A plane from Nigeria landed at JFK Airport Thursday with a male passenger aboard who had died during the flight after a fit of vomiting — and CDC officials conducted a “cursory” exam before announcing there was no Ebola and turning the corpse over to Port Authority cops to remove, Rep. Peter King said on Thursday.
The congressman was so alarmed by the incident — and by what he and employees see as troubling Ebola vulnerabilities at JFK — that he fired off a letter to the federal Department of Homeland Security demanding more training and tougher protocols for handling possible cases there.
The unnamed, 63-year-old passenger had boarded an Arik Air plane out of Lagos, Nigeria, on Wednesday night, a federal law enforcement source said.
During the flight, the man had been vomiting in his seat, the source said. Some time before the plane landed, he passed away. Flight crew contacted the CDC, federal customs officials and Port Authority police, who all boarded the plane at around 6 a.m. as about 145 worried passengers remained on board, the source said.
“The door [to the terminal] was left open, which a lot of the first responders found alarming,” said the source.
“My understanding was that the passenger was vomiting in the seat,” King (R-LI) said.
“The CDC went on the plane, examined the dead body and said the person did not have Ebola,” King said.
“It was what I was told a cursory examination. The Port Authority cops and personnel from Customs and Border Protection were there, and they were told there was no danger because the person did not have Ebola,” King said.
“But their concern was, how could you tell so quickly? And what adds to the concern is how wrong the CDC has been over the past few weeks.”
Between 70 and 100 passengers a day arrive at JFK from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the three West African countries that are the epicenter of the outbreak, King said.
“These individuals transit the airport with the rest of the traveling population, including using the restrooms,” King wrote to Jeh Johnson, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in a letter Thursday.
“Only after they arrive at the Customs and Border Patrol primary screening location that they are separated and sent to secondary inspection for a medical check and to complete the questionnaire,” he wrote Johnson.
King’s letter demands that Homeland Security immediately beef up protocols for what happens to potentially infected passengers in flight and at the terminal itself, prior to their reaching the screening location.
The letter also demands that training and safety equipment improve for the Port Authority police and Customs and Border Patrol officials who can come into contact with high-risk passengers.
“I believe there should be a suspension of direct flights and connecting flights from these three countries,” King said. “And maybe anyone with a visa from those countries, and who has been living in those countries, should be barred” from entering the US, he added.
No other information was immediately available about the deceased Nigerian passenger.
Nigeria is 1,000 miles east of the three West African countries suffering from an Ebola outbreak, but has had 19 confirmed cases of the deadly virus. The country has had no new cases over the past month; the World Health Organization has said that if there are still no new cases of Ebola by Monday, they will officially declare the country “Ebola-free.”
NY Post
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Stephen Keshi no longer Nigeria Super Eagles coach
Nigeria have confirmed the departure of the head coach, Stephen Keshi, despite their 3-1 win over Sudan in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on Wednesday night.Shaibu Amodu is set to be installed as caretaker for the remaining two Group A games against Congo and South Africa. Amodu has had three previous spells in charge of Nigeria, from 1994-95, 1998-99 and 2008-10.
Nigeria have four points from four games in Group A and are four points behind South Africa.
Keshi had been out of contract after the World Cup but was then tasked with navigating the Super Eagles’ route to next year’s tournament in Morocco. However, he said that their qualification campaign was being “sabotaged” after they were defeated by Congo, drew in South Africa and lost in Sudan in their opening three games.
The Guardian
Related stories: Stephen Keshi is ranked 24th best coach in the world
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
College in Texas apoligizes for rejecting Nigerian applicants due to Ebola scare
A Texas college apologized on Tuesday for what it's calling "incorrect information" after multiple international applicants received a rejection letter saying that "Navarro College is not accepting international students from countries with confirmed Ebola cases."
Navarro, a two-year public college in Corsicana, is about 60 miles from Dallas, where two health-care workers have been diagnosed with Ebola; the most recent case was confirmed early Wednesday morning. Thomas Eric Duncan, an Ebola-stricken Liberian man who was treated at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, died last week from the illness.
The letter recipients are from Nigeria, a country that hasn't had a new Ebola case in more than 21 days. The World Health Organization is prepared to declare the Ebola outbreak over in Africa's largest country as soon as Monday.
Nigeria managed to contain the Ebola outbreak to just 20 cases, all connected to a Liberian-American air traveler who brought the virus into the country in late July.
Idris Bello, a Nigerian-American who now lives in Texas, posted Navarro College's rejection letter to Twitter earlier this week. In an e-mail, Bello told The Post that he received a copy of the letter from Kamor Abidogun, a friend of his in Houston who works as a mechanical engineer.
Washington Post
Related story: Nigeria dropped from Ebola screening list in U.S. and Canada
Navarro, a two-year public college in Corsicana, is about 60 miles from Dallas, where two health-care workers have been diagnosed with Ebola; the most recent case was confirmed early Wednesday morning. Thomas Eric Duncan, an Ebola-stricken Liberian man who was treated at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, died last week from the illness.
The letter recipients are from Nigeria, a country that hasn't had a new Ebola case in more than 21 days. The World Health Organization is prepared to declare the Ebola outbreak over in Africa's largest country as soon as Monday.
Nigeria managed to contain the Ebola outbreak to just 20 cases, all connected to a Liberian-American air traveler who brought the virus into the country in late July.
Idris Bello, a Nigerian-American who now lives in Texas, posted Navarro College's rejection letter to Twitter earlier this week. In an e-mail, Bello told The Post that he received a copy of the letter from Kamor Abidogun, a friend of his in Houston who works as a mechanical engineer.
Washington Post
Related story: Nigeria dropped from Ebola screening list in U.S. and Canada
Nigeria beat Sudan 3-1 in 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifier
African champions , Super Eagles of Nigeria kept hopes of qualifying for the 2015 African Cup of Nations alive, on Wednesday, after defeating Sudan Falcons 3-1 at the National Stadium in Abuja.
Ahmed Musa, who promised Nigerians goals prior to the game, netted two goals in the 48 and 90th minutes while China-based striker, Aaron Samuel, also registered his name on the scoresheet.
The Sudanese lone goal was scored by Salah Ibrahim in the 56th minute.
The African champions came into the match under pressure and bottom of Group A with 1 point from three matches. The Stephen Keshi tutored team drew South Africa and lost to both Congo and Sudan.
With the victory the Super Eagles are third behind table toppers South Africa (7 points) and Congo (six points).
The joyous crowd that flooded the Abuja National Stadium on Wednesday reflected the collective sigh of a relief felt by a nation as the Super Eagles finally won their first game of the 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The Eagles are now third in Group A with 4 points after Match Day 4. The Eagles’ next games are against Congo and South Africa on November 15 and 19 respectively.
Business Day
Ahmed Musa, who promised Nigerians goals prior to the game, netted two goals in the 48 and 90th minutes while China-based striker, Aaron Samuel, also registered his name on the scoresheet.
The Sudanese lone goal was scored by Salah Ibrahim in the 56th minute.
The African champions came into the match under pressure and bottom of Group A with 1 point from three matches. The Stephen Keshi tutored team drew South Africa and lost to both Congo and Sudan.
With the victory the Super Eagles are third behind table toppers South Africa (7 points) and Congo (six points).
The joyous crowd that flooded the Abuja National Stadium on Wednesday reflected the collective sigh of a relief felt by a nation as the Super Eagles finally won their first game of the 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The Eagles are now third in Group A with 4 points after Match Day 4. The Eagles’ next games are against Congo and South Africa on November 15 and 19 respectively.
Business Day
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
4 kidnapped schoolgirls escape from Boko Haram
Four of the more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the militant Islamist sect Boko Haram in Cameroon have escaped, raising hopes for the young prisoners still held captive, according to a report.
The free girls, all between ages 16 and 18, escaped with the help of a teenage boy prisoner, who managed to get them out of the camp, according to Stephen Davis, a British-Australian negotiator who had tried to bargain with the extremist Islamic group for the schoolgirls’ freedom.
The girls, guided by the setting sun, walked west for three weeks, finally arriving in a Nigerian village, starving and traumatized.
“They were amazing — to first escape and then walk for weeks,” Davis told The Times of London. “They are the only ones that have escaped from a Boko Haram camp.”
Davis said the girls had been told that if they fled Boko Haram, their families would be killed.
Nearly six months have passed since more than 200 girls were snatched from their boarding-school dormitory in northeastern Nigeria by Boko Haram operatives after being awakened by the sound of gunfire.
Their abduction sparked global outrage and a huge campaign calling for their rescue, partly propelled by the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
Even First Lady Michelle Obama issued a tweet holding a sign emblazoned with the hashtag.
Davis said several attempts to negotiate their release have fallen through.
Advocates have expressed frustration that the world has moved on.
“Even before Ebola and ISIS’s intensified activities, most of the world that stood with #BringBackOurGirls had moved on,” Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Nigerian lawyer who started the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, told The Guardian newspaper.
“But we here in Nigeria and a few others outside haven’t moved on. We have been persistent. We have been tweeting about it every day. We’re doing a daily one-hour sit out in Abuja and weekly in Lagos.”
NY Post
The free girls, all between ages 16 and 18, escaped with the help of a teenage boy prisoner, who managed to get them out of the camp, according to Stephen Davis, a British-Australian negotiator who had tried to bargain with the extremist Islamic group for the schoolgirls’ freedom.
The girls, guided by the setting sun, walked west for three weeks, finally arriving in a Nigerian village, starving and traumatized.
“They were amazing — to first escape and then walk for weeks,” Davis told The Times of London. “They are the only ones that have escaped from a Boko Haram camp.”
Davis said the girls had been told that if they fled Boko Haram, their families would be killed.
Nearly six months have passed since more than 200 girls were snatched from their boarding-school dormitory in northeastern Nigeria by Boko Haram operatives after being awakened by the sound of gunfire.
Their abduction sparked global outrage and a huge campaign calling for their rescue, partly propelled by the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
Even First Lady Michelle Obama issued a tweet holding a sign emblazoned with the hashtag.
Davis said several attempts to negotiate their release have fallen through.
Advocates have expressed frustration that the world has moved on.
“Even before Ebola and ISIS’s intensified activities, most of the world that stood with #BringBackOurGirls had moved on,” Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Nigerian lawyer who started the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, told The Guardian newspaper.
“But we here in Nigeria and a few others outside haven’t moved on. We have been persistent. We have been tweeting about it every day. We’re doing a daily one-hour sit out in Abuja and weekly in Lagos.”
NY Post
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