What's this? This is an unbiased just-the-facts news timeline ('newsline') about Ebola, created by Newslines contributors. Become a contributor
466 postsEbola is a disease caused by an ebolavirus. Symptoms start two days to three weeks after contracting the virus, with a fever, sore throat, muscle pain and headaches. Vomiting, diarrhea and rash follow, along with decreased function of the liver and kidneys. Victims bleed both within the body and externally. From 1976 through 2013, the World Health Organization reported a total of 1,716 cases. In 2013 an outbreak started in Guinea, spreading to neighboring African countries and infectied doctors, some of who were transported back to the US for treatment. The virus continues to claim victims as it spreads to more countries.
The first patient in the current outbreak is identified as two-year-old Emile Ouamouno from the forest village of Meliandou, two hours from Guinea’s capital Conakry. His ister, Philomene, has also died, along with his mother. UNICEF official who spoke with Emile’s father:
Emile loved to dance and Philomene liked to carry little babies on her back and pretend she was a mom.
Officials and media in the Veneto region of Italy have raised concerns over the quarantine of U.S. soldiers at a base there on their return from west Africa. President of the Veneto regional assembly:
They shouldn’t have been sent here, they should do their quarantine for Ebola at home […] it would have been more respectful [of the U.S. to have] thought about the risks posed to local citizens.
A report by the Messaggero daily says soldiers from the base who are not in quarantine are being avoided at local pubs. The populist/Eurosceptic Five Star political party:
The government must send all the US soldiers back to Washington.
The San Bortolo hospital in Vicenza has prepared a special isolation unit with five beds ready for potential Ebola cases. 35 more soldiers were expected to arrive Wednesday and would be placed in isolation at the base.
A poster released on the CDC website highlights sneezing as a risk:
Droplet spread happens when germs traveling inside droplets that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose or mouth of another person
A law enforcement source says Spencer initially told officials he isolated himself in his apartment in Harlem. Source:
He told the authorities that he self-quarantined. Detectives then reviewed his credit-card statement and MetroCard and found that he went over here, over there, up and down and all around.
Police reportedly phoned the city Health Department with questions, after which he admitted to going bowling at The Gutter, going to the High Line, and eating at The Meatball Shop.
Hickox says she will take legal action against the State of Maine if they enforce the current quarantine order, during an interview on ABC News.
I remain really concerned by these mandatory quarantine policies. I think we are only adding to stigmatization that again is not based on science or evidence. I will go to court to attain my freedom.
In a Skype call with Matt Lauer, Hickox, who does not have any symptoms of the deadly virus, says she will not abide by quarantine rules that she said were “not scientifically nor constitutionally just.” According to Hickox’s attorney, she had only agreed to remain home for two days after arriving from New Jersey.
I don’t plan on sticking to the guidelines. I am not going to sit around and be bullied by politicians and forced to stay in my home when I am not a risk to the American public.
Northern Maine Medical Center says Hickox had originally agreed to a 21-day quarantine, and that her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, had also agreed to a self-quarantine for 21 days. There is no word on whether he would abide by quarantine for the full period. Two state police cars have been stationed outside Wilbur’s home, in Fort Kent, where she has been living.
An internal State Department document shows a plan to bring Ebola-infected doctors and medical aides to the U.S. for treatment, as part of a plan to get other countries to send medical teams to West Africa by promising that the U.S. will be the global medical backstop. It says other countries are waiting for ‘medevac assurances’ before committing medics. Four-page document:
The United States needs to show leadership and act as we are asking others to act by admitting certain non-citizens into the country for medical treatment for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) during the Ebola crisis.
Health care officials say the decision to isolate Hickox is based on panic, not science. NYU bioethicist:
The flu kills 5,000 people per year. If we want to freak out about something, that’s what we should be freaking out about.
Pres. Obama calls Vinson from the White House to say the administration appreciates the effort of her and other health care workers. After the call:
We’ve got to make sure that those workers who are willing and able and dedicated to go over there in a really tough job, that they’re applauded, thanked and supported. That should be our priority. And we can make sure that when they come back they are being monitored in a prudent fashion.
Bellevue is forced to move its ICU patients to NYU Langone, two blocks north, as it is tied up with Ebola care. Two adult patients were moved over the weekend and Langone is expecting to take two more pediatric ICU patients on Monday. The hospitals are located on Manhattan’s East Side. Joint statement:
These recent transfers will help alleviate some of the demand on Bellevue’s critical care staff as they focus on current patient care issues.
Kim says at least 5,000 medics and support staff are needed to fight the virus, but says fear is keeping people at home:
Right now, I’m very much worried about where we will find those healthcare workers. With the fear factor going out of control in so many places, I hope healthcare professionals will understand that when they took their oath to become a health care worker it was precisely for moments like this
Australia places a ban on visas for citizens of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The UN, Liberia, and others say this will do little to control the virus’s spread. Sirleaf:
Anytime there’s stigmatization, there’s quarantine, there’s exclusion of people, many of whom are just normal, then those of us who are fighting this epidemic, when we face that, we get very sad,
Vinson gives a statement surrounded by relatives as well as Emory doctors and nurses thanking those who treated her during her 13-day battle with the deadly virus.
I’m so grateful to be well. With God, all things are possible…As a nurse and now as someone who has experienced what it is like to be cared for through a life-threatening illness, I am so appreciative and grateful for your skill, warmth and care.
As she leave the room, Vinson hugs each nurse and doctor.
The African Advocacy Council says two brothers in sixth and eighth grade who emigrated from Senegal a month ago were beaten and left severely injured, with their attackers calling them ‘Ebola’. The group says this is only the latest in several incidents targeting Africans since the outbreak. It is due to hold a press conference at 1 p.m. Eastern to urge city and school officials to protect students.
House Judiciary Committee leader Rep. Goodlatte, R-Va., says his office has received ‘information from within the administration’ that the plans are being developed to treat non-U.S. citizens for treatment within the early days of developing the illness. Goodlatte:
This is simply a matter of common sense that if you are concerned about this problem spreading — and this is a deadly disease that we’re even concerned about the great health care workers when they come back not spreading it — we certainly shouldn’t be bringing in the patients.
He doesn’t specify who would pay for the treatment, whether the plan would involve non-U.S. residents, or other details.
Pharmaceutical companies are reportedly rushing to prepare drugs for the virus. NBC reports that:
Fox obtains State Department documents showing details of the plan to bring non-U.S. patients into the country. The channel doesn’t say what stage the plan is at or how likely it is to be implemented but says the document has been seen by Undersecretary Kennedy. Reporter:
They’re documents we started hearing about in the middle of last week…It’s basically been cleared at the highest level of the State Department…allowing non-U.S. citizens to come here – be brought here, because we pay for it – for treatment
The report says the cost is estimated to be at least $500,000 per patient including multiple nurses and other healthcare workers:
That’s actually a very low estimate
The document notes that Germany is the first nation to accept a non-citizen for treatment. It says patients are anticipated to be people from:
NGOs, major American corporations, allies, and other potential friends or partners in the region … All this is to show the U.S. is committed to fighting Ebola
Media question the White House over the anti-Ebola effort and what Klain is doing, as confusion deepens with New York changing its mandatory quarantine rules and New Jersey keeping its rules in place, while the CDC says returning healthcare workers don’t need to be quarantined but U.S. armed forces personnel are quarantined in Italy. Reporter to White House press secretary:
What has changed since he started his job? It appears as though this week there’s more confusion than there was last week, given what we’re seeing in New York and New Jersey, and more differences between how the states are dealing with it.
The owner of Mama Ti’s African Kitchen in Minneapolis-St. Paul is forced to tape over the ‘African’ part of the sign after customers avoid the restaurant and one asks directly if the establishment has Ebola.
This African name that brought people in before, is now hurting me. We get the jokes, the ridicule. Just putting that tape up there triggered emotions that I keep down, but that really hurt
The five-year-old boy who was being tested for the Ebola virus has tested negative for the disease.
