November 13, 2014

Mali |

Second case of Ebola in Mali: Confrontation versions of the Pasteur Clinic and Ministry of Health

Ebola killed Tuesday, a second Malian. The second case presents a controversy on preventive measures.

The deceased is called Salif Diarra, a young trainee nurse working 25 years at the time of the contamination, the Pasteur Clinic, a renowned medical facility in Bamako.
The occurrence of this terrible event gives rise to two versions of the facts. On the one hand the Ministry of Health defends and denies responsibility for clinical Pasteur its alert system; the other, the latter defends and says he followed the protocol provided in the matter.
 
Finally liar? Because there has been flaws in the system of prevention, as between the death of Guinea (October 27) and the appearance of signs of infection on the young nurse (8 November), Pasteur Clinic has been quarantine that Tuesday, November 11, 2014. Meanwhile, the body of Guinea transited Djicoroni before joining the Guinea and several of his companions, some dead, are believed to have been infected.
Furthermore, is it really possible to identify all the people who were in contact with these cases since October 25 (admission Guinean patient clinic Pasteur) until November 11, when the clinic was set Quarantine?
So who is guilty of criminal negligence that caused the delay in prevention?

The version of the Pasteur Clinic

According to the Pasteur Clinic, the young nurse has been in contact with the patient come Kourémalé (Guinea). It was received emergency clinic Oct. 25 to about 22 hours by Dr. Doumbia who was guarding. He was suffering from a serious lung disease. His illness worsened and he died there on 27 October.
It was after his death, according to the clinic, the services of the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, alerted by WHO Guinea, came to the clinic to get the attention of staff in the case of which deceased patient died of Ebola. The body of Guinea was already repatriated to his village in Guinea Kourémalé not without passing through Djicoroni para.
Management Clinic says taking steps of bringing in health monitoring all who had returned in contact with the Guinean patient, and the department provided a list containing the names of all of them.
It is in this condition that the young Salif Diarra was presented Saturday, November 8 in an alarming picture characterized by vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding. He was immediately given, according to the Pasteur Clinic, Dr Samba Sow, Coordinator of the Emergency Operations Center, and the sample was taken from the patient on Sunday, November 9 but the result fell that Tuesday, day where he died.

The Ministry of Health supports the clinical

The authorities agree with the clinical history of the patient Guinea before his death. Moreover, according to the coordinator of the emergency operations center, Professor Samba Sow, it had even been submitted to the Ebola test by health workers to the Guinean border and had no symptoms of the virus.
But where the versions do not match at all, this is the time when the authorities were informed about the case of a suspicious death. According Samba Sow, the Department has been informed of the danger November 10 WHO Guinea. Anything that gave rise to "investigate the same day health services on a health worker reported having contact with a patient from Guinea supported by a private clinic located in Commune IV in Bamako District "according to the statement from the Ministry of Health.
The ministry said in the same statement that the blood sample was taken the same Monday, November 10, 2014 on the subject and the results were positive Ebola Tuesday, November 11, 2014, date of death of the nurse contaminated.
To believe the coordinator of the emergency operations center, the clinic would have alerted earlier.

What about the facts?

The truth, we do find that in the WHO Guinea. According to the preliminary investigation report conducted by the organization, the Malian authorities have actually been warned on 10 November. In this report, the WHO recommended them to "immediately investigate clinical Pasteur Bamako", but also "the new private clinic Kourémalé Malian side," where the patient had undergone Guinea consultations before going to the Pasteur Clinic .
WHO has also indicated that the disease suffered by the Guinean patient is a complication that often appears when the Ebola virus disease reached an advanced stage in the body of a patient. Also, several laboratory tests were conducted on him by the agents of the Pasteur Clinic, but never for Ebola, according to WHO.
However, the clinic staff is trained to detect suspected cases of Ebola.
In addition, contrary to what tells the direction of the clinical Shepherd, by them, nobody was aware of the serious case of the nurse who had "presented Saturday, November 8" in an alarming picture. A particularly irresponsible attitude that authorities accuse officials clinic trying to hide the passage of emergency operations coordinator of the center, another suspect cases, the patient's attending physician Guinea, they had already hospitalized the premises of the hospital. https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmaliactu.net%2Fau-mali-la-ville-de-kayes-vit-en-etat-de-siege-face-a-ebola%2F&edit-text=

Pasteur's clinical cordoned off by the security forces

After the death of the nurse aged 25 following the Ebola virus - Pasteur's clinical cordoned off by the security forces - 50 people including 20 of the MINUSMA segregated
November 13, 2014 at 15:15 PM Category: Health

The Pasteur Clinic in Bamako where two people have died of Ebola suites, November 12.

More than fifty people put in isolation and Daoudabougou Djicoroni the Pasteur clinic quarantined and forbidden access. These are the measures taken by the Ministry of Health after the death of the nurse suffering from Ebola virus. Other measures have been taken to search for people who have had contact with the nurse or Guinea marabout who contaminated and died on October 27 in the same health facility for. A doctor said ultrasound clinic with symptoms of the disease has been isolated.



Taking a walk yesterday Wednesday at the Pasteur clinic we realize the important security arrangements put in place to prevent the curious from approaching the building or people to visit their hospitalized relatives. The atmosphere was gloomy. Malian police and peacekeepers cordoned off the area. And those outside the institution were kept at a distance. The place that was usually reserved for vendors and parking of taxis was stormed by security forces. We see police officers with protective equipment such as gloves and mufflers ..
  For good reason, a nurse at the polyclinic died of Ebola. The Ministry of Health and the Public Health made the decision to quarantine the hospital patients, physicians and visitors who were in the clinic since November 11. Practical steps have been taken to provide meals to people in isolation. Therefore, regular monitoring of these individuals was undertaken.

After the death of the nurse, questions remain. How the virus he could get into this clinical sub-regional fame with all that as a device? The reason is simple. According to statements of Professor Samba Sow, director of national support for the fight against the disease center, a patient whose age is between 55 and 60 years from Kourémalé the Mali-Guinea border, received care from October 25 before dying on 27 November.

"The patient, who suffered from acute renal failure, died after surgery. His body stopped at a mosque in Djicoroni before arriving at the village where he was buried "said the speaker. Adding that at the time of admission of the patient to the clinic, he had no symptoms of the Ebola virus. The nurse has been contaminated by treating the patient came from Guinea. He said that during the investigation, a blood sample was taken Monday, Nov. 10 on the subject. "Following the results of the analysis, samples were positive to Ebola Tuesday, November 11. The Mali and knows his second case of Ebola virus disease, "said Dr. Samba Sow. Before continuing care only when it was administered, the health worker, aged 25, sadly passed away Tuesday, November 11.

He argued that substantial resources have been implemented to search for people in contact. The family that hosted the Guinean patient was identified and quarantined to Djicoroni not far from the factory Ceramics. "We completely disinfected rooms as recommended by WHO staff and patients are quarantined. For now, we have a suspect whose analyzes are underway ".

The WHO representative in Mali, Dr. Ibrahim Socé Fall, invited media men not to limit as sensational news, but to contribute to the fight against this disease of public health. "We must remain vigilant and strengthen oversight and the ability to provide health response to any new cases, especially as Mali shares 800 km of border with Guinea", said the representative of the World Organization health Organization (WHO), Ibrahima Soce Fall.Est it necessary to recall that the first case of Ebola in Mali appeared at a little girl from Guinea who died last month. The outbreak began in March in Guinea and has nearly 4,950 dead, according to the latest balance sheet of the WHO.

Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are the three most affected by the disease.. http://www.maliweb.net/sante/apres-deces-linfirmier-age-25-ans-suite-au-virus-ebola-clinique-pasteur-bouclee-les-forces-lordre-50-personnes-dont-20-minusma-placees-en-isolement-636142.html

11/13/2014 at 14:19


Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, announced Thursday the lifting of curfew in August to fight against the Ebola outbreak, however, warning that "the fight was not over."

"I informed the leaders of the National Assembly that I would not ask for an extension of the state of emergency" declared on August 6, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has announced in a statement broadcast on radio and television

#Ebola in Mali: Government accused of withholding information from

November 13, 2014

Mali |

Faced with the rise of concern about the discovery of new cases of Ebola, the government is suspected of not delivering all the information.

After the second Malian death caused by the Ebola virus, the questions begin to abound on the effectiveness of measures taken by the authorities to prevent the spread of dangerous viruses in the country.
Indeed, the fiasco that is the history of the second case does not reassure anyone. It is especially worrying that the contamination of the deceased, a young nurse, was caused by a patient came from Guinea who was hospitalized in the clinic where the young Malian worked. This Guinean died ten days before his caregiver. Between the input of Mali and Guinea the day after the death of the young nurse, fifteen days have passed without any authority triggers the alert.
Neither the health personnel of the clinic, nor the government, no one doubted the presence of Ebola virus on Malian soil.

The government would try to hide it the shortcomings of the system of prevention?

There was a time, October 29, Le Point Africa, the continent's version of the French magazine had carried a story in the border area between Mali and Guinea. Our colleagues constataient that when away from the axis Bamako Conakry, going to Koulémalé "border soon becomes a sieve."
In a town near Kourémalé, a man confided to the point that Africa is working on panning for gold side Guinea before returning to his family in Mali, but it ensures that the inspections took place only on the axis Bamako Conakry.

"Here, there is nobody to check our temperature. Every week I go to work on panning for gold to Siguiri to feed my family. No problem for me, "he had said.

These flaws, the government would not they know. Why, under the pretext of avoiding psychosis, he keep quiet some information to journalists. "We want to avoid psychosis," argues near the Malian Ministry of Health.
The Point and Africa, which obviously wanted a new authorization, states that "in recent weeks, the ministries of communication and health no longer were issuing permission for reporters to produce subjects Kourémalé. "
The Government provides little on the Ebola virus. Proof, since Monday, only one official release is out of the Ministry of Health. Meanwhile, Mali, Bamako in particular, lives on rumors. Rumors that happen to be the best means to create psychosis.https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmaliactu.net%2Fau-mali-la-ville-de-kayes-vit-en-etat-de-siege-face-a-ebola%2F&edit-text=

The Mali starts again in screening

...But the country intends to fight now to stem the spread. The latest warning of Tuesday evening after the death of the nurse 25 years of clinical Pasteur tested positive the same day, who treated a 66-year-old imam come to Guinea. The hotel, frequented by hundreds of people every day, has been placed in quarantine.

The Imam is he died on October 27, and a friend came to visit him, said WHO AFP, adding that both are considered probable cases of Ebola, while the clinic was initially diagnosed at an imam "malaria", according to a reporter maliweb.net.
The Mali starts again in screening

The announcement of this new contamination occurs when the Mali was preparing to lift the quarantine of more than 100 people have approached the single case of the virus so far, that of a two year old girl came from Guinea and died Oct. 24 in Kayes in western Mali.

To believe, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in an email to 20 Minutes, it is back to square one for Mali with this new "imported" cases. "We must again identify new suspects, isolation, find contacts, make case by case basis, carefully carry the cremated upon death and start a campaign of health prevention."http://www.20minutes.fr/monde/1480323-20141113-ebola-mali-risque-propagation-virus#xtor=RSS-176

The Mali strengthen its border controls to face #Ebola

The Mali strengthen its border controls to face Ebola
November 13, 2014 16:33 PM

North, South, airplane, overbilling, justice ... Bamako (Reuters) - Mali has tightened sanitary controls at its borders but has no intention of closing them after the arrival of Guinea a man with Ebola fever that has infected several people, including a nurse who died of the disease.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta has also asked the World Health Organization (WHO), the health services in Mali and neighboring countries hers to set up a permanent mechanism for exchange of information on public health and hygiene.

The results of the current Ebola outbreak now exceeds 5,160 deaths in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the latter sharing a border with Mali 800 km.

"The President of the Republic has asked the Prime Minister to review uncompromising the whole system set up in the framework of the prevention and the fight against Ebola virus disease, and strengthen controls and to cordon various border crossings, "said a statement released Wednesday night by the government.

The death of the nurse Mali Bamako Tuesday led to quarantine more than 90 people.

The young man was the second person formally affected by the disease in Mali. He may have contracted virus haemorrhagic fever in treating a patient came to Guinea.

This contamination had no connection with that of a two year old girl from Guinea, who died last month.

A doctor at the Pasteur Clinic in Bamako have been in contact with the nurse who died may have been too infected by the virus.

The Malian authorities are now looking for all the people who may be coming into contact with the nurse and recently with three other infected people.

WHO has reported for Mali four confirmed or probable deaths Ebola virus.

(Tiemoko Diallo, Marc Angrand for the French service) http://www.maliweb.net/sante/mali-renforce-ses-controles-aux-frontieres-face-ebola-636252.html

Mali-After the second death from Ebola to the Pasteur Polyclinic: 106 people already quarantined

After the second death from Ebola to the Pasteur Polyclinic: 106 people already quarantined
November 13, 2014 at 12:56 PM
Public health clinic closed after the death of a nurse caused by the Ebola virus Pasteur



After the girl Kayes, Mali just seen die on its soil a second person with the disease Ebola. It was late in the evening of Tuesday, November 11 at the Polyclinic Pasteur in ACI 2000.

The information was confirmed by the departments of the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene last Wednesday during a press briefing hosted by the Secretary General of the Department, Prof. Ousmane Doumbia, who was accompanied by coordinator emergency, Dr. Samba Sow and the WHO Resident Representative in Mali, Ibrahima Fall Socé operations center.

In response to the current situation, the Minister of Health has decided to place the Pasteur Polyclinic in quarantine, with thirty people inside, pending regulatory sanctions.

This is not all. A family of 45 members is in the same situation Daoudabougou. One that hosted the old patient came from Guinea who died at the General Hospital, located in Para Djicoroni nearby ceramics factory, has also been identified and quarantined.

According to the Coordinator of the Emergency Operations Center, the family has established a list of 16 people to have been in close contact with the old Guinean. They are now also deprived of their liberty.

This makes a total of 106 people already quarantined. According to Professor Sow, services have also identified the mosque in which the body of the old has passed before the transfer of the remains in Guinea. As the Polyclinic and the two concessions, she in turn been disinfected.

The second fatal case concerns a trainee nurse who was on duty at the Pasteur Polyclinic. According to our information, this is the one who cared for a sick, come to Guinea heal at this property.

According to our sources, it would also be old patient died of the disease Ebola and the clinic would not be realized. What made the Polyclinic Pasteur had made no special provision for the protection of its employees to put them to the notice of this evil.

Consequently, after the death of nursing care, all agents, all patients treated in the clinic, and by extension all their families are now at risk of contamination.  http://www.maliweb.net/sante/apres-2...ne-636032.html

Activate the protocol for a possible Ebola case in Cartagena

Activate the protocol for a possible Ebola case in Cartagena

12/11/2014 (22:38)

     The patient, a man from Mali, have made themselves known in the ER Rosell, Cartagena.
     He has been transferred to the Arrixaca to rule with the virus.
     Currently Health deriba patients presenting to the emergency department of The St. Lucia Rosell precaution.

Health has decided to activate the Wednesday night against Ebola protocol before the first case of a patient suspected to have the virus, as confirmed at this writing an official spokesman of the Ministry of Health.


The measure has been taken over by epidemiological criteria by clinical criteria, which means that no clear signs of having the disease, but from a country where many people are infected by the virus. http://diariosi.com/region/activan-el-protocolo-del-ebola-por-un-posible-caso-en-cartagena

Ebola fight: Medical group calls for national quarantines

Nov 12, 2014

LONDON, England - A leading medical training organisation on the front line of the Ebola outbreak has asked the world's governments to take the brave step of enforcing quarantines in the fight against the virus – adding that the current "inexplicable delay" will result in an international epidemic.
EFP Tactical Medical Group, which employs 1,500 people worldwide is currently training medics in West Africa to respond to the Ebola outbreak and related highly infectious emerging diseases. They say the controversy surrounding national quarantines is putting thousands more lives at risk as it could allow Ebola to gain a foothold on another continent while governments continue to debate the issue.

Chief executive Thomas Omogi says the response to Ebola, which has already claimed the lives of more than 5,000 people, has been "badly designed and poorly implemented" and adds current airport checks will fail to detect every case of the disease. Governments around the world should understand their reactions were "inadequate and ill-informed" and should now ignore public opinion and impose quarantines to prevent the killer disease from sweeping across the globe.

After first emerging in December 2013 in Southern Guinea, Africa, the disease has rapidly spread across the continent and there are now more than 10,000 recorded cases. Governments around the world are now radically increasing disaster training and response plans. In Kenya, the government will be working with a medical team from EFP including Dr Steven Hatfill, Thomas Omogi and Mike Taylor with Dr Stephen Juma Ndombi from the Institute of Tropical and Infectious diseases of the University of Nairobi (UNITID), Kenya - a member of the National Disaster Management Unit, an inter-agency organization established in Kenya.

With recorded cases already emerging in the US and in Europe, Mr Omogi says: "Despite the US Government spending £120bn over two decades in preparation for outbreaks of infectious disease and bioterrorism, the initial response to Ebola has been badly designed, and poorly and incorrectly implemented. In an effort to minimize public concern or even panic, leading authorities around the world have made over-reaching statements and assumptions that are not fully supported by research. This is an international crisis and every government should be prepared and equipped with the skills they need to respond."

Mr Omogi says the current policy of screening passengers at airports for high temperatures is ineffective. He adds: "Research shows Ebola patients don't always display fever symptoms and that means current efforts to halt the virus at the world's airports don't go far enough. There has been much debate about quarantines, but this delay is inexcusable. No quarantine is completely effective, but several centuries of experience proves national quarantines do make a big difference in halting the spread of diseases. Governments must not be afraid to take this bold step – ultimately it will save lives."

With a wealth of experience in training teams to respond to crises such as the current Ebola epidemic, Mr Omogi says governments must also work to better protect those tackling the epidemic on the ground and also create rapid response teams to drop into infected zones.
He states: "Workers from around the world have now been infected while trying to combat Ebola. More must be done to equip them with the skills and equipment they need to protect themselves and we must also create ways to respond more rapidly to fresh outbreaks.
"This disease presents a threat to the globe and we must do more to prepare for the potential spread of the disease. This is already the largest known epidemic in the virus' history and we are calling on every government to acquire the skills and the knowledge they need to fight back."  http://www.eturbonews.com/52487/ebola-fight-medical-group-calls-national-quarantines?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Eturbonews-TravelAndTourismIndustryNews+%28eTurboNews+-+for+the+global+travel+professional%29

November 12, 2014

Mali |

Mali: a suspect Ebola, dozens of people quarantined case in Bamako

Malian doctor considered a suspected case of Ebola after being in contact with two people died from the virus in a clinic in Bamako, was watching Wednesday near the capital, told AFP from sources.

In addition, dozens of people were quarantined at the Pasteur Clinic, nearly half of them soldiers of the UN Mission in Mali (Minusma) who were in the facility at the time of the announcement Tuesday two deaths from Ebola.
These two people are dead and a nurse Guinea sick. The Ministry of Health confirmed in a statement Tuesday that the death of nurse 25, tested positive for the virus after "reported having had contact with a patient from Guinea", also died.

"A doctor who is actually a suspected case of Ebola is observation, because he has been in contact with the two dead people, and we are looking also others who surrounded the deceased but who returned home ", told AFP an official clinic on condition of anonymity.

The Guinean patient Goïta Sekou, 66, arrived "there are 16 days" by bus from Guinea to Bamako for treatment of a "kidney failure," according to another medical source. "At his death, it was discovered that two members of his family have died of Ebola. but he hid it, "Has it explained the same source.
The nurse died, named Saliou Diarra, was "very close contact" with the Guinean patient, and knew that he was suffering from Ebola, according to a close.

A safety device was still visible around the clinic, found the AFP correspondents.

"We are thirty quarantined in the clinic. There are doctors, patients, fifteen soldiers of the UN mission in Bamako. We do not understand this measure of isolation, "said a doctor told AFP, reached by telephone.
"We do not have room, this is the big mess, mess," he has said.
Soldiers from Minusma from Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire and Bangladesh, especially in hospital for "injuries" and "TB" before the discovery of Ebola cases are quarantined in the clinic, said AFP a source of security.
The announcement of these two new cases came as Mali, last countries affected by the epidemic in West Africa, was preparing to lift the quarantine of more than 100 people have approached the first identified case, a girl 2 years came from Guinea and died October 24 in Kayes (west). There is no link between this case and the following first.  https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmaliactu.net%2Fau-mali-la-ville-de-kayes-vit-en-etat-de-siege-face-a-ebola%2F&edit-text=

Mali: PRESS: The twenty MINUSMA confirms that military personnel are in quarantine at the Clinique Pasteur

Bamako, November 12, 2014 - The MINUSMA confirms that twenty military personnel, who were admitted to the Clinique Pasteur during the month of October for injuries sustained in the performance of their mission in northern Mali, are currently in the same clinic.

The MINUSMA closely following the evolution of their condition to take, if necessary, all necessary measures including on possible exposure to Ebola virus infection.

At this stage, the relevant staff of the MINUSMA show no symptoms of the disease. However, they are kept under observation for the whole prescribed time virus detection.
MINUSMA follow scrupulously the measures implemented by the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene Mali in close cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO).
Source: MINUSMA

Ebola Kills at Least Two People in Mali, Threatening Spread

By Simeon Bennett Nov 12, 2014 1:12 PM ET

Save

Ebola killed at least two more people in Mali and many more may have been infected, threatening to spark an outbreak in a fourth West African nation.
A 25-year-old nurse died from Ebola yesterday at the Pasteur Clinic in Bamako, Mali’s capital, the World Health Organization and Mali health authorities said today. She had treated a 70-year-old grand imam from Guinea, who was hospitalized for kidney failure and wasn’t tested for Ebola.
The man died Oct. 27 and may have infected four family members who drove him to Mali for treatment, as well as a daughter who died two days ago and a friend who visited him at the clinic and “died abruptly of an undiagnosed disease,” according to the WHO. The imam’s body was taken to a mosque in Bamako for ritual washing before being returned to the border village of Kouremale in Guinea for burial, and the WHO said it assumes “many mourners” attended both ceremonies.
“Six months plus into what’s been recognized as a major outbreak, we still have these kinds of behaviors, which are making this an extra-challenging disease to get under control,” Tom Solomon, director of the Institute of Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool, said by phone today. “This is why the disease is continuing to spread.”

Almost Free

The death of the nurse at the Mali clinic comes just four days after Doctors Without Borders said it appeared that the country may have prevented the spread of the disease. A diagnosis that the imam’s son has the virus “further increases the likelihood that deaths in other family members were caused by Ebola,” the WHO said.
The man’s first wife died of an undiagnosed disease last week, while his son tested positive for Ebola yesterday and is being treated in Guinea, where the man’s brother and second wife are also “being managed” at an Ebola center. A daughter died two days ago from an undiagnosed illness, and the family declined an offer for a safe burial, the WHO said.
“Intensive contact tracing is under way in both countries,” the agency said, with support from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Doctors Without Borders and other groups.
Mali is now monitoring more than 60 people for possible exposure to the virus, including 28 health care workers who are in quarantine at the Pasteur Clinic, Markatie Daou, a spokesman for the Health Ministry, said by phone.
There are 20 United Nations military personnel under quarantine at the same clinic, where they were being treated for injuries sustained on a peacekeeping mission in northern Mali, the organization said today. They work for Minusma, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali. The personnel have shown no signs of Ebola infection, the U.N. said in a statement.

No Signs

The imam from Guinea “was identified at the border but he did not present any sign of temperature or vomiting,” Daou said. Kidney failure is “often seen” in the late stages of Ebola, the WHO said today. Both the imam and the friend who visited him at the clinic are being regarded as probable Ebola cases, though no samples are available for testing, the WHO said. Patients are most infectious in the late stages of the disease and immediately after death.
The clinic in Bamako is a private facility established in 2000, according to its website. It has 32 hospital beds and an emergency room, and offers “innovative and unique care” in areas including internal medicine, surgery, neurology, cardiology and pediatrics. The imam had previously been admitted to two clinics -- one in Guinea and one in Mali, according to the WHO....http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-12/man-who-spread-ebola-to-mali-nurse-probably-infected-family.html

Mali confirms new case of Ebola, locks down Bamako clinic

Mali confirms new case of Ebola, locks down Bamako clinic
 
Nov 11

The government of Mali confirmed the country's second case of Ebola late on Tuesday and police deployed outside a clinic in the capital, Bamako, that authorities said had been quarantined.

In a statement via Twitter, Mali's Information Minister Mahamadou Camara said "prevention measures" were being taken, but gave no details on the case. Local officials and diplomats said the new case was unrelated to the first one last month.

Mali became the sixth West African country to record a case of Ebola when a two-year-old girl from Guinea died in October. It has not recorded any confirmed cases since then and 108 people linked to the girl were due to complete their 21-day quarantine period on Tuesday.

Mali shares an 800 km (500 mile) border with Guinea, which alongside Liberia and Sierra Leone, has been worst affected by an Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 5,000 people this year.

Medical officials and diplomats said Mali's new Ebola case was a nurse who had been in contact with a man who arrived from Guinea and died in late October at the now locked down Pasteur Clinic.

One medical officer, who asked not to be identified, said the nurse who had Ebola died on Tuesday evening while another doctor was ill and had been quarantined. A government spokesman was not available to comment on the nurse's reported death.

A Reuters reporter said that by nightfall police had deployed heavily in the area around the clinic, which is in the ACI 2000 neighbourhood and is considered among the city's best.

The bodies of those who die with Ebola are contagious for up to three days after death, raising the risk of further infection if not dealt with properly.

Officials said the man believed to have brought the second case of Ebola to Mali was an imam from Guinea. He was not tested for Ebola while he was ill in Mali and his body was returned to Guinea without necessary precautions for the disease being taken, raising the prospect of further infections that will now have to be traced.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/11/12/health-ebola-mali-idINL6N0T15CN20141112

Mali quarantines dozens after #Ebola kills second victim

Mali quarantines dozens after Ebola kills second victim
 
Joe Penney Nov 12, 2014

Authorities in Mali quarantined dozens of people on Wednesday at the home of a 25-year-old nurse who died from Ebola in the capital, Bamako, and at the clinic where he treated an imam from Guinea who died with Ebola-like symptoms.

The imam from the border town of Kouremale was never tested for the disease and his body was washed in Mali and returned to Guinea for burial without precautions against the virus.

Two aid workers said that another person who lived in the house where the imam stayed in Bamako had died this week and was buried without being tested.

A doctor at the Pasteur Clinic where the nurse worked - one of Bamako's top medical centers - is also suspected to have contracted Ebola.

Mali, the sixth West African nation to record Ebola, must now trace a new batch of contacts just as people linked to its first and only other case - a two-year-old girl who died last month - completed their 21-day quarantine on Tuesday.

Concern is growing at the time it took between the imam dying and the steps needed to contain the deadly disease being put in place. Dr. Samba Sow, head of Mali's Ebola response, said the imam died on Oct. 27, two days after going to the clinic.

"This case shows the lack of training of doctors in Bamako. This training should have been done six months ago," one aid worker told Reuters, asking not to be named.

The government said in a statement on Wednesday that the nurse was confirmed to have Ebola on Tuesday and died later that evening. All necessary steps to identify people who had come into contact with the nurse had been taken, it said.

Ousmane Doumbia, secretary general of the health ministry, said 70 people had been quarantined. The Pasteur Clinic was locked down by police on Tuesday night.

Mali shares an 800 km (500 mile) border with Guinea, which alongside Liberia and Sierra Leone, has been worst affected by an outbreak that has killed nearly 5,000 people this year. The two-year-old girl had also brought Ebola to Mali from Guinea.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/12/us-health-ebola-mali-idUSKCN0IW12C20141112

President Sirleaf Meets with Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair;

Thanked Him and the AGI Team for Remaining With Liberia during the Ebola Crisis

Wednesday, 12th November 2014

President Sirleaf, delighted at Mr. Tony Blair's visit, welcomes him to Liberia in the midst of the Ebola crisis on Wednesday, November 12, 2014.
Photo Credit: Gabriel W.Mills / Executive Mansion

Monrovia, Liberia - President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has thanked the patron and founder of the African Governance Initiative (AGI), Tony Blair and his team for remaining with Liberia during the Ebola crisis.

“More recently, with the difficulty we faced with Ebola, you have stuck with us. The team has not left thereby demonstrating courage and confidence in our country,” she said, adding, “Thank you Tony for always being there, for having a team that has continued to work with us and to enable us to achieve our planning and productive goals.”

According to an Executive Mansion release, the Liberian leader made the assertion Wednesday, November 12, during a brief press stakeout following a breakfast meeting with Mr. Blair at her residence. Mr. Blair is on the second leg of a two-day West African tour of countries worse affected by the Ebola virus disease. He had arrived from Sierra Leone and will visit Guinea after here.

“Today he’s here to demonstrate that he has no fear that he can come even though we are Ebola ridden; he can go beyond the advocacy and show his presence and what this means in his support for the Liberian people,” she stressed further.

President Sirleaf thanked the former British Prime Minister for the visit and his support to Liberia through the AGI, his own personal encouragement and advocacy especially in assisting in planning the country’s long term vision, Liberia Rising 2030, and the shorter five-year vision, Agenda for Transformation.

Responding, Mr. Blair first expressed condolences to the President and the Liberian people for the thousands of lives lost during this unprecedented crisis. “This is a true tragedy and a bitter blow to a country that has made huge strides in recent years,” he said.

The former British Prime Minister thanked President Sirleaf for her leadership role in steering the affairs of State during this Ebola crisis. Though he noted the resilience of the Liberian people in the face of the crisis and the significant progress the country is making, he warned that the crisis is not over. “Slowing Ebola is not enough, we need to eradicate it,” he added, noting that the number of new cases each week is still higher than the total for any previous outbreak in history.

Mr. Blair indicated that though the international community has made important contributions to the Ebola fight in the worse affected countries, it needs to follow through on the commitments that have been made. He highlighted the need for treatment centers across the country as well as the need to get rid of the travel restrictions which are causing economic harm and deterring the badly needed health practitioners from coming to the affected countries.

“Commercial flights must also resume,” Mr. Blair urged, reiterating that there is no justification for the dangerous isolation of Liberia and its affected neighbors.

He cautioned that the impact of Ebola will not stop with the final case; rather, the fragile economy has been severely battered, harvests hit and livelihoods lost.

Mr. Blair urged the international community to rally around Liberia to turn a year of turmoil into a decade of progress. “An estimated US$2 billion will be needed over the next few years to build more resilient public services, deliver basic infrastructure and create jobs in the sector where Liberia, with all its resources, has a comparative advantage,” he appealed.

He expressed his pleasure at working with President Sirleaf and her Government, noting that his foundation, AGI, support government’s priorities, not bringing their own. “I would like to congratulate the President and her team for the leadership they have shown and coordination with international partners,” Mr. Blair pointed out, adding that he was proud that AGI has been able to support them in those efforts.

During his short stay in the country, Mr. Blair visited the Ebola Emergency Operations Center on 18^th Street, Sinkor. He also held meetings with the Ministers of Finance and Development Planning and Commerce and Industry, respectively, Mr. Amara Konneh and Axel Addy; and the Acting Executive Director of the National Investment Commission, Mr. George Wisner.
http://emansion.gov.lr/2press.php?news_id=3123&related=7&pg=sp

Mali Case - Ebola Imported from Guinea

World Health Organization (Geneva)

12 November 2014

Ebola situation assessment - 10 November 2014
Investigations undertaken by Ministries of Health in Mali and Guinea, assisted by WHO, have clarified the early exposure history of Mali's first Ebola case.
The index case in Mali, a 2-year-old girl who resided with her family in the urban commune of Beyla, Guinea, was diagnosed with Ebola, in Kayes, Mali, on 23 October and died on the following day.

In Guinea: a family devastated by an undiagnosed disease
The child's history while still residing in Guinea strongly suggests that several members of her family died from Ebola virus disease. Most of the patients described below were buried safely by Red Cross volunteers, but not tested until late in the transmission chains.
The Guinea history reveals many difficult challenges faced by ministries of health, local health officials, WHO and other partners in the Ebola response.
The child's history begins with the death of her father, of unidentified causes, on 3 October.
The father was a Red Cross worker who also provided care at a private medical clinic owned by his father (the paternal grandfather of the index case). The paternal grandfather was a retired health care worker.
While working at the private medical clinic, the child's father had contact with a farmer from another village who died, of undiagnosed causes, on 12 September. The farmer sought treatment accompanied by his two daughters. Both daughters died, of undiagnosed causes, in Beyla on 23 September, one at dawn and the other in the evening.
WHO data from Sierra Leone strongly suggest that Ebola care in private health facilities, as opposed to care in publicly-funded or MSF-run Ebola treatment centres, carries a higher risk of infection. In Kenema, for example, 87% of new infections among health care workers have been acquired in privately-run non-Ebola clinics.

Going home to die
The child's father fell ill sometime during the third week of September. Fellow residents and neighbours in Beyla believed he was the victim of a bad-luck "curse" following an argument with the village chief. Witchcraft, and not Ebola, was suspected.
Shunned by the community, and on the advice of his own father (the paternal grandfather of the index case and the head of the family), the father returned to his native village of Sokodougou, in the sub-prefecture of Moussadou – a trip of more than 70 kilometres. He died there on 3 October.
This pattern of returning to a native village to grow old or die is commonly seen in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and many other countries around the world.
Such frequent travels by symptomatic Ebola patients, often via public transportation and over long distances, unquestionably create multiple opportunities for high-risk exposures – en route and also when the patient reaches his home and is greeted by family and friends.
Diagnosis: Ebola
Meanwhile in Beyla, the paternal grandfather and family head lost his wife to an unknown disease on 8 October. He then allowed health officials to undertake contact tracing of 16 family members who had been in close contact with his deceased son (the father of the index case in Mali).
On the following day (9 October), two of his other sons were admitted to hospital. The hospital referred them to a MSF-run Ebola transit centre in Macenta.
The first son died the same day en route to Macenta. On 10 October, samples from both sons tested positive for Ebola, strongly suggesting that other family members had also died from Ebola virus disease.
On 16 October, the paternal grandfather travelled to Macenta, seeking treatment for what he told medical staff was "rheumatoid arthritis". As part of a thorough medical examination, he was tested for Ebola. Positive results were received from the laboratory on 17 October. The paternal grandfather died at an Ebola treatment centre in Gueckedou on 20 October.

Mali's index case leaves Guinea
Following news of the death of relatives in Guinea, the child's grand aunt or "Grandma" (the second wife of the maternal grandfather) travelled to Beyla, Guinea, to offer her condolences to her relatives. The "Grandma" resides in Kayes, Mali.
She left Guinea to return to Mali on 19 October, taking the 2-year-old index case and her 5-year-old sister with her. A maternal uncle, the mother's brother, also accompanied them. The index case was showing haemorrhagic symptoms in Guinea when the three began their extensive travels.
The mother is alive and is in regular telephone contact with the Mali team. She has to remain in the village where her husband was buried for 40 days for the official mourning, before she can leave. Her three-month-old baby is with her in Guinea. Both are under observation and, to date, neither has shown any symptoms.
The family group travelled via public transportation, taking at least one bus and 3 taxi rides as they journeyed more than 1200 kilometres through Mali. The buses made frequent stops for fuel or to let passengers on. The four spent 2 hours in the capital, Bamako, visiting relatives in a household with 25 people.
On 19–20 October, they travelled overnight in one bus from Bamako to Kayes. Between Bamako and Kayes, only two persons left the bus at Niamiga village. Persistent tracking eventually located both at their final destinations, in Dakar, Senegal and Paris, France.
Once in Kayes, the Grandma and index case consulted two traditional healers. The second healer took them to a retired nurse, who was alarmed by the child's high temperature, which was above 40° C. When he learned they had recently travelled in Guinea, he suspected Ebola and advised them to seek treatment at a hospital.
The child was admitted to the hospital in Kayes on 21 October and diagnosed with Ebola following receipt of positive laboratory results on 23 October. She was hospitalized and treated in isolation, with infection prevention and control equipment and procedures in place. She died on 24 October.
The emergency response in Mali continues
In collaboration with WHO, the Ministry of Health has established an incident command structure to mount a coordinated response that includes surveillance and contact tracing, case management, safe burials, social mobilization and logistics.
To date, Malian health officials, aided by WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Mèdecins sans Frontières (MSF), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and several other partners have identified 108 contacts of the symptomatic patient, including 33 health care workers who were exposed. Of the 108 contacts, 25 have been followed for 21 days and have been released from the surveillance system.
Seventy-nine contacts were at the hospital where the child was treated and in the Kayes community. All have been monitored. To date, no one has shown signs of Ebola or tested positive for the disease.
The government has accelerated the completion of an isolation facility at the Center for Vaccine Development in Bamako. Isolation facilities were part of the strategies put in place in Senegal and Nigeria to successfully contain Ebola.
Bamako has a well-functioning biosafety level 3 laboratory, previously established with support from the US National Institutes of Health to carry out diagnostic work with tuberculosis bacteria and HIV. The laboratory has now been repurposed to safely test Ebola samples.
With persistent and thorough contact tracing, isolation and monitoring in place, confidence is growing that no further spread within Mali followed exposure to the index case, who had haemorrhagic symptoms but no diarrhoea or vomiting during her travels.  http://allafrica.com/stories/201411120461.html

West Africa: Mali Confirms Two #Ebola Deaths, Source Unknown

Malian health officials have confirmed that two more people - a patient and the nurse who treated him - have died from Ebola. The fatalities are not linked to the case of a young girl who died of the illness.
A Malian official on Wednesday confirmed the two Ebola deaths, and added that they were not thought to be related to the country's only previous instance of the disease.
Communications Minister Mahamadou Camara said that a sick imam and the nurse who treated him had both died.
The two latest fatalities were at the Clinique Pasteur private clinic in the Malian capital Bamako and both were confirmed as having Ebola. The man was not suspected of having Ebola when his treatment began.
The clinic, regarded as one of the best medical facilties in Bamako, was placed under lockdown by police on Tuesday night.
Unanswered question looms large
The deaths raised fears that the disease might be passed on to more people, given that the source of the infection remains unknown.
There is no apparent link with the case of two-year-old Fante Conte, who died after she returned from a trip to Guinea on a bus journey that made frequent stops along the 1,200 kilometer (750 mile) route. The girl, who was accompanied by her grandmother, sister and uncle also visited relatives in a house containing some 25 people.
Malian health authorities announced on Wednesday that 30 members of the family were being released from a 21-day quarantine after they showed no signs of the disease.
About 50 other people who had possible contact with the girl are under observation until November 16.  http://allafrica.com/stories/201411121551.html

12 November 2014

Mali Scrambles to Contain Ebola After New Confirmed Death

By Angela Muiruri
Bamako — Mali scrambled Wednesday to contain an outbreak of Ebola as it confirmed the death of a nurse, its second fatal case but the first of the virus spreading within the country's borders.
Officials say the nurse died Tuesday after treating a man who arrived from Guinea at a clinic in the capital Bamako.
The patient was suffering from kidney failure and later died, medical sources said late Tuesday, and authorities now believe he also had Ebola, although this has not been confirmed.
The Bamako clinic is now in quarantine.
The case -- involving the first Ebola death of a Malian national in the country -- has raised fears of further contamination as it was unrelated to Mali's only other confirmed fatality, that of a two year old girl.
Almost 5,000 people have been killed by Ebola in the west African outbreak according to official data from the World Health Organization (WHO), which says the true scale of the epidemic could be much greater.
The virus kills around 70 percent of its victims, often shutting down their organs and causing unstoppable bleeding.
The new case in Mali came a day after the WHO said it had released from isolation 25 of more than 100 people thought to have come into contact with country's first victim.
Two year old Fanta Conte died after returning from a trip to Guinea. The infection sparked panic as the toddler had travelled by bus and taxi with her grandmother, sister and uncle, making frequent stops on a trip of more than 1,200 kilometres (750 miles).
They also spent two hours in Bamako, visiting relatives in a house of 25 people.
Morocco was stripped of hosting football's 2015 Africa Cup of Nations on Tuesday and flung out of the competition after insisting that it wanted to postpone the tournament due to fears over the virus.
Meanwhile, the virus is continuing to spread in Sierra Leone, where the WHO said cases were "still skyrocketing" in the west of the country, including the capital Freetown.
- Drop in Liberia infections -
....
The Gambia, which remains Ebola-free, announced Tuesday it had re-opened its land borders to travellers from Sierra Leone and the other Ebola-hit nations.   http://allafrica.com/stories/201411121710.html

Ebola: new confirmed case in Bamako

Ebola: new confirmed case in Bamako

As part of the fight against Ebola virus disease in the country, health services conducted Monday, November 10, 2014 to investigate a health worker reported having had contact with a patient from Guinea made charge by a private clinic located in Commune IV in Bamako District.
During the investigation, a blood sample was taken Monday, November 10, 2014 on the subject. The results of the analysis of the samples were positive to Ebola Tuesday, November 11, 2014. The Mali and knows his second case of Ebola virus disease.
While her care were administered agent aged 25 health unfortunately died Tuesday, November 11, 2014.


In these painful circumstances, the Government extends its condolences to the bereaved family and reminds the public that hygiene measures enacted remain effective means of disease prevention.
The Government assures that according to protocol for the management of patients with Ebola virus in force, all measures are taken to identify the persons who had contact with the deceased. The premises of the private clinic who supported and the patient's home has been completely disinfected and placed under observation.
The Government informs the public that the health services, with the support of partners are hard at work to prevent the spread of the virus from this case linked to an imported case of Guinea.
It called on the population to remain calm, serenity but also and especially to the vigilance and compliance with hygiene measures regulate the matter.
Accordance with the guidelines of the President of the Republic, the Government of the Republic of Mali to thank all its partners for their assistance to him in the fight against this disease, reminds people to avoid unnecessary travel to areas epidemic and observe hygiene measures and safety regulate the matter.



Bamako, November 12, 2014  http://www.sante.gov.ml/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2190:ebola-nouveau-cas-confirme-a-bamako&catid=78&Itemid=120

Sexual Penetration on the Increase in Kenema

ierra Leone News : Sexual Penetration on the Increase in Kenema By PAUL LAMIN IN KENEMA Nov 11, 2014, 17:06

Despite medical expert advice to avoid body contact in the current Ebola fight, Humanist Watch Salone has over the past three months recorded thirty-three 33 cases of sexual penetration mostly targeting under age girls as young as thirteen years and below.

The National coordinator for Humanist Watch Salone Christopher M. Braima said as a human right based civil society organization they are highly committed towards the fight against the Ebola virus since its outbreak in May this year.

He said HUWASL is implementing Ebola response projects with support from UNDP targeting five chiefdoms in the Kailahun District.

During a press briefing held recently at their office in Kenema the National coordinator said though they are fighting disease in these communities the records in their possession show an increase in sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) incidents more especially  the issue of sexual penetration. He reported that from July to date over thirty cases of sexual penetration as compared to reports received before the Ebola crisis, highlighting a significant increase.

Christopher Braima said in Talia To.. http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200526620.shtml

Sierra Leone News: Ebola Strikes Doctor at Lumley Health Center

Sierra Leone News: Ebola Strikes Doctor at Lumley Health Center By AWARENESS TIMES Sep 11, 2014, 17:17

The Medical Doctor in charge of the Lumley Health Center is reported to have caught the dreaded Ebola virus. The Lumley Health Center is now totally abandoned as frightened Nurses & Staff have fled in panic. http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200526207.shtml

MSF Dumping Scares Kingtom Community

MSF Dumping Scares Kingtom Community

Some residents of Janet Lane, Kingtom were recently very scared at the sight of MSF vehicles, that went to the Kingtom dump site otherwise known as "bomeh" to dispose quantities of old wooden 3ft 6ins beds from its warehouse to make room for new stock. According to some of the residents who were not sure of what the medical humanitarian organization went to dispose at the site, informed a local tabloid that MSF had gone to dump used PPE's at the detriment of the community. At the Kingtom dump site, the reporter met with Masada workers who identified themselves as supervisors and land field officers.The Garbage control officers in shock explained that no dump or other vehicle enters the site without approval from Masada, and knowing that Ebola is highly infectious, no vehicle will be allowed to do such acts, noting that all used PPE's must be disposed of properly. They furthered that the MSF vehicle did not enter the dump site and the used beds were already carted away by some youths in the community. http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200526628.shtml