Terror Disease Puts Venezuela on Alert!

[taniwha]

"The governor of Aragua says fake pictures of the disease on social networks seek to "distress the Venezuelans."

The deaths of 10 people in the past week of a mysterious disease in several cities in Venezuela, including the capital of Caracas, have caused panic within the population and has prompted doctors to sound the alarm.

A government spokesman minimized the warnings and described efforts to notify the public of a disease that has killed four adults and four children as a "campaign of disinformation and terrorism."

Despite the government's indifference, the country's doctors insist there is plenty of reason for concern about a highly dangerous and contagious disease of unknown origin.

"We do not know what it is," admitted Duglas León Natera, president of the Venezuelan Medical Federation.

http://www.local10.com/news/venezuela-on-alert-over-mysterious-deadly-disease/28100714

Edited September 18, 2014 by taniwha

[George Ford]

Sounds ominous, the symptoms are certainly very similar to Ebola. Hope they are not too panicked to take simple precautions and educate people on potential causes of infection and how to prevent it.

[taniwha]

Its going to be difficult to sort through the propaganda reports. It is being 'officially' confirmed as chikungunya virus.

This is the best site for Spanio / English translations I have found for the latest news.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=546854

...Dr. Orihuela is now blaming this entire incident on chikungunya. If chikungunya has about the same fatality rate as seasonal flu (about 0.1%), then 10-12 deaths would imply 10,000-12,000 cases. Considering estimates of 90,000 undiagnosed fever cases in Aragua, that is certainly possible.

The doctor and former Minister of Health, Rafael Orihuela said the cause of the deaths were recorded in the General Hospital of Maracay, Aragua state, was the Chikungunya virus.

"The deaths are not meningococcemia, are severe forms of Chikungunya and the government will have to accept it and say it publicly, we will give an ultimatum, you have 48 hours to tell the truth, because if not, we will say" he said.

[libstaK]

Its going to be difficult to sort through the propaganda reports. It is being 'officially' confirmed as chikungunya virus.

This is the best site for Spanio / English translations I have found for the latest news.

http://www.flutracke...ad.php?p=546854

Wait, so the "official" confirmation is chikungunya virus but the doctors are giving authorities 48 hours to come clean and tell the truth or they will tell the public themselves?

Surely a doctor has more authority in the matter of virus identification than anyone else and should never need to wait for someone else to "come clean" before advising the public of an immediate threat to health? This is just bizarre.

[taniwha]

Wait, so the "official" confirmation is chikungunya virus but the doctors are giving authorities 48 hours to come clean and tell the truth or they will tell the public themselves?

Surely a doctor has more authority in the matter of virus identification than anyone else and should never need to wait for someone else to "come clean" before advising the public of an immediate threat to health? This is just bizarre.

Yes from what i can gather there is a tense and complex political climate at the moment in Venezuela, its even been reported the Government has denied completely the existence of the disease with one spokesman describing the situation as a " disinformation and terrorism campaign'" and refusing to acknowledge medical professionals calls for further investigation.

But doctors have demanded the government do acknowledge their plight.

"there is absolute silence on the part of sanitation authorities of the state, which I understand to mean they know absolutely nothing, because the people in charge of these offices are not doctors and do not know about public health." ~ Douglas Leon Natera, president of the Venezuelan Medical Federation.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/09/18/Alarm-in-Venezuela-as-Mysterious-Virus-Kills-Ten

Is there anyone here from Venezuela who can shed more light on this?

One can only be thankful not to live in countries with such third world health systems and back-to-front realities. Thoughts and prayers to the victims and families, and hopefully sanity prevails soon enough.

[Ashotep]

This doesn't sound good, if this is airborne it could spread ending up everywhere if you have a government that won't acknowledge its existence.

[taniwha]

This doesn't sound good, if this is airborne it could spread ending up everywhere if you have a government that won't acknowledge its existence.

It is a twisted tale so far Ashotep, if the alternative is a fully-blown plague, even politically motivated scare-mongering might be considered the lesser of two evils.

If it is chickungunya it is already airborne, only in the sense that mosquitoes transmit the virus. According to Hector Celis, head of the epidemiology service at the Maracay's Central Hospital (HCM) in north central Aragua state, the theory that chickungunya virus may have mutated causing the fatal hemorhaggic outbreak cant be ruled out yet.

HCM staff are keeping vigil, Celis said that:

currently there are no patients with chikungunya fever admitted in that hospital.

Celis also denied the incidence of meningococcemia infection or Ebola virus in the hospital, and underscored that the photographs posted on social networks reporting those diseases were fake.

http://english.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/140918/maracays-central-hospital-under-epidemiologic-surveillance

[taniwha]

CARACAS, Venezuela -President Nicolas Maduro said he ordered the prosecution of doctors who had alerted the public to the recent deaths of nine people in a public hospital from an unidentified but possibly infectious disease.

"They wanted to impose a scheme of alarm, of psychological terrorism,"Mr. Maduro said Wednesday in a speech broadcast on TV. "There is no other name for this, it's terrorism."

He said he had spoken with Attorney General Luisa Ortega "so that our organs of justice work with severity, with all the firmness and severity that the law permits. You have to punish these people."

http://online.wsj.com/articles/venezuelas-maduro-deems-outbreak-of-deadly-disease-terrorism-1411083807?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12595499785223203469604580162562644987270.html

Dr. Sarmiento was singled out by the president for his comments about the deaths. The doctor couldn't be reached for comment.

Edited September 19, 2014 by taniwha

[Mr.United_Nations]

Yes from what i can gather there is a tense and complex political climate at the moment in Venezuela, its even been reported the Government has denied completely the existence of the disease with one spokesman describing the situation as a " disinformation and terrorism campaign'" and refusing to acknowledge medical professionals calls for further investigation.

But doctors have demanded the government do acknowledge their plight.

"there is absolute silence on the part of sanitation authorities of the state, which I understand to mean they know absolutely nothing, because the people in charge of these offices are not doctors and do not know about public health." ~ Douglas Leon Natera, president of the Venezuelan Medical Federation.

http://www.breitbart...Virus-Kills-Ten

Is there anyone here from Venezuela who can shed more light on this?

One can only be thankful not to live in countries with such third world health systems and back-to-front realities. Thoughts and prayers to the victims and families, and hopefully sanity prevails soon enough.

I was born there but haven't been back since 2008, from what i am hearing however is that government is in absolute. They have blamed everything on the opposition for anything. Though th healthcare system is OK i guess. Maduro is useless

[taniwha]

I was born there but haven't been back since 2008, from what i am hearing however is that government is in absolute. They have blamed everything on the opposition for anything. Though th healthcare system is OK i guess. Maduro is useless

Thanks for your reply Its sad about your birth country Yes_Man. Even without a rampant epidemic it sounds like a hell of a place to be in, well i guess it depends if you are in opposition or not. Terror is in the mind of the beholder.

Im guessing its no coincidence that since the medical officials have been threatened with arrest (and likely much worse) for speaking out, that the media are rather quiet today?

[taniwha]

In a press conference at the Central University of Venezuela, representatives of several medical organizations have estimated that there may be at least 65,000-120,000 cases of chikungunya in Venezuela, compared to 398 cases announced by Health Minister Nancy Perez Sierra, last week.

EL UNIVERSAL

Tuesday September 23, 2014 01:24 PM

Experts link Chikungunya with recent deaths in Venezuela

Infectious disease specialists from the Venezuelan Medical Society called on the Venezuelan government to declare the epidemic.

Representatives from the Venezuelan Medical Society have claimed that the recent deaths of unknown causes, and reported in the country were "strictly associated with the recent outbreak of chikungunya virus currently on the rise nationwide."...

http://english.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/140923/experts-link-chikungunya-with-recent-deaths-in-venezuela