FYI 100-28: Emergency Management & Information

We’re coming to that time of year again when the country grinds to a standstill. Yes, We’re talking about winter… and more importantly snow and ice. Our friends over at Giles Insurance have kindly created a check-list to help you prepare for the worst:

5 Reasons Ebola Is Killing More Women

Ebola In The Air: What Science Says About How The Virus Spreads

Here’s an Ebola puzzle for you: If the virus isn’t airborne, why do doctors and nurses need to wear full protective suits, with face masks, while treating patients?

After we dug through studies and talked to scientists, the answer slowly emerged.

Ebola does spread through the air. But not through the airborne route.

Oh, goodness! No wonder there’s been such a kerfuffle about how the virus is transmitted.

The story began quite innocently at Harvard University way back in the 1930s. William Wells was a hotshot engineer there at the time. He was figuring out a slew of important ideas about infectious disease, like the fact that UV light kills bacteria.

One day in 1933, Wells discovered that pathogens (he was studying bacteria) get trapped in tiny droplets of fluid — maybe some mucus when you sneeze or some saliva when you cough. The pathogens stay alive in the fluid and can move through the air inside these droplets.

Clearly this is one way infections spread. But Wells didn’t stop there.

Continue reading.

Ebola hasn’t gone away in Sierra Leone

It was only a month ago Ebola hysteria gripped headlines, feeding a media frenzy over the possibility of an epidemic in the U.S. But even though the country’s attention has waned as the virus proved to be a non-threat stateside, it continues to maintain a lethal stranglehold over West Africa.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Ebola outbreak has claimed more than 6,000 lives, the majority coming from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

FBI investigates FEMA flood map changes after NBC News report

(Photo: NBC News)

FBI agents are interviewing employees at FEMA in an investigation of unusual changes in federal flood insurance maps that benefited oceanfront condo buildings with a history of flooding, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

November 4, 1952: National Security Agency Is Established

On this day in 1952, the National Security Agency was formally established. The NSA was founded as a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense.

This agency is responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications as well as protecting US government communications and information systems.

See on Scoop.it - Healthcare

West Africa Is ‘Overwhelmed’ By Ebola

People are hiding from health care workers. New cases are turning up in unexpected places. At funerals, family members don’t always follow the advice not to touch the body of the deceased, which may still harbor the deadly virus.

These are a few of the signs that, in the words of public health specialist Armand Sprecher of , the Ebola outbreak that began in West Africa in February is “not under control yet.”

The first cases were in Guinea, but the virus has since spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia. The death toll has risen to 330, making this the deadliest Ebola outbreak since the disease was first detected in 1976. The staff of Doctors Without Borders is “overwhelmed” by the need to set up new isolation wards and track down people who may be infected, Sprecher told NPR’s Jason Beaubien.

In past outbreaks, there have been what are called “satellite cases,” where the disease appears in different locations. But “not nearly as many as we’ve seen in this outbreak,” says Sprecher. That may be because people move around a lot in West Africa.

More…

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/06/20/323985117/west-africa-is-overwhelmed-by-ebola