"Possible contamination": journalists learned hospitalization in Ufa, a Nigerian national with suspected Ebola
Publication time: 19 August 2014, 23:16
last update: 19 August 2014, 23:34


Journalists reported the first in Russia alleged case of infection with Ebola, from which has not yet come up with life-saving vaccine
In the CPS on August 19 said that at present adopted a package of measures to avoid the penetration of Ebola in the territory of the country
Despite the increasing number of victims of fever, WHO said that in Niger and Guinea have made ​​in controlling the spread of severe infection

About Journalists in Russia reported the first case of alleged infection with Ebola, from which has not yet come up with life-saving vaccine. With the characteristic symptoms of the infectious diseases hospital in Ufa was brought Nigerian citizen who had recently returned to Russia after a visit to relatives. However, the Ministry of Health of Bashkortostan were quick to say that the information about the infection dangerous Ebola "is not quite true."

On admission a native of Nigeria, Mohammed Sadiq suspected to be infected with Ebola television reported LifeNews evening of August 19, referring to "an employee of the health department of Ufa." Later on the same website reported channel "Star", but without reference to the source. Then the news picked up by other media. In particular, the notice of admission was published on the website of "Echo of Moscow" and the local portal The Ufa Room.

I must say that he "employee of the health department of Ufa" words such as "Ebola" is not pronounced. Here's what he told reporters LifeNews: "In the infectious diseases hospital man will occur over the next three weeks. Preliminary diagnosis - possible contamination." Already in the message channel is said that Mohammed Sadiq was hospitalized with suspected infection with Ebola "characteristic symptoms: 40-degree body temperature and copious."

According to the channel, 25-year-old young man is enrolled in a master's degree at a university of the country. Some time ago, he flew to his native Nigeria, where it is known about the four fatal cases of infection with Ebola. Before the start of the school year, he returned to Ufa. By Mohammed Sadiq medical workers arrived at the apartment, located on the street internationally. From there he was urgently hospitalized in an infectious diseases hospital.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Health of Bashkortostan information denied LifeNews. "This information is not entirely true. Indeed, today in an infectious diseases hospital №4 Ufa is a man who came from Nigeria. He has no heat, he feels well. Doctors ordered by the region Rospotrebnadzora check automatically all those who came from countries where fixed Ebola infection. These actions are intended to prevent the spread of the disease among the population of the republic and the country as a whole "- told RIA" Novosti "a source in the health department.

The authorities of the Russian Federation to strengthen measures to protect against Ebola

In Rospotrebnadzor August 19 stated that currently adopted a package of measures to avoid the penetration of Ebola in the country.

"CPS continued to focus on the adoption of effective measures to protect the population of the Russian Federation from the environmental threats posed by the proliferation of Ebola in the West African region," - said the agency website....  https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsru.com%2Frussia%2F19aug2014%2Ffalsebola.html&edit-text=

Ebola Patient, Dr. Adadevoh, is Dead

BREAKING NEWS Ebola Patient, Dr. Adadevoh, is Dead

19 Aug 2014

Ameyo Stella Adadevoh

Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh, the consultant physician, who had contracted the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) from the Liberian, Mr. Patrick Sawyer, who imported the virus into Nigeria, is dead.

Sources close to Adadevoh, 58, said she succumbed to the disease Tuesday evening.

Adadevoh led the medical team at First Consultants Medical Centre, a Lagos-based hospital, that treated Sawyer.

She was said to have fallen into a coma on Monday and despite the valiant battle by the medical team to save her, she could not survive the scourge of the disease.

Her passing brings the total number of deaths from the Ebola virus to five in Nigeria.
Details to follow…http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/breaking-news-ebola-patient-dr-adadevoh-is-dead/186777/

Georgia (Paulding) man tests negative for Ebola - still in isolation

PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. —
...

The Paulding County Sheriff's Office and Fire-Rescue confirm they got a 911 call from the man's son Saturday night stating his father recently returned from Nigeria and was showing, what he believed, were Ebola-like symptoms.
Paulding County emergency medical technicians responded to the couple's senior living apartment in full Hazmat suits and rushed the elderly man and his wife to an isolation unit at Emory University Hospital, in DeKalb County -- the same hospital where two American Ebola patients are recovering.

Officials said tests confirmed the man did not have Ebola and, late Monday, they said tests also showed the man did not have Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome or MERS. However, they said the man remains in isolation at Emory.


[link to www.wsbtv.com]

After intense “lobbying” by Western diplomats, port authorities in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) have lifted the ban on ships coming from Ebola-hit countries (imposed on 12 Aug) … provided ships “follow usual contractual requirements and preventive health measures”.
Civilian hospital ships operator “Mercy Ships” postpones /cancels deployments to West Africa  http://www.twitlonger.com/show/nfmouf

Two new suspected ebola cases in Austria

 19 Aug 2014 20:03 GMT+02:00

Two Nigerians in Upper Austria who recently returned from Lagos on August 13 have been placed into quarantine on Tuesday while medical officials test them for the possibility of the deadly ebola virus.
The two Nigerians returned from Lagos recently, and experienced fever and other symptoms that triggered medical officials to immediately place them into quarantine, while samples of their blood were sent to Hamburg for urgent evaluation.
All persons they came into contact with have been identified.
Blood tests have been sent to Hamburg's Bernhard-Nocht Institute, with results expected soon.

The governor of upper Austria Josef Pühringer said that all arrangements had been made so that there would be no further transmission of contagion, if it turns out that they have the deadly virus.

"The risk that the two are actually suffering from ebola is, however, classified by doctors as not very high," reassured the Governor.

The Nigerians traveled via Dubai and arrived at Vienna's Schwechat airport.  On Tuesday they were in the isolation ward of the regional hospital in Vöcklabruck. 

 

The appropriate procedures were followed after consultation with the Ministry of Health. A nurse practitioner, to whom the Nigerians had turned, had contacted the district medical officer. They then carried out a risk assessment in accordance with applicable national and international guidelines. 

 

Then both patients were transported to the regional hospital in Vöcklabruck using the "Infection Transport" of the Red Cross, where they have subsequently been housed in a isolation room. 

 

A previously suspected case of ebola, in which the British Nigerian patient died, was confirmed as not being due to ebola after test results were received on Monday.  A Spanish man who recently returned from Sierra Leone turned out to not have the virus. http://www.thelocal.at/20140819/two-new-suspected-ebola-cases-in-austria

...Luxembourg-based steel and mining company ArcelorMittal announced earlier in August that it has suspended the second phase of its iron-ore expansion project in Liberia meant to increase shipments from 4 million tonne-per-year to 15 million by the end of next year. The project cost was not disclosed.

“Due to the evolving situation of the current Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, contractors working on the phase two expansion project have declared force majeure and are moving people out of the country. We are currently assessing the potential impact on the project schedule,” the company said in a statement on August 8.

According to published reports, the project's 15 contractors are evacuating about 650 employees. ArcelorMittal has an estimated 500 direct employees in Liberia and an additional 2,100 foreign and local contractors; it invested $1 billion in operations there last year. http://enr.construction.com/business_management/workforce/2014/0812-ebola-halts-some-construction-projects-in-west-africa.asp

Ebola kills 84 in three days amid Liberia hunt for missing patients

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

 

Policemen wearing protective masks arrive in front of the employment centre in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district on August 19, 2014, where a woman who showed symptoms consistent with the deadly Ebola disease received medical treatment. PHOTO | AFP |   NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• The epidemic, which has hit four west African nations since it broke out in Guinea at the start of the year, is by far the deadliest since Ebola was discovered four decades ago in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• The head of the Health Workers Association of Liberia, George Williams, said of the 29 patients in the raided unit “all had tested positive for Ebola” and were receiving preliminary treatment before being taken to hospital.

The Ebola virus killed 84 people in just three days, bringing the global death toll to 1,229, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Tuesday.

The death toll, which passed the 1,000-mark over a week ago, soared higher from last Thursday to Saturday.

The number of confirmed infections jumped by 113 over the three days, bringing the total number of cases to 2,240, the UN health agency said.

The epidemic, which has hit four west African nations since it broke out in Guinea at the start of the year, is by far the deadliest since Ebola was discovered four decades ago in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sierra Leone recorded 38 new infections and 17 fatalities, the new WHO data showed.

As a result, Sierra Leone’s total case count increased to 848 and its death toll to 365.

Guinea counted 24 new cases and 14 new deaths.

That lifted the total number of cases to 543, with 394 deaths.

All told, Nigeria has now seen 15 cases and four fatalities, the data show.

Meanwhile, Liberia was desperately searching for 17 Ebola patients who fled an attack on a quarantine centre in the capital Monrovia, as the outbreak appeared to overwhelm authorities in west Africa’s worst-hit nation. Searches of the teeming West Point slum have so far failed to turn up any of the missing victims as neighbouring Guinea said a wave of sick Liberians had begun crossing the border, which it had officially closed 10 days ago.

EBOLA MEDICAL FACILITY RAIDED

Club-wielding youths raided a medical facility set up in a high school in the dense-populated Monrovia slum on Saturday, some shouting “there’s no Ebola”, echoing wild rumours that the epidemic had been made up by the West.

Officials are considering sealing off the area — home to 75,000 people — to stop the nightmare scenario of people with the highly contagious disease wandering the city where unburied corpses have lain abandoned in the streets.

Mr Wilmont Johnson, head of a youth association in West Point which organised a search for the patients, told journalists Monday that “those who saw them passing told us that they have gone into other communities”.

The head of the Health Workers Association of Liberia, George Williams, said of the 29 patients in the raided unit “all had tested positive for Ebola” and were receiving preliminary treatment before being taken to hospital.

Mr Fallah Boima, whose son Michel was among the patients who fled, told AFP: “I am afraid that he could die somewhere and I will not know.”

Outside the capital in Caldwell, relatives of the dead criticised the government for the slowness of its response, claiming that bodies were being left uncollected there for days. Sheikh Idrissa Swaray, the father of one victim, slammed the way the government was handling the crisis as “completely wrong”.

He said in one case a man had died and his wife, possibly infected herself, had run away.

“We don’t even know where the wife has gone and the body is still here.

Three days now and the body has not been taken.”

Dr Sakoba Keita, who is heading Guinea’s fight against the epidemic, told AFP that a wave of sick Liberians were crossing the border in the Macenta district in the south of country.  http://www.nation.co.ke/news/africa/Ebola-kills-84-in-three-day--Liberia-hunt/-/1066/2424598/-/glb9gi/-/index.html

AFL Ordered to Shoot Anyone Crossing Borders at Night

At Bo-Waterside: Col. Dennis instructs soldiers to be alert in protecting the Liberia/Sierra Leone sealed border at all times

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 08:27 admin

-As Dep COS Puts Army on High Alert

By: 

C.Y. Kwanue from Bo-Waterside

Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) Deputy Chief of Staff (DCOS), Col Eric W. Dennis, has ordered soldiers deployed at the borderlines in Bomi and Grand Cape Mount counties, Western Liberia, to shoot any individual/s crossing into the country from neighboring Sierra Leone under the cover of darkness.
DCOS Dennis issued the order on Friday to the commander of the platoon-size detachments of soldiers deployed in those counties.
The soldiers are under orders to shoot on sight those who violate President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s mandate ordering all borders closed in the wake of the spread of the Ebola virus across the country.
Col. Dennis’ instruction was prompted by a report presented to him during a tour of the borderlines over the weekend by immigration officers assigned at Bo-Waterside.
Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN) reports confirmed to commanders that illegal entries around Bo Water are now being used under the cover of darkness by some individuals crossing over into Liberia and verse versa during night hours.
Bo-Waterside Immigration Commander, Col. Samuel Mulbah, informed the AFL DCOS that despite the closure of the borders, some ‘unscrupulous’ individuals, mainly Sierra Leoneans,  were using makeshift canoes at night to cross people into the country as well as take people from Liberia to that neighboring West African state....

.. “I want to hear that someone gets a bullet in their leg. First, you need to send a warning shot, and then after you burst their legs, the affected person/s will realize that he has violated a standing order or a law of another country,” Col. Dennis mandated the soldiers as they (soldiers) responded in unison, “Yes, Sir!.”
He then ordered the solders to deal decisively with any violator of the law, daring violators to bring the soldiers’ complaint to the 23^rd Infantry Headquarters in Monrovia.
Col. Dennis, who was received on the tour by the commander of soldiers deployed in the area, 1^st Lieutenant Toogbabu Ivan, was accompanied by the Commander of AFL’s 23^rd Infantry Brigade, Col. Prince C. Johnson, III and others.  
Col. Dennis told the soldiers that there was a need for them to set an example, “because there are other people along the borderlines who are joking with the health and lives of Liberians and other nationals in the country. Our border needs to be closed and remain as such because nobody is allowed to enter and cross illegally.”
Meanwhile, Col. Dennis has warned soldiers and other security officers assigned at the border against taking bribes or crossing people into the country themselves, risking the lives of Liberian citizens... http://www.liberianobserver.com/security/afl-ordered-shoot-anyone-crossing-borders-night

‘Nimba May Be Quarantined’

Tue, 08/19/2014 - 07:07 admin

Ganta Mayor discloses as Ebola rages

By: 

Joaquin Sendolo

As the Ebola crisis worsens in the country, the City Mayor of Ganta, Dorr Cooper has disclosed that his city could be quarantined, and even the entire county if an increase in Ebola deaths and suspected cases is observed.
Speaking in an exclusive interview following a statement to a Baptist congregation last Sunday,  Mayor Cooper said Ganta had already recorded four deaths and more than five suspected cases.
He disclosed that while a withholding center at the Ganta Hospital already exists to keep suspected persons, authorities are finding it difficult to keep suspected cases in quarantine, as patients are fleeing the center and reintegrating themselves into society, thus putting the entire county at risk of contracting the virus.
He expressed with emphasis that despite heavy news about the increasing number of lives Ebola is claiming in Liberia and other neighboring countries, many people in Ganta and Nimba at large were still denying the existence ofthe disease and accusing local authorities of devising strategies to make money in the name of Ebola.
....
Football games and assembling in video clubs are from henceforth halted, he asserted.
On Monday, it was reported on local community radio in Ganta that three dead bodies related to Ebola were  reported in the LPMC Community, while two were reported in Small Ganta.
According to the information, a lady identified as Roseline died weeks ago but had not been suspected of having contracted Ebola.
As a result, most family members who were close to her are reportedly coming down with an illness.  The herbalist who reportedly catered to her while she was sick has also come down with a severe illness.
Meanwhile, the propagation of the Ebola message in Ganta and other parts of Nimba has created fear, and many activities in the city have been suspended.
Ganta is the commercial capital of Nimba County, where several businesses are located.  The city hosts over 50,000 people.  A quarantined could lead to food shortages and an escalation in the prices of commodities, as goods from Monrovia will not easily reach a quarantined Nimba.  And with the borders with Guinea and Ivory Coast now closed, the scarcity of basic commodities will only increase. http://www.liberianobserver.com/news/%E2%80%98nimba-may-be-quarantined%E2%80%99

Ebola: Epidemic looms in Lagos Mass Transit trains … as Nigerians shun second hand clothes’ markets

HATTIP NAWTYBITS


Concerns have been raised over a possible outbreak of Ebola epidemic aboard the Lagos Mass Transit Trains due to over overcrowding and congestion in the trains. This is even as operators of the second-hand clothes markets scattered nationwide have started lamenting drop in sales due to the fear that the virus is still very active on clothes worn by dead victims.
..The disease, according to research, needs just body contact with an infected person to cause its spread. The Ebola disease transmits through body fluids like sweat from one person to another.

....Inside the trains, employees of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) who check passenger tickets are made to go through congested human bodies to make sure they check everybody aboard the trains.

All the passengers on-board are seen covered by sweat because of the human congestion and the lack of ventilation inside the trains...[link to www.newsdirectonline.com]

Apart from NRC employees who navigate through congested human bodies to check passenger tickets, hawkers are also seen struggling through passengers’ bodies to ensure they make ends meet.

Sierra Leone News : Thieves Break into Ebola Isolation Ward in Bo City

By Hassan Juana Koroma in Bo Aug 18, 2014, 12:10

While President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma and his Government are making frantic efforts to end the Ebola epidemic disease in the country, wicked thieves on Monday 12th August 2014 at around 3 am under a heavy down pour of rain broke into the Ebola isolation ward at the Bo Government Hospital and carted away property like tents, tarpaulins, buckets, hospital beds, mobile phones and shoes among other things worth millions of Leones.

Speaking to the Medical Superintendent of the Bo Government Hospital Dr. Gerald Young at his administrative office, he expressed frustration and dismay over the unpatriotic tendencies of some so-called citizens in respect to the Ebola disease in the country. He noted there were 6 patients in Isolation Ward where thieves carted away the said property. Because of such actions by residents in the Bo municipality, the Ebola epidemic has spread like wild fire.

At this moment he disclosed the safety of the patients is questionable because if thieves can enter into the Ebola isolation ward and cart away property worth millions of Leones, it clearly indicates that due to the nature of the epidemic it is very clear that their security is not guaranteed.

The Medical Superintendent further disclosed that since the outbreak of the Ebola disease in the country, denial was prevalent which has led to a good number of patients leaving the Bo Government hospital without being discharged. He described such patients as Ebola carriers in their respective communities.

Dr. Young further admonished all that "Ebola is real" and that they are making all efforts in order to eradicate the Ebola disease through their expertise.

Speaking to the Bo West Police Media Officer, Inspector Abu Bakarr S. Kamara said that they have arrested two suspects who are helping the police with investigations on the disappearance of the Ebola Materials.

He said they take extreme caution when interrogating such suspects because if they could go and steal at the Ebola isolation ward it clearly shows that they have already sacrificed their lives for eternity. http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200525993.shtml

Inspector Kamara further informed that all the security forces have come on board strongly in combating the Ebola epidemic in the country, and admonished all that if any one poisons the minds of people about the Ebola Epidemic or steals Ebola materials they will face the full penalty of the law.

One patient in a 200-bed hospital: how Ebola has devastated Liberia's health system

Patients with other illnesses now dying due to lack of medical care amid Ebola outbreak in Liberia

Last month, five nurses and one doctor at Phebe Hospital became infected, and in the ensuing panic most of the rest of the staff fled en masse Photo: Will Wintercross/The Telegraph

By Colin Freeman, Bong County, Liberia

6:00PM BST 15 Aug 2014

Three-year-old Matu Buema lies wheezing in her hospital bed, a tiny, listless bundle in her mother Fatu's arms. The normally bouncy toddler is suffering from a bout of malaria that could easily kill her - yet right now, she is far and away the luckiest of the patients to have sought help at Phebe Hospital in central Liberia.

Last month, five of the hospital's nurses and one doctor became infected while treating a patient carrying the Ebola virus, and in the ensuing panic, most of the rest of the staff fled en masse.

The hospital has been closed ever since, and for the 330,000 residents of Bong County, a swathe of dense rainforests scattered with remote villages, there are now no emergency hospital facilities at all, be it for Ebola or anything else.

Those who bring sick or dying loved ones to Phebe's gates are stopped by security guards, some of whom carry spiked clubs in case their message that the hospital cannot help does not go down well.

The only case that get past the checkpoint are those where a child's life is in imminent danger, such as young Fatu, or mothers with complications during childbirth. Who gets in and who doesn’t is down to the discretion of the two doctors still working at the hospital, but even then there is a limit to their charity.

With most of the hospital technicians and specialists absent, many operations cannot be carried out all, and when The Telegraph visited Phebe last week, malaria-stricken Matu was the sole patient in a facility with 200 beds.
"At the moment we can look after only the most critical cases because of the lack of staff," said Kerson Saykor, the administrator of Phebe, standing next to a memorial picture of one of the dead nurses posted to a wall.
"We want the nurses to come back, but they are saying they want protective equipment in case any other patients come in with Ebola, and we do have enough of that to give them yet."
The problems at Phebe are repeated across Liberia, with scores of clinics and hospitals now shut because of the Ebola outbreak. Such has been the chaos that no hard figures on the numbers of closures are available, but with around 80 of the country's 6,000 health workers infected with the virus, including some senior physicians, the impact on the health service has been devastating.
Earlier this month, three hospitals in the capital, Monrovia, were shut, including St Joseph's Catholic Hospital, where an elderly Spanish missionary, Miguel Pajares, died from Ebola last week after being flown back to Spain for treatment. The two other hospitals in Monrovia since reopened, but are now so overstretched that people in Bong County know there is little point in making the four-hour long journey to go there.
The result is that any adult who falls acutely ill in Bong County right now can expect to die. In the township next to Phoebe hospital, a collection of shacks and breeze-block homes amid palms and dense bush, locals said that two residents had passed away in the last week alone because of lack of treatment.
One of them, Yanduay Forkpah, 69, was actually being treated in Phebe when the outbreak began, and was simply ordered to leave, according to his sister Younger Franklin, 62, who had buried him the day before The Telegraph visited.
"My brother developed pains in his neck about three weeks ago, and he spent two nights in the hospital," said Ms Franklin, as she walked down a bush trail to the clearing where his grave now lay, a mound of earth adorned with a cross made of two twigs.
"We didn't know what was wrong with him. But just as they were about to give him an X-ray, they told him the hospital was closing because the staff were dying of Ebola. Since so many other hospitals were shutting too, we had no choice but to bring him home, where he died."
Another case was that of Qweta Karba, 45, a mother-of-nine who was diagnosed two years with a chronic stomach ulcer. It suddenly grew worse again in late July, and despite agonising abdominal pain, all her husband Danny M Karba Senior could do was give her paracetamol.
"She died three days ago, by which time the pain was getting really bad for her," said Mr Karba, 62. "I am very sad that nobody was able to treat my wife – they could at least have done an ultrasound for her. The children are terribly sad."
Ironically, Mr Karbah is himself one of the health workers who deserted the hospital: he works at Phebe as a nurse and counsellor treating HIV cases. But while HIV is now a known quantity, Ebola is entirely new to the region, and its horrific symptoms, which include bleeding from the eyes, inspire terror even in health workers.
"I was working there when the outbreak killed some of the nurses, and everyone just ran away," he said. "We cannot go back there until they give us protective gloves to work with people."
Right now, nobody knows quite how many people have died in Bong County and elsewhere as a result of not being able to get emergency medical treatment.
But with the outbreak engulfing not just Liberia but Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria, aid agencies fear it could get worse before it gets better. Even if they can provide health workers with the necessary protective equipment, many may still be scared to come back to work.
In an assessment paper earlier this week, UNICEF warned of an "overwhelming gap in the delivery of critical life-saving interventions" caused by the Ebola break. The report said it also risked driving patients to seek the care of bush midwives and traditional healers, many of whom do not observe proper hygienic practices.
More seriously, the absence of health workers is undermining basic vaccination programmes for the likes of measles and polio collapsing.
Immunisation rates are barely at 50 per cent at best, and the report warned that "with mothers afraid to take their children to health facilities, immunisation is expected to drop significantly by up to half the current coverage rate."
Sheldon Yett, the Liberia representative for UNICEF, told The Telegraph: "We are all now focusing on the Ebola epidemic, but we are facing other impacts just down the road because of the huge impact on the health system. There is potentially a much bigger disaster on our hands." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ebola/11037365/One-patient-in-a-200-bed-hospital-how-Ebola-has-devastated-Liberias-health-system.html

Gambia bird airlines suspends flights to Monrovia,Liberia and Freetown,Sierra Leone

https://twitter.com/atejancole/status/500317962935750656/photo/1

Saudi Health requests from foreign visa ban from Nigeria because of the "Ebola"

Saudi Health requests from foreign visa ban from Nigeria because of the "Ebola"

Friday, August 15th, 2014 - 11:39

The newspaper Okaz Saudi Arabia "The Ministry of Health asked the Foreign Ministry to stop issuing permits for the pilgrimage and various permits other State of Nigeria among all the countries of West Africa, after the discovery of 13 cases of secondary infected with a virus (Ebola) was mixing with the case infected in the state of Liberia," noting that there is a continuous and coordinated daily with Nigeria to follow up on cases aphid and statistics and which is one of the countries most West African Muslims, with 30 thousand pilgrims each year.... https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youm7.com%2Fstory%2F2014%2F8%2F15%2F%25D8%25A7%25D9%2584%25D8%25B5%25D8%25AD%25D8%25A9_%25D8%25A7%25D9%2584%25D8%25B3%25D8%25B9%25D9%2588%25D8%25AF%25D9%258A%25D8%25A9_%25D8%25AA%25D8%25B7%25D9%2584%25D8%25A8_%25D9%2585%25D9%2586_%25D8%25A7%25D9%2584%25D8%25AE%25D8%25A7%25D8%25B1%25D8%25AC%25D9%258A%25D8%25A9_%25D8%25AD%25D8%25B8%25D8%25B1_%25D8%25A7%25D9%2584%25D8%25AA%25D8%25A3%25D8%25B4%25D9%258A%25D8%25B1%25D8%25A7%25D8%25AA_%25D9%2585%25D9%2586_%25D9%2586%25D9%258A%25D8%25AC%25D9%258A%25D8%25B1%25D9%258A%25D8%25A7_%25D8%25A8%25D8%25B3%25D8%25A8%2F1820619&edit-text=

Lagos Ebola patients neglected, critically ill – Relatives, colleagues

August 15, 2014

Relatives and associates of the female medical doctor and other health workers who contracted the Ebola Virus Disease from the late Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, share the gloomy experiences of the victims with TEMITAYO FAMUTIMI and AFEEZ HANAFI

Go there yourself and witness firsthand the condition under which they are being taken care of,” Dr. Helen Boyo-Ekwueme charged at one of the journalists inquiring about the welfare of the health workers battling with Ebola, at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Yaba, Lagos.

The atmosphere was tense. Relatives and professional colleagues of the female medical doctor and other health workers, who contracted the disease from the late Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, had gathered to brief journalists at a press conference which held in Ikoyi, Lagos.

Boyo-Ekwueme, a pathologist, and one of the concerned relatives kept on laying emphasis on the fact that the female medical doctor must not be left to die.

Noting that the press conference was not called to trade blames with the Federal Government or the Lagos State Government, she painted a picture of utter neglect of the female doctor and her medical colleagues who have been placed in isolation at the IDH.

The pathologist who claimed to have been to the IDH in company with other family members and professional colleagues alleged that the Ebola patients were not been properly looked after.

Arguing that proper basic treatment and immune boosting drugs that can be of help to the patients were generally lacking, she concluded that only “international help” could make them live a little longer.

She lamented, “We are not fighting anybody. We are simply giving voice to the voiceless. Those people in isolation at the IDH cannot voice out these concerns. Let them have basic treatment. It shouldn’t be as if we just stood there and abandon them and watch them die one by one.

“They are human beings. That female doctor is a patriotic Nigerian and she needs to be helped. You people (journalists) should go there and see the surroundings where they are being treated. You would wonder if these are human beings who still have relatives.

“They are just being left on their own. Nobody is counselling them. They are just there as if they have been forgotten. We should remember that they didn’t ask to contract Ebola and it can happen to anybody. We are appealing for international help for these health workers.”

Spokesperson for the group of seven concerned family members and colleagues of the Ebola victims, Dr. Ladi Okuboyejo, buttressed Boyo-Ekwueme’s claims stating that people including medical personnel deployed were now running away from the ailing victims.

Explaining that the Ebola outbreak was beyond the capacity of the scary Nigerian physicians, Okuboyejo insisted that the conditions under which the Ebola victims were being looked after was appalling.

Okuboyejo, a medical practitioner, stated that there was a dearth of requisite drugs and basic medical supplies needed by the victims adding that the poor general sanitary condition of the isolation facility was despicable.

“If a health facility doesn’t have light, doesn’t have water and the sanitary system is not working properly then we have got a problem. Now the patients are critically ill and their condition is getting worse by day. People, including some medical personnel, are now running away from them.

“The reality is that the disease is beyond our capacity to handle in this country. The international community needs to rise up to our aid. The victims are not being properly treated. Forget that the Nigeria Medical Association is on strike, we cannot handle it,” he stated.

But as the concerned associates of the Ebola victims lamented the state of affairs with their loves ones at the press conference, a close family source confided in one of our correspondents that the American doctor had been the one personally footing the bill for the purchase of basic medical supplies for the victims.

The family source who preferred anonymity stated that a long list of medical and general need items presented to the authorities by the foreign physician had yet to be supplied.

“Where is the $12m the Federal Government said it released to fight Ebola. Remember that the matron and the ECOWAS protocol officer are already dead. Do they want all of them to start dying one after the other,” the source added.

As they took turns to address journalists, another immediate family member of one of the patients, Deji Akinyanju, drew the microphones to himself and began his own round of lamentation.

Akinyanju who declined to name her ailing relative, stated that the feedbacks he has got from the isolation centre showed that the Ebola victims’ health was fast deteriorating.

He alleged that the Nigerian physicians working with the American WHO expert were those with little or no experience in managing the highly contagious disease.

With a note of disappointment in his voice, Akinyanju, who said he had been visiting his critically ill relative at the IDH stated, that the WHO expert have also highlighted the need for more experienced hands to help salvage what remains of the health of the isolated health workers.

“There is a need for more medical personnel that will help look after them. Certain immune booster could also have been easily given to them. We are just concerned family members. But from what we have seen we think more can be done to help them,” Akinyanju said.

When contacted, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, was unavailable for comments.

His telephone line rang out when one of our correspondent contacted him. Also, a text message sent to him, was not replied to as at press time on Thursday. http://www.punchng.com/news/lagos-ebola-patients-neglected-critically-ill-relatives-colleagues-2/

Ebola virus disease update - west Africa

Disease outbreak news
15 August 2014

Epidemiology and surveillance

Between 12 and 13 August 2014, a total of 152 new cases of Ebola virus disease (laboratory-confirmed, probable, and suspect cases) as well as 76 deaths were reported from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Health sector response

On 13-14 August, some airlines and social media and traditional media vehicles expressed concern that air travel to and from affected countries was a high-risk activity for the spread of Ebola. To correct this misunderstanding, WHO called a press conference at the UN Palais des Nations in Geneva on 14 August. Dr Isabelle Nuttall, speaking on behalf of WHO, said, “Air travel, even from Ebola-affected countries, is low-risk for Ebola transmission.”
Dr Nuttall further clarified modes of transmission for Ebola and emphasized that the disease is not an airborne virus, unlike influenza or tuberculosis. The infection is transmitted to others through direct contact with the bodily fluids of a sick person, such as blood, vomit, sweat, and diarrhoea. Even if an individual infected with EVD travels by plane, the likelihood of other passengers and crew coming into contact with the individual’s bodily fluids is very low.
WHO does not recommend any travel or trade restrictions be applied except in cases where individuals have been confirmed or are suspected of being infected with EVD or where individuals have had contact with cases of EVD. (Contacts do not include properly-protected health-care workers and laboratory staff.) Temporary recommendations from the Emergency Committee with regard to actions to be taken by countries can be found at:

• IHR Emergency Committee meeting on Ebola outbreak in west Africa

On 13 August, Heads of Global Information Systems (GIS) for WHO, UN agencies, intergovernmental agencies, and partners met to continue mapping the EVD crisis and create an interagency common operations picture. This will allow WHO and other organizations responding to the crisis in the affected countries to pinpoint where personnel and material should be concentrated for an effective end to the outbreak.

Disease update

Confirmed, probable, and suspect cases and deaths from Ebola virus disease in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, as of 13 August 2014

	New (1)	Confirmed	Probable	Suspect	Totals
Guinea
Cases	9	376	133	10	519
Deaths	3	245	133	2	380
Liberia
Cases	116	190	423	173	786
Deaths	58	154	190	69	413
Nigeria
Cases	0	11	0	1	12
Deaths	1	4	0	0	4
Sierra Leone
Cases	27	733	38	39	810
Deaths	14	309	34	5	348
Totals
Cases	152	1310	594	223	2127
Deaths	76	712	357	76	1145
(1) New cases were reported between 1 and 13 August 2014.

The total number of cases is subject to change due to ongoing reclassification, retrospective investigation, and availability of laboratory results. Data reported in the Disease Outbreak News are based on official information reported by Ministries of Health.  http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_08_15_ebola/en/

WHO Ebola news

15 August 2014

The scale, duration, and lethality of the Ebola outbreak have generated a high level of public fear and anxiety, which extends well beyond west Africa. Such reactions are understandable, given the high fatality rate and the absence of a vaccine or cure.
Recent intense media coverage of experimental medicines and vaccines is creating some unrealistic expectations, especially in an emotional climate of intense fear. The public needs to understand that these medical products are under investigation. They have not yet been tested in humans and are not approved by regulatory authorities, beyond use for compassionate care.
Evidence of their effectiveness is suggestive, but not based on solid scientific data from clinical trials. Safety is also unknown, raising the possibility of adverse side effects when administered to humans. For most, administration is difficult and demanding. Safe administration of some requires facilities for intensive care, which are rare in west Africa.
WHO has advised that the use of experimental medicines and vaccines under the exceptional circumstances of this outbreak is ethically acceptable. However, existing supplies of all experimental medicines are either extremely limited or exhausted.
While many efforts are under way to accelerate production, supplies will not be augmented for several months to come. Even then, supplies will be too small to have a significant impact on the outbreak.
WHO welcomes the decision by the Canadian government to donate several hundred doses of an experimental vaccine to support the outbreak response. A fully tested and licensed vaccine is not expected before 2015.
Another source of public misunderstanding, especially in affected areas, comes from rumours on social media claiming that certain products or practices can prevent or cure Ebola virus disease.
Decades of scientific research have failed to find a curative or preventive agent of proven safety and effectiveness in humans, though a number of promising products are currently under development.
All rumours of any other effective products or practices are false. Their use can be dangerous. In Nigeria, for example, at least two people have died after drinking salt water, rumoured to be protective.
The most effective personal behaviours are avoiding well-known high-risk situations, knowing the symptoms of infection, and reporting early for testing and care. Evidence suggests that early supportive care improves the prospects of survival.
The Ebola virus is highly contagious but only under very specific conditions involving close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or corpse. Most infections have been linked to traditional funeral practices or the unprotected care, in homes or health facilities, of an infected person showing symptoms.
Apart from these specific opportunities for exposure to the virus, the general public is not at high risk of infection.  http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/15-august-2014/en/

Threat of Ebola outbreak highest at big US airports, alliance says

A non-profit organization has developed global maps using airline flight route data to calculate and predict the potential arrival of Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus from infected travellers in West Africa.

The EcoHealth Alliance has collected data from flight schedules from infected countries Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Nigerian, along with data from Morocco, and Ghana, and found the highest risk countries for the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, are the US and much of Europe.
EcoHealth Alliance's modeling team says New York's JFK International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Boston Logan International Airport are at highest risk - as they are the top US airports with direct flight arrivals from the region.
Dr William Karesh, executive vice president of health and policy at EcoHealth Alliance, comments: “It's easy to point the finger at wildlife as the reservoirs of disease, but the real culprit in this scenario is human interaction with wildlife from bushmeat hunting, illegal wildlife trade, habitat destruction and deforestation.”
The global maps prepared by EcoHealth Alliance scientists explain how Ebola may spread via international flight routes, and the alliance says other countries most at risk include the UK, Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Portugal, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Senegal, Ghana, Gambia, Israel, UAE, Qatar, and Japan.
The EcoHealth Alliance says the capacity of diseases to spread via traveling passengers varies significantly and scientists cannot predict the actual date or times of the plausible arrival of the Ebola virus via an infected traveller.
Scientists can estimate the relative risk of the virus spreading from country to country by identifying the most direct entry points.
Many gateways across the globe have already taken out measures to prevent the disease, by banning flights from East African countries, and carrying out health screening checks on passengers arriving on flights.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency. http://www.airport-world.com/news/general-news/4294-threat-of-ebola-outbreak-highest-at-big-us-airports-health-alliance-says.html

Ebola outbreak worsens

Added on August 15, 2014CNN's David McKenzie talks about dire warnings coming from aid agencies comparing the Ebola crisis to virtual war zones.
http://www.cnn.com/video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_freevideo+%28RSS%3A+Video%29#/video/world/2014/08/15/id-mckenzie-ebola-update.cnn 

Ebola epidemic halts Ivory Coast calls

15 Aug 2014

Port authorities fear the Ebola outbreak could reach Abidjan

The African ports of Abidjan and San Pedro in Ivory Coast are thought to be the first to deny entry to vessels arriving from a country which is experiencing an outbreak of Ebola.

With the virus disease spreading fast, Port autonome d’Abidjan (PAA) has made the decision to turn vessels away until further notice, and nearby San Pedro has now followed suit.
In addition, PAA is asking that any vessel which has an ill person onboard, particularly if the symptoms are similar to those caused by Ebola, should report so to the port authorities, regardless of whether the vessel came from a port in a country suffering an outbreak or not.
Vessels that report any incident to the port authorities may be subjected to up to 21 days quarantine.
At San Pedro, vessels are being asked to disclose a report of their latest sanitary control and photocopies of on the onboard medical consults registry for the past 20 days prior to arrival. Once at berth, representatives of the port’s health authorities will perform a systematic medical screening of the crew, and in case of suspicions, the yellow flag must remain visible and no one will be allowed in or out of the ship.
Marine insurance companies The Swedish Club and Skuld have released details of the changes on their website and are urging members to contact them should any Ebola-related issues occur onboard.
Members due to call at West Africa are also urged to advise their chartering teams so they can avoid a fixture which would see a vessel call at a port in a country with Ebola first, and subsequently call at Abidjan.
Will other African ports follow suit?

http://www.portstrategy.com/news101/world/africa/ebola-epidemic-halts-ivory-coast-calls

Germ-Killing Robots Deployed to the Republic of Liberia To Aid in Battle Against Ebola Virus TRU-D

SmartUVC inventor travels to Ebola hotspots with UV disinfection devices

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Aug. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Two 5-foot-5 superbug-slaying machines were deployed from the United States yesterday en route to JFK Hospital and ELWA Hospital in Monrovia, Republic of Liberia, where they will aid in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus outbreak.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140814/136426

The devices, known as TRU-D SmartUVC(TM), will help disinfect health care environments where Ebola patients are being treated. TRU-D is the only portable UV disinfection device on the market with Sensor360™ technology, which calculates the time needed to react to room variables – such as size, geometry, surface reflectivity and the amount and location of equipment in the room – and effectively deliver a lethal dose of UV-C light during a single cycle from a single, central location in the room. It works by generating UV light energy that modifies the DNA structure of viral pathogens, like Ebola, so that they cannot reproduce....

Dr. Jeffery L. Deal, TRU-D's inventor and a Fellow in the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, will travel to the Republic of Liberia on Monday, Aug. 18 to lead the deployment of both TRU-D units by training hospital staff to operate the devices in a number of hospital environments and monitor progress for successful disinfection.

Deal will join dozens of disease specialists dispatched by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help stop the spread of the largest recorded outbreak of the Ebola virus in history. Both TRU-D units that will be used in the Liberian hospitals were just released from a 28-month-long CDC-funded study conducted by the Duke University Prevention Epicenter Program, the most comprehensive evaluation of the real-world application of UV-C disinfection to date.

"We developed TRU-D SmartUVC technology to combat the devastating http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/germ-killing-robots-deployed-to-the-republic-of-liberia-to-aid-in-battle-against-ebola-virus-271378071.html

Doctors Without Borders Builds Largest Ebola Relief Center

August 14, 2014

Doctors Without Borders, A French-founded humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization is building the largest isolation center ever right now for Ebolavirus patients. The center is being built in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital. Monrovia is becoming a new area of concern due to the fact that the majority of new cases are of Ebolavirus are found there. The facility will feature 120 beds and is planned to be open this weekend. Before the Doctors With Borders operation there were only 2 Ebola centers in Liberia, Which were run by Christian organizations until a few of their workers became infected, leading to the decision to suspend their efforts. http://www.hibiscuscollective.com/#!Doctors-Without-Borders-Builds-Largest-Ebola-Relief-Center/colb/A25540E8-077C-4FD6-92F9-E5D53616C57C

Emergency food drops eyed for quarantined Ebola region of W.Africa

A U.N. convoy of soldiers passes a screen displaying a message on Ebola on a street in Abidjan 

 

August 14, 2014. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

Thu, 14 Aug 2014 22:10 GMTHunger is spreading fast as farmers die leaving crops rotting in fields. Truckers scared of the highly infectious disease halt deliveries. Shops close and major airlines have shut down routes, isolating large swathes of the countries.
The Mano River region, home to about 1 million people and an epicenter for the deadly disease, is a major concern and the issue was raised on Wednesday with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, said Tim Evans, senior director for health at the World Bank.
"There has been a lot of inflation in food prices and a lot of difficulty in getting food to the quarantined population," he said in an interview.
The World Bank, along with the UN and the World Health Organisation, is urgently assessing how to make emergency food deliveries, or they face the danger of a deepening health crisis from malnutrition and the spread of other diseases, he said.
"This is emerging as an important part of the immediate response," Evans said. "We are looking at exactly what the needs are and where, and then looking at how we contribute to making sure that food gets to the right places."
Meanwhile, the United Nation's World Food Programme said it has declared Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - the three countries reeling from over 1,000 deaths from Ebola - a Level Three food emergency, its highest threat. It is urgently mobilising teams to get food into the area and prevent widespread hunger and deaths.
"We are pulling out all the stops," said Steve Taravella, WFP spokesman in Washington.
His agency already is extraordinarily stretched. Never before has it faced six top-level emergencies all at once - in Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, Cameroon, Central African Republic and now the Ebola hit-countries.
"It is a dramatic, profound situation," he said.
For West Africa, the stability of the whole region is at stake if hunger and disease spread uncontrolled, said Evans.
"It certainly is a threat to national security," he said, stressing that a comprehensive response is needed.
But for Nigeria, the World Bank director expressed optimism it has acted promptly to contain spread of the Ebola by reaching those who came into contact with its first victim there.
"It suggests at this point that it is relatively contained," he said.
Longer term, the Ebola outbreak has exposed the danger from chronic underfunding of national healthcare systems and the need to invest in regional laboratories to test and manage infectious diseases, he said.
Most countries fell far short of a 2000 pledge, known as the Abuja Declaration, to devote 15 percent of their budgets to healthcare. The World Bank "absolutely" expects more lending for health in the years ahead, Evans said.  http://www.trust.org/item/20140814220245-ij11z/

Ebola: UNILAG Consultant Virologist says Virus Particles Can be Transmitted by Air

Thursday, 14 August 2014

In an interview with Sahara TV, Professor Sunday Aremu Omilabu – the Consultant Virologist College of Medicine, University of Lagos, speaks on the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria.
And although the WHO, UNICEF and other foreign agencies and health officials have confirmed that the virus is airborne, Omilabu claims that particles can be transmitted by air http://otohmillar.blogspot.com/2014/08/ebola-unilag-consultant-virologist-says.html

Ebola Virus Particles Can Be Transmitted By Air-Prof. Omilani

WHO Ebola news

WHO Ebola news

14 August 2014

The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa continues to escalate, with 1975 cases and 1069 deaths reported from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.

No new cases have been detected in Nigeria following the importation of a case in an air traveller last month. Extensive contact tracing and monitoring, implemented with support from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has kept the number of additional cases small.

Elsewhere, the outbreak is expected to continue for some time. WHO’s operational response plan extends over the next several months. Staff at the outbreak sites see evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak.

WHO is coordinating a massive scaling up of the international response, marshalling support from individual countries, disease control agencies, agencies within the United Nations system, and others.

The World Food Programme is using its well-developed logistics to deliver food to the more than one million people locked down in the quarantine zones, where the borders of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone intersect. Several countries have agreed to support the provision of priority food staples for this population.

Practical on-the-ground intelligence is the backbone of a coordinated response. WHO is mapping the outbreak, in great detail, to pinpoint areas of ongoing transmission and locate treatment facilities and supplies. Good logistical support depends on knowing which facilities need disinfectants or personal protective equipment, where new isolation facilities need to be built, and where the need for more health-care workers is most intense.

CDC is equipping the hardest-hit countries with computer hardware and software that will soon allow real-time reporting of cases and analysis of trends. This also strengthens the framework for a scaled-up response.

Today, WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan held discussions with a group of ambassadors from Geneva’s United Nations missions. The meeting aimed to identify the most urgent needs within countries and match them with rapid international support.

These steps align with recognition of the extraordinary measures needed, on a massive scale, to contain the outbreak in settings characterized by extreme poverty, dysfunctional health systems, a severe shortage of doctors, and rampant fear.http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola...w-20140814/en/

Ebola outbreak: US orders embassy families out of Sierra Leone

....The news came as President Barack Obama said he called the presidents of Liberia and Sierra Leone Thursday to discuss the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the White House said.
Mr Obama made calls to Presidents Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone.
"In his conversations with both leaders, the president underscored the commitment of the United States to work with Liberia, Sierra Leone, and other international partners to contain the outbreak and expressed his condolences for the lives lost," the White House said.
The death toll from the epidemic reached 1,069 on Wednesday, according to the World Health Organisation... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ebola/11035267/Ebola-outbreak-US-orders-embassy-families-out-of-Sierra-Leone.html

A big cup of KOOLAID for you

.....At a hastily convened news conference in Geneva, where the health organization is based, Isabelle Nuttall, its director of global responses, repeated earlier advice that “air travel even from Ebola-affected countries is low-risk for Ebola transmission.”

Moreover, she said, the risk was low even for countries or airports that have high volumes of air travel to nations affected by the epidemic.

Ms. Nuttall confirmed that airports in the affected countries were already screening travelers for any signs of fever or other symptoms. She emphasized that unlike influenza or tuberculosis, Ebola is not spread by airborne transmission of germs, only by contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is contagious.

“A person who has no sign of the disease is not contagious, is not transmitting the disease to others,” she said.

.... In another Twitter message meant to dispel any misunderstandings about contagion by air travel, the W.H.O. said, “The chance of having someone who is sick with Ebola getting in a plane is small.”....

 .

 I can see I need to call bull shit on many recent statements..

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/world/africa/ebola-epidemic-plane-korean-airlines.html?_r=0 

Ebola crisis prompts evacuation order of U.S. embassy family members in Freetown

August 14 at 3:03 PM

The State Department on Thursday ordered family members of U.S. embassy employees in Sierra Leone to evacuate the country’s capital, Freetown, due to worries that the ongoing Ebola crisis is overwhelming medical facilities there.
“The embassy [in Sierra Leone] recommended this step out of an abundance of caution, following the determination by the Department’s Medical Office that there is a lack of options for routine health care services at major medical facilities due to the Ebola outbreak,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.
The agency added that it is “reconfiguring” staff at the embassy in Freetown “to be more responsive to the current situation.” That includes focusing on helping U.S. citizens in the country, as well as working with Sierra Leone’s government and international health and non-government relief organizations.
“We remain deeply committed to supporting Sierra Leone and regional and international efforts to strengthen the capacity of the country’s health care infrastructure and system,” Harf said, “specifically, the capacity to contain and control the transmission of the Ebola virus, and deliver health care.”
Earlier this month, the U.S. government also ordered family members of the embassy in Liberia to leave that country’s capital, of Monrovia. The agency cited similar concerns about the deteriorating public health system there as the outbreak worsened. 
 

Harf said that embassies with consular services remain open, and that the agency is “taking a look” at situation in Guinea to determine whether family members of U.S. personnel there also should be evacuated.
Previously, the Peace Corps and some international aid groups have temporarily pulled hundreds of volunteers and employees out of affected areas...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/ebola-crisis-prompts-evacuation-order-of-us-embassy-family-members-in-freetown/2014/08/14/7e6aa49e-23d4-11e4-8593-da634b334390_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost 

Ebola Update

Published on Aug 14, 2014

Africa's most populous country on Thursday confirmed its 11th case of the Ebola virus. For the latest information on the West Africa Ebola epidemic is Africa 54 health correspondent Linord Moudou. Later, Linord talks via Skype with James Kambaki, head of Human Resources & Field Recruitment of Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF, from Johannesburg, South Africa.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whs_LNGvcv4

Travelers Stranded at Guinea Border Crossing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtvY7Iqry8g#t=43

Another nurse dies of Ebola in Lagos

The Federal Government has confirmed the death of another nurse who had primary contact with the late American- Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, on Thursday.
A statement issued by the Minister of Health, Prof.Chukwu Onyebuchi, in Abuja on Thursday, noted that the nurse is the fourth person to have died of the Ebola Virus Disease in the country.
Chukwu noted that she was one of the health workers that had primary contact with Sawyer at the First Consultants Hospital in Obalende, Lagos.
He said, “The fourth death recorded today was a Nigerian nurse who participated in the initial management of the index case. We have now recorded 10 confirmed cases of Ebola Virus Disease. Out of these, four have died and eight are currently under treatment.”
The minister also apologised for the error in the number of confirmed cases given to journalists at a press briefing organised by the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja earlier in the day.
Chukwu noted, “It is important to note that the number of confirmed cases remains 10 as at today and not 11 as earlier announced this morning. We regret the error which arose from double counting in the process of communicating the additional death from the operational centre in Lagos to the Federal Ministry of Health.”
One of the doctors on the team of experts managing confirmed cases at the Ebola Ward of the Mainland hospital, Lagos, had earlier confirmed that the nurse had died due to the exposure she had with Sawyer when he was admitted at the private hospital in Lagos.
The reliable source said, “We lost her in the early hours of today after much effort. She was one of the people that helped him when he was vomiting and stooling. That was when she contracted it.”
The doctor also disclosed that two other health workers that have now been quarantined are in critical condition. http://dailyindependentnig.com/2014/08/another-nurse-dies-ebola-lagos-fg/

BREAKING: Jonathan fires all resident doctors

By Ameh Comrade Godwin on August 14, 2014President Goodluck Jonathan has fired all the resident doctors in Nigerian hospitals.
This was contained in a directive by His Excellency to the Federal Ministry of Health to suspend all residency training programme for Nigerian doctors.
The directive was stated in an internal memo dated August 13 and signed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, L.N. Awute, to federal hospitals. Awute said the sack came following an appraisal of the challenges currently facing the health sector.
“Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR has suspended the Residency Training Programme for Doctors in Nigeria indefinitely for the purposes of appraising the challenges facing the health sector”. Mr. Awute said.
DailyPost gathered that the development is not unconnected with the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in the country and insistence of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, to go on with their strike despite the national health challenge.
http://dailypost.ng/2014/08/14/breaking-jonathan-fires-resident-doctors/

#Ebola Scare: Gov't bans international conferences in Ghana for three months

Thursday, 14 August 2014

Source: myjoyonline.com

All international conferences scheduled to be hosted in Ghana between now and the next three months have been cancelled, government has announced.

According to Communications Minister, Dr. Edward Omane-Boamah, the decision forms part measures being implemented by government to prevent the spread of the deadly virus into the country.

Ebola has claimed over 1,000 lives across West Africa since the latest outbreak was first reported in March this year, with Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia being the hardest hit countries while Nigeria has reported a number of cases and three deaths.

Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals.

Government on Thursday directed the release of Ghc6 million to fight the world’s deadliest epidemic which has no known cure. Government also announced plans to procure 10,000 protective gears for frontline workers in health, immigration and other agencies who are most likely to encounter a possible victim.

“Also, the President advised that consistent with the decision of the ECOWAS Commission that all meetings and missions be suspended unless absolutely essential and well-guided, a three (3) month moratorium be placed on all international conferences and international gatherings which have the potential of spreading the Ebola Virus,” Dr. Edward Omane Boama, Communications Minister, told Joy News.

“…reviewing the situation in the sub-region (over 1,700 suspected and confirmed cases with associated mortalities) government felt the need to scale up the response…so we will be able to respond,” the Minister added.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=321220