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Ebola Crisis
Topic Started: 23 Mar 2014, 12:52 AM (2,799 Views)
skibboy
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22 March 2014

Guinea deaths: Ebola blamed for deadly fever outbreak

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Ebola was first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976

The Ebola virus has been identified as the cause of an outbreak of haemorrhagic fever now believed to have killed nearly 60 people in southern Guinea, government officials say.

Scores of cases have been recorded since the outbreak began early last month.

There is no known cure or vaccine for the highly contagious Ebola virus.

It is spread by close personal contact with people who are infected and kills between 25% and 90% of victims.

Symptoms include internal and external bleeding, diarrhoea and vomiting.

Outbreaks of Ebola occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests, the World Health Organization says.

Analysts suggest it has never been recorded in Guinea before.

Recent years have seen outbreaks in Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo.

'Overwhelmed'

"We got the first results from Lyon yesterday (Friday) which informed us of the presence of the Ebola virus as the cause of this outbreak," Guinean health ministry official Sakoba Keita told AFP.

"The Ebola fever epidemic raging in southern Guinea since 9 February has left at least 59 dead out of 80 cases identified by our services on the ground."

"We are overwhelmed in the field, we are fighting against this epidemic with all the means we have at our disposal with the help of our partners but it is difficult."

Medical aid charity Medecins sans Frontieres said on Saturday it would strengthen its team in Guinea and fly some 33 tonnes of drugs and isolation equipment in from Belgium and France.

Dr Armand Sprecher, an emergency physician and epidemiologist working with MSF in Guinea, told the BBC that doctors had to identify all patients with the disease and monitor anyone they had been in contact with during their illness.

The latest outbreak could be brought under control if people acted quickly, he said.

"Based on our history with these sorts of outbreaks it will happen. Ideally, sooner rather than later," said Dr Sprecher.

"The more quickly we can contain this the fewer cases we'll have, then the smaller the scale of the epidemic. That's the idea of going in as strong as we can early on."

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skibboy
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11 February 2015

New Ebola cases show rise for second week in row

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Unsafe burial practices are one of the challenges that still need to be overcome

The number of new cases of Ebola has risen in all of West Africa's worst-hit countries for the second week in a row, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

This is the second weekly increase in confirmed cases in 2015, ending a series of encouraging declines.

The WHO said on Wednesday that Sierra Leone had registered 76 of the 144 new cases, Guinea 65 and Liberia three.

More than 9,000 people have died from Ebola since December 2013.

The WHO said that the increase highlights the "considerable challenges" that must still be overcome to end the outbreak.

"Despite improvements in case finding and management, burial practices, and community engagement, the decline in case incidence has stalled," the UN health agency said in a statement.

In another development, US President Barack Obama has said he will withdraw nearly all US troops helping to combat the disease in Liberia.

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Mr Obama said that the outbreak had been a "wake-up call"

Only 100 of the 2,800 troops would remain in West Africa at the end of April, according to the Associated Press news agency,

Mr Obama said on Wednesday that the withdrawal marked a transition in the fight against the disease in Liberia but did not mean that the mission was over.

"Our focus now is getting to zero," he said.

Unsafe burials

At least 22,800 cases of Ebola have been recorded since the outbreak began, mainly in three countries in West Africa.

In Guinea, efforts to end the outbreak are being hampered by a mistrust of aid workers, particularly in the capital city.

"The main threat to achieving our goal of zero cases in 60 days is this resistance in Conakry," said Dr Sakoba Keita, Guinea's national Ebola response co-ordinator.

Unsafe burial practices continue to be a problem in Sierra Leone.

More than 40 unsafe burials were recorded in one week, according to the WHO.

Mourners can catch the disease by touching the highly-contagious bodies of the dead.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Ebola deaths

Figures up to 8 February 2015

9,177 Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected (Includes one in the US and six in Mali)

3,826 Liberia

3,341 Sierra Leone

1,995 Guinea

8 Nigeria

Source: WHO

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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12 February 2015

Ebola crisis: Red Cross says Guinea aid workers face attacks

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The ICRC said attacks on its volunteers were "unacceptable"

Aid workers fighting Ebola in Guinea are being subjected to an average of 10 attacks every month, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says.

The latest assault happened on Sunday when two Guinean Red Cross volunteers were beaten by locals while trying to conduct a safe burial, the group said.

Last year eight aid workers were hacked to death in Guinea.

It came as the US said it would pull out troops stationed in Liberia to help contain the virus.

US President Barack Obama announced on Thursday that all but 100 of the soldiers remaining in the country would leave by the end of April.

There were 2,800 US troops in West Africa at the height of the epidemic, but about 1,500 have already left the region.

Mr Obama said about 10,000 "civilian responders" would stay in West Africa to fight the virus.

'Huge suspicion'

In a statement released on Thursday, the president of the Guinean Red Cross, Youssouf Traore, said Ebola would not be stopped until people change their perceptions of the disease.

"Acts of violence committed against [volunteers] are completely unacceptable," he added.

The attacks against the group's workers ranged from verbal abuse to physical confrontations, the ICRC reported.

There is still a huge amount of suspicion among some West Africans surrounding the virus, said BBC Africa analyst Mary Harper.

Guineans often believe that those who come to bury the dead, disinfect areas and dispel myths are in fact spreading the disease, she added.

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Unsafe burial practices are one of the challenges that still need to be overcome

Encouraging decline

The announcement about the pullout of US troops from Liberia follows the news that the number of new Ebola cases has risen for the second consecutive week, ending a period of encouraging declines.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Sierra Leone has registered 76 of the 144 new cases, while Guinea has registered 65 and Liberia three.

Despite the rise Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson has told the BBC she is "very optimistic that Ebola can be beaten".

Last week, Liberia had just a handful of confirmed Ebola cases, down from about 300 a week in August and September 2014.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Ebola deaths

Figures up to 9 February 2015

9,209 Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected (Includes one in the US and six in Mali)

3,826 Liberia

3,350 Sierra Leone

2,018 Guinea

8 Nigeria

Source: WHO

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Speaking to the BBC World Service's Newshour, the Liberian president addressed concerns that the international response to the Ebola virus had been too slow.

Although there had been a "delay" in other countries offering help to fight the virus, when assistance did arrive "it came so fully and so effectively that we can say that success is also owed to the international community", she said.

She said the poor state of Liberia's healthcare system had exacerbated the problem of trying to contain the spread of the virus initially, and called on the world to "work with us" in improving the system.

She added that co-operation with Liberia's neighbours was required to contain the virus, due to the country's "porous borders that are very long [and] unprotected".

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President Obama said the pullout of US troops fighting Ebola in Liberia marked "the next phase of the fight"

Almost 23,000 people have been infected with Ebola since its outbreak in Guinea in December 2013, and more than 9,000 people have died.

The WHO has said that the increase in new cases highlights the "considerable challenges" that must still be overcome to end the outbreak.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the volunteers and Youssouf Traore as ICRC staff members.

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13 February 2015

Sierra Leone audit claims Ebola funds unaccounted for

An audit in Sierra Leone has revealed that 30% of internal Ebola funds have not been properly accounted for.

According to an official report published on Friday, money was paid from various emergency accounts with no proper documentation such as receipts.

The auditors said that 25bn leones (£3.7m; $5.7m) worth of spending did not have supporting documentation.

Almost 23,000 people have been infected by the Ebola outbreak in west Africa since March 2014.

The audit report was published as Sierra Leone suffered a new setback on Friday with 700 houses in its coastal Aberdeen region quarantined, according to AFP news agency.

'Misappropriation of funds'

Sierra Leone's national audit service said the health ministry had showed "complete disregard" for the law in its disbursement of emergency funds.

The 25bn leones not properly accounted for amounted to 33% of the 84bn leones paid out by the health ministry between the beginning of the outbreak in Sierra Leone in May 2014, and 31 October 2014.

Of that 25bn leones, 14bn was completely unaccounted for and 11bn partially accounted for, according to the report.

The "lapses" in the financial management of the funds resulted in a loss of quality in the treatment of the disease, the report states.

The report does not cover funds from international organisations like the United Nations.

It only examines funds from the government and from private donors in Sierra Leone.

The audit team also said the health ministry failed to produce documentation for contract agreements for the purchase of 50 vehicles and ambulances, and pointed out large gaps in the serial numbers listed for frontline healthworkers as "possible misappropriation" of hazard payments.

A review of hazard payments at the Connaught Hospital revealed that soldiers and police officers were included on the list of eligible health workers, despite hazard funds being transferred to both forces separately.

The audit service has submitted the report to parliament for action.

Local journalist Umaru Fofanu told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that the government has not responded to the report but there has been an angry reaction from the public.

A report published in the British Medical Journal last week said that just 40% of the £2.9bn pledged by international donors had reached affected countries, possibly prolonging the outbreak.

Almost 23,000 people have been infected with Ebola since its outbreak in Guinea in December 2013, with more than 9,000 of those dying from the disease.

US President Barack Obama announced on Thursday that all but 100 of the US soldiers remaining in the Liberia would leave by the end of April.

There were 2,800 US troops in West Africa at the height of the epidemic, but about 1,500 have already left the region.

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15 February 2015

Ebola-hit nations pledge to eradicate virus in 60 days

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© AFP/File / by Mouctar Bah | A health worker wearing a personal protective equipment works at the Ebola treatment center in Macenta, Guinea, on November 20, 2014

CONAKRY (AFP) - The leaders of the countries devastated by the west African Ebola outbreak vowed at a summit in Guinea on Sunday to eradicate the virus by mid-April.

The outbreak, which began 14 months ago, has killed more than 9,200 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and savaged their economies and government finances.

Guinea's President Alpha Conde and his Liberian and Sierra Leone counterparts Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Ernest Bai Koroma made the pledge after day-long closed talks in the Guinean capital Conakry.

Hadja Saran Daraba Kaba, the secretary-general of the Mano River Union bloc grouping the countries, said their presidents "commit to achieving zero Ebola infections within 60 days, effective today".

The summit came with infections having dropped rapidly across the countries, although the World Health Organization says Guinea and Sierra Leone remain a huge concern as both have seen a recent spike in new confirmed cases.

Reading a joint declaration from the leaders, Kaba said they "recognised the efforts that have been made by the member states and the international community which have resulted in the decline of Ebola infections and death rates".

The World Bank said in January the economic damage of the epidemic could run to $6.2 billion, trimming an earlier estimate of $25 billion.

However, the epidemic "will continue to cripple the economies of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone even as transmission rates in the three countries show significant signs of slowing," it said.

- Worst case scenario 'far away' -

The International Monetary Fund announced 10 days ago $100 million in debt relief for the three countries and said it was preparing another $160 million in concessional loans.

The leaders agreed to formulate a joint economic recovery plan to present at a conference on Ebola to be held by the European Union in Brussels on March 3, the Guinean presidency said in a statement.

"This comprehensive plan covers topics that affect virtually all key areas of development: education, agriculture, industry, trade, health and social action that will focus on the issue of the management of Ebola orphans and impoverished families," it added.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency response, said the dramatic drop in infections from the October peak showed that "the worst disaster scenario now seems far away".

"The number of new cases per week declined from an alarming level of nearly 1,000 in the bad times of the crisis to 145 confirmed cases in the course of the last week in the three countries," he said.

"However, despite the significant decrease of cases we must always remember that it all started with one case. We know how on the basis of experiences in the fight against polio, for example, that it is easier to go from 100 to 10 than from 10 to 0."

In a sign of the fragility of the recovery, Sierra Leone was forced to place 700 homes in the capital under quarantine on Friday, less than a month after it had lifted all restrictions on movement.

The government said the properties had been locked down in Aberdeen, a fishing and tourist district of Freetown, after the death of a fisherman who tested positive for Ebola.

by Mouctar Bah

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18 February 2015

Sierra Leone goes door-to-door to fight Ebola

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© AFP/File / by Rod Mac Johnson | Healthcare workers are fanning out across remote parts of western Sierra Leone after a spike in Ebola cases attributed to unsafe burials and patients being hidden from the authorities

FREETOWN (AFP) - Sierra Leone launched a two-week door-to-door search Wednesday for Ebola patients as part of sweeping efforts to stem the spread of the virus in the west of the country.

Healthcare workers fanned out across remote parts of Port Loko district, east of the capital Freetown, after a spike in cases attributed to unsafe burials and patients being hidden from the authorities.

"Teams of health workers backed by security personnel are trekking into outlying areas and knocking on doors of houses... to check whether people are telling us the truth about not hiding sick people," Morlai Dumbuya, a coordinator of the operation, told AFP.

"So far we have not met any resistance and people are co-operating."

The operation follows a larger exercise in December, dubbed the "Western Area Surge", when hundreds of volunteers knocked on doors for 15 days across the west of Sierra Leone.

The nation of six million has seen more than 11,000 cases and 3,400 deaths during the epidemic which has raged in west Africa for more than a year.

President Ernest Bai Koroma had pointed to a "steady downward trend" in new cases on January 23, lifting country-wide quarantines affecting half the population and declaring that "victory is in sight".

But optimism gave way to fresh alarm last week as the World Health Organization (WHO) reported the number of new cases rising in Sierra Leone and neighbouring Guinea for the second week running.

Dumbuya said the increase in cases was due to "a series of secret burials and hiding of sick people in homes".

Sierra Leone placed 700 homes in the capital Freetown in quarantine on Friday following the death of a fisherman who tested positive for Ebola.

Residents and healthcare workers have blamed a recent spike of cases in the capital on infected people arriving by canoe from remote areas further up the coast to seek healthcare.

- 'Considerable challenge' -

Transmission remains "widespread" in Sierra Leone, which reported 76 new confirmed cases in the week to February 8, according to the WHO.

Ebola, one of the deadliest viruses known to man, is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person showing symptoms such as fever or vomiting or the recently deceased.

Relatives are required by law to report Ebola victims so that they can be buried safely, as traditional burial rites involving the washing of bodies was one of the key early causes of the spread of the epidemic.

The WHO said on Tuesday 9,365 people had died in the outbreak, although it has admitted that the real picture could be far worse as many fatal cases may not have been reported.

In the week up to February 8 a total of 144 new confirmed cases were registered across the three hardest hit countries, compared to 124 the previous week.

"The spike in cases in Guinea and continued widespread transmission in Sierra Leone underline the considerable challenges that must still be overcome to get to zero cases," the WHO said in its latest report.

There was better news in northern Sierra Leone, however, where the Ebola centre in Makeni, the country's third city, was decommissioned after discharging its final patient.

"The closure of the centre is part of the decision of Sierra Leone government authorities to gradually close all centres within hospitals to allow such facilities to revert to the treatment of other ailments that are not Ebola-related," coordinator John Sentamo told reporters.

Progress on eradicating the virus has also been encouraging in Liberia, which saw the most deaths at the peak of the epidemic but registered just three new confirmed cases in the week to February 8.

The Liberian government reopened schools this week after a six-month closure to slow the spread of the virus, while Sierra Leone plans to start the new term at the end of March.

More than 1.3 million children have already returned to classes in Guinea since schools reopened on January 19, according to UNICEF.

by Rod Mac Johnson

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20 February 2015

Ebola crisis: Liberia to open borders as infection falls

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Nearly 4,000 people have died from Ebola in Liberia in the last year

Liberia is to reopen its borders following a reduction in the number of Ebola cases being reported in the country.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made the announcement on Friday and said nationwide curfews would also be lifted.

New infections have dropped to one-tenth of the level seen when the virus was at its peak.

But health officials warned the decline has levelled off in the last month.

Dr Bruce Aylward, who leads the World Health Organization's official Ebola response, said data showed the steep decrease in infections had now flattened, at a rate of around 120 to 150 new cases a week.

"It's what keeps me up at night right now," Mr Aylward said. "This is not what you want to see with Ebola."

More than 9,300 people have died since the outbreak of the virus early last year.

However, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have pledged to achieve zero Ebola infections within the next two months.

Liberia was hardest-hit by the outbreak, but has been leading the recovery, with only two confirmed cases in the week leading to 12 February.

This compares to 74 in Sierra Leone and 52 in Guinea.

In a statement on her website, President Johnson Sirleaf said "health protocols" would prevent the virus being carried across the country's borders when they reopen on Sunday.

Borders were closed last year and an overnight curfew imposed as part of a state of emergency.

Schools in Liberia have also reopened in recent weeks in a bid to help the country return to normal.

Staff have been given thermometers to take pupils' temperatures and buckets of chlorinated water for them to wash their hands.

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23 February 2015

UK Ebola medics under investigation

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Pauline Cafferkey was diagnosed with Ebola in December after volunteering work in Sierra Leone

Five UK Ebola nurses and doctors are under investigation by regulators, Public Health England says.

They are looking into the screening of medics who flew back to England on 28 December after treating patients in Sierra Leone.

On this flight was Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey - who developed Ebola - and some of her colleagues.

Questions have arisen over the health assessments and protocols that were followed.

Media reports have suggested Ms Cafferkey may have had signs of Ebola before leaving Sierra Leone but regulators have not commented on this.

Public Health England said: "During our recent assessment of the screening of some returning healthcare workers at Heathrow on 28 December, information emerged which needed to be passed to the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

"We are aware that the regulators are now considering the matter and it would be inappropriate for PHE to comment further at this time.

"The risk to the general public from Ebola remains very low."

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Ebola is spread through close contact with virus-containing blood, vomit and faeces

Symptom check

Ms Cafferkey - who had volunteered with Save the Children at a treatment centre in Kerry Town, in Sierra Leone - was diagnosed with Ebola in December, after returning to Glasgow via London.

After having her temperature checked several times at Heathrow, she was allowed to board a connecting flight to Glasgow.

She has now recovered from the virus following treatment at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council, which looks into whether healthcare workers are fit to practise, said: "Following information we received from Public Health England, we can confirm that we are investigating allegations about the conduct of three nurses."

Two doctors are also being checked by the medical regulator the General Medical Council.

A spokesperson said the enquiries were "at an early stage".

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25 February 2015

Ebola crisis: Sierra Leone's Augustine Baker dies

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Augustine Baker's role in tackling the Ebola virus has been widely admired

A Sierra Leonean who worked with children orphaned by Ebola has died of the disease himself.

Augustine Baker had been admitted to an Ebola treatment centre after becoming ill last week.

He had worked for an orphanage run by a UK charity on the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown.

Thirty-three children and seven staff at the St George Foundation orphanage have been in quarantine since Mr Baker was diagnosed with the deadly virus.

Ebola has killed more than 9,500 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

But in recent weeks, the crisis has eased and the governments of the three countries have pledged to achieve zero Ebola infections within the next two months.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Umaru Fofana, BBC Africa, Freetown

Augustine Baker was an unsung hero.

At the height of the Ebola crisis he would go into high-risk communities to help children who had been orphaned by the disease.

With his backpack on and his notebook and pen handy, Mr Baker would collect data and go and find the children to take them to the orphanage.

His colleagues, who are locked in quarantine at the orphanage, were grieving as news of his death broke.

Jestina Conteh was sobbing as she spoke to me on the phone.

He said Mr Baker was "a dedicated colleague who never said 'No' in search of Ebola orphans".

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


When Mr Baker was diagnosed with Ebola, orphanage co-founder Philip Dean said he had "worked tirelessly to help children orphaned by the disease".

"He knew that he was at risk but did the job because it needed to be done," Mr Dean added.

The orphanage was set up in 2004 and, until the Ebola outbreak, was mainly concerned with rescuing street children.

In the last year it has helped care for some 200 children orphaned by Ebola.

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Ebola deaths

Figures up to 22 February 2015

9,604 Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected
(Includes one in the US and six in Mali)

4,037 Liberia

3,461 Sierra Leone

2,091 Guinea

8 Nigeria

Source: WHO

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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26 February 2015

Asian herb derivative could work against Ebola

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© AFP/File | A health worker wearing protective equipment assists an Ebola patient at the Kenama treatment center in Sierra Leone, on November 15, 2014

MIAMI (AFP) - A small molecule derived from an Asian herb may help stop Ebola infection by preventing the virus from entering the cells of the body, researchers said Thursday.

So far the research using the calcium channel blocker Tetrandrine, found in some Chinese and Japanese herbs, against Ebola has only been done in lab animals and in petri dishes.

However, the findings so far warrant tests in primates before possibly being tried in people, said the authors of the study in the journal Science.

Researchers studied several existing drugs currently used to treat high blood pressure in order to find out which small molecules were best at blocking the Ebola virus from moving any further through the cell.

Tetrandrine protected mice from disease without obvious side effects, and appeared to be the most potent of the compounds tested.

"When we tested in mice, the drugs stopped virus replication and saved most of them from disease," said Robert Davey, scientist and Ewing Halsell Scholar in the Department of Immunology and Virology at Texas Biomedical Research Institute.

"We are very excited about the progress made in this study and the momentum it provides as scientists across the world vigorously search for effective vaccines and treatments against Ebola virus," Davey said.

There is no drug on the market to treat Ebola, which has killed more than 9,000 people, mainly in West Africa, since 2013 in the world's largest outbreak to date.

"We are cautiously optimistic. The next step in the process is to test both safety and effectiveness of the interaction of the drug with Ebola virus in non-human primates," said Davey.

Co-authors on the research came from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston; the Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat München in Munich, Germany; and the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.

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28 February 2015

Ebola outbreak: Sierra Leone vice-president quarantined

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Cases of Ebola had been on the decline in Sierra Leone, but they have risen again in recent weeks

The vice-president of Sierra Leone has put himself into quarantine after one of his bodyguards died from Ebola.

Samuel Sam-Sumana said he would stay out of contact with others for 21 days as a precaution.

There was optimism the virus was on the decline in Sierra Leone at the end of last year but there has been a recent increase in confirmed cases.

Nearly 10,000 people have died in the outbreak, the vast majority in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

'Taking no chances'

Mr Sam-Sumana said on Saturday that he had chosen to be quarantined to "lead by example" after the death of his bodyguard, John Koroma, last week.

He told Reuters news agency that he was "very well" and showing no signs of the illness, but said he did not want to "take chances".

His staff have also been placed under observation.

He is the country's first senior government figure to subject himself to a voluntary quarantine.

Officials in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have pledged to achieve zero Ebola infections within the next two months.

But authorities in Sierra Leone have reinstated some restrictions in the country after a recent spate of news cases.

Of 99 cases recorded in the region in the week beginning 16 February, 63 were in Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Ebola deaths

Figures up to 25 February 2015

9,675 Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected (Includes one in the US and six in Mali)

4,057 Liberia

3,490 Sierra Leone

2,113 Guinea

8 Nigeria

Source: WHO

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


The government in the capital, Freetown, said it was gravely concerned about the new cases.

It said many of them had been connected with maritime activities and checks on ferries and other vessels had been increased in response.

President Ernest Bai Koroma has also ordered public transport operators to reduce capacity by 25% to limit physical contact between passengers.

In all, more than 23,500 cases have been reported in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea since the world's worst outbreak began in December 2013.

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3 March 2015

Ebola: Liberia's Johnson Sirleaf urges 'Marshall Plan'

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The infection rate is significantly lower - but the fight is not yet over

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has called for a "Marshall Plan" for the Ebola-affected countries of West Africa.

She was referring to the massive US aid programme for Europe launched after World War Two.

Her comments came after Sierra Leone was immediately granted more than $80m (£52m) to help end the Ebola outbreak and recover from its effects.

The IMF has pledged a $187m financial aid package for Sierra Leone.

Nearly $5bn has been pledged internationally to the Ebola effort, but less than half of the help has materialised.

About 600 delegates from around the world met in Brussels on Tuesday to talk about Ebola and long-term plans to fight the disease.

Nearly 10,000 people have died in the outbreak, the vast majority in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Analysis: Anne Soy, BBC Africa, Brussels

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This meeting is not a donor pledging conference - it marks the beginning of a new conversation, whose objectives could be difficult to achieve.

It comes at a time when new cases of infection are significantly down.

Compared to HIV 30 years ago, this Ebola epidemic was met by a better organised international community.

But even so, the pledges for support and actual disbursement of aid were slow to come.

With the epidemic seemingly under control, the next phase - recovery - is going to be longer and more challenging.

The call is for a process led and owned by the affected countries.

But real recovery will only be achieved if there is complementary long-term commitment from donor countries - a clear intervention with definitive objectives and timelines.

And the bar for transparency and accountability will no doubt be raised.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Speaking in Brussels, Ms Sirleaf said: "We believe that a regional approach would achieve the best recovery results. This can only be achieved with your support, the support of partners who will be willing to allocate resources to a regional plan that is home-grown."

"There is no doubt that this will require significant resources, perhaps even a Marshall Plan... We believe however that this can be achieved through allocation of the additional resources committed by the European Commission", she said.

"Resources can also be sourced from the CCR [Catastrophe Containment and Relief] Trust Fund established by the International Monetary Fund and by regional envelopes by the World Bank and the African Development Bank."

'Painstaking task'

On Monday the UN said that the struggle to contain the epidemic was reaching a "second phase".

UN experts say the spread of the disease in West Africa has dropped to almost 10% of what it was six months ago.

Liberia in particular continues to have a low level of transmission, with only one new confirmed case in the week leading to 22 February.

This compares to 34 in Guinea and 63 in Sierra Leone.

But the UN special envoy on Ebola, David Nabarro, told AP that the international community should not become complacent as getting to zero cases was "the hardest part".

"It's a really difficult, painstaking task," he said.

The BBC's Anne Soy, in Brussels, says that there is a danger of donor fatigue, even though the Ebola outbreak has received a lot of attention from the international community.

The healthcare systems of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone will also need help to recover from the effects of the outbreak.

Scarce healthcare resources have had to be directed to controlling the epidemic and it has become harder to get treatment for other diseases.

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5 March 2015
Ebola outbreak: Liberia releases last patient

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Ms Yardolo said she was "one of the happiest persons on earth" after being discharged

Liberia has released its last Ebola patient after going a week without any new cases of the virus, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Beatrice Yardolo, 58, left a Chinese-run treatment centre in the capital Monrovia after two weeks of treatment.

Nearly 10,000 people have died from Ebola, the vast majority in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

WHO officials say there were 132 new cases in Guinea and Sierra Leone in the week to 1 March.

It is the first time since May 2014 that Liberia has had no new cases of the virus, the officials added.

Ms Yardolo, an English teacher, said she was "one of the happiest persons on earth" as she headed home from the treatment centre in Monrovia's Paynesville district.

She was the last patient undergoing treatment for the disease in Liberia.

'Threat remains'

But WHO officials have warned that populations are so mobile in the region that there could easily be fresh outbreaks in Liberia.

"We look at the three countries as really a single country, so while it's good news that Liberia itself has no new cases, the populations are so mobile in that region that there could easily be re-importations of cases," said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl.

"We have to get down to zero in all three countries before we can consider this thing beaten."

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Officials warn that the battle against Ebola in Liberia is by no means over

The final stage of testing of an experimental Ebola vaccine will begin in Guinea on 7 March, according to the WHO.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said that if a vaccine is found to be effective, "it will be the first preventive tool against Ebola in history".

A WHO news release says that the vaccinations will take place in areas of the Basse Guinee region of Guinea, an area which has the highest number of cases in the country.

The objectives of the trial are to assess whether a buffer zone can be established to stop further Ebola infections and to gauge its effectiveness among frontline Ebola workers.

"An effective vaccine to control current flare-ups could be the game-changer to finally end this epidemic and [be] an insurance policy for any future ones," WHO Assistant Director-General Marie-Paule Kieny said.

Medics are meanwhile getting ready to discharge the country's last confirmed Ebola patient in the Liberian capital Monrovia.

Posted Image
The WHO says that Ebola vaccines could successfully end the epidemic

The country has to have no new cases for 42 days to be declared Ebola-free.

In their latest assessment of the epidemic, WHO officials also warned that disease surveillance "may not be optimal" in Liberia because of the low number of samples.

They say that some communities are still resisting pleas to bring infected family members to treatment centres.

Only half of the 51 new infections in Guinea came from registered contacts of Ebola patients, the WHO says, and some cases are only identified after post-mortems are conducted.

'Unsafe burials continue'

Ebola is still far from eradicated in Sierra Leone, which recorded 81 new cases, including 26 in the capital Freetown.

"The number of confirmed Ebola virus disease deaths occurring in the community in Guinea and Sierra Leone remains high, suggesting that the need for early isolation and treatment is not yet understood, accepted or acted upon," the WHO statement said.

"Unsafe burials continue to occur, with 16 reports of unsafe burials in both Guinea and Sierra Leone, respectively," it said.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Tuesday called for a "Marshall Plan" for the Ebola-affected countries of West Africa.

She was referring to the massive US aid programme for Europe launched after World War Two.

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11 March 2015

UK female military health worker has Ebola

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British military personnel were deployed to Sierra Leone to assist with the Ebola crisis

A female British military healthcare worker in Sierra Leone has tested positive for Ebola.

She is currently being treated in the Kerry Town treatment unit in the country and her next of kin have been informed.

Public Health England said that medical experts were making sure appropriate care was being delivered.

A decision on whether she will be evacuated to the UK for treatment has not yet been made.

The Ministry of Defence said between 600 and 700 of their personnel were currently working in Sierra Leone in connection with the Ebola crisis.

The MOD said: "Despite there being stringent procedures and controls in place to safeguard UK service personnel, there is always a level of risk in deployments on operations of this type."

An investigation into how the military worker was exposed to the virus is currently under way, PHE said.

Public Health England said: "Any individuals identified as having had close contact [with this person] will be assessed and a clinical decision made regarding bringing them to the UK.

"The UK has robust, well-developed and well-tested systems for managing Ebola and the overall risk to the public in the UK continues to be very low."

This is the third British citizen to test positive for Ebola - a viral illness which causes vomiting, diarrhoea and internal bleeding - since the outbreak began in West Africa.

Full recoveries

Two other British citizens, nurses Will Pooley and Pauline Cafferkey, made full recoveries from Ebola after being infected with the virus in West Africa.

They were both flown back to the UK and treated at a specialist unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

Mr Pooley, from Eyke in Suffolk, tested positive for the virus while in Sierra Leone last August and was flown back to the UK by the RAF.

He has since returned to Sierra Leone to resume his work.

Ms Cafferkey, from Cambuslang, in South Lanarkshire, had volunteered with Save The Children at a treatment centre in Kerry Town in Sierra Leone.

She was not diagnosed with Ebola until after she returned to the UK in December.

She spent more than three weeks being treated at the Royal Free where she was critically ill for a time, but was released at the end of January.

Five other Britons have been tested for the virus but the results have come back negative.

Among them were two other military healthcare workers, who were discharged from the hospital last month after being kept under observation following needle-stick injuries while treating sufferers in Sierra Leone.

Nearly 10,000 people are suspected to have died from Ebola in the current outbreak.

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12 March 2015

Ebola death toll tops 10,000: WHO

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© AFP/File | Members of the Guinean Red Cross move the body of a person who died from the Ebola virus on March 8, 2015 at the Donka hospital in Conakry

GENEVA (AFP) - More than 10,000 people have now died from the Ebola virus, almost all of them in west Africa, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

The three hardest-hit countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have recorded 24,350 cases and 10,004 deaths since the epidemic began more than a year ago, the UN body said.

There have also been six deaths in Mali, one in the United States and eight in Nigeria, all of which have since been declared Ebola-free.

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14 March 2015

Ebola: US evacuates 10 aid workers from Sierra Leone

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None of the ten aid workers evacuated are showing Ebola symptoms

Ten US aid workers who were possibly exposed to Ebola are being evacuated back to America from Sierra Leone.

On Friday it was announced that a US aid worker back from Sierra Leone had tested positive and was being treated in hospital near Washington DC.

The evacuees may have been in contact with the Ebola patient and are being flown back on non-commercial transport.

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said none were currently showing Ebola symptoms.

They will stay in voluntary isolation for a 21-day incubation period.

If any start to show symptoms they will be taken to one of three hospitals which are equipped to deal with Ebola cases.

On Friday, the CDC sent a team to Sierra Leone to investigate how the healthcare worker became exposed and determine who might have been in contact with the infected person.

The patient is being treated at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland.

It is the 11th person with the deadly virus to be treated in the US.

More than 10,000 people have died in the current Ebola outbreak.

On Saturday, a 6th British healthcare worker was evacuated from Sierra Leone after coming into contact with a British Ebola case.

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16 March 2015

Ebola: Seventh British health worker sent home

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A seventh UK healthcare worker has been flown back to the UK after suspected contact with Ebola.

The individual worked in the same facility in Sierra Leone as a US volunteer medic who recently caught the virus.

The UK patient currently has no symptoms.

They have been assessed and discharged from the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, but will be kept under close observation, officials say.

Public Health England stressed that the risk to the general public from Ebola remained "very low".

Dr Isabel Oliver, PHE's Ebola incident lead, said: "We are confident all appropriate public health actions have been taken to support this individual and to protect the public's health.

"The courage shown by every volunteer, in helping those affected in West Africa and working to prevent the spread of Ebola any wider, should be recognised."

Meanwhile, two other UK healthcare workers are currently being cared for in the Royal Free Hospital in London.

One of the Royal Free patients was diagnosed with Ebola while in Sierra Leone and was flown back to the UK on an RAF plane on Thursday, along with two colleagues who had come into close contact with her.

A further two close contacts were flown to Newcastle Royal Infirmary on Friday but have since been discharged.

The other Royal Free patient sustained a needlestick injury while caring for an Ebola patient in Sierra Leone.

Being pricked by a contaminated needle is one of the most dangerous ways of being exposed to the virus which is passed in blood.

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16 March 2015

Ebola: US aid worker evacuated from Sierra Leone 'critical'

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Ten healthcare workers who helped the infected clinician are being monitored for Ebola symptoms

The condition of a US aid worker who tested positive for Ebola has changed from serious to critical, hospital officials have said.

The patient - a clinician - was airlifted from Sierra Leone and admitted to the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, on Friday.

Ten other healthcare workers "who came to the aid of their ailing colleague" are being transported to the US, said charity Partners in Health.

They are being monitored for symptoms.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent a team to Sierra Leone to investigate how the healthcare worker became exposed and determine who might have been in contact with the infected person.

The patient is the eleventh person with the deadly virus to be treated in the US.

More than 10,000 people have died in the current Ebola outbreak - 3,687 in Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organisation.

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18 March 2015

WHO chief says 'tremendous progress' made in Ebola fight

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© AFP/File | Medical staff clean their protection suits as part of the fight against the Ebola virus on March 8, 2015 at the Donka hospital in Conakry

ABU DHABI (AFP) - The world has made "tremendous progress" in combatting the deadly Ebola virus, the UN's World Health Organization chief told AFP on Wednesday.

Margaret Chan's remarks come almost a week after the WHO announced that the death toll from the world's largest Ebola outbreak had topped 10,000.

Most of the deaths in the outbreak, which began in late 2013, have been in the West African nations of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

But "Liberia has not reported a new case of Ebola for more than 10 days and we just need to keep going," said Chan.

Sierra Leone has "made tremendous progress" and, despite "some flare up" in Guinea, "we are working very closely to support President Alpha Conde and his team to get to zero" infections, Chan said on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi.

Asked when the WHO might declare the end of Ebola, Chan said: "The virus is a very tricky virus... I hope it will be soon but the important point is: be vigilant, stay on course and do not let the virus trick us again."

US hospital officials said Monday that the condition of an American healthcare worker who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone has worsened and is now critical.

Ten other healthcare workers who have been in contact with the evacuated clinician are being transported to the United States and monitored for signs of illness.

Chan reiterated to reporters warnings that "the world is ill-prepared for a severe and a sustained outbreak... (and) Ebola is both severe and sustained."

"If the world countries want global health security, they must invest" in it, she said.

She said she hoped they and international organisations, including the WHO, would "learn the lessons and be better prepared for the next big pandemic."

Chan admitted in January that the UN agency had been caught napping on Ebola and pledged reforms to avoid similar mistakes in future.

"Given the experience from Ebola, we can fast track some of the reform, and (include) additional reforms to prepare WHO to deal with mega crises," she said Wednesday, without elaborating.

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19 March 2015

Ebola crisis: Sierra Leone lockdown to hit 2.5m people

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There have been more than 3,300 confirmed deaths from Ebola in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is to enforce a three-day lockdown of key parts of the country to try to contain the Ebola epidemic.

There have been 3,702 reported deaths from Ebola in the West African nation.

A three-day curfew in September, keeping people at home under quarantine, was hailed as a success by authorities, despite some criticism.

The country's National Ebola Response Centre says a new lockdown will come into place next week.

It will affect close to 2.5m people.

While the number of cases has slowed since the peak of the outbreak, the virus is far from eradicated.

In the seven days leading up to March 15, there were 55 new cases in Sierra Leone, and 90 in neighbouring Guinea.

The number of new cases in Liberia - where most deaths have occurred - has not been registered.

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Palo Conteh, the head of the NERC, told the AFP news agency that the curfew would take place across the Western Area of Sierra Leone, a part of the country that includes the capital, Freetown.

The districts of Bombali and Port Loko will also be affected.

"The lockdown will be conducted from March 27 to March 29 and will be like the one we conducted in September last year," said Mr Conteh.

"The government and partners are hopeful that latent cases that are now not being reported or recorded will come out."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Ebola deaths

Figures up to 17 March 2015

10,216 Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected (Includes one in the US and six in Mali)

4,238 Liberia

3,702 Sierra Leone

2,231 Guinea

8 Nigeria

Source: WHO

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Mr Conteh said that health workers will visit every house in the areas affected by the lockdown.

They will remind people about the dangers of touching corpses and taking patients to traditional healers.

In other developments:

-Guinea's president Alpha Conde has called for a new push to eradicate Ebola after a rise in cases. On the weekend, a government report said 21 people were infected in a single day, compared to an average of eight a day;

-A UN spokesman tells the BBC: "We are still seeing too many infections taking place" in Sierra Leone;

-Liberia's government is to pay $5,000 (£3,391) to the families of each of the 179 health workers who died from the virus there.

-There have been 10,216 deaths due to Ebola, according to the World Health Organization.

The majority of those deaths have been in three West African countries - Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

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A previous lockdown in Freetown in September was hailed as a success

The economic effect of the outbreak has been severe in Sierra Leone.

The World Bank estimates that the revenue of some parts of the population has dropped by as much as 40%, and that close to 180,000 people have lost work as a result of the crisis.

Despite dozens of new cases every week, the government is determined to meet a target to eradicate Ebola by 15 April.

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20 March 2015

Ebola case undermines Liberia disease-free hopes

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Liberia had hoped to be declared Ebola-free in April

Liberia has confirmed a new case of Ebola, undermining growing hopes in the country that it might soon be declared free of the disease.

There had not been a new case for 20 days until a woman tested positive on Friday in the capital, Monrovia.

The World Heath Organization requires 42 days to elapse from the last known case before a country can be declared free of the virus.

More than 4,000 people in Liberia have died from the disease.

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Liberia thought it had discharged its final Ebola patient, Beatrice Yardolo, over two weeks ago

Liberia's Acting Head of the Ebola Incident Management Team, Dr Francis Kateh, told the BBC that a woman who was taken into a treatment centre in Monrovia on Thursday had tested positive for the virus.

Dr Kateh said he was concerned that it had not been possible to establish how the woman became infected, as health workers had run out of "contacts" to pursue.

The authorities look to isolate anyone with whom a patient has been in contact and who may be carrying the disease.

He said they now intended to investigate whether the woman had travelled abroad.

On 5 March, Liberia discharged its last known patient, Beatrice Yardolo, from a treatment centre in Monrovia, sparking hopes that the country might be on its way to being officially declared Ebola-free.

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Ebola deaths

Figures up to 18 March 2015

10,251 Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected (Includes one in the US and six in Mali)

4,283 Liberia

3,712 Sierra Leone

2,241 Guinea

8 Nigeria

Source: WHO

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


More than 10,000 people have died of Ebola since the outbreak was detected a year ago in Guinea and subsequently spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone.

While the number of cases has slowed this year, the virus is far from eradicated.

Sierra Leone is to enforce a three-day lockdown later this month in some western areas of the country, including the capital, Freetown, to try to contain the epidemic.

Health workers will visit every house in the areas affected as they did in a similar curfew in September.

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23 March 2015

One year on, MSF slams global response to Ebola

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© AFP/File | Doctors Without Borders agents wearing protective gear work at the ELWA III Ebola Management Center in Monrovia, Liberia, on January 27, 2015

PARIS (AFP) - A year on from the start of the Ebola outbreak, a report published Monday by frontline aid agency Doctors Without Borders slammed the international community's slow response and detailed the "indescribable horror" faced by its staff.

More than 10,000 people have been killed and some 25,000 infected since the Ebola epidemic was first identified in west Africa in March 2014, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

But Doctors Without Borders -- known by its French initials MSF -- said "months were wasted and lives were lost" because the UN's World Health Organization, which is charged with leading on global health emergencies and "possesses the know-how to bring Ebola under control", failed to respond quickly or adequately.

Its report accused the WHO's Global Alert and Outbreak Response Network of ignoring desperate pleas for help from Liberia when it met in June.

"I remember emphasising that we had the chance to halt the epidemic in Liberia if help was sent now," said Marie-Christine Ferir, MSF emergency coordinator.

"It was early in the outbreak and there was still time. The call for help was heard but no action was taken."

The WHO did not set up a regional hub for coordinating the response until July, by which time a second wave of the epidemic had struck.

"All the elements that led to the outbreak's resurgence in June were also present in March, but the analysis, recognition and willingness to assume responsibility to respond robustly were not," the report said.

Particularly in the early months, it therefore fell to MSF to carry much of the response, but the organisation had only 40 staff with experience of Ebola when the outbreak began.

"We couldn't be everywhere at once, nor should it be our role to single-handedly respond," said Brice de le Vingne, MSF director of operations.

It was only when a US doctor and Spanish nurse were diagnosed with Ebola that the world woke up to the threat, MSF said.

The WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The aid agency also blamed the governments of Guinea and Sierra Leone for refusing to admit the scale of the epidemic, saying they put "needless obstacles" in the path of MSF teams.

- One minute per patient -

The crisis sparked the biggest training programme in MSF history, with 1,300 international staff and 4,000 locals deployed.

It was initially focused on Guinea and Sierra Leone but when aid agency Samaritan's Purse pulled out of Liberia after the US doctor's infection, MSF faced a wrenching decision: abandon the country or push its hugely over-stretched staff still further and risk major mistakes.

"We couldn't let (Liberia) sink further into hell," said de le Vingne. "We would have to push beyond our threshold of risk, and we would have to send coordinators without experience in Ebola, with only two days of intensive training."

MSF built a 250-bed centre in Liberia's capital Monrovia, but even that was far from enough.

The centre able to open only 30 minutes each morning, filling beds vacated by deaths overnight.

The report describes people dying on the gravel outside the gates, and a father who brought his daughter in the boot of his car, begging MSF to take her in so as to not infect his other children at home, but who was turned away.

"It was an indescribable horror," said Rosa Crestani, Ebola task force coordinator.

There were so many patients and so few employees that the staff had on average only one minute per patient.

The report also points the criticism inward, saying it too should have mobilised faster.

"This Ebola outbreak has wrought an exceptionally heavy toll on MSF's staff, and particularly on our west African colleagues," it said.

"Not since the early days of HIV care have MSF staff sustained the loss of so many patients dying in our facilities and never in such an intense short period of time," the report concluded.

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Ebola outbreak 'over by August', UN suggests

By Smitha Mundasad
Health reporter, BBC News

23 March 2015

Posted Image

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa will be over by August, the head of the UN Ebola mission has told the BBC.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed admitted the UN had made mistakes in handling the crisis early on, sometimes acting "arrogantly".

A year after the outbreak was officially declared, the virus has killed more than 10,000 people.

The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres says a "global coalition of inaction" led to tragic consequences.

Looking back over the year, the charity suggests its early calls for help were ignored by local governments and the World Health Organization.

Most deaths occurred in the worst-affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The head of the UN Ebola response mission told the BBC, when the virus first struck, "there was probably a lack of knowledge and there was a certain degree of arrogance, but I think we are learning lessons.

"We have been running away from giving any specific date, but I am pretty sure myself that it will be gone by the summer."

'Turned away'

The first person to succumb to the disease during this outbreak is thought to have been a toddler in a remote part of Guinea.

He died in December 2013.

Three months later the WHO officially announced an outbreak.

And it was a further five months before the organisation declared it a public health emergency of international concern.

At this point more than 1,000 people had lost their lives.

Henry Gray, MSF emergency coordinator, told the BBC: "We were well aware this was something different in March and April last year and we did try to bring this to the attention of the WHO but also governments within the countries affected.

"And of course it was frustrating that we weren't heard and that has probably led to the scale of the epidemic we see today."

The charity says it should also have used more of its own resources earlier in the crisis.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Ebola deaths

Figures up to 21 March 2015

10,314 Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected (Includes one in the US and six in Mali)

4,296 Liberia

3,742 Sierra Leone

2,261 Guinea

8 Nigeria

Source: WHO

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


The analysis, which includes dozens of interviews with MSF staff, says by the end of August 2014 treatment centres in Liberia where overwhelmed.

In January 2015 at a rare emergency meeting, the WHO admitted it was too late to respond.

Dr Margaret Chan, director general, said: "The world, including WHO, was too slow to see what was unfolding before us."

Continued threat

But the organisation says it made it clear from the start "this was a very serious situation".

There are now proposals to build-up a rapid response team to react more swiftly to future threats.

Case numbers are falling but MSF says the outbreak is not yet over. Overall cases have not declined significantly since January, the charity warns.

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Liberia recorded its first case in more than two weeks on Friday, dashing hopes the country would soon be declared virus-free.

In Guinea, cases are rising again after a dip at the beginning of the year.

Some patients in Sierra Leone are are not on lists of known Ebola contacts, suggesting chains of spread are going undetected.

Dr Derek Gatherer, at Lancaster University, said: "In retrospect, it is now apparent that the delay from December to March was crucial in the dissemination of the virus to several locations in eastern Guinea and then onto the capital, Conakry, which remains one of the few areas with active transmission."

But until zero cases are recorded in all three worst-affected countries for a period of at least six weeks, the outbreak will not be officially declared over.

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Ebola 'more deadly' in young children

By Smitha Mundasad
Health reporter, BBC News
2 hours ago

Posted Image

Ebola is more deadly for young children than adults, an analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests.

Scientists found 90% of babies under one suspected to have the virus died - compared to some 65% of adults across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Children are overall much less likely to catch the virus, but researchers say there is an urgent need for specialist care to meet their differing needs.

Meanwhile, a vaccine trial involving adult volunteers has begun in Guinea.

Viral differences

Ebola has killed more than 10,000 people across the three worst-affected countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia in the last 12 months.

The majority have been adults - just one in five deaths involves a child under 15. But this outbreak has seen the highest number of young people infected of any in history.

By analysing data collected by local ministries of health and the World Health Organization, scientists were able to uncover previously unknown clues revealing how the virus affects different ages in distinct ways.

According to their records, which span from the beginning of the outbreak to January 2015, about 80% of children under five with probable or confirmed Ebola died.

And the illness progressed more quickly in the young - they showed signs of the disease 72 hours before most adults did.

Prof Christl Donnelly from Imperial College London, who was involved in the study, said: "It is especially important that we get young children into treatment quickly.

"We also need to look at whether young children are getting treatment appropriate for their age."

In contrast the study suggests that older children - from the age of 10 to 15 - had a lower fatality rate than adults.

Scientists say more research is needed to unpick the likely multiple reasons why all these differences exist.

They suggest babies may be more vulnerable to dehydration, for example, and therefore need fluids more quickly through a drip.

Ring vaccination

But there is still no specific drug treatment proven to work against Ebola.

In collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada and the company Merck, scientists in Guinea are working on a vaccine to protect those most at risk.

Their strategy involves vaccinating anyone who has come into contact with recently-infected patients to create a ring of potential protection.

Dr Bertrand Draguez, from the charity Medecins sans Frontieres, which is involved in the trial, said people would take part on a voluntary basis.

Results could be available as early as July.

Other vaccine trials are under way in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Public Health England has also announced a £1m grant to develop a rapid field kit for the disease.

It aims to generate a test which diagnoses suspected cases within 40 minutes.

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Ebola outbreak: Sierra Leone in lockdown

7 hours ago

The authorities in Sierra Leone are enforcing a three-day lockdown to curb the spread of Ebola, with the entire population ordered to stay at home.

There is a two-hour exemption on Friday to allow Muslim prayers and a five-hour window for Christians on Sunday.

Volunteers are going door-to-door, looking for people with signs of the disease and reminding others how to stay safe.

Dozens of new cases are still being reported in Sierra Leone every week.

However, the three West African countries worst affected by Ebola - Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea - have seen a steep reduction in infections in recent weeks.

Journalist Umaru Fofana in Freetown says the normally bustling streets in the east end of the capital Freetown was deserted first thing in the morning, except for a few children fetching water in jerry cans.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Do lockdowns work?

By Smitha Mundasad, BBC News health reporter:

Posted Image
Roadblocks have been set up to enforce the lockdown

This lockdown comes amidst some rare good news.

According to official figures from the World Health Organization, there were just 33 new confirmed cases last week - the lowest number since June 2014.

But with these falling figures there is danger of growing complacency, the government says.

This is one of the main reasons behind the lockdown - volunteers will remind people how to protect themselves against a virus that is still a real threat.

They will focus their efforts on northern and western areas where some infections still come as a surprise to officials - 16% of cases last week were not known Ebola contacts.

Experts have criticised previous stay-at-homes as too heavy-handed and top-down in their approach. Concerns were raised that some people did not have access to food.

The hope is, a year after the outbreak was declared, such logistical problems have been ironed out and that this measure will bring the country closer to its goal of zero Ebola infections by April 2015 - an ambitious target that is just two weeks away.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


The lockdown ends at 1800 GMT on Sunday.

This is the second time Sierra Leone has enforced a national lockdown, asking its population of about six million people to stay home.

The last one, in September, was criticised by the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) which said it would force people underground and not help contain the virus.

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Volunteers are going house-to-house

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This house was found to be clear of Ebola

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Food was distributed to some of those who needed it

The nationwide lockdown was needed because "complacency has set in - people seemed to relax", the spokesperson for Sierra Leone's National Ebola Response Centre, Sidi Yahya Tunis, told the BBC's Newsday programme.

"We want to re-energise people's commitment to the fight against Ebola," he said.

Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have set a target of having no new cases by the middle of next month.

The outbreak has killed more than 10,000 people in the three countries over the past year.

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28 March 2015

45-day Ebola 'health emergency' declared in 5 Guinea regions

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© AFP/File | Guinean President Alpha Conde speaks during a press conference on the Ebola response strategy and post-Ebola economic recovery at the presidential palace in Conakry on March 17, 2015

CONAKRY (AFP) - Guinean President Alpha Conde on Saturday declared a 45-day "health emergency" in five regions in the west and southwest of the Ebola-hit nation in a bid to stem the spread of the deadly disease.

The focus of the virus "has shifted to our country's coastal areas", the president said in a statement published in national media.

"That is why I am declaring a reinforced health emergency for a period of 45 days in the prefectures of Forecariah, Coyah, Dubreka, Boffa and Kindia," he said.

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