
Sierra Leone's chief Ebola doctor contracts the virus - nkurz
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/23/ozatp-uk-health-ebola-africa-idAFKBN0FS10V20140723
======
feverishaaron
Knowingly putting yourself in danger to be the first line of defense against a
potentially epidemic outbreak, deserves special recognition. Everyone should
know these doctors' names. We need to make international heroes of these
people.

~~~
aaron695
I'm sorry but I find this statement totally retarded.

Firstly as if anyone is going to be able to know all the doctors names even in
this particular case and I'm sure there's plenty of other epidemics out there
right now that are also dangerous.

Secondly there are more than doctors working on this case. Three other nurses
also died as per the article.

Thirdly this story is hitting all the major news channels. It's currently top
of HN. People are knowing this story.

Fourthly we don't live in a fantasy novel where knowing someone's name means
something. Could we on HN at least talk about constructive things not emotive
clap trap, we see this ever single day anyway from sites like upworthy.

~~~
michaelbuddy
Following that logic, it wasn't even newsworthy for Reuters to post the
article at all right? I mean who cares, it's just emotive BS. I mean it's not
like humans respond to stories about humans, and become motivated by their
actions, selfless heroic etc. Better to just have news in the form of graphs
of incidences with no names associated so we can keep track of it.

~~~
aaron695
How on earth does it follow it's not news worthy? I can not even comprehend
that logic? I know I upped the story.

But perhaps the fact 3 nurses died before this and it didn't rate as high as
this important news (Or OP's comments) you should at least look internally to
what exactly the news is and what it means.

------
lotsofmangos
Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, please live. We need people like you.

And for whoever is reading, you can find donate buttons for MSF's ebola
emergency appeal and MSF in general, if you follow the links below.

[http://www.msf.org.uk/ebola](http://www.msf.org.uk/ebola)

[http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/race-control-
eb...](http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/race-control-ebola-sierra-
leone)

edit - I have no association with MSF, they just seem to be the right people
to be giving money to if you want to help with this. If anyone knows of
others, please suggest them.

Also, and I appreciate this is pretty rude, but I know that there are some
extremely rich people who hang out on here. To those people, see if you can
try and arrive at a monetary value on how scared you are of ebola arriving in
your backyard, and then donate that.

~~~
jhull
I spent 2 months in Sierra Leone last year and a month working with Wellbody
Alliance [1] in the impoverished mining district of Kono. So far that part of
Sierra Leone has been spared from the virus but with the limited health
resources in that area, it is only a matter of time.

I can personally speak for their effectiveness and tell you that your
donations will actually end up in the form of medicine or medical services to
someone who really needs them and not in the hands of some giant NGO that ends
up swallowing 75% of what you send them for admin costs and first class
tickets.

[1] [http://wellbodyalliance.org/donate/](http://wellbodyalliance.org/donate/)

~~~
silencio
I can understand the desire to make sure your money goes towards actual
programs instead of overhead, but MSF - at least in the US - is one of the
better big name charities I can think of on that front.

[http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary...](http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3628)

86% for program costs. Wellbody is at 95%, but they don't have any salaries or
employee benefits listed, among other things that inevitably gobble up some
small percentage of money for bigger charities.

~~~
jhull
nice thanks for that link, great site to do charity due diligence

------
thadk
One of the only doctors at the second largest (of eight) hospitals in
neighboring capital Monrovia, Liberia suffered and died of Ebola too. These
doctors certainly are heros.
[http://allafrica.com/stories/201407021024.html](http://allafrica.com/stories/201407021024.html)

This video by SkyNews shows the wood-and-plastic rural clinic conditions for
Ebola health workers. Urban settings would often also lack any form of air
conditioning to limit body fluids. Having lived for several years in similar
towns there, it cuts close:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYMOGDI9XkI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYMOGDI9XkI)

[https://medium.com/matter/how-to-ignore-a-
plague-14ea08694cc](https://medium.com/matter/how-to-ignore-a-
plague-14ea08694cc) "Sweating profusely in the 90-degree heat....The next day,
at the Holy Trinity Secondary School, I saw scores of high school kids playing
soccer. Some had removed their white uniforms to avoid them getting dirty, and
their bodies glistened. The longer they played, the more they sweated, and the
more dangerous the game became for them. But they were either oblivious to the
dangers of a virus that can kill nine in 10, often by internal bleeding and
organ failure, or they did not care."

------
WhitneyLand
It's hard to even comprehend his sacrifices. What are the circumstances that
causes one person to be selfless in the face of tragedy and others to try and
profit from it? Wonder if he knows he inspires people the world over to try
and become better.

~~~
dylz
Not the first one, either.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Lukwiya#Death](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Lukwiya#Death)

~~~
jpatokal
I'd upvote that twice if I could. Remarkable story and a remarkable man.

------
_craft
And 3 nurses died from the same treatment center a few days ago.

------
codexjourneys
I wonder if they are using or would consider using blood plasma from Ebola
survivors to help people survive. See this article:

[http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/179/Supplement_1/S18.f...](http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/179/Supplement_1/S18.full)

There is more of a critical mass of recent Ebola survivors than ever before in
history.

I know cultural fears can make it difficult to provide plasma transfusions,
but this story is about a doctor who has Ebola. He almost certainly
understands the science, and this could give him more of a fighting chance and
a chance to show that medicine can help.

------
dobbsbob
Tekmira is furthest along in development of a vaccine/cure but is stuck in
Phase I trials with FDA regulatory hurdles. Ebola is not always fatal this guy
cured himself
[http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/07/22/333628899/e...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/07/22/333628899/ebola-
is-a-deadly-virus-but-doctors-say-it-can-be-beat)

~~~
ejr
I wonder if contracting other diseases along the way had somehow contributed
toward his resistance, as long as the immune system has recovered since. The
plague stopped rather abruptly in the Middle Ages either due to sudden herd
immunity of the survivors' immune systems or other unfavorable circumstances
to its propagation.

I imagine there exist a portion of the population with a genetic mutation that
is resistant to Ebola, considering it may have existed in the wild for a much
longer period than its first description in the mid 70's.

~~~
lovemenot
>> The plague stopped rather abruptly in the Middle Ages

Really? If we are speaking of the Black Death, I believe it returned every
decade or so.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death#Recurrence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death#Recurrence)

------
josu
> _Ebola kills up to 90 percent of those infected and there is no cure or
> vaccine_

Apparently this strand of the virus "only" kills 63% of the patients[1]. Even
if it doesn't kill him, does anybody know what are the consequences of having
suffered from ebola?

I don't mean to disrespect his work, and I'm asking this without having any
clue: Why is this doctor so important? If there is no cure, what was his main
role? Can't he be easily "replaced" by another brave person that is also
willing to risk his life?

On another note, the article says that ebola has killed 600 people. Apparently
this strand of ebola "only" killed 63% of the people that contract the
disease. So far 964 people contracted the disease in a country of more than 6
million people. Aren't HIV or Hep C worst threats than ebola?

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus)

~~~
lotsofmangos
My understanding is Ebola is incurable but sometimes treatable, so while there
is no medicine you can give that will stop it, you can care for the patient in
ways that increase the chances of them surviving.

edit - and if you want to know why this is being taken so seriously as a
threat, have a look at this graph -
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_West_Africa_Ebola_outbreak...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_West_Africa_Ebola_outbreak#mediaviewer/File:Diseased_Ebola_2014.png)
\- it is chilling.

~~~
sytelus
That _is_ chilling. As wise people have said, be always on look out for any
exponential trends because that's what would change the world. In this graph,
although data is limited, it appears the number of cases are doubling every
month. At this rate we can easily hit 10,000 by end of year. And THE 10,000 is
almost always a magic number where tipping point occurs and power laws becomes
unstoppable then on. It _is_ a chilling graph. I'll keep an eye on this every
month now.

~~~
glogla
This one [1] however looks more optimistic. While the disease is still
spreading, how fast is is spreading is slowing.

[1]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_West_Africa_Ebola_outbreak...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_West_Africa_Ebola_outbreak#mediaviewer/File:Deseased_per_day_Ebola_2014.png)

------
corwinbad
Ebloa source code - 18,959bp

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/NC_002549.1](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/NC_002549.1)

------
rsync
I'm confused by the picture in the article... I thought anyone dealing with
ebola was wearing a positive pressure "spacesuit" ...

The picture shows someone in the most primitive surgical gown, covered in
blood, with exposed skin.

Is that just a stock photo ? It seems awfully cavalier...

~~~
ibrad
This is Africa, we don't have the luxury of positive pressure spacesuit. They
are dealing with a deadly virus with the tools they have.

~~~
rsync
Still, a full "remediation" suit (for dealing with old remodels or
crawlspaces) including very fine vapor mask, very thick gloves and a full-body
coverall can be had from 3M for ... $80 or so ?

I cleaned out a hayloft of our barn recently with _far_ more protection (hanta
virus) than what is being described here.

Who can I mail some 10-packs of 3M protective gear to ?

~~~
lotsofmangos
Contact MSF or the CDC and ask them what would help.

Don't make assumptions on what would help most from what you have seen in a
press photo.

They may well have dressed down for the photo to encourage people to go along
to the screening.

------
Vik1ng
If you want to help from your PC at home:
[http://tasks.hotosm.org/](http://tasks.hotosm.org/)

~~~
xsmasher
I originally flagged this as spam; it did not seem immediately relevant. Now I
see it DOES contain a task related to the Ebola outbreak... but I still don't
understand what it is.

Can you explain what this is, and how it helps?

~~~
IvyMike
[http://hot.openstreetmap.org/projects/guinea_ebola_epidemic](http://hot.openstreetmap.org/projects/guinea_ebola_epidemic)

> An outbreak of Ebola struck Guinea causing at least 187 infections and 117
> deaths. Aid organisations are taking emergency measures to contain the
> spread of this highly infectious and deadly virus. Crucial to this work, is
> an understanding of where the populations are centred. Detailed and accurate
> maps of the region are vital, which is why organisations such as MSF are
> working closely with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team to coordinate our
> mapping community and deliver maps to field workers.

As far as I can tell, it's a crowdsourced effort to turn satellite photos of
the area into high-quality maps, which sadly do not exist in these areas.

~~~
rch
It's a real thing, and there has been some news coverage indicating that the
effort has been helpful. Here's a blog post with a little more detail, and
several relevant links:

[https://www.mapbox.com/blog/osm-ebola-
mapping/](https://www.mapbox.com/blog/osm-ebola-mapping/)

------
beachstartup
are there any epidemiologists here that can comment on the likelihood of this
spreading out of n.w. africa?

~~~
abruzzi
The primary positive is that the disease has a very quick run from infection
to visibly symptomatic to death. While long distance spread is still possible,
most outbreaks have been somewhat geographically contained because of this.
The worst case scenario for deadly diseases is asymptomatic carriers, and I
don't know if there is such a thing with ebola (except for the first few days
of infection). It's why diseases like HIV have ultimately had greater impact.
It can spread for years before anyone becomes symptomatic.

~~~
marvin
Unfortunately, this oft-repeated description is wrong. Ebola has a weeks-long
incubation period and is contagious throughout most of the incubation period.
Plenty of time to spread the virus before the host becomes symptomatic.

~~~
zastavka
>and is contagious throughout most of the incubation period.

Can you give a source for this?

------
dr_faustus
I REALLY hope he survives. And not only because he is a hero and I hope not a
single person has to die from that horrible disease anymore. The other reason
is that one of the reasons for the long lasting epidemia is distrust for
foreign doctors and as a native, he has a much better chance of reaching and
educating people.

------
theycallmemorty
Perhaps a Stupid Question: If Ebola is a virus, does that mean this man is
permanently inoculated against it if he happens to survive?

------
macrael
.

------
Polish_Dan
The Ebola virus's spread is completely unnatural (it jumps entire regions
where there are no major travel patterns). And people are supposed to believe
a disease spread that naturally impossible.

You would think there would be an investigation. The last case of a disease
sprouting at random with no previous occurrence was Cholera in Haiti, a
disease that was introduced by Nepalese UN Aid workers.

~~~
bellerocky
> And educated people are supposed to believe a disease spread that naturally
> impossible.

Are you a virologist? Can you take a minute and think about something you say
before you jump into conspiracy theories? This is a tragedy, not an
opportunity to spin your silly ideas.

