GBU Mountain News LXXVI October 15, 2014 (PDF)

GBU Mountain News

GBU Mountain News

October 15, 2014 - LXXVI
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independent - unbiased – professional
October 15, 2014 – LXXVI

I

Ebola - A Global Threat?
- even for Kern County?? –
“I have never seen a health event strike such fear and terror, well beyond the affected countries”
Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, Oct 13, 2014

by Gunnar J Kuepper
So far, the current Ebola Virus has claimed 4,500 lives
out of 9,000 documented in West Africa since. The virus
has now reached the United States and Western Europe

as well. So far only a handful of patients (16 as of
October 14) are treated in the U.S. and Western Europe,
the outbreak has nevertheless generated tremendous fear
throughout the global. The main reasons are that first
there is no cure for the disease caused by the Ebola virus,

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and about 50% of the people infected with the virus will
die. Of those 16 individuals infected with the Ebola four
have died (US:1, Spain:2, Germany:1); six are still
receiving medical care (US:3, Spain:1, Germany:1,
Norway:1), and six have recovered (US:3, France:1,
Great Britain:1, Germany:1)
What is a Virus
A virus is an extremely small "thing". It is between one
billionth (10 -9 = Nanometer) and ten billionth of a meter
(10 -10 Angstrom) small. In comparison, if a virus would
be the size of a human body, than a human would be
about one million kilometers tall.
A virus contains a package of chemicals, called nucleic
acid surrounded by a protein coat, called a capsid. It is
not really a living organism because a virus cannot grow
or reproduce on its own. A virus attacks cells in humans,
animals, or plants and changes the activity of that cell.
The cell then starts making copies of that virus. These
new produced viruses break out of the cell and attack
other cells.
With that the virus causes a variety of diseases in
humans, animals, and plants. Human diseases caused by
viruses include influenza, smallpox, HIV (=the virus)/
AIDS (the disease), and Ebola.
Each virus is different, looks different, attacks different
cells, and causes different diseases. Virus can stay in a
human (or animal) hidden for a long time without
producing any signs of disease.
Once a virus-caused disease breaks out, there is usually
no way to cure it. The only way to prevent a virus
infection in the first place is through vaccination (i.e.,
smallpox).
For certain viruses, including Ebola, a vaccination does
not even exist.
Outbreak in the U.S.
On Friday night, October 10, 2014 a nurse at Texas
Presbyterian Hospital reported a fever as part of a selfmonitoring regimen required by the CDC. On Sunday,
October 12, 2014 the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) and Texas Department of State Health
Services confirmed that the nurse, Nina Pham, had
indeed tested positive for Ebola.
She had provided care for the Dallas Ebola index patient
Thomas Eric Duncan. Subsequently, Pham had extensive
contact with Duncan who was admitted to that hospital
on September 28 and died on October 8, 2014.
Duncan carried the deadly virus with him from his home
country Liberia, though he showed no signs when he left
for the United States. He is believed to have contracted

the virus while helping a pregnant woman sick with
Ebola. That woman later died.
Health officials have so far identified 10 people,
including seven health workers, who had direct contact
with Duncan while he was contagious. Another 38
people also may have come into contact with him.
Despite taking apparent and prescribed safety precautions
like wearing protective gear, gloves, mask, and a face
shield, Nina Pham, the nurse in Dallas became infected
with the Ebola virus.
On Friday, October 10, she reported a low-grade fever
overnight and was referred for testing. Pham was then
isolated within 90 minutes in the hospital's ICU and
referred for testing. The preliminary test result,
confirming an Ebola infection, was received late
Saturday, October 11, 2014.
Health Officials are now investigating how exactly Pham
might have contracted the Ebola virus. Another person
who had close contact with Pham has since been isolated,
and hazmat teams have cleaned the apartment and the
surrounding complex in Nina Pham lived.
A similar, so far unexplained failure occurred recently at
a hospital in Madrid, Spain. A nursing assistant was last
week diagnosed as being infected with the Ebola virus.
She had cared for a missionary priest who contracted
Ebola in Sierra Leone and who later died. That woman,
like the nurse in Dallas, is believed to have complied
with safety protocols.
How to become infected
Ebola is spread through direct contact with body fluids of
a sick person or the remains of someone who has died of
Ebola, or exposure to objects such as needles that have
been contaminated. The illness has an average 8-10 day
incubation period (although it could be from 2 to 21
days), and therefore CDC recommends monitoring
exposed people for symptoms a complete 21 days.
People are not contagious before symptoms such as fever
develop.
Early Detection
Infection with the Ebola virus causes severe disease in
humans. The onset of symptoms is sudden and generally
includes fever. A recent review of cases indicates that
83% of the more than 4 000 patients surveyed presented
with fever in the course of the disease. Therefore, fever is
a relatively sensitive symptom for the detection of Ebola
Virus Disease (EVD).
However, 13% of symptomatic patients may not present
initially with fever. In addition, fever is one of the most
common symptoms of any infectious disease. In the
context of West African countries, several common

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infectious or parasitic diseases may affect travelers, in
particular malaria. Taking unspecific symptoms like
fever into account, the positive predictive value of a
positive screening result for a rare disease is very low,
particularly when the prevalence of other febrile
infectious diseases among travelers is higher than that of
Ebola (e.g. influenza, malaria).
Fever is a symptom that can also be temporarily
concealed by using antipyretic drugs. Passengers aware
of presenting with fever may be tempted to conceal it for
fear of being prevented from boarding a flight (exit
screening) or entering the country (entry screening).
Why is there no Vaccine
Before the current outbreak there were 33 smaller
outbreaks since 1976 in mostly poor African nations,
with a total of 1,500 people killed by the Ebola virus.
Researching and developing a vaccine and subsequent
inoculations cost tens of millions of dollars. The
pharmaceutical and the health care industry are driven by
funding, either from governments or profits from the sale
of drugs.
The limited number of casualties in previous outbreaks
did not provide a financial incentive, and -indeed
somewhat difficult to understand- no government or
philanthropic organization funded major research.
Only a few biotechnology companies were working on
medicines, vaccinations and tests for Ebola, many of
which received funding from the National Institutes of
Health. ZMapp, under development by a California firm
called Mapp Biopharmaceutical, has garnered attention
since the outbreak began, but the company has now
depleted its stock by shipping medicine overseas.
According to a report in the New York Times, the U.S.
government, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and
the Wellcome Trust are currently working with that
company and another firm to boost production of the
experimental treatment.
Now that investors have become interested, a few more
firms are now working to research and develop treatment
options. Those include Sarepta Therapeutics in
Massachusetts, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in North
Carolina, Tekmira Pharmaceuticals in Canada. British
pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline and Japan's
Fujifilm are researching on vaccines and medicines.
However solutions are at the very least three to five years
into the future. Inventing medicines and vaccines as well
as diagnostic tests is complex, difficult and takes time. It
is an arduous task that involves much more failures than
successes.

Global Threat?
The Director-General of the World Health Organization
(WHO) stated on Monday, October 13, 2014:
“In my long career in public health, which includes
managing the H5N1 and SARS outbreaks in Hong Kong,
and managing the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic at
WHO, I have never before seen a health event attract
such a high level of international media coverage, day
after day after day.
“I have never seen a health event threaten the very
survival of societies and governments in already very
poor countries. I have never seen an infectious disease
contribute so strongly to potential state failure.
“I have never seen a health event strike such fear and
terror, well beyond the affected countries.”
The WHO reported on Tuesday, October 14, 2014 that
the death rate in the Ebola outbreak has risen to 70% of
those infected and that, within two months, up to 10,000
new cases a week can be expected.
Stopping flights from West African Nations to the U.S.
will not help. People can easily fly to any major airport in
Europe, Asia, or the Middle East and from there catch a
flight to North America. At this point in time is appears
neither feasible nor enforceable to quarantine four (or
more) entire nations or even an entire continent.
Threat for Kern County?
A few of the world’s busiest airports are located within
driving distance from Bakersfield. Los Angeles
International Airport (~120 miles south of Bakersfield)
handles 35 million passengers a year (95,000/day), San
Francisco International Airport (~290 miles north of
Bakersfield) handles 23 million a year (71,000/day), and
Las Vegas International Airport (~280 miles east of
Bakersfield) sees 22 million passengers a year
(63,000/day), many of those coming from foreign
countries.
Just hypothetical: If only 0.1% of these daily 229,000
passengers are infected, and only 1% of these 229
infected passengers comes to Kern County, that would
make 2.3 infected persons per day.

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This CDC image illustrates the very beginning stages of
an influenza (flu) infection caused by an influenza virus.
This image shows what happens after these influenza
viruses enter the human body. The viruses attach to cells
within the nasal passages and throat (i.e., the respiratory
tract). The influenza virus’s hemagglutinin (HA) surface
proteins then bind to the sialic acid receptors on the
surface of a human respiratory tract cell. The structure of
the influenza virus’s HA surface proteins is designed to
fit the sialic acid receptors of the human cell, like a key
to a lock. Once the key enters the lock, the influenza
virus is then able to enter and infect the cell. This marks
the beginning of a flu infection.

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Content
1. Ebola – a global threat? by Gunnar J Kuepper
2. All Things Local
 Important Phone Numbers
 Upcoming Events
 “The Leader in Me” – A way for the Frazier Park
Elementary School to prepare the next generation
for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st
Century?
 Three Motorcycle Accidents, One House Fire,
and One Brush Fire in the Western Portions of
the Frazier Mountain Communities
 Homecoming Parade & Celebration at Frazier
Mountain High School
 Local Business Directory and Job Openings
3. All Things Regional
4. All Things Global
 Current Threats to World Peace & Global
Stability
o Russian - Ukrainian Crisis
o ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria)
o Israel - Palestine Conflict
o Socioeconomic & Political Consequences of
Global Climate Changes
o 2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa
o Known Unknowns
o Unknown Unknowns
5. People
6. Law Enforcement Corner
 Kern County Sheriff’s Office – Frazier Park
Incident Log September 30 –October 9
 Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD)
 California Highway Patrol
 Bakersfield Police Department (BPD)
7. Cooking & Food
 Viennese Cutlet (Wiener Schnitzel)
8. Animals Matter
9. Our Library
 The Frazier Park Library needs your Help –
Marie Smith needs LEGO bricks!
10. Incidents & Accidents - Homicides, Arrests, Traffic
Accidents, Fires & Rescues throughout Kern County
11. Arts – Music – Theatre
12. Business Affairs

13. Teens
14. Nature, Science & Technology
15. Weather
 Frazier Park Weather Forecast
16. Kern County
 Board of Supervisors Meetings
17. Safety & Disaster Preparedness
18. Media Affairs
19. Legislative Affairs
20. Where to Go – What to Do
21. Op-Ed
22. Health & Fitness
23. Classifieds
 Job Openings

In dealing with your adversaries:

"Stand ye still, and watch the
salvation of the LORD."
Exodus 14:13
Chronicles 20:17

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Capture the Beauty
Portraits by Gunnar J Kuepper

Please contact me for details and rates (661)- 487- 1655

All Things Local

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Important Phone Numbers
Fire
911
Ambulance
911
Sheriff or CHP
911

“The Leader in Me” – A way for the
Frazier Park Elementary School to
prepare the next generation for the
challenges and opportunities of the 21st
Century?

Frazier Park Sheriff Station
661-245-3440
Southern California Edison
800-655-4555
Southern California Gas
800-427-2200
Pacific Gas & Electric (PGE)
800-743-5000
El Tejon Unified School District 661-248-6247
Frazier Park Library
661-245-1267
Fire Station 56 (Lebec)
661-248-6426
Fire Station 57 (Frazier Park)
661-245-3706
Dentist Porazik, Lebec
661-245-1434
The Photographer (fires, accidents, weddings, & all other disasters)
661-487-1655

On Monday, October 6, 2014, Keri St Jeor, the Principal
of the Frazier Park Elementary School, hosted a
presentation of "The Leader in Me," described as a
whole-school transformation model aimed at improving
the performance of all school programs.

Upcoming Events in the Frazier Mountain
Communities


October 17 (Friday): “School Board Candidates
Forum” at the Frazier Park Library: 5 – 7 pm
 October 18 (Saturday):
o Rotary Festival of Books at the Frazier
Mountain Park Community Center: 9 am – 1
pm
o Library Volunteer Appreciation Party at the
Frazier Park Library: 3:30 – 5 pm
o Free Community Dinner at the Frazier
Mountain Park Community Center: 4 – 6 pm
 October 26: Zombie Fest in Frazier Park
 November 16: Classical Piano with Andrew Wong
in Gorman
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So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief
that the only thing we have to fear is...fear
itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified
terror which paralyzes needed efforts to
convert retreat into advance.
Franklin D Roosevelt
Inaugural speech March 4, 1933

Paul Adams provided an overview of
“The Leader in Me” Program

About ten teachers from the Elementary School, three
School Board Members (John Fleming, Barbara
Newbold, Anita Andersen) and Superintendent Rod
Wallace listened to the presentation given by Paul
Adams, a former (2011-2013) member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives. Adams, now
working for the Franklin Covey Education firm, provided
an overview of "The Leader in Me" program, goals, and
implementation processes.
"The Leader in Me" is based on Stephen Covey's Books
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" published in
2004 and "The Leader in Me - How Schools and Parents
around the World are inspiring Greatness, One Child at a
Time" published in 2008. The program has a holistic
approach involving students, teachers, and community
and incorporates basic leadership skills into the
curriculum using creative and unique methods.
The program is currently used at 2,000 schools
worldwide. The first program was initiated at a
struggling Elementary School in Raleigh, North Carolina

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