The Maritime Ebola Vector

UPDATE 2: (MIAMI HERALD, Oct 17, 2014)
Ebola Scare Sends Caribbean Cruise Ship Back Home
A Carnival ship has been carrying a health care worker who may have handled lab samples from the deceased Ebola-infected man in Dallas. 


"In a statement, Doral-based Carnival Cruise Lines said the Carnival Magic had been waiting off the coast of Cozumel to dock Friday morning, but still had not received clearance by noon. The cruise line decided to send the ship back to its home port in Galveston “to ensure the ship arrives there on time on Sunday morning.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article2932945.html#storylink=cpy

UPDATE 1:  DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – "The CDC has announced that the second healthcare worker diagnosed with Ebola — now identified as Amber Joy Vinson of Dallas — traveled by air Oct. 13, with a low-grade fever, a day before she showed up at the hospital reporting symptoms."  source

Question:  How much longer will the CDC "fiddle" before mandating precautions for cruise ships? ( Nero is infamously known as the Emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned"^{[6] )}

Background  (Hat Tip to Gus Van Horn for  Exactly How Dangerous Is Ebola?

Scott Holleran interviewed Dr. Amesh Adalja on the subject of the Ebola virus threat to Americans"I have very little concern that Ebola will be able to spread in a modern, industrial country like the U.S. chiefly because of the way it spreads. You really have to work to become infected --it's not like measles--and you have to be in very close contact while not wearing personal, protective equipment like gowns, gloves and masks. In a U.S. setting, a patient with Ebola would be placed under protection and we wouldn't expect it to spread. We've had eight importations, such as lassa fever, another viral hemorrhagic fever spread in the same manner as Ebola, and the Marburg [virus] is in the same family as Ebola--and we've had no secondary spread." Read it all!

Molten Eagle's Commentary

Generally speaking, Dr.Amesh can hardly be faulted for his comforting opinion.  He fails, however, to note one of the most threatening avenues for Ebola spread.

According to the CDC, the average incubation period for norovirus-associated gastroenteritis is 12 to 48 hours, with a median period of approximately 33 hours.  However, people with compromised immune systems (for example, those receiving chemotherapy or organ transplants) can spread the virus for months.

Any U.S. headline reader is familiar with the awful practices that have allowed thousands of paying cruise ship passengers to be sickened at sea by passageways of rank vomit and contagion spread by multinational food service employees (et cetera) or infected passengers.

After days at sea with a noroviruse's short incubation period, repetitive episodes of sickness still seem relatively common.  The weak link is simply in the personal hygiene habits of some crew and passengers.

Fast forward to the Ebola Hemmorhagic Fever Virus of which Dr. Amesh speaks. According to the CDC, Ebola's incubation period ranges from 2 to 21 days (overlapping a norovirus).  According to The World Health Organization (WHO) [color emphasis added]:

In 2008, 13 million passengers worldwide travelled on cruise ships. Cruise itineraries cover all continents, including areas that are not easily accessible by other means of travel. The average duration of a cruise is about 7 days, but cruise voyages can last from several hours to several months. A typical cruise ship now carries up to 3000 passengers and 1000 crew.

Molten Eagle believes most readers can now recognize the inherent and immenint hazard of Ebola spread via the cruise ship vector.  If not, here is more.

According to the CDC's Ebola HF Health Packet: "How is Ebola hemorrhagic fever prevented?"

... [H]ealth-care providers must be able to recognize a case of Ebola HF should one appear. They must also have the capability to perform diagnostic tests and be ready to employ practical viral hemorrhagic fever isolation precautions, or barrier nursing techniques. These techniques include the wearing of protective clothing, such as masks, gloves, gowns, and goggles; the use of infection-control measures, including complete equipment sterilization; and the isolation of Ebola HF patients from contact with unprotected persons. The aim of all of these techniques is to avoid any person’s contact with the blood or secretions of any patient. If a patient with Ebola HF dies, it is equally important that direct contact with the body of the deceased patient be prevented.

Sanity check:  Where do passengers return when their cruise is completed?  Do some reside on the U.S. mainland? Planning on taking a cruise? Is your neighbor or co-worker? Already have reservations? Planning to buy stock in a cruise line?

Submarines are always silent and strange.
 

Not All We Need to Know - Part 2

Updates below are from Part I  [bold and color emphasis below are mine]:

Update  3 - February 24, 2014

Official: Heart attack and respiratory failure

Seychelles police said samples were being sent to nearby Mauritius for analysis to establish if the men had consumed "a substance" that could have caused a heart attack or respiratory failure.     BBC News

Update  #2 (FINAL)  February 22, 2014

Official: Drugs, needles found with dead officers on Maersk  - Sat (CNN)

"Traces of narcotics and hypodermic needles found with the bodies of two American security officers on the container ship Maersk Alabama suggested the deaths resulted from drug overdoses, a Seychelles government official has told CNN.   ... A Seychelles police statement said that despite media accounts of traces of drugs, authorities have not released any reports suggesting the deaths were the result of an overdose. The statement, however, did not deny that drugs were found or suggest an alternative cause of death."

"Based on our experience with the contractor, this is an isolated incident," Maersk said. But it said new drug tests would start immediately and the company's shore-leave policy was under review. 

Lt. Cmdr. Jamie Frederick, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, said the service was investigating the deaths, as required by American law. But he said the deaths "do not appear to be criminal in nature, related to vessel operations, the material condition of the ship or their duties as security personnel." 

Update  #1  February 21, 2014

Drugs found in room with two dead security officers

Mark Kennedy and Jeffrey Reynolds were found dead in a cabin aboard the Maersk Alabama container ship, police said. The cause of death has yet to be revealed, but officials said the mysterious deaths were not caused by their work. Police believe the men may have overdosed on drugs. source

FEB. 20, 2014


NAIROBI, Kenya —  Dead Guards on Freighter Are Identified as Former Navy SEAL Members
While the causes of death were still under investigation, a spokesman for the ship’s owners said a police report indicated that drugs were in the cabin where the two bodies were found.  New York times 
FEB. 20, 2014

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Not All We Need to Know - Part I

Example of insignificant(?) NEWS  #1

20 FEB 2014 - Pollution levels in parts of Iceland peaked yesterday at 40 times the upper safe limit ...  the first time since the last volcanic eruptions in 2010-2011. Particulate matter in air should not exceed 50 micrograms per square meter. In Reykjavík it was 420 micrograms per square meter with spikes of up to 2,000 micrograms. People with respiratory diseases have been urged to avoid areas of heavy traffic.

Kristín Lóa Ólafsdóttir, specialist at the Reykjavík Health Authority, told  Iceland Review online she believes some of the excess dust is due to sand and salt used on the roads during winter but also dust in the environment including sand from the eastern part of the country due to strong wind in recent days. As it hasn’t rained in the capital for quite a few days now the ground is also very dry.

Is dust and winds in the dry U.S. West, or road sand in the U.S. East of little significance?  Apparently it has been insignificant to the mainstream media, which has also been ignoring the possibility of radiation plumes from Fukishima.

In December of 2012, after the 11 March 2011 Fukishima Nuclear disaster, the EPA lowered the level for safe exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) by 20% from 15 µg/m3 to 12 µg/m3.  

The U.S. public has been reassured, so far, possibly? 

Example of insignificant(?) NEWS  #2

Container ship MV Maersk Alabama has been a target for numerous pirate incidents off Somalia. The April 2009 incident (first of two that year) became the basis for a 2013 film, Captain Phillips, which involved a successful rescue of the ship's master by SEALs.

19 FEB 2014 - Deaths of two security contractors
Two former Navy SEALs working as security contractors aboard the Maersk Alabama for the private security firm Trident Group were found dead aboard the container ship, a day after it docked at Port Victoria, Seychelles.  Seychelles police identified the two, found dead Tuesday, as Jeffrey Reynolds,  described by neighbors as a devoted father, and Mark Kennedy, both 44.

Gossip... 

• Both were found dead in a cabin onboard the ship on February 18 at around 4:30 p.m. local time. The causes of their deaths have not been made public.  source

Official...

• State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf confirmed the men were U.S. citizens. The Coast Guard is involved in the investigation because the Maersk Alabama is a U.S.-flagged ship, Harf said.
• The police gave no cause of death and said a post mortem had been scheduled. 

• The U.S. Coast Guard stated from its headquarters in Washington that it is investigating the deaths.  
• Kevin N. Speers, a senior director for Maersk Line, said in a statement that the security contractors boarded the vessel on January 29, and that their deaths were "not related to vessel operations or their duties as security personnel... I'm absolutely clueless as to what happened." 
• Reynolds and Kennedy worked for Trident Group, a Virginia-based maritime security services firm. The company's president, Tom Rothrauff, said the men were former Navy SEALs.
  Requests to Trident for information about the two men were not answered Wednesday.

Both were found dead in a cabin onboard the ship on February 18 at around 4:30 p.m. local time. The causes of their deaths have not been made public.

Read more at: http://www.heavy.com/news/2014/02/maersk-alabama-navy-seals-jeffrey-reynolds-mark-kennedy/

The U.S. public would simply like to know if terrorism of any sort was involved in the deaths of the former SEALS.  One thing is for certain, the two were not victims of Norovirus.  Stay tuned for updates.

Submarines are always silent and strange.