The mysterious viral illness that has been striking children has now spread to 38 states.
The Centers for Disease Control has confirmed 226 cases of enterovirus 68. However, the CDC admits that many other children have likely been infected with the virus and was not severe enough to seek medical attention at a hospital.
Doctors say the reports of the CDC are the “tip of the iceberg” for the mysterious virus.
University of Chicago’s Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital has been forced to divert ambulances to other hospitals because the emergency room was filled with children suffering from severe respiratory illness. It was the first time in 10 years the hospital had to divert ambulances.
Doctors say that while enteroviruses are common illnesses, enterovirus 68 is rare.
“Parents would love to know why this virus is causing severe disease and why there are more cases,” Rafal Tokarz, an associate research scientist at Columbia University who has studied the virus, told the New York Times, “but we won’t be able to answer that until a lot more research is done.”
The Centers for Disease Control is laying out the case for a very grim start to the new year.
The CDC says that as little as 550,000 and up to 1.4 million people could be infected with Ebola by the start of the new year if it is not contained. The World Health Organization says that so far they only have 5,800 confirmed cases and 2,800 deaths, but admit there could be cases in rural areas that are not reported to health care officials.
The CDC report says that currently cases in Liberia are doubling every 15-20 days and doubling in Guinea & Sierra Leone every 30 to 40 days.
The CDC admits their scenario does not take into account the 3,000 troops and medical personnel that President Obama is sending to the region to attempt to control the spread of the killer virus.
The CDC also said that if 70 percent of patients are cared for in proper medical facilities the epidemic can be contained.
The WHO also released a report showing that 337 healthcare workers have been infected with the virus while helping victims and 181 of them have died.
Doctors treating an American doctor who rushed to Liberia to assist after two previous American health workers were infected with Ebola say his condition is stable but it’s too early to say if he will recover.
Dr. Rick Sacra is in isolation at Nebraska Medical Center and is described as “very tired and stable.”
“We are encouraged by what we see, but it’s too early to say he has turned a corner,” Dr. Phil Smith told Fox News. Dr. Smith said that Sacra is being treated with an experimental drug that is different than the ZMapp given to two previous American victims of the virus.
Dr. Smith also said that Dr. Sacra, while still very sick, has been keenly observing his condition and vital signs and is giving tips on the best way to provide his treatment.
Dr. Sacra’s family was able to visit with him through a video link for almost half an hour.
“He asked for something to eat and had a little chicken soup,” Debbie Sacra said in a statement.
The doctor had been serving with the Christian missionary outfit SIM, the same organization that previous victim Nancy Writebol had been working with in Liberia.
The fight against Ebola is now considered such a world threat that the U.S. military is becoming involved in the containment of the West African outbreak.
President Obama has said the outbreak is now “a serious national security concern.”
“We’re going to have to get U.S. military assets just to set up, for example, isolation units and equipment there,” the President said, “to provide security for public health workers surging from around the world.”
The move will allow the military to provide containment units, medical supplies and other advice to health officials on the ground in Liberia and other nations where the virus is running rampant.
Military officials say they will be working closely with Doctors Without Borders.
West African nations are stepping up to offer infrastructure to aid organizations and military relief efforts. Ghana said they would make their international airport in Accra an “air bridge” for Ebola response.
The U.N. says that $600 million will be needed at the bare minimum to stop the virus.
The rare virus that sickened children in California last year and slammed Kansas City a few weeks ago has now been found in ten states.
Doctors say the rare virus, Human Enterovirus 68, is related to rhinovirus which causes the common cold. The Centers for Disease Control says that 10 states have shown cases of the virus: Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Georgia.
Dr. Richard Besser, the Chief Health and Medical Editor for ABC News, said that viruses “don’t respect borders” and that he expects it to appear across the country.
“If your state doesn’t have it now,” Dr. Besser said, “Watch for it, it’s coming.”
Doctors from Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver said that the virus stats showing signs of a cold such as sneezing and coughing. The victims then start wheezing and have trouble breathing similar to an asthma attack.
Children under 5 and those with asthma are considered to be at highest risk. Some patients have to be in intensive care for 4-7 days to assist breathing until the virus clears the system.
An American doctor who became infected with the Ebola virus while working at an OB/GYN clinic in Liberia has been flown to Nebraska for treatment.
Dr. Rick Sacra, 51, is going to be held in a special isolation unit on the seven floor of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. The unit is the largest of four such units in the United States.
Dr. Sacra is from the Boston area and went to Liberia after the two other American medical missionaries became ill from the virus. He worked with the Christian charity SIM, the same group that infected nurse Nancy Writebol had served with before her infection with the virus.
The media was screened from Dr. Sacra as he was brought to the hospital about 40 minutes after leading at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha.
A team of 35 doctors, nurses and medical staff will be providing Dr. Sacra with substantive care including keeping him hydrated and vital signs stable.
Because the experimental drug ZMapp is not available, there are discussions about using blood serum from one of the other Americans who has recovered from the virus in an attempt to introduce antibodies in the system.
The head of the CDC is publicly stating that the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa is “spiraling out of control” as the death toll has topped 1,900 and another American missionary has been confirmed to be infected with the virus.
Dr. Tom Frieden reports many countries “turned their backs” on those coming form countries who have been hit hard by the virus and that containment measures are actually hurting relief efforts in effected areas.
Frieden attended a United Nations conference where the world agency says over $600 million will be needed in medication and supplies to stop the outbreak.
The health officials at the UN conference also warned of the increase in spread of the virus. Cases have been reported in Nigeria and Senegal adding to the number of nations treating patients.
“We are working intensively with those governments to encourage them to commit to the movement of people and planes and at the same time deal with anxieties about the possibility of infection,” UN Coordinator for Ebola Dr. David Nabarro said.
Meanwhile, another health worker for the Christian relief agency SIM has been confirmed as a victim of the virus. Details are still sketchy regarding the latest case but officials say the man was working with pregnant women in a wing of the hospital away from Ebola cases and it was not clear how he was infected.
A mysterious respiratory virus has been striking children in the Kansas City area.
Children’s Mercy Hospital has confirmed hospitalizing up to 30 kids a day with the virus and the hospital is as full as during the heights of flu season.
One woman whose son was struck by the virus says that he was fine when he went to pre-school on Tuesday but soon had trouble breathing.
“You could see his ribs, and his stomach was pushing out really hard… I thought it was an asthma attack,” Pam Sheldon told Fox Kansas City.
The virus has been identified as Enterovirus-68. The virus had been considered rare until the last few years when it had increased in worldwide appearance. The virus is suspected as the cause of a polio-like disease in California in 2009 and can cause symptoms that mimic asthma to central nervous system attacks.
In some rare cases, the virus can be fatal.
There is no vaccine or anti-viral medication for Enterovirus-68 and the only thing that doctors can do for victims is supportive care such as oxygen.
Nigeria has issued an order to shut all schools immediately out of fear the Ebola virus could break out in a student population.
“All state ministries of education are to immediately organize and ensure that at least two staff in each school, both private and public, are trained by appropriate health workers no later than Sept. 15 on how to handle any suspected case of Ebola,” said Education Minister Ibrahim Shekarau.
“And also embark on immediate sensitization of all teaching and non-teaching staff in all schools on preventive measures.”
Nigeria has reported five deaths from Ebola with most connected to a man who flew into the country after being infected in Liberia.
The World Health Organization admitted the current Ebola outbreak is out of control and has asked governments to take extraordinary steps to stop the virus from spreading. Even though Nigeria has only confirmed five cases, the government felt the shutting of the schools would be a prudent move to eradicate the outbreak in their country.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency over Ebola earlier this month.
The World Health Organization says the world’s largest historical outbreak of Ebola is likely to grow significantly bigger.
The WHO announced a $490 million dollar program to attempt to contain the virus and quell the outbreak. Doctors said it would take nine months at a minimum to get the outbreak under control and that 20,000 people could be confirmed to have contracted the virus by that point.
However, the WHO doctors admitted the likely amount of patients already infected is two to four times as high as the 3,069 officially listed cases because of patients that contracted the disease and died in rural villages.
The fatality rate of 52 percent, which has resulted in 1,552 deaths as of August 26th, has brought the total almost as high as all previously recorded outbreaks of the virus since its discovery in 1976.
British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has announced an experimental Ebola vaccine is being pushed into human studies in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health. If the results are good, they plan to send 10,000 doses immediately to infected countries.
