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'Tackle Ebola now, or live with it forever'

The UN Special Envoy on the virus says speed is of the essence.

THE NUMBER OF Ebola cases is probably doubling every three-to-four weeks and without a mass global mobilization “the world will have to live with the Ebola virus forever,” the U.N. special envoy on the disease says.

David Nabarro told the U.N. General Assembly that the response needs to be 20 times greater.
U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said catching up with “the menacing exponential curve of the virus” demands a massive scale-up of financial resources, medical staff and equipment. He lamented that only one-quarter of the $1 billion that U.N. agencies have appealed for to tackle Ebola has been funded.

“I now appeal to all member states to act generously and swiftly,” Eliasson told diplomats from most of the 193 U.N. member states. “Speed is of the essence. A contribution within days is more important than a larger contribution within weeks.”

Nabarro said that without the mass mobilization of nations, donor organization and non-governmental group to support the affected countries in West Africa, “it will be impossible to get this disease quickly under control, and the world will have to live with the Ebola virus forever.”

He said that in his 35 years as a public health doctor dealing with disease outbreaks and pandemics, he has never encountered a challenge like Ebola because the outbreak has moved from rural areas into towns and cities and is now “affecting a whole region and … impacting on the whole world.”

He said the United Nations, which is coordinating the global response, knows what needs to be done to catch up to and overtake Ebola’s rapid advance, “and together we’re going to do it.”

“And our commitment to all of you is to achieve it within a matter of months — a few months,” Nabarro said.

Anthony Banbury, who heads the new United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, warned that a failure to help Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea — the three worst affected countries — “while we have the chance could lead to unpredictable but very dire consequences for the people of the countries and well beyond.”

Read: Nurses demand details of HSE’s Ebola plan

Read: ‘Worst Ebola epidemic in history’: Medical experts say new treatments need to be fast-tracked

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18 Comments
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    Mute Huey
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    Oct 11th 2014, 8:24 AM

    I see the UK are running training exercises today for their emergency services personnel.

    The HSE have printed posters

    97
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    Mute Cian O Donoghue
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    Oct 11th 2014, 8:29 AM

    To be fair, the HSE have used Ebola as one of their mock scenarios for emergency drills all along so they should be ok.

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    Mute Huey
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    Oct 11th 2014, 8:31 AM

    Then why are the INO looking for training?

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    Mute SeanieRyan
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    Oct 11th 2014, 12:11 PM

    The UK is considered very likely to get it, as they have so many from West Africa living there, they have direct flights etc.

    Even if it does outbreak in Europe it will be contained quickly.

    Still might take a few hundred in an initial outbreak but it will not kill more than the common flu in Europe.

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    Mute Patrick Varley
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    Oct 11th 2014, 12:32 PM

    If an outbreak occurs in the UK, it will in all likelihood also affect Ireland though probably not on a similar scale. The question is whether or not a training scheme is warranted. An outbreak will be nowhere near as devastating here as it is in West Africa. Still, there is something to be said for easing fears of healthcare workers. It would say it is worth it, not due to any major threat to healthcare workers safety, but to increase confidence and tackle the fears and panic a new outbreak creates.

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    Mute mitch connors
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    Oct 11th 2014, 9:58 AM

    Europe should be closed off to Africa now , no flights , no imports , no immigrants . Until Ebola is dealt with

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    Mute Ryan Carroll
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    Oct 11th 2014, 2:35 PM

    Thats totally impractical nonsense.
    First, no imports really come in to the EU from Africa it’s mostly exports, the only way to ban incoming flights would be to ban outgoing flights, otherwise we’d be flying aid and medicines over and not flying those planes back, just leaving them to lay there on the tarmac, and if we cut off all flights the situation is going to get way worse, govts will be toppled when food and medicine runs out, and with nobody controlling the borders we’ll have flights of ebola filled refugees coming in unfiltered into Europe spreading the virus here.

    Think logically ffsake you can’t just cut an entire continent off from the outside there would be total anarchy

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    Mute gumbridge
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    Oct 11th 2014, 9:36 AM

    Ebola is coming, as sure as night follows day.
    If it was foot and mouth there’d be a national shutdown.
    Goes to show, our overlords think less of us than they do livestock.
    And sure why wouldn’t they, were as docile and manageable as sheep.

    39
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    Mute SeanieRyan
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    Oct 11th 2014, 12:14 PM

    Maybe they are not having a panic attack like a lot of people are.

    Ebola was contained in the slums of Nigeria by implementing basic hygiene and practice around handling sick and dead.

    Slums of millions of people, no sewerage or piped water and hardly any hospitals or Doctors.

    They contained it but the drama queens here who love to panic about doom think that it will rampage through Europe.

    Get a grip ffs.

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    Mute gumbridge
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    Oct 11th 2014, 1:15 PM

    I’ll remind you of your optimism when your life is running out your eyes, ears, nose, hole and jap’s eye!

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    Mute Ryan Carroll
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    Oct 11th 2014, 2:36 PM

    Food and Mouth is highly contagious, Ebola is not. It’s spreading so much over there because of their death rituals and because so many of them (believing in conspiracy theories) are not listening to their govts, none of those factors would be in play with the west.

    Stop scaremongering.

    A lot of you are going to feel very stupid in 6 months time.

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    Mute Lily
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    Oct 11th 2014, 9:15 AM

    Ebola will always be around. Maybe not in humans but certainly in bats and or monkeys. All a human has to do is come into contact with infected species.

    Ebola will never be eradicated.

    Rabies has never been eradicated. Could you imagine if rabies was airborne – now that would be a zombie apocalypse.

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    Mute Jackie Caruana
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    Oct 11th 2014, 9:23 AM

    It would seem to me that part of being ‘well prepared’ would at very least require that health care professionals should know the drill? If the nurses associations are writing to the minister asking about protective clothing, decontamination and triage procedures, what exactly does the minister feel is required on the front line. Usual ‘ah sure, it’ll be grand’ attitude.

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    Mute Cosmo Kramer
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    Oct 11th 2014, 10:46 AM

    I had to laugh yesterday when the HSE announced that plans were in place that the first Irish person to be infected with Ebola would get a Garda escort to the Mater Hospital.. The UK introduce checks at all Airports and the Euro Tunnel and we organise a Garda Escort.. It will be like the bank guarantee, an absolute a complete disaster…

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    Mute Ashley Bcloud
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    Oct 11th 2014, 9:24 AM

    If we don’t tackle ebola in Africa we will have epidemy here.
    http://www.sgoal.org/Send-more-aid-and-personnel-to-Western-Africa-to-tackle-the-Ebola

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    Mute Joe Harbison
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    Oct 11th 2014, 12:42 PM

    Panic! Panic! Run around like headless chickens! The amour of ill informed rubbish posted on this site over the last few days is just depressing. A few home truths. Staff in our hospitals can’t get the time to do mandatory training to do what they are meant to do let alone train for fantasy epidemics. Why on earth should we cut them out time to train for the possible arrival of a disease which, by the most apocalyptic predictions of our public health doctors will kill rather fewer people than the common cold this winter. The response by public health by providing information to GP surgeries and emergency department has actually been sensible and appropriate but lets overreact in any case!

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    Mute Ablitive
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    Oct 11th 2014, 9:40 AM
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    Mute Mr T
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    Oct 12th 2014, 2:32 AM

    Ebola is coming. It is spreading and apparently mutating which means it is changing and becoming more efficient at finding ways to travel from one person to another.
    Our governments response appears to be falling short of what is required and as a country we may come to pay the price for this pathetic attitude. As Roy Keane famously said ”fail to prepare, prepare to fail” Ireland is preparing to fail.

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