation in this outbreak,” Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, the organization’s assistant director general, said in the announcement. “We need to ask the medical ethicists to give us guidance on what the responsible thing to do is.”
She said “we need to ask the medical ethicists to give us guidance on what the responsible thing to do is.” Several experimental options are under development, including a drug administered to two American health workers from Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian relief group based in Boone, N.C. They had been treating Ebola patients in Liberia and contracted the disease. Both were flown to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and have shown improvement, causing an international debate over why Americans were given the drug when hundreds of Africans have died without access to it.
Several experimental options are under development, including an untested drug that was administered to two American health workers from Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian relief group based in Boone, N.C. They had been treating Ebola patients in Liberia and contracted the disease. Both were flown in recent days to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and have been showing signs of improvement, causing an international debate over why Americans were given the drug when hundreds of Africans have died without access to it.
The World Health Organization’s announcement also cited the Samaritan’s Purse workers’ apparent response to the drug, saying it had “raised questions about whether medicine that has never been tested and shown to be safe in people should be used in the outbreak and, given the extremely limited amount of medicine available, if it is used, who should receive it.”The World Health Organization’s announcement also cited the Samaritan’s Purse workers’ apparent response to the drug, saying it had “raised questions about whether medicine that has never been tested and shown to be safe in people should be used in the outbreak and, given the extremely limited amount of medicine available, if it is used, who should receive it.”
Asked about such treatments, President Obama told a news conference in Washington it was premature for him to say, but he did not rule it out. “We’ve got to let the science guide us,” he said.