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WEDNESDAY 29 OCTOBER 2014 • [email protected] • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741 inside Animated robots, trolls and the CAMPUS • Doha College dead dig up new educates students film fans on road safety P | 4 P | 8-9 MARKETPLACE • LG launches LTE version of G Pad 8.0 West Africa is struggling with the worst Ebola outbreak on record that P | 6 has killed more than 4,900 people. Two nurses in the United States and ARCHAEOLOGY one nurse in Spain have contracted • Uruk: The city Ebola outside of Africa. There where writing is only one US company, which was invented transports these patients to their home country. P | 7 HEALTH • Stroke patients miss cholesterol lowering targets P | 11 TECHNOLOGY • No Man’s Sky creator: We wanted to build a universe THREAT OF P | 12 LEARN ARABIC • Learn commonly used Arabic words EBOLA and their meanings P | 13 2 PLUS | WEDNESDAY 29 OCTOBER 2014 COVER STORY The world relies on Phoenix Air has been using the one US company to isolation system below this aircraft to transport Ebola patients. fly Ebola patients By Josh Hicks direct patient care, and therefore the The CDC at the time wanted a way $200,000 each, were paid for by exposure risk remains low.” to transport infected medical workers Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian hen it comes to trans- The Obama administration has not to the United States instead of treat- humanitarian organization that the porting Ebola victims by decided whether it will use the modules ing them in the field, due to growing patients had worked with in Liberia. air, the world relies on to transport non-military patients. The concern about conflicts throughout the Phoenix Air decided after those mis- Wjust one US company. system being designed for the military world, according to Dent Thompson, sions that the government should Phoenix Air, a jet-charter service could hold up to 12 patients at a time, the company’s vice president of manage all future efforts because of based in Cartersville, Georgia, has whereas the Phoenix Air version can operations. the “real-world complexities of what flown 15 infected patients, includ- accommodate only one infected indi- The transport system was finished it takes to make a mission like this ing Europeans who worked in West vidual for each flight. in late 2011, but the outbreaks had long work,” Thompson said. Africa and five individuals who were “This particular capability remains since died down. As a result, Phoenix The State Department has coordi- treated in the United States — doctor under development, so it would be pre- Air placed the units in storage. nated all flights since then, including Kent Brantly, photojournalist Ashoka mature to speak to its potential use,” “We would periodically make various those for foreigners returning to their Mukpo, missionary Nancy Writebol, said White House spokesman Ned Price. federal agencies aware that it existed native countries for treatment. US tax- and nurses Nina Pham and Amber The tent-like isolation units consist and said, ‘If you ever need it, we can payers pick up the bill for American Vinson. of a metal frame, a plastic liner and use it,’” Thompson said. patients, but the government requires The Pentagon this week said it is an air-filtration system. For the char- A call finally came from the State reimbursement for the others. developing its own portable isolation ter flights, one doctor and two nurses Department’s chief of emergency medi- “To me, this is no different from units for use on military planes, as attend to each patient. After one of the cine in late July. Phoenix Air quickly a soldier being shot in Afghanistan,” thousands of US troops head to West chambers is used, the company sprays assembled a volunteer flight and medi- Thompson said. “The US government Africa. The Defense Department toxic disinfectant into the contraption, cal crew after government officials is going to get that soldier and bring expects to test the systems next month then removes it from the aircraft and inspected the system and gave it a him home and put him in a medical and deploy them in C-17 and C-130 incinerates the plastic. thumbs-up. facility.” transport planes by January. Phoenix Air finished its first trans- “Within 48 hours, we were on our Phoenix Air now has three contain- “This system is being developed out port tube in 2009 with help from the way to get the first patient,” Thompson ment systems that can be inserted into of an abundance of caution, to reassure Centers for Disease Control and the said, speaking of the flight to transport its aircraft, one of which is always on our service members working in Ebola- Defense Department, following deadly Brantly on August 2. The plane took standby at a Georgia hangar. affected areas,” said Pentagon spokes- outbreaks of bird flu and severe acute Brantly to Atlanta and turned around “We’re like a firetruck in a fire sta- woman Jennifer Elzea. “There are no respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in almost immediately to fetch Writebol. tion,” Thompson said. plans for DOD personnel to provide Asia. Both trips, which cost about WP-Bloomberg PLUS | WEDNESDAY 29 OCTOBER 2014 3 How Ebola Medical staff test whether an Ebola spreads protective suit is leak-proof at a hos- pital, in Shenzhen, and started China. West Africa is struggling with the worst Ebola outbreak on record that has killed more than 4,900 people. Two nurses in the United States and one nurse in Spain have contracted Ebola outside of Africa. The following are some facts about the outbreak: Ebola has killed 4,922 people, or about 50 percent of 10,141 confirmed, probable and suspected cases, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, accord- ing to the UN’s World Health Organization. It says the true death toll may be three times as much or 15,000 people, while the death rate is thought to be about 70 percent of all cases. Ebola emerged in a remote forest region of Guinea in March and has also turned up in Nigeria, Senegal and Mali. Health officials declared Nigeria and Senegal Ebola-free in October. There is no vaccine or cure for Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever. In past outbreaks, fatality rates have reached up to 90 percent. Ebola causes fever, flu-like pains, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea. Pharmaceutical companies are working on experi- mental Ebola vaccines and antiviral drugs, but a sig- nificant number of doses will not be available until at least the first quarter of 2015. Ebola is not airborne. It is transmitted through blood, vomit, diarrhea and other bodily fluids. Healthcare workers in West Africa have been among the hardest hit by the outbreak. Ebola symptoms generally appear between two and 21 days after infection, meaning there is a significant window during which an infected person can escape detection, allowing them to travel. However, they are not considered contagious until they start showing symptoms. Recovery from Ebola depends on the patient’s immune response. People who recover from Ebola infection develop antibodies that last for at least 10 years. Ebola patients have been treated in the United States, Spain, Germany, France, Norway and the United Kingdom. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated that the number of infections could rise to up to 1.4 million people by early next year without a massive global intervention to contain the virus. The United States, Britain, France, China, Cuba and international organisations are pouring funds, supplies and personnel into the affected parts of West Africa. Ebola’s suspected origin is forest bats. The virus was first identified in 1976 in what is now known as Democratic Republic of the Congo. SOURCE: World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Reuters 4 PLUS | WEDNESDAY 29 OCTOBER 2014 CAMPUS MES wins football tourney MES Indian School emerged champions in the Football Tournament Boys’ under 19 in the Qatar Cluster Competition, under the aegis of the council of CBSE affiliated schools in Qatar, held recently at MES Indian School. Seven CBSE Schools participated in the tournament and MES Boys’ Football team defeated Shantiniketan Indian School in the Quarter Final (4-0), Delhi Public School (DPS-MIS) in the semifinal (6-0) and won against Ideal Indian School in the final match (2-0). MES Indian School is qualified for the nationals which is scheduled to be held at Anandalaya Public School, Gujarat, India from November 10 to 15. Principal, A P Sasidharan, felicitated MES Football team for their outstanding performance. Akbar Ali K T, Teacher, Department of Physical Education, trained MES Football team. Birlasphere (Birla Public School Eco Club) show- cased their Best Out Of Waste project by display- ing models made out of waste. Herald Moras and Randy Garcia, representa- tives of Doha Bank visited the school. Children of Class 2 to 10 are part of the ECO school project initiated by the Doha Bank. The school Eco Club In-charge, Rakesh Verma and the core-commit- tee members of the club wel- comed them. Herald Moras was very pleased to see the enthusiasm of the children in spreading the awareness of reducing, reusing and recy- cling the domestic waste. SIS bags 13 medals in Taekwondo competition hantiniketan Indian School (SIS), Shas won 4 Gold, 6 Silver and 3 Bronze medals in the CBSE Qatar Cluster Taekwondo Competition organized by Ideal Indian School recently. Two girls from SIS won gold medals participating for the first time in a taekwondo competition. Principal, Dr Subhash Nair, Vice Principal, CBSE (i), Dudley O’Connor and the Head of the Department, Physical Education, Tanveer Mehndi congratulated the winners and their trainer, Ram Kishore Sharma.

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