Bizarre moment Shanghai commuters suspect Ebola outbreak and run for their lives when 'Western-looking' passenger collapses on train

• Video footage was captured by camera in a Shanghai Metro carriage 
• Man is seen slowly toppling to one side causing woman next to him to run
• Instead of helping him, fearing he could be infected, the passengers flee

By Jill Reilly for MailOnline

Published: 10:44 EST, 20 August 2014 | Updated: 10:50 EST, 20 August 2014 

CCTV footage has captured the moment that Chinese passengers on an underground line fled in terror fearing an Ebola outbreak after a 'Western-looking' tourist suddenly collapsed.

The video, from the Shanghai Metro carriage shows how the man, who is sitting next to a middle-aged female passenger, slowly topples to one side, causing her to move speedily out of the way as he slides onto the seat.

After lying there for a few seconds, he falls onto the ground unconscious, just as the train is breaking for the next station.

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Chinese passengers on an underground line fled in terror fearing an Ebola outbreak after a tourist suddenly collapsed onto the floor

Video footage from the Shanghai Metro carriage shows how the man, who is sitting next to a middle-aged female passenger, slowly topples to one side, causing her to move speedily out of the way as he falls onto the seat

After lying there for a few seconds, he falls onto the ground unconscious, just as the train is breaking for the next station. Instead of bending to help him the passengers, fearing he might have suffered from the deadly disease, fled to the other end of the carriage and then ran off when the train stopped

And instead of bending to help him the passengers, fearing he might have suffered from the deadly disease, fled to the other end of the carriage and then ran off when the train stopped.

The footage shows how one woman was in such a panic to get away that she hit the doors, while a middle-aged man falls to the floor and struggles to get back up.

A ticket collector at the Shanghai underground told local media that passengers had alerted staff on their way out, saying that a foreigner that may have a disease had collapsed on the carriage and that they were worried it was Ebola. 

But there was no official statement from the underground officials about what had happened to the man.

In the panic to get away, CCTV footage from outside of the carriage shows how one middle-aged woman hit the doors and a middle-aged man falls to the floor and struggles to get back up as people exit the carriages

A ticket collector at the Shanghai underground told local media that passengers had alerted staff on their way out, saying that a foreigner that may have a disease had collapsed on the carriage and that they were worried it was Ebola

Chinese public transport passengers are already on heightened awareness anyway after a spate of arson attacks and knife attacks that has seen increased security, and recent publicity over the Ebola virus has raised fears even more.

China has responded forcefully to the Ebola outbreak in Africa, a continent where it has made sizable investments and actively fostered diplomatic relations.

Starting in May, it began sending protective clothes, disinfectants, thermal detectors, medicines and, more recently, the government kicked off a two-year aid mission that includes its first-ever dispatch overseas of emergency medical experts.

At home, China has for several days screened travellers from West African nations. 

Photos in China's state press showed Nigerians wearing protective clothing during checks in airport clinics, which officials indicate have upset some incoming visitors.

They have already warned that countries affected by the latest outbreak will not be allowed to send athletes to the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games.

China also said that from Saturday new border controls will include stricter inspections on inbound airlines from regions affected by Ebola, while stepped-up sanitary measures will apply to incoming vehicles and goods. 

The government also warned its citizens about the risks of travel to affected regions. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2729979/Bizarre-moment-Shanghai-commuters-suspect-Ebola-outbreak-run-lives-Western-looking-passenger-collapses-train.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Nepal Army personnel not infected by Ebola: NA

Published on Wednesday, 20 August

2014 14:18

Nepal Army has rebuffed news reports of NA personnel being held under surveillance for the suspicion of Ebola infection.
Issuing a statement on Wednesday, the NA said it has not found any Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in any of the NA staffs who have returned from Africa.
“The Ebola virus has not infected any army deployed at various peace keeping missions,” claims the NA statement. “An officer who has recently returned from peace keeping mission in Libera was kept in isolation for observation. He has shown no signs of the disease so far.”
Some media earlier reported that two army personnel were under surveillance for possible Ebola infection.
The peace keeping force was screened for symptoms of Ebola at the airport health-desk, immediately on their arrival from Ebola affected African countries.
“The personnel are kept in quarantine for a period of three weeks, until they show no symptoms of the EVD,” adds the statement, adding that the NA is committed to abide by the government's plan to control the spread of Ebola in Nepal.http://www.nepalnews.com/index.php/n...ed-by-ebola-na

US Hospitals Have Had 68 Ebola Scares, CDC Says

Aug 20, 2014, 10:23 AM ET

 

American hospitals and state labs have handled at least 68 Ebola scares over the last three weeks, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hospitals in 27 states alerted the CDC of the possible Ebola cases out of an abundance of caution amid the growing outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Fifty-eight cases were deemed false alarms after CDC officials spoke with medical professions about patient exposures and symptoms, but blood samples for the remaining 10 were sent to the CDC for testing, the agency told ABC News today.

Seven of the samples tested negative for the virus and results for the remaining three are pending, the agency said.

Once a hospital or state lab notifies the CDC of a possible Ebola case based on travel history and symptoms, CDC officials talk to someone familiar with the suspected patient’s history to determine whether blood testing for the virus is necessary, said CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund. They discuss symptoms and determine whether the patient may have been exposed to the virus. Exposure can happen if the patient is a health care worker, has buried someone with Ebola, has lived in a house with someone who had Ebola or has lived in a place where Ebola is spreading.

“If somebody had traveled to Guinea and came back and had a fever and has never been to a place where Ebola is transmitted, there’s no reason to suspect there’s Ebola just because Ebola is circulating in Guinea,” Nordlund said, explaining that the CDC takes suspected cases seriously but has to narrow them down. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/us-hospitals-68-ebola-scares-cdc/story?id=25039023

Illness with Ebola-like symptoms kills several in Congo

UPDATED 20 AUGUST 2014

Democratic Republic of Congo has sent its health minister and a team of experts to the remote northern Equateur province after several people died there from a disease with Ebola-like symptoms, a local official and a professor said.
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Democratic Republic of Congo has sent its health minister and a team of experts to the remote northern Equateur province after several people died there from a disease with Ebola-like symptoms, a local official and a professor said on Wednesday.

It was not immediately clear if there was any connection with Ebola. An epidemic of that disease has killed more than 1,200 people in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

"An illness is spreading in Boende but we don't know the origin," said Michel Wangi, a spokesman for the governor's office. "The government has sent a team of experts from the INRB(National Institute of Biomedical Research) this morning led by the health minister (Felix) Kabange Numbi and acting governor Sebastian Impeto."
A professor accompanying the delegation in the presidential plane confirmed that they were en route this morning to find out "the exact nature of the illness that caused the Boende deaths".

An Equateur resident who asked not to be named said that around ten people had died, including four health care workers, after suffering from fever, diarrhoea and bleeding from the ears and nostrils - all symptoms of the deadly Ebola virus.

Highly-contagious, Ebola can kill up to 90 percent of its victims. There is no known vaccine and the few forms of treatment that exist are experimental. http://www.health24.com/Medical/infectious-diseases/Ebola/Illness-with-Ebola-like-symptoms-kills-several-in-Congo-20140820

Congo does not share a border with any of the countries affected by the virus in West Africa. But the country has seen several outbreaks since the first case was detected near the Ebola River in northern Congo in 1976.

http://www.health24.com/Medical/infecti ... o-20140820

Lagos records 5 new suspected Ebola cases

BREAKING: Lagos records 5 new suspected Ebola cases August 20, 2014
Ben Ezeamalu     ebola-has-killed-69-guinea-january      Five new suspected cases of Ebola Virus Disease were brought to the Yaba Mainland Hospital, Lagos, on Tuesday, the Lagos State government has said.  At a press conference, Wednesday, Jide Idris, the State Commissioner for Health, told journalists that two of those cases were from secondary contacts.  “Till date, we have recorded eight suspected cases, five of which came in yesterday, 12 confirmed,” said Dr. Idris.  “On the whole, five have died (including the index case). We are currently following up 213 contacts, and 62 have completed the two-day follow-up,” he added.
  On Tuesday, Stella Adadevoh, the Senior Consultant and Endocrinologist at First Consultant Medical Centre, Obalende, passed away after succumbing to the deadly virus.  Dr. Idris paid tributes to the deceased doctor as well as the other health workers who had died from Ebola virus since the disease broke out in July, describing them as the heroes and heroines of the day.  “She, (Dr. Adadevoh) it was, who took the initiative to intimate the Ministry concerning the index case – Liberian-American (Mr. Patrick Sawyer) and substantially to her credit the moderate containment achieved is owed,” said Dr. Idris.  “She led the team who attended to the index case. Her doggedness and commitment to duty saw her personally reviewing the case even though the patient had earlier been seen by a doctor.  “The Ministry of Health commiserates with their families, co-workers, friends and loved ones on these irreparable losses which was on the line of duty,” he added.  
 Dr. Idris also said that the government’s “vigorous” contact tracing is now shifting from primary to secondary contacts.  “The mode of spread remains mainly transmission from an infected person in an infective state and from an infec... https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/167037-breaking-lagos-records-5-new-suspected-ebola-cases.html#sthash.QHQc5rNQ.Dn4i1QcN.dpbs

BREAKING: Lagos records 5 new suspected Ebola cases

August 20, 2014Ben Ezeamalu

Five new suspected cases of Ebola Virus Disease were brought to the Yaba Mainland Hospital, Lagos, on Tuesday, the Lagos State government has said.

At a press conference, Wednesday, Jide Idris, the State Commissioner for Health, told journalists that two of those cases were from secondary contacts.

“Till date, we have recorded eight suspected cases, five of which came in yesterday, 12 confirmed,” said Dr. Idris.

“On the whole, five have died (including the index case). We are currently following up 213 contacts, and 62 have completed the two-day follow-up,” he added.

On Tuesday, Stella Adadevoh, the Senior Consultant and Endocrinologist at First Consultant Medical Centre, Obalende, passed away after succumbing to the deadly virus.

Dr. Idris paid tributes to the deceased doctor as well as the other health workers who had died from Ebola virus since the disease broke out in July, describing them as the heroes and heroines of the day.

“She, (Dr. Adadevoh) it was, who took the initiative to intimate the Ministry concerning the index case – Liberian-American (Mr. Patrick Sawyer) and substantially to her credit the moderate containment achieved is owed,” said Dr. Idris.

“She led the team who attended to the index case. Her doggedness and commitment to duty saw her personally reviewing the case even though the patient had earlier been seen by a doctor.

“The Ministry of Health commiserates with their families, co-workers, friends and loved ones on these irreparable losses which was on the line of duty,” he added.

Dr. Idris also said that the government’s “vigorous” contact tracing is now shifting from primary to secondary contacts.

“The mode of spread remains mainly transmission from an infected person in an infective state and from an infected animal (bat, monkey, etc) to a person.

“This is a call for vigilance as human to human transmission is only achieved by physical contact with a person who is acutely and gravely ill (fever being a key sign) from Ebola virus through body fluids such as blood, urine, stool, saliva, breast milk, semen, and vomitus.

“Burial ceremonies where mourners including family members have direct contact with patients who died of Ebola have also played a role in the spread and direct contact with dead bodies should be minimized at this period, even as washing and burial/disposal of such bodies should be professionally handled with safety to personal health of handlers being a cardinal focus,” he added.

The Commissioner urged Lagos residents not to panic as health personnel are in place to manage the current cases, while efforts are doubled to secure the services of more volunteers to cope with any contingency.

“Certain concerns have been raised regarding those already discharged. I wish to re-assure you that the discharge process was in line with WHO International Health Regulations and they are still being followed up. No recorded carrier state in person that have recovered from the disease has been recorded,” said Dr. Idris.

“I encourage persons who have come in contact with infected persons to report early for treatment as such improves chances of survival.”

- See more at: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/167037-breaking-lagos-records-5-new-suspected-ebola-cases.html#sthash.QHQc5rNQ.Dn4i1QcN.dpuf

Liberian police fire tear gas to disperse protest over Ebola quarantine

 August 20, 2014
Police in the Liberian capital Monrovia fired tear gas on Wednesday to disperse a stone-throwing crowd agitating to leave a neighbourhood placed under quarantine because of the Ebola virus, witnesses said. Liberian authorities introduced a nationwide curfew on Tuesday and put the neighbourhood – West Point – under quarantine. The rundown area has been hit by Ebola, which has killed more than 1,200 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and five in Nigeria.
There were no injuries reported in the clash which witnesses said started after security forces blocked roads to the neighbourhood early on Wednesday with tables, chairs and barbed wire. Residents said they were given no warning of the blockade, which prevented them from getting to work or buying food. “We just saw it (the blockade) this morning. We came out and we couldn’t go anywhere. I haven’t heard from anybody in authority what happened,” Alpha Barry, 45, who works as a money changer, told Reuters. “I don’t have any food and we’re scared,” said Barry, who said he was from Guinea and has four children under 13.
A crowd at West Point looted a temporary holding centre for suspected Ebola cases at the weekend, 17 of whom fled. All 17 were now accounted for and being treated at another centre, the government said  http://www.today.ng/news/liberian-police-fire-tear-gas-to-disperse-protest-over-ebola-quarantine/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=liberian-police-fire-tear-gas-to-disperse-protest-over-ebola-quarantine

Fears Ebola has 'spread to Congo after 10 people die'

Last updated Wed 20 Aug 2014

There are fears Ebola could have spread to the Democratic Republic of Congo after 10 people died from a disease with Ebola-like symptoms, local officials said.
The deceased, which included four health workers, lived in a remote part of the northern Equateur province of Boende. The country has now sent its health minister and a team of experts to the area to confirm if it is the deadly virus.
Michel Wangi, a spokesman for the governor' office, said: "An illness is spreading in Boende but we don't know the origin."
So far the disease has killed more than 1,200 people in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-08-20/fears-ebola-has-spread-to-congo-after-10-people-die/

Curfew imposed!

Wednesday, 20 August 2014 00:00 ND Reporter

TRANSLATE

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has imposed a curfew beginning Wednesday, August 20, 2014 from 9PM to 6AM daily as part of additional measures under the state of emergency to curb the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.
Latest statistics put the total death of Ebola in 1200 in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, with Liberia is recording the highest number of deaths so far.

Mrs. Sirleaf said in addition to the newly imposed curfew, the communities of West Point in Monrovia and Dolo Town in Margibi will be quarantined under full security watch. This means that there will be no movements in and out of those areas; while all entertainment centers are to be closed.

President Sirleaf: "The Government, supported by citizens groups and partners, continue to work assiduously to combat the Ebola virus.  There has been some success - the several persons who have been freed from the disease - the structure and systems that have been put in place, the human and financial resources that we have mobilized and a stabilization in a few the Response Communities. 

But we have been unable to control the spread due to continued denials, cultural burying practices, disregard for the advice of health workers and disrespect for the warnings by the Government.

As a result and due to the large population concentration the disease has spread widely in Monrovia and environs. It has thus become necessary to impose additional sanctions to curb the spread overall and particularly in those areas of intensity. Now therefore, the following measures are to be urgently enforced:

-The communities of West Point in Monrovia and Dolo Town in Margibi are quarantined under full security watch.  This means that there will be no movements in and out of those areas;
-All entertainment centers are to be closed;
-All video centers are to be closed at 6:00 PM;
-Commencing Wednesday, August 20 there will be a curfew from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 AM

Fellow citizens, these measures are meant to save lives and make the Government’s efforts to combat this disease made more effective and timely.  If we can all do our part, we can defeat this disease.  With your support and participation, we can return to our normal activities."   http://www.thenewdawnliberia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12431:curfew-imposed&catid=25:politics&Itemid=59

Dead bodies litter in Nimba

Wednesday, 20 August 2014 00:00 ND Reporter

TRANSLATE

At least nine suspected Ebola dead bodies are left uncollected in several towns of Nimba County, as county health teams there reportedly struggled with a single vehicle for Ebola response, the NewDawn’s county correspondent says.
The tropical disease had claimed up to 1200 lives in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, with Liberia recording the highest death toll. The victims’ bodies were said to have been lying in various towns in Nimba County since Friday, August 15, but had not been collected by health workers up to Tuesday.

As at Tuesday evening, August 19, five dead bodies were in Small Ganta; one in Boe Community; two in the LPRC Community and one body in the LPMC Community, respectively.

The New Dawn’s correspondent says a city mayor complained that only one pickup assigned to the county health workers had carried another batch of dead bodies to Kamply, and had not returned.

County officials failed to address reporters Tuesday, despite assuring them that they would be briefed after an official meeting. At least 25 confirmed Ebola deaths were reported in the county in addition to 48 confirmed cases reported. However, there are claims that 150 suspected Ebola contacts are in the county, but with no report of being tracked by health workers.

Our correspondent says the 150 suspects are currently moving from one community to another, at the risk of many other innocent people who may have come in contact with them. Private burial teams are allegedly being compensated at least US$300 from county funds to bury each body, this paper has learned. http://www.thenewdawnliberia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12432:dead-bodies-litter-in-nimba&catid=25:politics&Itemid=59

"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/