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| Ebola Crisis | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 23 Mar 2014, 12:52 AM (2,802 Views) | |
| skibboy | 23 Mar 2014, 12:52 AM Post #1 |
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22 March 2014 Guinea deaths: Ebola blamed for deadly fever outbreak ![]() 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." Source:
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| skibboy | 15 Nov 2014, 02:07 AM Post #176 |
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14 November 2014 Two more suspected Ebola deaths in Mali © AFP/File / by Serge Daniel | Police officers stand in front of the Pasteur clinic in Bamako on November 12, 2014 BAMAKO (AFP) - Two people who died after exposure to the body of a Muslim cleric killed by Ebola in Mali were "highly suspected" of having contracted the virus, a government official said Friday. The west African nation has been scrambling to prevent an isolated outbreak turning into a major crisis after the deaths of the Guinean imam and the Malian nurse who treated him in the capital Bamako. A health ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that a doctor in the Pasteur clinic, where the cleric died, had also contracted the virus. "A Malian doctor who has been in contact with the nurse who died of Ebola, is positive. He is alive, and is being closely monitored. He is in the intensive care unit," the official said. "In addition, samples were taken from two other patients who died and are considered highly suspicious cases. We are awaiting test results." The official said the two new fatal cases occurred in a house in Bamako where the imam had been taken after he died. The outbreak has dashed hopes that Mali is free of Ebola and has caused alarm in Bamako, where the imam was washed by mourners at a mosque after his death. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Friday that the outbreak -- almost entirely confined to west Africa -- had left 5,177 people dead from around 14,500 cases since Ebola emerged in Guinea in December. Teams of investigators are tracing Malian health workers and scouring Bamako and the imam's home village of Kouremale, which straddles the border between Mali and Guinea, for people who could have been exposed. The deaths have raised fears of widespread contamination as they were unrelated to Mali's only other confirmed fatality, a two-year-old girl who had also arrived from Guinea in October. A friend who had visited the imam in the Pasteur clinic also died of probable Ebola, according to the WHO. The 70-year-old cleric, named as Goika Sekou, fell sick at home and was transferred via several treatment centres to the Pasteur clinic. He had travelled to Bamako by car with four family members -- all of whom have since got sick or died at home in Guinea. Traditional African funeral rites are considered one of the main causes of Ebola spreading, as it is transmitted through bodily fluids and those who have recently died are particularly infectious. The virus is estimated to have killed around 70 percent of its victims, often shutting down their organs and causing unstoppable bleeding. Malian information minister Mahamadou Camaraa told reporters in Bamako the government was limiting land border crossings from Guinea to a single entry point with strengthened health checks. He announced the installation "within 72 hours" of an isolation centre on the Malian side of Kouremale. by Serge Daniel Source:
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| skibboy | 16 Nov 2014, 12:10 AM Post #177 |
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15 November 2014 Ebola: Democratic Republic of Congo says its outbreak is over ![]() Health workers are trained in managing Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo A three-month Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has ended after claiming at least 49 lives, the country's health minister says. Felix Kabange said no new cases had been registered since 4 October, though he warned against complacency. The country's outbreak is unrelated to the one in West Africa which has claimed more than 5,000 lives. Ebola was first detected in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Saturday's announcement came 42 days after the last new Ebola case in the country - Ebola outbreaks are usually declared over when two full cycles of the virus' 21 day incubation period finish without further infections. ![]() A health worker during the 1976 outbreak works in an isolation unit The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which began in August, had a high fatality rate at 74%. While the epidemic involved a separate strain of Ebola to the one devastating West Africa, Mr Kabange said that his country "remains threatened by the possible import of the Ebola virus disease" from the region. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the worst on record. The World Health Organization says 5,160 people have been killed and more than 14,000 have been infected. Source:
Edited by skibboy, 16 Nov 2014, 12:10 AM.
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| skibboy | 17 Nov 2014, 01:33 AM Post #178 |
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16 November 2014 Chinese medics beef up Ebola fight; US doctor remains ill © AFP / by Zoom Dosso | An officer in the medical contingent of The Chinese People's Liberation Army (L) embraces his colleague during a departure ceremony in Beijing on November 14, 2014 MONROVIA (AFP) - A large team of Chinese health workers arrived in Liberia to boost the Ebola fight as a US-based doctor infected in Sierra Leone was described as being "extremely ill". The 160-strong Chinese deployment to the west African country worst hit by the virus came as the world's most powerful economies vowed to "extinguish" the epidemic which has claimed more than 5,100 lives. The Chinese doctors, epidemiologists and nurses will staff a $41 million (33 million euro) Ebola treatment unit which will be built and be up and running in 10 days, ambassador Zhang Yue said in a statement on Sunday. The health workers have had previous experience in tackling the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in Asia, Zhang said, adding that its total aid to Liberia would be $46 million. At least 2,812 people have so far died of Ebola in Liberia. So far Beijing has promised Ebola-hit countries the equivalent of $122 million to help fight the epidemic. Since the beginning of the year, China has given west African countries a total of 234 million yuan ($38.2 million) in emergency assistance, including disease prevention and control materials, grain and cash, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. China is Africa's largest trading partner, and its diplomatic footprint across the continent has expanded hugely in recent years as it seeks resources to power its economy. Still it is a long way behind the European Union, whose leaders have boosted their Ebola aid to one billion euros ($1.26 billion). - 'Hour by hour situation' - Meanwhile a doctor said to be "extremely ill" after being infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone was being treated in the United States. Martin Salia, a US resident who was infected with the deadly haemorrhagic fever while treating patients in his home country, was flown to Nebraska for treatment. "This is an hour-by-hour situation," said Phil Smith, medical director of the biocontainment unit at the Nebraska hospital, one of a handful of medical facilities in the United States specially designated to treat Ebola patients. "He is extremely ill," Smith said. "We will do everything humanly possible to help him fight this disease." World leaders meeting at the G20 summit in the Australian city of Brisbane said they were prepared "to do what is necessary to ensure the international effort can extinguish the outbreak". The Ebola outbreak which began earlier this year has been centred around Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. - Charity single - In London, musicians including boy band One Direction and Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant recorded a new "Band Aid" single to help raise funds combat the virus. Other performers ranging from U2 frontman Bono, Coldplay's Chris Martin and Sinead O'Connor recorded late into the night for a 30th anniversary version of the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" "It's not just about what's happening in west Africa, it could happen here tomorrow," said rocker-turned-activist Bob Geldof, one of the forces behind the original Band Aid. Set to be officially released Monday, the single will be the fourth incarnation of the song, which became one of the biggest-selling singles ever after its release in 1984 to raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief. In Brisbane, G20 members welcomed an International Monetary Fund initiative to release $300 million to combat Ebola and promised to share best practices on protecting health workers on the front line. The G20 pledge came as Togo, whose president is coordinating the west African fight, warned that the world "cannot relax efforts" despite some encouraging signals. There is no known cure for Ebola, one of the deadliest known pathogens, but trials for several possible treatments were announced this week in west Africa and Canada. The disease spreads through contact with bodily fluids. The World Health Organization said Friday that 5,177 people are known to have died of Ebola across eight countries, out of a total 14,413 cases of infection, since December 2013. UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged "G20 countries to step up," warning that Ebola's disruptive effect on farming could potentially spark a food crisis for a million people. "Transmission continues to outpace the response from the international community," Ban told reporters. by Zoom Dosso Source:
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| skibboy | 18 Nov 2014, 12:04 AM Post #179 |
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17 November 2014 Ebola outbreak: Sierra Leone doctor dies in US ![]() A surgeon from Sierra Leone who was being treated for Ebola in the US has died, a Nebraska hospital announced. Martin Salia, who has US residency and is married to an American, arrived for treatment in the state on Saturday, in a critical condition. And on Monday morning the hospital said the 44-year-old had died. More than 5,000 people have died in the current Ebola outbreak - almost all of them in West Africa. Dr Salia is the second person to die in the US. Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan died in Dallas last month after contracting the virus in Monrovia. The national state of emergency in Liberia ended last week and on Sunday, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said she hoped the country would be free of the virus by Christmas. Dr Salia was in a critical condition when he arrived at the hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, unable to walk. "We are extremely sorry to announce that the third patient we've cared for with the Ebola virus, Dr Martin Salia, has passed away as a result of the advanced symptoms of the disease," said the Nebraska Medical Center in a statement. ![]() Dr Martin Salia was transported to a Nebraska medical facility on Saturday He was extremely ill, said Dr Phil Smith, medical director of the biocontainment unit. "And unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we weren't able to save him," he added. Dr Salia initially displayed symptoms a week ago but tested negative for the virus, which is "not an unusual event", according to Dr Smith. A subsequent test indicated he was infected with the virus, but US healthcare professionals were not able to say why it took nearly a week following diagnosis to transport him to the US. Dr Salia's wife, Isatu Salia, said she was appreciative of the treatment her husband had received at the US facility. The White House sent condolences and said his death "is another reminder of the human toll of this disease and of the continued imperative to tackle this epidemic on the front lines, where Dr Salia was engaged in his calling". He had worked as a general surgeon at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown. It is not known whether he was involved in the care of Ebola patients. He was suffering from advanced symptoms, including kidney and respiratory failure, when he landed on US soil and was taken to the hospital in Omaha. Two other Ebola patients were successfully treated at the unit, which is one of only a handful of specialist treatment centres in the US. Source:
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| skibboy | 19 Nov 2014, 02:24 AM Post #180 |
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19 November 2014 Turn in Ebola outbreak on horizon, but faster tests needed: WHO © AFP/File | Dr Pierre Formenty of the World Health Organisation speaks during a press conference on August 21, 2003 in Beijing GENEVA (AFP) - The World Health Organization voiced hope Tuesday the number of Ebola cases would start falling sharply early next year, stressing the need to develop rapid diagnostic tests for the end-phase. "We are looking at where we will be in four to six months from now when the cases (could) decrease sharply and we will try to find the very last cases," Pierre Formenty, a top WHO Ebola expert, told reporters in Geneva. The UN health agency thinks that with continued intense international efforts, the outbreak which has killed nearly 5,200 people, almost all of them in West Africa, could begin slowing during the first months of 2015. "We're not saying it's over," Formenty stressed, but he said the hope was that by March the three countries ravaged by the deadly virus -- Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- would each be seeing only between five and 10 cases a week. When the outbreak does slow down, there will be a need to carry out far more diagnostic test in far more settings, "to make sure that we are not missing cases," he said. The problem is that the tests that exist today are "cumbersome, slow and complex", WHO acknowledged, pointing out that they required "high-level laboratory biosafety and staff expertise in using sophisticated machines." The standard tests include the so-called reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR test, involving laborious procedures, and require a full tube of blood. It trained staff between two to six hours to get results, and each test costs around $100 a piece. Even with the number of fully-equipped mobile labs in the three countries set to be scaled up from 12 today to between 17 and 20 by the end of the year, "these requirements are difficult to meet," WHO said. The agency is therefore calling for companies to develop far faster and nimbler tests, that can be conducted in regular health care facilities to check every patient who comes in with fever for the deadly virus. WHO has drawn up a wish-list of criteria for interested companies to draw from. The test should be suited for use in regular health care clinics without laboratories, should involve fewer than three steps and produce results in less than 30 minutes. And of course, health personnel must be able to carry them out safely, and they should be easy to store, and inexpensive, WHO said. Fifteen companies have already proposed 17 different products, including tests that resemble standard pregnancy tests in their simplicity, WHO said. The agency will host a special meeting to discuss the issue on December 12. Source:
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| skibboy | 20 Nov 2014, 12:53 AM Post #181 |
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19 November 2014 Ebola outbreak: $5.7m pledged for blood plasma trials ![]() Antibodies from the blood of Ebola survivors could be used as a treatment The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $5.7m towards a programme to increase production of experimental Ebola treatments in Guinea and other affected countries. The programme will focus on treatments derived from the blood of survivors. The foundation also said the grant would be used to evaluate new experimental drugs. More than 5,000 people have died in the current Ebola outbreak - almost all of them in West Africa. There is currently no licensed treatment or vaccine for the Ebola virus. Hospital treatment is based on giving patients fluids to stop dehydration and antibiotics to fight infections. There are however several experimental vaccines and drug treatments for Ebola under development, but these have not yet been fully tested for safety or effectiveness. The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres is to start clinical trials of some of these treatments in West Africa in December. Blood transfusion The foundation, run by former Microsoft boss Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, said that it would work with several private partners to develop convalescent plasma treatments. The treatments would used blood donated from Ebola survivors who had been screened for diseases. The liquid plasma from the blood, containing disease-fighting antibodies, would then be isolated and given directly to patients. The remaining blood could then be returned to the donor, allowing them to donate blood at a faster rate than before. Dr. Papa Salif Sow, an infectious diseases expert working with the foundation, said that the programme would work with governments to "to rapidly identify and scale up potential lifesaving treatments". "The Gates Foundation is focusing its R&D investments on treatments, diagnostics, and vaccines that we believe could be quickly produced and delivered to those who need them if they demonstrate efficacy in stopping the disease" he said. Source:
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| skibboy | 22 Nov 2014, 01:13 AM Post #182 |
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World Health Organization: Democratic Republic of Congo is Ebola-free By Greg Botelho, CNN November 21, 2014 (CNN) -- Ebola has officially been eradicated from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization declared Friday, even amid fresh concerns about the deadly virus in places like Sierra Leone and Mali. The United Nations health agency cleared the DRC for Ebola because 42 days had passed since tests came back negative on the last person with the disease and there have been no other cases since. The WHO credited the central African country's leadership and effective coordination, including steps to monitor those with the disease and the people they had been in contact with, for the milestone. This marks the seventh Ebola outbreak in the DRC since the virus was first identified in 1976, the agency said. The Democratic Republic of Congo has had 38 confirmed and 28 probable reported Ebola cases in recent months. Of those, 49 people -- including eight health care workers -- have died. The DRC's Ebola cases aren't related to those in hard-hit West Africa, though they come at a time when many around the continent are dealing with the same disease. The DRC joins other countries, such as Nigeria and Senegal, that the WHO has declared Ebola-free in recent weeks. This good news notwithstanding, Ebola remains a very real threat elsewhere, particularly in West Africa. And in some places, things are getting worse. That includes Mali, where the first case of Ebola came from a 2½-year-old girl who'd crossed the border. Then there was a 70-year-old grand imam who came from Guinea to Bamako, where he died on October 27, prompting authorities to try to track down hundreds who were in contact with him. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called "the new trail of transmissions in Mali ... a cause of deep concern," announcing that WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan will head to the country to assist officials there. "We must smother this little fire, this little smoke before it gets out of control," Chan said. "... I am confident that, if we work together as one, we will be able to bring this outbreak under control." Six Ebola cases have been reported so far in Mali. Contrast that with Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, home to the vast majority of more than 15,000 Ebola cases and over 5,000 deaths in recent months, according to a WHO report out Friday. French President Francois Hollande plans to spend November 28-30 in that stricken region -- including a visit to Guinea, a former French colony -- to address how to combat the virus, the Elysee Palace announced Friday. France is giving more than $40 million to set up Ebola treatment centers in Guinea, as well as to send medical and related equipment to that and other West African nations. Yet that's just a fraction of what's been requested to help fight the disease. The United Nations this year launched a $1 billion campaign to fight Ebola, but so far, it has fallen well short of that goal. U.N Under-Secretary-General Kandeh Yumkella told CNN's Richard Quest on Thursday that he is "cautiously optimistic" that Ebola will be brought under control, pointing, for example, to successes containing the disease in Liberia and increased awareness in some of the hardest-hit areas. But he also said that "infection rates are increasing exponentially" in parts of Sierra Leone, particularly its capital of Freetown. The U.N. official said the future rests in part on what and how much the international community does to help corral the virus. Talking about Freetown, the former Sierra Leone trade minister said, "If you look at the spike in the capital, we cannot afford one minute of complacence, whether locally or internationally." Chan echoed this view Friday for all areas now battling Ebola, saying "we must maintain our vigilance" given that for all the places where the outbreak appears to be stabilizing, new cases are still popping up elsewhere. But if the international community, local leaders and the residents of Africa do their part, Ban said, there's hope that Ebola can be beaten. "If we continue to accelerate our response," the U.N. leader said, "we can contain and end the outbreak by the middle of next year." CNN's Pierre Meilhan contributed to this report. Source:
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| skibboy | 22 Nov 2014, 11:50 PM Post #183 |
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22 November 2014 Ebola crisis now 'stable' in Guinea, WHO says ![]() Ebola patients are taken to dedicated treatment centres across Guinea The Ebola outbreak is now "stable" in Guinea, where the latest crisis began, the World Health Organization says. There were still some flare ups in the south-east, but things were improving in other prefectures, WHO co-ordinator Dr Guenael Rodier told the BBC. More than 5,400 people have died in the latest outbreak, with Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia the worst hit. The outbreak can be ended by mid-2015 if the world speeds up its response, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said. But he warned that although the rate of new cases was slowing in parts of West Africa, Mali - where six people have died and a seventh case has been reported - was now of deep concern. And the head of the UN Ebola mission, Anthony Banbury, said the world was "far away" from beating the virus. There have been more than 15,300 reported cases of Ebola since the outbreak began earlier this year, the WHO says. More than 1,200 people have died of Ebola in Guinea alone. However, Dr Rodier said that the situation in Guinea was now "relatively stable". "When you look in more detail, you see that it's still quite active in the Guinea forest area [in] the south of the country," Dr Rodier said. However, he added that the situation was "actually improving in a number of prefectures, especially Conakry", where there was a fairly good understanding of how the disease was spreading. The WHO has faced criticism that it was too slow to respond during the start of the crisis. However, Dr Rodier said it was the first time there had been such a serious outbreak in West Africa, adding: "Lessons have been learned." Refused entry Guinea has not been as badly hit by Ebola as neighbouring Sierra Leone and Liberia. Eight months since the outbreak was first declared, some still do not believe Ebola is a real disease, and health teams trying to trace new potential cases are still being refused entry to some villages, says the BBC's Tulip Mazumdar in the capital Conakry. ![]() The latest Ebola outbreak has killed more than 5,000 people Meanwhile, a group of 30 health workers from the UK's National Health Service have flown to Sierra Leone to help treat Ebola patients. They are also expected to train local staff at treatment centres across the country. Ebola is spread only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person showing symptoms, such as fever or vomiting. People caring for the sick or handling the bodies of people infected Ebola are therefore especially vulnerable. Source:
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| skibboy | 25 Nov 2014, 01:34 AM Post #184 |
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24 November 2014 Liberia 'chasing Ebola now', not other way around: president © AFP | Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf delivers a speech during the arrival ceremony for the Royal Netherlands Navy Karel Doorman in the port of Monrovia, Liberia, on November 24, 2014 which is delivering Ebola relief supplies MONROVIA (AFP) - President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Monday hailed Liberians' efforts in fighting the country's worst ever haemorrhagic fever outbreak, telling them: "Ebola was chasing us, today we are chasing Ebola." The head-of-state has welcomed a dramatic drop in new cases of the virus, which has killed around 3,000 Liberians and another 2,500 in neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone this year. She urged citizens to redouble their efforts to achieve a target of zero new cases by Christmas as she addressed a ceremony to welcome a Dutch aid ship bringing medical supplies from several European countries to Monrovia. "A few months ago Ebola was chasing us, today we are chasing Ebola. Right now our people are out there doing contact tracing. Communities are taking responsibility and they are taking ownership," she said. "They are going in every home to see who is sick so they can take the sick to the treatment centre. They are going to see those who have been abandoned so they can see what they can do for them. "And those who have been freed from the disease... those people are now being integrated into their communities so we are calling on all the communities to walk with them." Sirleaf warned, however, that she had seen signs of complacency such as residents no longer stationing disinfectant hand-washing stations outside their homes as new cases around the capital dropped. "I can see some relaxation. I am going around in the communities to make sure that those who have put their buckets in the house bring them out, to make sure we are not shaking hands again, to make sure we are identifying the sick. With that we can achieve our goal," she said. Source:
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| skibboy | 26 Nov 2014, 12:19 AM Post #185 |
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25 November 2014 Ebola outbreak: Sierra Leone workers dump bodies in Kenema ![]() The bodies have now been removed Burial workers in the Sierra Leonean city of Kenema have dumped bodies in public in protest at non-payment of allowances for handling Ebola victims. The workers, who went on strike over the issue, left 15 bodies abandoned at the city's main hospital. One of the bodies was reportedly left by the hospital manager's office and two others by the hospital entrance. The workers have now been sacked for treating the corpses in a "very, very inhumane" way, an official said. Sierra Leone is one of the countries worst affected by this year's Ebola outbreak, with more than 1,200 deaths. ![]() Burial workers are especially at risk of becoming infected Kenema is the third largest city in Sierra Leone and the biggest in the east, where the Ebola outbreak first emerged in the country. The burial workers told a BBC reporter they had not been paid agreed extra risk allowances for October and November. The BBC's Umaru Fofana in Freetown says the bodies have now been taken away but the workers had refused to end their strike. Danger after death A spokesman for the government's National Ebola Response Centre, Sidi Yahya Tunis, said the workers had been sacked not for striking, but for indiscipline by treating the corpses in a "very, very inhumane" manner. He said there would be an investigation into why workers had not been paid, since both the government and World Bank had released money for high-risk pay to district health management teams. "Somebody somewhere has to investigate where these monies have been going, who have been paid these monies... Action will definitely be taken against those who delayed their pay," Mr Tunis told the BBC. The burial workers' industrial action came two weeks after health workers went on strike for similar reasons at a clinic near Bo - the only facility in southern Sierra Leone treating Ebola victims. Ebola has killed more than 5,000 people in West Africa this year, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak a global health emergency. ![]() People are infected when they have direct contact through broken skin, or the mouth and nose, with the blood, vomit, faeces or bodily fluids of someone with Ebola. The virus can be present in urine and semen too. Infection may also occur through direct contact with contaminated bedding, clothing and surfaces - but only through broken skin. The virus is still dangerous and present in the body after death. Burial workers are at risk of infection and commonly wear protective clothing and take other precautions. Health professionals say those who have died from Ebola should be buried promptly to lessen the risks of infection spreading. Source:
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| skibboy | 26 Nov 2014, 01:42 AM Post #186 |
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Guinea confirms theft of Ebola-infected blood![]() © Kenzo Tribouillard | Archival picture shows Guinean Red Cross workers wearing protective suits carrying the corpse of a victim of Ebola in November, 2014 2014-11-25 Guinea said on Monday a cooler carrying a stolen blood sample infected with the deadly Ebola virus, stolen en route to a test centre, was unlikely ever to be found. A gang of robbers held up a taxi last week near the town of Kissidougou which was transporting the sample from central Kankan prefecture to southern Gueckedou, around 265 kilometres away. "We are confident of not being able to find this cooler. With the media attention around the case, we are confident that the bandits would have got rid of it," said Fode Tass Sylla, spokesman for the government's Ebola response unit. Tass said the virus would not have survived in the sample, although studies have shown that it can last in fluids for several weeks if it is not kept in direct sunlight. Guinea authorities have appealed to the robbers to return the sample, taken from a patient's mouth shortly after they died. The incident has spread alarm over the safety of transporting samples of the highly virulent pathogen, which is estimated to kill around 70 percent of those it infects. "Most of the samples collected in Guinea in recent times come to us via public transport," said Sakoba Keita, the minister in charge of the government's Ebola response in Guinea. "We triple-package the samples and tape them up three times before putting them in the coolers. This sample was taken from the mouth of a victim in Kankan in Upper Guinea before his funeral." Ebola, which has killed around 5,500 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, is spread through contact with infected bodily fluids. "We regret this act because it represents a real danger to the population. It is a biological product considered dangerous by the (World Health Organization)," Keita added. He said that if the sample had been thrown away somewhere with direct access to sunlight, the virus would not last for more than a week and could not become airborne. "The real risk is that other people touch the cooler and have contact with the liquid," he added. "In the meantime, we have asked the police to help us ensure that such a case never happens again." Source:
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| skibboy | 27 Nov 2014, 02:18 AM Post #187 |
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26 November 2014 Fergus Walsh, Medical correspondent Medical correspondent Ebola vaccine 'promising' say scientists after human trial ![]() A 39-year-old woman was the first volunteer to receive the experimental Ebola vaccine The first human trial of an experimental vaccine against Ebola suggests that it is safe and may help the immune system to combat the virus. Twenty volunteers were immunised in the United States. Scientists at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) described the results as "promising". The research is published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). None of those immunised suffered major side-effects and all produced antibodies. Dr Anthony Fauci of the NIH told the BBC: "On safety and on the ability to produce an appropriate immune response we can call this trial an unqualified success, even though it was an early Phase One trial." The volunteers were divided into two groups, receiving either a low or high dose. The antibody response was stronger among those receiving the higher dose. The investigators found that seven of the high dose and two of the lose dose volunteers produced T-cell immune responses, which may be important in protection against Ebola viruses. The vaccine uses a chimpanzee cold virus which has been genetically engineered to carry a non-infectious Ebola protein on its surface. ![]() A health worker in Conakry, Guinea, wearing protective clothing to treat victims There are four trials underway of this experimental vaccine. The US vaccine is bivalent - aimed at giving protection against the Sudan and Zaire strains of Ebola. It is the latter which is responsible for the current outbreak. Trials of a monovalent vaccine - against the Zaire strain - are also underway in Oxford, Mali and Switzerland. If these also yield positive results then the monovalent vaccine will be offered to thousands of health workers in west Africa. Dr Fauci said: "It will be this large Phase Two / Three trial in west Africa which will show whether the vaccine works and is really safe." He added: "If the outbreak is still is still going on six months from now and the vaccine at that point is shown to be effective, it could have a very positive impact on the current epidemic." But he said the long-term aim was to produce a vaccine which would protect against future outbreaks. If the vaccine does work, it is unclear how long the protection would last. Indemnity agreement These kinds of questions are usually settled during the early stages of human trials. But such is the pressing humanitarian need for something which protects against Ebola, the whole trial process is being accelerated at unprecedented speed. In an editorial in the NEJM Dr Daniel Bausch said that while the trial left many questions unanswered, an Ebola vaccine was "one step closer". The experimental vaccine is being manufactured by the British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The company says it can produce one million doses a month by the end of 2015. This will require a significant financial outlay. It is asking for an indemnity agreement in case problems such as unforeseen side effects were to emerge in the future. GSK's chief executive Sir Andrew Witty told the BBC: "We are not waiting for that to be settled [but] it is obvious there are some risks that companies should not be expected to carry on their own." Source:
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| skibboy | 29 Nov 2014, 01:15 AM Post #188 |
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28 November 2014 Sperm can carry Ebola for 82 days: WHO © CDC/AFP/File | The Ebola virus, seen here under a microscope in an image obtained from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), can only be passed on through direct contact with bodily fluids GENEVA (AFP) - Sperm can carry the Ebola virus for at least 82 days, the World Health Organization said Friday, urging men recovering from the disease to use condoms for three months after the onset of symptoms. "Because of the potential to transmit the virus sexually during this time, they should maintain good personal hygiene after masturbation, and either abstain from sex (including oral sex) for three months after onset of symptoms, or use condoms if abstinence is not possible," the WHO said in a statement. In four studies, on a total of 43 patients, three men who had recovered from Ebola still had the live virus in their semen 40 days, 61 days and 82 days respectively after the onset of symptoms. The WHO said that no case of sexual transmission of Ebola had been documented, and that it was unclear whether semen that tests positive for Ebola is actually infectious. The four studies were carried out in different countries, with the first dating back more than 30 years. Ebola is highly contagious but, even if a person is infected, the virus can only be passed on once symptoms appear and only through direct contact with bodily fluids. Symptoms of Ebola include fever, headache, diarrhea, vomiting and in some cases bleeding. The biggest Ebola epidemic on record has claimed around 5,700 lives since the beginning of the year, according to the WHO -- almost all of them in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Source:
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| skibboy | 30 Nov 2014, 12:14 AM Post #189 |
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29 November 2014 Ebola outbreak: West Africa death toll nears 7,000 ![]() Protective measures are key to stopping the spread of the virus The number of people killed by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen to 6,928, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says. The toll has increased by over 1,000 since the WHO's last report on Wednesday, but it includes unreported deaths from earlier in the outbreak. Experts say the infection rate is more significant that the death toll, as it reflects how the virus is spreading. Infection rates are decreasing in Liberia, but are high in Sierra Leone. There have been over 16,000 reported cases in Guinea, Sierra and Liberia. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ![]() Liberian Red Cross team retrieves the body of a suspected victim of Ebola near Monrovia on 24 October, 2014 Latest Ebola death tolls Liberia: 7,244 cases, 4,181 deaths Sierra Leone: 6,802 cases, 1,463 deaths Guinea: 2,123 cases, 1,284 deaths Source: WHO ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Mali has reported seven deaths from Ebola and 10 confirmed cases. More than 4,181 people have died of Ebola in Liberia but while the country has recorded the highest number of cases, the rate of infection is slowing. The outbreak was also now "stable" in Guinea, the World Health Organization (WHO) said last week. The disease is now spreading fastest in Sierra Leone, with 6,802 cases reported in total. Nigeria and Senegal are both clear of the quarantine period and no new cases or deaths have been reported. Ebola is spread only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person showing symptoms, such as fever or vomiting. People caring for the sick or handling the bodies of people infected Ebola are therefore especially vulnerable. Source:
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| skibboy | 30 Nov 2014, 12:57 AM Post #190 |
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29 November 2014 Ebola-infected Italian doctor's health worsens © AFP | The first Italian to contract the Ebola virus is receiving treatment at the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute in Rome ROME (AFP) - The health of an Italian doctor who contracted Ebola in west Africa is deteriorating, the specialist clinic in Rome treating him said Saturday. The 50-year-old infectious diseases medic -- who has not been publicly identified -- was repatriated on Tuesday from Sierra Leone with a fever and given an experimental drug to try to combat the often-deadly virus. But since Friday there has been a "progressive aggravation" of the man's condition, the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute treating him said in a statement. "He has started to have gastro-intestinal problems (nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea). He has a high fever, currently over 39 degrees Celsius," it said. The doctor -- who became the first Italian to be infected with Ebola while working for an Italian medical association fighting the epidemic in Africa -- was not showing signs of bleeding at this stage, however. Ebola, a disease transmitted through the bodily fluids of infected people, can result in death from uncontrollable bleeding and organ failure. The current Ebola epidemic in west Africa -- the worst ever recorded -- has so far killed around 5,700 people. Source:
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| skibboy | 1 Dec 2014, 01:27 AM Post #191 |
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U.N. agency: Number of Ebola cases now tops 16,000 By Greg Botelho, CNN November 30, 2014 ![]() Ebola: Race for a vaccine (CNN) -- The number of confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola in the current outbreak has surpassed 16,000, according to the World Health Organization, with nearly 7,000 deaths from those cases. The United Nations' health agency issued its latest numbers Friday, focusing on how Ebola has affected Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- the three countries where the vast majority of cases have occurred. Liberia has been hit hardest, with the WHO reporting 7,244 confirmed and potential cases as well as 4,181 deaths. Both numbers reported Friday are significantly higher than those released earlier in the week. The WHO and other health agencies have long said the scale of the Ebola outbreak is likely significantly worse than even the current high numbers indicate, because many people died before they could be diagnosed and many contracted the disease in remote areas without ready access to health care. The U.N. health agency recently noted that the situation in Liberia has stabilized in the past five weeks, after the rate of new cases declined from mid-September through mid-October. The one country where WHO has reported a significant uptick -- with 385 new confirmed cases during the week of November 23 and 533 in the previous week -- is Sierra Leone. Ebola and similar contagious diseases are not new to Africa, but the latest outbreak has been particularly virulent and deadly. About 60% of those infected have died from the virus, according to WHO. The rapid infection rate fanned concerns that, due to the relative ease of international travel, Ebola might spread outside the continent. In fact, there have been new cases of Ebola in the United States and Spain, though such incidences remain a tiny fraction of the overall outbreak. The United Nations has urged countries worldwide to pitch in, asking in September for nearly $1 billion to help Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in their efforts to control the deadly disease. While experimental drugs and treatments have been used to treat Ebola, there's no known vaccine that can prevent the disease. Earlier this week, the U.S National Institutes of Health reported on the first human trial on one vaccine that's being fast-tracked by that government agency and British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. Researchers tested the blood of 20 volunteers -- all healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 50 who got the vaccine -- at two weeks and four weeks after they first got their shots to determine if anti-Ebola antibodies had been produced. All developed such antibodies within four weeks of receiving the vaccine, with levels higher in those who were given the higher-dose vaccine. Doctor's condition worsens A number of the cases of Ebola outside of West Africa are of health workers who treated patients. In Italy, one doctor who contracted Ebola while treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone has seen his condition deteriorate, according to the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases. The doctor, whose name has not been revealed, had arrived in Rome from Sierra Leone on Tuesday on a special bio-containment military plane. His condition was initially stable, but has become worse since Friday, the medical institute said, and has been suffering from major gastrointestinal disorders. The Italian doctor was working for the Italian aid organization, Emergency, and had treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone. It is not clear how he contracted the virus, the aid organization said. Source:
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| skibboy | 2 Dec 2014, 01:22 AM Post #192 |
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1 December 2014 Ebola crisis: WHO upbeat on targets The World Health Organization (WHO) says the 60-day goals it set itself for tackling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa have largely been met. The WHO set a target of isolating and treating 70% of patients and of safely burying 70% of victims in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea by 1 December. The WHO's Dr Bruce Aylward said only the treatment figure in Sierra Leone had fallen below the mark. He warned much work was still needed to get to "zero cases". The WHO's latest report had put the death toll from the Ebola outbreak at 6,928 in the three hardest-hit West African countries. However, Dr Aylward said hundreds of deaths reported at the weekend from Liberia were "actually non-Ebola deaths... and we will be taking them off". The WHO later published revised figures, showing 5,987 deaths in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, with six more in Mali. 'Strong leadership' Dr Aylward, the assistant director general in charge of Ebola response for the WHO, said the "yawning gap" between disease levels and the capacity to cope had narrowed significantly. This was a "very very different place than 60 days ago", he said. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Analysis: Mark Doyle, BBC international development correspondent, in Freetown, Sierra Leone Whenever you read any Ebola statistic, take it with a bucket load of salt. The UN response mission and the World Health Organization base many of their stats on a hotchpotch of numbers from national health ministries, aid organisations and sketchy information their own officials can correlate. I've often seen statistics claiming an improvement or a decline in a particular area - and then subsequently heard a first-hand report contradicting that. The truth is this crisis is taking place in one of the poorest corners of the world. All three worst-affected countries have bad roads, unreliable electricity supplies, severely under-resourced governments and poorly educated populations. So don't expect the numbers to add up every time. Foreign aid workers and journalists want things to be neat. Around here they are not. We do know one thing for certain. The number of dead is definitely an underestimate. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ![]() The Kerry Town Ebola treatment centre, on the outskirts of Freetown "We now believe that two of the three countries - Liberia and Guinea - are currently treating more than 70% of the reported cases and in Sierra Leone they're probably achieving that in most of the country." He added: "In all three countries it's clear now that more than 70% of the Ebola deaths that we know about are buried safely. And this is because in the past 60 days, the number of safe burial teams has more than doubled." He said earlier reports from the WHO that suggested less success in meeting the targets had been revised after analysing the data. Dr Aylward praised changes made by communities in the three countries, and the "strong national government leadership" they had shown. When asked when the figures for both goals would reach 100%, Dr Aylward said he did not have a crystal ball and that while progress had been made towards reaching the target, the current achievements were "not good enough to stop Ebola". He warned: "Catching up and isolating cases does not mean you will automatically get to zero - it will need additional measures." Dr Aylward said there remained hotspots with rising cases, with particular concern for western areas of Sierra Leone. But he added: "[The capacity to treat Ebola] at district level is strong and getting stronger in Sierra Leone, and that's why I think the prognosis is actually very good." Earlier, the head of the UN Ebola response mission in West Africa, Tony Banbury, told the BBC there was still a "huge risk" the deadly disease could spread to other parts of the world. Speaking in Sierra' Leone's capital, Freetown, Mr Banbury said: "It may spread around this sub-region, or someone could get on a plane to Asia, Latin America, North America or Europe... that is why it is so important to get down to zero cases as quickly as possible". ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ebola burials -Bodies still contain high levels of the Ebola virus -At least 20% of new infections occur during burials, WHO says -Relatives perform religious rites including touching or washing the body -Safe burial process involves observing rituals differently, such as "dry ablution" -Volunteers with full protective clothing are trained to handle and disinfect bodies Source:
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| skibboy | 3 Dec 2014, 12:33 AM Post #193 |
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2 December 2014 Ebola crisis: Obama urges Congress to approve aid ![]() Nearly 7,000 people have died from Ebola thus far US President Barack Obama has renewed calls for Congress to approve $6bn (£3.8bn) in emergency aid to fight the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The president made the plea on a visit to the National Institutes of Health, where he congratulated scientists on work towards a vaccine. Nearly 7,000 people have died, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The medical charity, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), has again strongly criticised the international response. It described it as patchy and slow, with the job of tackling the crisis largely left to doctors, nurses and charity organisations. The MSF report said foreign governments - notably the UK in Sierra Leone and and most recently China in Liberia - were continuing to build Ebola treatment centres. But these were sometimes in the wrong places and using poorly qualified staff. Earlier on Tuesday, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said stigma against travellers from Ebola-infected countries is hindering the fight against the disease by discouraging Western medics from helping. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Analysis: Mark Doyle, BBC international development correspondent ![]() MSF worker being trained Top UN Ebola bosses gave an upbeat press conference in Freetown, Liberia, on Monday that contrasted sharply with the new MSF report. The UN had met some of its targets, the bosses said - the situation was very bad, but moving in the right direction. However, privately, UN officials say the country that currently has the worst Ebola hotspots, Sierra Leone, is not coping at all. These UN officials added - still "off the record" - that the big aid agencies, the government of Sierra Leone and the British army were not "joining the dots" and co-ordinating well. It was of course ironic for UN officials to say that, because the UN is supposed to be doing the co-ordination. The UN, for all its bureaucratic faults, is the only overarching international body that can hope to manage the fight against Ebola in the long run. But MSF medics and Sierra Leonean health workers have, so far, done most of the dangerous work in the front lines against the viral disease. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 'Christmas present' President Obama struck a different chord to MSF. "We have seen encouraging news," he said, pointing to declining infection rates in Liberia and $2bn pledged by the global community. He urged Congress to give a "good Christmas present" to the world - $6bn to "extinguish" the disease abroad and strengthen defences against it in the US. "We need to show the world how America leads," he said. Congress is currently at work on a massive spending bill, but Ebola legislation has become embroiled in political partisanship. ![]() In November, Mr Obama requested $2bn for the United States Agency for International Development, $2.4bn for the Department of Health and Human Services, and more than $1.5bn for a contingency fund. But conservative members of Congress are expected to challenge the proposal in response to Mr Obama's recent controversial executive actions on immigration, helping more than four million illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, the White House said that the US was better prepared to deal with an outbreak of Ebola at home, and efforts to battle it in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone were progressing. A network of 35 hospitals across the US are ready to treat Ebola patients and the number of labs used for testing the virus has increased from 13 to 42. Nearly 200 civilians and 3,000 military personnel have also been deployed to West Africa, and three Ebola treatment units and a hospital have been created in Liberia. Source:
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| skibboy | 3 Dec 2014, 02:18 AM Post #194 |
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Spain declared free of Ebola virus by WHO By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN December 2, 2014 ![]() Spanish nurse Teresa Romero after being discharged from hospital on November 5, 2014 in Madrid, Spain. (CNN) -- Spain is officially clear of Ebola, the World Health Organization declared Tuesday, after no new cases were reported since a nurse's assistant who contracted the virus there tested negative for it. Since then, 42 days have passed -- double the maximum known incubation period for the virus -- without another case, allowing Spain to be declared free of Ebola. Spanish authorities had been monitoring 87 people who came into contact with healthcare worker Teresa Romero Ramos, 15 of whom were considered high-risk and were quarantined at a Madrid hospital, WHO said. Another 145 hospital employees who helped care for Romero during her month-long stay at the Carlos III Hospital were also monitored. The WHO statement said it "commends Spain for the measures put in place to identify potential cases and prevent further transmission of the Ebola virus." Romero contracted the illness while helping to care for an infected missionary who had been brought back from West Africa. He died of the disease. CNN's Anna Maja Rappard contributed to this report. Source:
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| skibboy | 4 Dec 2014, 01:32 AM Post #195 |
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03 December 2014 WHO 'wasted precious time' over Ebola © AFP/File / by Frankie Taggart | Workers wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) stand inside the contaminated area at the Elwa hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, on September 7, 2014 DAKAR (AFP) - The Belgian microbiologist who co-discovered the Ebola virus has accused the World Health Organization of dithering in reacting to the deadly epidemic and accused the international community of "hysteria." Peter Piot said that while an initial delay in confirming the outbreak could be expected, there was no excuse for waiting a further five months before acknowledging the extent of the crisis. "It took three months for the WHO to find out there was an Ebola outbreak. That I understand. Guinea had a poor laboratory infrastructure," he told Doha-based broadcaster Al Jazeera in an interview due to air on Saturday. "I have much more of a problem with the fact that it took five months for WHO -- for the international health regulations committee, for that's what it is -- to declare this a state of emergency. "It took a thousand dead Africans and two Americans who were repatriated to the US because they were infected. There's no excuse for that... It took too long, we wasted too much precious time." Authorities in Guinea and the WHO said on March 24 that since January the west African country had recorded 87 suspected cases of viral haemorrhagic fever, including 61 deaths. Scientists studying samples in the French city of Lyon confirmed it was Ebola. But the WHO didn't declare the outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" until August 8. Piot said the slow response to crisis was compounded by a United States-led over-reaction, according to an Al Jazeera statement quoting from the interview sent to AFP in Dakar. - 'Epidemic of mass hysteria' - "There is an epidemic of Ebola in west Africa and then there is a second epidemic, an epidemic of mass hysteria that we saw particularly in North America," said Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "It was really out of proportion with the issue." He pointed to a controversial decision by the governors of New York and New Jersey ordering quarantine for healthcare workers returning from west Africa. "Of course, people have become infected. One nurse has become infected in Texas, but you know, putting people in quarantine who return from west Africa for 21 days -- as some US states are imposing -- doesn't make sense from a public health perspective," he said. "It's not cost-effective and also it's a major deterrent and disincentive for supporting the countries in west Africa." He said the response to Ebola needed to address both the lack of robust healthcare systems and the cultural habits and belief systems prevalent in the affected countries. "You need people who speak the language, who understand the culture, who know what people think and feel," he said. The Ebola outbreak ravaging west Africa has claimed 6,070 lives, according to the latest WHO update, with the vast majority of deaths in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Piot, who co-discovered the virus in 1976 in Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, talks of his part in the achievement,which he describes as "the highlight of my life". "It's a dream of every microbiologist to discover a new virus," he says. by Frankie Taggart Source:
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| skibboy | 5 Dec 2014, 01:42 AM Post #196 |
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04 December 2014 Ugandan doctor cured of Ebola in German hospital © AFP/File | The clinic where a Ugandan doctor received treatment for Ebola is seen in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on October 3, 2014 BERLIN (AFP) - A Ugandan doctor who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone has been cured and released from a German hospital after seven weeks of intensive treatment, the clinic in Frankfurt said Thursday. The employee of an Italian charity had been hospitalised on October 3 in an isolation unit of the infectious disease centre at Frankfurt University Hospital and was released on November 19. He had suffered "critical multi-organ failure" and required intensive medical therapy including organ replacement procedures, but was now reunited with his family, said the hospital. "We are happy that we were able to help the patient in his recovery," said medical director Jürgen Schölmerich, thanking medical staff for performing "under great physical and mental stress". The man was one of three Ebola patients to have been treated in German hospitals, one of whom died in October. A Senegalese expert with the World Health Organization who was infected in Sierra Leone was cured in a clinic in the northern port of Hamburg, but a Sudanese UN volunteer, who had been flown in from Liberia, died in mid-October in a hospital in Leipzig. Source:
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| skibboy | 6 Dec 2014, 12:58 AM Post #197 |
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5 December 2014 Ebola: basic fluid and nutrition care 'being missed' By Smitha Mundasad Health reporter, BBC News ![]() Ebola patients can lose five to 10 litres of fluid a day through vomiting and diarrhoea Ebola patients are missing out on basic care that could improve their chances of survival, according to a report in the Lancet medical journal. Researchers say organisations are being misled by an "inaccurate view" that there is no proven treatment for Ebola. They add that patients, who could be treated with fluids and electrolytes, are dying of dehydration. Charities say there are many challenges to giving the intensive fluid replacement that some patients need. Drugs and vaccines Ebola has killed more than 6,000 people in the worst-affected areas of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. The virus causes severe vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding - all of which can lead to the profound loss of fluids and electrolytes, such as sodium and potassium. When patients are too sick to drink they can be given fluids intravenously - using a drip through a vein. But Prof Ian Roberts, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Prof Anders Perner, at the University of Copenhagen, say these rehydration therapies are being neglected while people focus on potential drugs and vaccines. Prof Roberts told the BBC: "When the outbreak started, people thought there was nothing we could do unless we killed the virus. "But it quickly became apparent when people treated in high-income countries didn't all die that ordinary good-quality medical care makes a huge difference. "There are some simple things - like replacing fluids and electrolytes - that could improve the fatality rate." 'Greater staffing' The charity Medecins Sans Frontieres says patients are encouraged to drink but only the sickest patients are given drips, as inserting them can leave staff at risk of getting the disease. Dr Catherine Hoolihan, of Save the Children, who is currently working at a treatment centre in Sierra Leone, told the BBC: "Some weaker patients absolutely require intravenous fluids in order to support them, but it is a challenging thing to do. "There are concerns about the safety of having needles inside wards but we are starting to see that when there are training and facilities in place this can work. "We also have challenges of confused patients who won't let you put in drips. Others will pull them out. And you need people to put up the next bag of fluid. "This requires greater staffing and patient ratios. But it would save more lives." Dr Charlie Weller, of the Wellcome Trust, said: "We know intensive fluid therapy can help patients but this requires more staff. "The UK and global agencies are calling for more people to help. But giving fluids alone will not eradicate Ebola. "Other therapies and vaccines will also be important right now and for future outbreaks." Source:
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| skibboy | 6 Dec 2014, 01:37 AM Post #198 |
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05 December 2014 Sierra Leone to jail 'entire families' in Ebola crackdown © AFP/File / by Rod Mac Johnson | Health workers from Sierra Leone's Red Cross Society burial team carry a corpse in Freetown on November 12, 2014 FREETOWN (AFP) - Sierra Leone warned on Friday it would jail entire families if Ebola victims who appeared to have been washed after death were discovered in their homes. The tradition of cleansing the dead before burials remains a major factor in the spread of the highly infectious virus, the government said, despite numerous appeals for Sierra Leoneans to refrain from the practice. "When the family calls (the burial hotline) and it is proved that the corpse has been tampered with, we are going to quarantine the entire family or take them to holding centres for 21 days," said Palo Conteh, head of the government's National Ebola Response Centre. "If they are negative, they will be taken to prison for a certain period under the state of emergency. If they are positive, we will send them for treatment. "If they die, that will be their fate. But if they survive, again they will be sent to prison." Conteh, speaking to reporters in Freetown, did not specify if children would be held criminally responsible, or what would happen to them if their parents were jailed. The government says civil unrest and disobedience in parts of the country are making it impossible to beat the outbreak, which has already killed almost 1,600 people. Conteh has appealed to Sierra Leoneans on several occasions to refrain from behaviour which might promote the spread of the virus but said people continue to break temporary laws aimed at curbing the epidemic. "I am now ready to meet such people head-on with the law and by no means should we as a people allow the Ebola virus to live with us as a nation," he said. "Anyone found in violation of the law as far as burials, washing of corpses and keeping sick people in homes... will be dealt with severely." - Still hiding bodies - Sierra Leone, which has registered an alarming surge in cases in its western area including the capital, has seen numerous episodes of unrest since President Ernest Bai Koroma announced a state of emergency in July. In October two people were killed in the eastern town of Koidu in a riot started when health workers tried to take blood from an elderly woman and days later an ambulance was overturned by a mob and pelted with stones. Ebola is spread through contact with bodily fluids and experts have identified traditional funeral rites such as washing victims as a key mode of transmission. Among a raft of emergency measures imposed by Koroma, Sierra Leoneans have been ordered to report Ebola deaths to the authorities or risk prosecution. But Conteh said people were still hiding the bodies of loved ones from specialist disposal teams, fearful of the stigma associated with an Ebola death in the family. The outbreak has left 6,070 dead since December last year, nearly all in west Africa. Sierra Leone confirmed Thursday it was some way short of a key target to reduce the spread of Ebola by isolating almost three-quarters of patients in treatment beds. The World Health Organization (WHO) set a 60-day goal on October 1 to isolate 70 percent of Ebola patients in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone and ensure safe burials for 70 percent of bodies, which are highly infectious. But in Sierra Leone, only 60 percent of patients were in isolation by December 1, Conteh told reporters in Freetown. The Ministry of Health said in a statement Friday 100 Nigerian health workers had arrived to boost the response and would be deployed to the northern districts of Port Loko and Bombali. by Rod Mac Johnson Source:
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| skibboy | 7 Dec 2014, 01:04 AM Post #199 |
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06 December 2014 Nigerian peacekeeper brought to Netherlands for Ebola care A Nigerian UN peacekeeper infected with Ebola in Liberia arrived Saturday for treatment in The Netherlands, Dutch authorities said. The first Ebola patient to be treated in The Netherlands was flown to the country in a specially equipped plane and was to be taken straight to the university hospital in Utrecht, in the centre of the country. "After Germany, France and Switzerland , it is The Netherlands' turn to make a contribution by welcoming an employee of an international organisation," the Dutch health and development ministers said in a letter to parliament. The patient had been enlisted in the fight against Ebola, which has killed more than 6,000 people and infected around 17,000, almost all in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Source:
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| skibboy | 8 Dec 2014, 01:01 AM Post #200 |
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07 December 2014 Tenth Sierra Leone doctor dies of Ebola © AFP/File | A nurse wearing personal protective equipment checks on a patient at the Kenema Ebola treatment center on November 15, 2014 FREETOWN (AFP) - A tenth doctor has died after contracting Ebola in Sierra Leone, the government said on Sunday, increasing alarm over the safety of medics battling the deadly epidemic. Aiah Solomon Konoyima's death late on Saturday at an Ebola treatment unit in Hastings, near the capital Freetown, came just a day after two of his colleagues were killed by the virus. "He had been in the centre for over a week and few days ago he was moved to the recovery ward as he had great signs of recovery," chief medical officer Brima Kargbo told AFP. "The continuing death of our doctors and the mode of transmission of the virus are worrisome, and we will intensify all skills to arrest the situation." Even before the Ebola epidemic spread from Guinea in May, Sierra Leone, one of the world's poorest countries, was still struggling to rebuild its health services after a decade-long civil war in the 1990s. In 2010 the nation was estimated to have around one doctor for every 50,000 people -- or roughly 120 doctors for the entire country. Geraldine George, president of the country's Junior Doctors Association, voiced "grave concerns" last week over the deaths of doctors, urging the government to pile more resources into fighting Ebola. The doctors are among more than 300 healthcare workers to have died treating patients infected in the deadly outbreak, which appears to be stabilising in Guinea and Liberia, but is still spreading at an alarming rate in Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone government announced on Saturday that two doctors had died the previous day, one in the Hastings clinic and another at the British-run Kerry Town Ebola treatment centre a short drive from Freetown. Sierra Leone has recorded around 1,600 Ebola deaths this year and has registered a worrying surge recently of cases in its western area, including the capital. The virus is spread through contact with bodily fluids, meaning healthcare workers are particularly at risk, and more than 100 have lost their lives in Sierra Leone. The outbreak has left more than 6,000 people dead worldwide since December 2013, nearly all in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. President Ernest Bai Koroma announced on Sunday a summit on Ebola, gathering the leaders of Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Ivory coast, would take place in the eastern city of Kailahun "very soon". "We are not out of the woods yet but the mechanisms we have put in place will definitely bear fruit in time," he said. Source:
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