Ebola Finds New Hotspots Outside Liberian Capital

JENEWONDE, Liberia — Nov 10, 2014, 1:09 PM ET

By WADE WILLIAMS Associated Press

In this photo taken Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014, a woman reacts, rear, as Health Care workers load the body of a family member suspected of dying from Ebola, onto the back of a truck in Jene-Wonde, Liberia. A schoolteacher brought his sick daughter from... View Full Caption The Associated Press

A schoolteacher brought his sick daughter from Liberia's capital to this small town of 300 people. Soon he and his entire family were dead and buried in the forest nearby, along with an increasing number of residents.

The community of Jenewonde has become a new hotspot for the Ebola outbreak in Liberia. With cases on the decline in the capital, officials must now turn their attention to hard-to-reach places where the disease is flaring.

Jenewonde, in Grand Cape Mount County near the border with Sierra Leone, has reportedly lost about 10 percent of its population to Ebola since late September. Markets and farms nearby have been abandoned.

Momo Sheriff, who lost his son to Ebola, said there is no health care in the community. No clinics could be seen along the road into town.

"If the government does not take action, everybody will die in this town," Sheriff told an Associated Press journalist. "We are burying two dead bodies today. We don't know who it will be tomorrow. Every day we have to cry."

Juma Mansaray lost her mother and grandmother on the same day. She said the community has been ostracized from neighboring ones.

"Everywhere we go, the people will drive us away," she said. "We can't even go to the local market to buy pepper or food because people think we are cursed."

Ebola is also hitting the town of Gorzohn in Rivercess County, which lies on Liberia's central coast, said Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah, who heads Liberia's Ebola response.

The international response must adapt to this new phase, Doctors Without Borders warned. As Jenewonde saw, just one case can ignite a chain of transmission that leads to a dozen more infections, said Fasil Tezera, head of operations for the charity in Liberia.

Liberia has suffered the greatest death toll in the Ebola epidemic, with 2,766 deaths blamed on the first-ever Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The World Health Organization says that after months of aggressive efforts to isolate the sick and remove bodies of victims safely, Ebola appears to be declining in some parts of Liberia, including the capital where only about 50 of the 250 beds are filled at a Doctors Without Borders clinic.

"In the cities, I think we have sufficient resources," Tezera said. "We cannot bring everybody to big ETU's," or Ebola treatment units.

The outbreak now also needs a series of "rapid response teams" that can bring care to remote villages, rather than trying to get sick people out, the group says. Such teams would include medics, disinfection specialists and psychologists or social workers and could stamp out a budding outbreak in a village before it has a chance to spread. And they could work much faster than a treatment center can be built.

Tezera said that such mobile teams were frequently deployed in previous Ebola outbreaks, which typically hit remote areas of central or eastern Africa. The teams could travel by truck, boat or helicopter, if those assets are provided.

"If you handle it at the small village level, then you can contain it," he said.

Experts warn that the disease could flare again in Monrovia or other places where it seems to have subsided. As long as Ebola is circulating in this highly mobile region, no area is safe, said Tezera, and cases continue to rise in Guinea and Sierra Leone. There were 40 new Ebola cases in and around the Sierra Leonean capital of Freetown in the preceding 24 hours, authorities there said late Sunday.

A key component to stopping transmission everywhere is gaining the trust and cooperation of villagers, Tezera added. That has been a problem in Jenewonde.

Abdullai Kamara, a burial team leader for Grand Cape Mount County, said the people of Jenewonde have been stubborn and in constant denial, which he cites as the reason the disease is still spreading.

Ebola is contracted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of the sick and the dead. For weeks, residents of Jenewonde have been chasing away safe-burial teams and hiding the sick from outside health workers, he said.

"Our people played deaf ear to what was happening," Kamara said. "They denied the truth."

James Jallah Paul says people in the town are terrified to help the sick. On this recent day, a man in a protective suit sprayed a house with a virus-killing solution where a woman died from Ebola. Health workers carried a body into the forest for burial. Paul said more help is needed.

"If the government does not come to our rescue, we will finish (die) here," he said. "This place will be an empty space."  http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/liberia-village-ebola-epicenter-26802843?page=2

• November 4, 2014

Ebola may be deadlier and more widespread than we think

The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa has grown exponentially since May, indicating inadequate global response. A new analysis indicates that the outbreak's fatality rate is over 70%—rather than 50% as previously claimed by the World Health Organization—and that the total number of affected individuals could exceed 1 million by early next year.

As long as the number of infected people rises exponentially, the likelihood of exporting Ebola to other countries does as well.
"The disease itself hasn't changed, with essentially the same fatality rate and transmissibility as ever. What is different is the number of sickened individuals," said Dr. Allen Hunt, author of the Complexity paper. "If trends continue a few more months, the global community could be forced into a terrible ethical dilemma—either risking the escape of Ebola to other poor, war-torn countries, or sealing off borders to countries in West Africa, with unimaginable humanitarian consequences."

Explore further: Australia promises $6.4 million to fight Ebola

More information: Hunt, A. G. (2014), Exponential growth in Ebola outbreak since May 14, 2014. Complexity, 20: 8–11. DOI: 10.1002/cplx.21615       

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-11-ebola-deadlier-widespread.html

New Ebola Outbreak Raises Fears In Sierra Leone

By Connor Adams Sheets 

  on November 04 2014 6:18 PM

An outbreak of Ebola in an area of Sierra Leone that had avoided cases of the deadly virus is raising fears of a new chain of infections. The people of Koindagu, located in Sierra Leone's rural north, were proud they had been free of Ebola, employing a quarantine of themselves in hopes of remaining so, according to the Guardian. But that has all changed.
On Tuesday, the Red Cross responded to the district's capital, Kabala, to collect the dead bodies of  30 suspected Ebola patients and bury them under medical protocols aimed at stopping the disease from spreading further during traditional burials, the Guardian reported. Sierra Leone -- which has seen 5,338 cases of Ebola and 1,510 deaths from the virus -- has become the face of the ongoing epidemic, as the rate of deaths in Liberia appears to have shown signs of slowing.
A Red Cross spokesman told the British newspaper that there were reportedly 25 more people sick with Ebola and 255 being monitored for the illness in Koindagu, and the country's national Ebola hotline says it is fielding reports of four cases per day from people in the district. The rapid spread of the disease within the district has raised alarms about the disease spreading further in the region, located on the border with Guinea, which is also struggling to battle Ebola.
While Koindagu appears to have lost its long battle to remain the last district untouched by Ebola in Sierra Leone, it it is something of a miracle that it made it this long in the first place.
Momoh Konte, a 43-year-old, American-educated businessman from Sierra Leone, is credited with being the face of that long-successful but ulimately doomed effort. Konte, who lives in Washington, D.C., flew to his home country in June to roll out a plan aimed at limiting the movement of Sierra Leonians living in his home district of Koindagu, according to the Washington Post.
Working with local leaders, he helped impose the quarantine that for months kept the people of Koindagu safe from the Ebola outbreak. But the virus had its way in the end, as it so often does.

http://www.ibtimes.com/new-ebola-outbreak-raises-fears-sierra-leone-1718900

Two Guilford Co. Patients Monitored For Ebola

Two people in Guilford County are being monitored for Ebola, according to the Guilford County Department of Public Health. WFMY News 2

7:03 p.m. EST November 4, 2014

 GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Two people in Guilford County are being monitored for Ebola, according to the Guilford County Department of Public Health.
The Department reports the two people recently returned from Liberia, Guinea or Sierra Leone, in West Africa.
Laura Bachmann, Guilford County's medical director, says the patients have shown no symptoms of Ebola and have not knowingly come in contact with anyone who has it. Still, health department doctors are keeping a close eye on the patients to make sure nothing changes.
"If symptoms were to develop, then there's a plan in place to quickly isolate the patients," Bachmann said. "To get them safely to a facility that's capable of doing a further evaluation and manage the patient."
Doctors will check in with the patients daily over the next 21 days during the active monitoring period.
The procedures, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Custom and Border Protection, require monitoring of any traveler who's been to one of the three West African countries where Ebola is spreading.
Meanwhile, doctors at Duke University Hospital are waiting for more test results to make sure a person they're watching for Ebola symptoms does no have the virus.

The patient will stay in isolation until the results of the additional testing are confirmed.
As for the Guilford County patients, Bachmann has a reminder.
"None of our people have shown any symptoms," she said. "Ebola is not easy to get, people who do not have symptoms are not infectious."  http://www.wfmynews2.com/story/news/2014/11/04/ebola-guilford-county-north-carolina-monitoring/18482595/

Thousands break Ebola quarantine to find food

Thousands of people in Sierra Leone are being forced to violate Ebola quarantines to find food because deliveries are not reaching them, aid agencies said. Large swaths of the West African country have been sealed off to prevent the spread of Ebola, and within those areas many people have been ordered to stay in their homes. The government, with help from the U.N.’s World Food Program, is tasked with delivering food and other services to those people. But there are many “nooks and crannies” in the country that are being missed, said Jeanne Kamara, Christian Aid’s Sierra Leone representative.

Food is becoming scarce, which has led to prices increasing beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Jeanne Kamara, Christian Aid’s Sierra Leone representative

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed nearly 5,000 people, and authorities have gone to extreme lengths to bring it under control, including the quarantines in Sierra Leone. Similar restrictions have also been used in Liberia and Guinea, the two other countries hardest hit by the epidemic. The World Health Organization said much more is needed to battle the outbreak. There are currently 16 treatment centers up and running, and 58 more planned. To staff those centers, 500 foreign health care workers and 4,000 national ones are still needed.

The quarantine of Kenema, the third-largest town in Sierra Leone, is having a devastating impact on trade—travel is restricted so trucks carrying food cannot freely drive around.
President Ernest Bai’s address to political leaders in Sierra Leone

•  
• Nov 4th, 2014
•  http://yahoonewsdigest-intl.tumblr.com/post/101798039187/thousands-break-ebola-quarantine-to-find-food

Suspected Ebola case found at Brussels Airport

The plane landed in Brussels at around 4:30 a.m. (0330 GMT).

EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

The person became ill while she was on a flight from Freetown, Sierra Leone

by 

KG/XINHUA

03.11.2014 - 10:31 

 

A person suspected of carrying the Ebola virus was detected Monday morning at Brussels Airport, Belga news agency reported.
The person was immediately transferred to St. Peter's Hospital in Brussels for further tests. She was placed in quarantine and test results are expected in the afternoon.
According to Brussels Airport spokesman Muls Florence, the person became ill while she was on a flight from Freetown, Sierra Leone.
The plane landed in Brussels at around 4:30 a.m. (0330 GMT). When the suspect case was known, airport staff activated the procedure that has been put in place to identify and deal with possible Ebola victims as they enter Belgian territory.
Other passengers also went through additional checks at the airport, said a spokesman for the Federal Public Health of Belgium.   http://www.neurope.eu/article/suspected-ebola-case-found-brussels-airport

Patient is being tested for Ebola at a London hospital after walking in with 'haemorrhagic fever' and a history of travel in west Africa

• She went to hospital in Tooting, south London, with a high temperature
• Undergoing 'series of tests' at St George’s Hospital today, officials say
• Patient is being treated in isolation in hospital's clinical infections unit

By Mark Duell for MailOnline

Published: 03:42 EST, 3 November 2014 | Updated: 04:32 EST, 3 November 2014 

A patient admitted to a London hospital last night is being tested for Ebola, it has been confirmed.

The person, believed to be a woman, has a history of travel in west Africa and is described as suffering from a ‘haemorrhagic fever’.

It is thought she presented herself to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London, with a high temperature. The patient is being treated in isolation in the clinical infections unit.

Today, a woman visiting her father at the hospital told how the accident and emergency department was cordoned off following the arrival of the patient being tested for Ebola.

The visitor had popped out to phone a relative as she saw her father, who had been taken in to A&E. But when she returned, the corridor was blocked - and staff were not letting people through.

The woman, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘When I went back in, the A&E section was closed off with a big sign saying "do not enter" with staff standing nearby to make sure no-one got through.

‘I heard someone saying something about a woman having Ebola. I was worried as I had to get back to my dad and the corridor was now blocked. A&E is split into major and minor and it was the major that was cordoned off.’

A spokesman from St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust said: ‘A patient has been admitted to St George’s Hospital with a haemorrhagic fever and is currently undergoing a series of tests, as a precaution one of which is for Ebola.

‘The trust has followed national guidance and moved the patient to our clinical infections unit where they are being cared for in isolation, away from other patients.

‘Infection control procedures remain in place while we await the results. We are confident that all appropriate actions have been taken by our staff to protect the public and the patient.’

The A&E section was closed off with a big sign saying "do not enter" with staff standing nearby to make sure no-one got through 

Visitor to St George's Hospital

And a Public Health England spokesman said: ‘PHE can confirm it will undertake precautionary tests relating to a patient presently at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, who has a history of travel to West Africa.

‘Ebola is considered unlikely but testing is being done as a precaution, as is our usual practice in these circumstances. We are confident that all appropriate actions are being taken to protect the public’s health.

‘It is important to remember that as yet, there has not been a case of Ebola diagnosed in the UK and the infection can only be transmitted through contact with the bodily fluids - such as blood, vomit or faeces - of an infected person.

‘We have advised all front line medical practitioners and NHS call handlers to be alert to signs and symptoms of Ebola in those returning from affected areas and following such advice we would expect to see an increase in testing.’....  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2818515/Patient-history-travel-west-Africa-tested-Ebola-London-hospital-walking-haemorrhagic-fever.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

Durham, N.C. — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is monitoring a patient at Duke Unversity Hospital who traveled from Liberia and has developed a fever.
Officials said the patient departed Liberia and arrived Friday at Newark (NJ) Liberty International Airport, which is one of five airports in the nation that has begun screening travelers from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone for fever and other signs of illness linked to the Ebola virus.
The patient had no symptoms upon arrival and had no known exposure to Ebola while in Liberia, officials said.
The patient, whose age and gender were not released, took a bus from New Jersey to Durham County, according to Dr. Megan Davies, state epidemiologist. The person arrived in Person County on Saturday and developed a fever Sunday.
"Keep in mind, this person did not have symptoms while traveling on the bus," Davies said. "Also keep in mind, this person has not been diagnosed with any specific condition yet."
The person was transferred to Duke University Hospital in Durham “using the appropriate health and safety protocols,”officials said in a statement. The transferred was made in a specialized EMS vehicle with staffers wearing protective gear.
“It is important to note that the patient’s fever could indicate other illnesses,” officials said. “The patient will be evaluated for possible causes of fever, including testing for Ebola.”
A blood sample will be taken to the State Laboratory of Public Health for testing, and the patient will be isolated in a secured unit a t the hospital until results are completed.
Results are expected early Monday morning.
DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos said Gov. Pat McCrory has been in touch with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie about the patient, and that her department is "committed to an open line of communication and will share with the public" any new information.
The patient is undergoing contact tracing as a precaution.

Read more at http://www.wral.com/patient-at-duke-hospital-being-monitored-for-possible-ebola/14141848/#DdMRrIyHh0hw0Pdx.99

The traveler came to North Carolina after leaving Liberia and arriving in the United States on Oct. 31 via Newark Liberty International Airport.

The individual did not have any symptoms upon arrival in the United States, according to the Department of Health, and had no known exposure to Ebola while in Liberia.

The person was taken from from Person County using the appropriate health and safety protocols.

The individual will remain in a contained, isolated and secured unit until the results of testing are known.

A blood sample from the patient will be sent to the State Laboratory of Public Health, in the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, for preliminary testing.

The preliminary results of the patient's first Ebola test are expected to be completed early Monday morning.

Pentagon: DOD personnel to handle Ebola bodies

Memo describes training for troops, civilians making contact with 'exposed remains'

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/pentagon-dod-personnel-to-handle-ebola-bodies/#Y8MD65hWgmva2ll8.99

WASHINGTON – A Department of Defense memo confirms DoD personnel – which could include civilians and/or troops – will have direct contact with “exposed remains” of Ebola victims.
While the DoD has issued new guidance on how military personnel and civilians will undergo pre- and post-deployment training while in the Ebola-affected areas of West Africa, buried in the 19-page memorandum in an attachment is an indication that the personnel will have direct exposure to the affected population.
The statement is in a memorandum from Jessica L. Write, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. Broken down into three levels, Level II training will be for personnel who “interact with the local populace,” and Level III training for personnel “assigned to supporting medical units or expected to handle exposed remains.”
The memo does not indicate whether both DoD civilians and troops will be required to complete Levels II and III of training. If military members must complete the training, it appears to be contrary to previous statements from DoD that the 4,000 deployed U.S. troops will not be exposed to Ebola patients but will undertake only a “supportive role.”
For such exposure, there is a more intense level of training for U.S. military and civilian personnel than the minimally required training for all deployed service members.
The following are screenshots of Level II and Level III training requirements as outlined in the memo:


Civilian personnel returning from the Ebola-affected areas won’t be required to undergo the 21-day mandatory quarantine described as “controlled monitoring for military members.”
Instead, civilian personnel will have the option either of undergoing the 21-day required “controlled monitoring regimen” for military personnel or undergo an “active monitoring” regimen while being allowed to go about their daily business. Monitoring will include checking the individual’s temperature.
At a news conference, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said civilians cannot be forced to undergo the post-deployment “controlled monitoring regimen.”
“Because they’re civilian employees and not uniformed service members, we legally can’t force them to undergo a controlled monitoring regimen the way we can with uniformed troops,” Kirby said.
WND recently reported that the estimated 4,000 U.S. troops being deployed in response to the Ebola crisis would undertake a “supportive” role to the Center for Disease Control and the U.S. Public Health Service in a mission officially dubbed Operation United Assistance.
In that capacity, the troops would construct a command center and treatment and training centers along with housing for U.S. military and civilian personnel.
In exclusive interviews recently with WND, retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin and retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely condemned Obama’s decision to deploy troops to West Africa, arguing they could bring the virus to the United States or to other units.
The generals said the mission of U.S. troops is to fight wars, not disease.
The concern is that these soldiers, who will be exposed to the environment where the virus is prevalent, could bring it to the U.S. and potentially spread Ebola as they return home and are assigned to other units.
Kirby had said the soldiers would not be exposed to patients, except for Navy units that will maintain labs to test samples for the Ebola virus. Already two such portable labs have been set up. They can process some 100 samples in one day.
“This is a president who thinks like a community organizer and not like a commander in chief who takes his responsibility for his troops seriously,” Boykin said of President Barack Obama.
“At a time when our military has been at war for 13 years, suicide is at an all-time high, [post-traumatic stress disorder] is out of control and families are being destroyed as a result of 13 years of war, the last thing the president should be doing is sending people into West Africa to fight Ebola.”
Echoing Boykin’s concern over the use of the military to fight Ebola, Vallely not only said it’s a “bad idea,” but he also warned the U.S. military already has been “put through so much.”
“There are plenty of other assets that America has if it wants to go over there and build hospitals and clearing centers and things like that,” Vallely said. “So, I think it is a very bad misuse especially when [U.S. troops] now are being asked to step up to the plate again in Iraq. So, I think it is a very bad decision on Obama’s part.”
For emergency leave while deployed or following deployment, Wright’s memo said only that requests will be handled on a “case-by-case” basis.
“This requires compliance with CDC, State and local public health authorities’ guidance and twice daily self-monitoring of temperature and symptoms,” Wright wrote in her Oct. 31 memo.
In a second attachment, Wright said there would be no force health protection measures such as with Ebola for malaria and dengue fever, which also are prevalent in the region. Malarone will be the primary anti-malarial medication used.
She said exposure to yellow fever should be minimal since deployed personnel will receive the required immunization.
Prior to departure, all personnel also will receive immunizations for hepatitis A and B, tetanus-diphtheria, measles, polio virus, seasonal influenza, varicella, typhoid, meningococcal and rabies.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/pentagon-dod-personnel-to-handle-ebola-bodies/#Y8MD65hWgmva2ll8.99

Two Nigerians diagnosed with Ebola in Sierra Leone

 

Posted 2 days, 6 hrs ago | October 31, 2014 (8:42 pm)

 

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Two Nigerians resident in Freetown, Sierra Leone have been diagnosed to have been infected with Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

The two Nigerians included a 27-year-old indigene of Abia stated and a 22-year old indigene of Edo state.

Supervisory Minister for Health, Khaliru Alhassan, disclosed these on Thursday while declaring open the National Council for Health, (NCH), meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

According to him “Official information reaching the Ministry from Sierra Leone Health Officials confirmed that two Nigerians resident in Free Town were recently diagnosed with Ebola Virus Disease.

They include a 27 year old indigene of Abia State, while the other is a 22 year old indigene of Edo State.

“Details of these two cases shall be made available when a detailed investigation of their status is concluded. Both Nigerians received treatment in isolation centres in Free Town, Sierra Leone and one of them has indeed been successfully treated and is technically cured and has returned to Nigeria”, he said.

The Minister however assured that Nigeria borders will continue to remain open for the free movement of people and goods within the region despite the Ebola threats.

He said that recent developments in the country and in the sub-region regarding the spread of Ebola Virus Disease have vindicated government stand that leaving the borders open and strengthening surveillance is the key to promote detection of any potential threats.

Alhassan maintained that government has taken conscious and informed decisions that although our borders will continue to remain open for the free movement of people and goods within the region, government will continue to strengthen and sustain proactive vigilance and surveillance in all its borders – air, sea and land.

Against this back drop, the Minister appealed to the countries already infected to strengthen their surveillance and quarantine network to minimize the escape from such networks people already put under surveillance to other non-infected countries.

- See more at: http://www.nairapark.com/1414784539/173092/31-10-2014/daily-independent-newspaper/news-headline/two-nigerians-diagnosed-with-ebola-in-sierra-leone#sthash.6aZ2zx0R.dpuf

 October 31, 2014 (8:42 pm) 
  Two Nigerians resident in Freetown, Sierra Leone have been diagnosed to have been infected with Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).  The two Nigerians included a 27-year-old indigene of Abia stated and a 22-year old indigene of Edo state.  Supervisory Minister for Health, Khaliru Alhassan, disclosed these on Thursday while declaring open the National Council for Health, (NCH), meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
 According to him “Official information reaching the Ministry from Sierra Leone Health Officials confirmed that two Nigerians resident in Free Town were recently diagnosed with Ebola Virus Disease.  They include a 27 year old indigene of Abia State, while the other is a 22 year old indigene of Edo State.  “Details of these two cases shall be made available when a detailed investigation of their status is concluded. Both Nigerians received treatment in isolation centres in Free Town, Sierra Leone and one of them has indeed been successfully treated and is technically cured and has returned to Nigeria”, he said.
 The Minister however assured that Nigeria borders will continue to remain open for the free movement of people and goods within the region despite the Ebola threats.  He said that recent developments in the country and in the sub-region regarding the spread of Ebola Virus Disease have vindicated government stand that leaving the borders open and strengthening surveillance is the key to promote detection of any potential threats. 
Alhassan maintained that government has taken conscious and informed decisions that although our borders will continue to remain open for the free movement of people and goods within the region, government will continue to strengthen and sustain proactive vigilance and surveillance in all its borders – air, sea and land.  Against this back drop, the Minister appealed to the countries already infected to strengthen their surveillance and quarantine network to minimize the escape from such networks people already put under surveillance to other non-infected countries.  http://www.nairapark.com/1414784539/173092/31-10-2014/daily-independent-newspaper/news-headline/two-nigerians-diagnosed-with-ebola-in-sierra-leone

Two Nigerians diagnosed with Ebola in Sierra Leone

 

Posted 2 days, 6 hrs ago | October 31, 2014 (8:42 pm)

 

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Two Nigerians resident in Freetown, Sierra Leone have been diagnosed to have been infected with Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

The two Nigerians included a 27-year-old indigene of Abia stated and a 22-year old indigene of Edo state.

Supervisory Minister for Health, Khaliru Alhassan, disclosed these on Thursday while declaring open the National Council for Health, (NCH), meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

According to him “Official information reaching the Ministry from Sierra Leone Health Officials confirmed that two Nigerians resident in Free Town were recently diagnosed with Ebola Virus Disease.

They include a 27 year old indigene of Abia State, while the other is a 22 year old indigene of Edo State.

“Details of these two cases shall be made available when a detailed investigation of their status is concluded. Both Nigerians received treatment in isolation centres in Free Town, Sierra Leone and one of them has indeed been successfully treated and is technically cured and has returned to Nigeria”, he said.

The Minister however assured that Nigeria borders will continue to remain open for the free movement of people and goods within the region despite the Ebola threats.

He said that recent developments in the country and in the sub-region regarding the spread of Ebola Virus Disease have vindicated government stand that leaving the borders open and strengthening surveillance is the key to promote detection of any potential threats.

Alhassan maintained that government has taken conscious and informed decisions that although our borders will continue to remain open for the free movement of people and goods within the region, government will continue to strengthen and sustain proactive vigilance and surveillance in all its borders – air, sea and land.

Against this back drop, the Minister appealed to the countries already infected to strengthen their surveillance and quarantine network to minimize the escape from such networks people already put under surveillance to other non-infected countries.

- See more at: http://www.nairapark.com/1414784539/173092/31-10-2014/daily-independent-newspaper/news-headline/two-nigerians-diagnosed-with-ebola-in-sierra-leone#sthash.CU7ntvic.dpuf

Patient being evaluated for potential Ebola virus at Duke University Hospital

November 2nd, 2014

As of Sunday evening, November 2, a patient has been admitted to Duke University Hospital for further evaluation and testing for potential Ebola virus infection. We expect to know the results of this test from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services sometime Monday morning. Meanwhile, the patient is being cared for in the same confined, isolated and secured space in which an actual Ebola patient would be treated. The patient is receiving care from a seasoned team of Duke clinical professionals who have completed extensive training to treat such a patient. We have anticipated this possibility for several weeks now and have a plan in place to manage this situation.. http://sites.duke.edu/ebolainfo/

What is Ebola? Ask the nation's frontline health workers

What is Ebola? Ask the nation's frontline health workers

Sanchita Sharma, Hindustan Times
November 01, 2014

First Published: 17:44 IST(1/11/2014)
Last Updated: 08:58 IST(2/11/2014)

Nurse Rina Kumari, 26, is the only one who's heard of Ebola among six nurses at Dhanarua Primary Health Centre (PHC) in the outskirts of Patna in Bihar. She takes a while to place the word 'Ebola', but when I prompt her with 'virus', she says, "yes, yes, I know. It's a deadly disease that is killing everyone in Africa."

Her source of information is television. The word 'Ebola' has never been mentioned at Dhanarua PHC, which is part of India's frontline health delivery system. The older nurses haven't heard of it because they spend less time watching television.
Kumari hasn't bothered to find out more. She's busy delivering 5-10 babies a day at the six bedded PHC. For her, an virus in Africa is as alien as the little green man on Mars.
Her boss, Dr Uday Pratap Narain Singh, PHC head and joint secretary of the Bihar Health Services Association, is better informed, but not worried. "Yes, we've got some information from the Centre, but the virus hasn't come to Bihar," he says.
His reaction pretty much sums up preparedness outside India's half a dozen metros. "We'll deal with it when it reaches us. And till it does, it's not my problem. I have enough of my own."
Given Bihar's disease burden and high fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime -- of 3.6, Singh and his team have their hands full with births, infections and vaccinations. Which is what makes it vital to keep frontline doctors and health workers like him informed.
For if an infected passenger slips through airport screening and surveillance, it will be the Kumaris and Singhs in the healthcare service who will be expected to battle the infection with rubber gloves and soap for protection. And by the time the cavalry arrives from New Delhi with hazmat suits and diagnostic kits, the infection would have spiralled out of control.
If nothing is done, a person with Ebola typically infects about two more people, so tracking people who've been in contact with an infected person and isolating them the moment they develop symptoms that begin with fatigue, fever and headache -- people becomes infectious only after symptoms begin -- is the only way to stop it. Ebola has infected 523 healthcare workers and killed 269, so establishing airtight medical protocols is equally vital.
(Shutterstock)
The West Africa outbreak is believed to have begun in December last year, when a two year old boy died of a mysteries illness in Guinea, but it wasn't till March 22 that the disease was identified as Ebola. By then, 50 people had died.
Since then, Ebola has infected 13,567 and killed 4,951 in eight counties, with only Nigeria and Senegal being declared Ebola-free after they did not have any new cases in 42 days -- twice the incubation period for the virus.
What stopped the virus in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with 174 million people, and Senegal, one of Africa's poorest countries was systematic tracing, isolating and treating the patients and all their close contacts in isolation wards to stop spread of infection. What also worked in Nigeria were intense awareness campaigns -- quite like India's Pulse Polio campaigns -- that included using hoardings, radio and television spots, text messaging and house-to-house calls.
Till there's a vaccine, what we know for sure is that treatment works. People dying of Ebola virus disease have plummeted from 90% of those infected at the beginning of the outbreak to 35%. This means that symptoms management is now saving the lives of two in three patients, instead of one in 10 just six months ago.
India has its contingency plan ready. Passengers from West Africa are being screened and tracked, isolation wards have been set up in designated hospitals, rapid response teams from each state have been trained, Biosafety levels 3 and 2 laboratories have been identified for diagnosis, but the tracking plan still depends on infected persons reporting symptoms to designated hospitals. If they inadvertently fail to do so -- as they did in the H1N1 'swine flu' outbreak -- the virus will create havoc in populations where 'mystery diseases' are more common than two meals a day.

Patient in isolation at Milwaukie hospital tests negative for Ebola

Posted: Nov 02, 2014 5:16 PM EST Updated: Nov 02, 2014 5:51 PM EST

By FOX 12 Staff

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MILWAUKIE, OR (KPTV) - A Portland woman who recently visited Africa and was being monitored at a Milwaukie hospital for possible Ebola has tested negative for the virus.
Providence Health & Services announced Sunday that no further testing was required for the patient.
“Based on test results and an evaluation of her clinical condition, I'm pleased to say there are no cases of Ebola in Oregon. The CDC has advised us that no further testing is required,” says Paul Lewis, M.D., Tri-County health officer. “We are satisfied that the system worked and continues to work well.”
On Friday, health officials announced the woman was put in isolation at Providence Milwaukie Hospital after developing a sustained fever.
The patient, who has not been identified, had visited one of the three Ebola-stricken countries (Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia). The specific country and a timeline of her travels were not released.
The patient is continuing to receive inpatient care and monitoring. She will remain in a separate unit at the hospital. Physicians, nurses and other caregivers will continue to follow all infectious disease and safety protocols.
No additional details about her condition or potential release from the hospital were immediately announced Sunday.
A press conference was set for 3:15 p.m. Sunday at Providence Milwaukie Hospital.

UN Ebola victim being treated in France

Paris (AFP) - France is treating a United Nations employee who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone, the health ministry said on Sunday.

"This person, who worked in Sierra Leone in the fight against Ebola, has undergone a secure medical evacuation by specialised aircraft," the ministry said in a statement.

The victim has been placed in isolation under high security in an army training hospital in Saint-Mande near Paris.

A French nurse, who worked for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Liberia, was treated for Ebola at the same hospital in September and recovered.
Despite around 500 reports of possible Ebola infections in France since June, not one has so far tested positive, the ministry added.
France has 12 research hospitals ready to take in suspected Ebola cases.
The Ebola epidemic had killed at least 4,922 people out of 13,703 cases up to October 27, almost all in the west African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to the latest World Health Organization figures   http://news.yahoo.com/un-ebola-victim-being-treated-france-011244163.html

Ebola rapidly advancing in rural Sierra Leone

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A woman walks past signs warning of Ebola in Freetown, an area which has been hit hard with the spread of the deadly virus, on August 13, 2014 (AFP Photo/Carl de Souza)

London (AFP) - Ebola is spreading up to nine times faster in parts of Sierra Leone than two months ago, a report by the Africa Governance Initiative (AGI) said on Sunday.

"Whilst new cases appear to have slowed in Liberia, Ebola is continuing to spread frighteningly quickly in parts of Sierra Leone," said the AGI report.

On average, 12 new cases a day were seen in the rural areas surrounding Freetown in late October, compared with 1.3 cases in early September, the report said, a nine fold increase.

Transmission was also increasing rapidly in the capital Freetown, with the average number of daily cases six times higher than two months ago.

The analysis was based on three-day averages of new cases recorded by Sierra Leone's health ministry.

It emerged after the United States envoy to the United Nations welcomed slowing infection rates in some areas, and improved burial practices.

AGI, a support initiative set up by former British prime minister Tony Blair, said that while the picture was changing, the situation was still "a full-blown crisis".

"The Government of Sierra Leone is making real strides in tackling transmission by speeding up access to treatment and safe and dignified burial," AGI chief executive Nick Thompson said.

"But we can't rest until Ebola has nowhere to hide. And we can see from growth in new cases in some rural parts of Sierra Leone that we still have no time to lose if we’re going to get on top of this."

Almost 5,000 people have been killed by the virus, according to data from the World Health Organization, which has recorded more than 13,000 cases but admits the real number of infections and deaths could be much higher.  http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-rapidly-advancing-rural-sierra-leone-201756826.html

Teresa Romero exits the strict isolation

abc

Day 01/11/2014 - 6:46 p.m.

The analysis did not detect the virus and its fluids and will be moved to the ward

abc

The nursing assistant Teresa Romero

The nursing assistant Teresa Romero is taken from the strict isolation and therefore moves to plant.

Recent analyzes of the nursing assistant Teresa Romero confirmed that remain not in their body fluids signs of Ebola virus, why has finally taken out of isolation, Efe reported.

As ABC reported yesterday, the Hospital Carlos III de Madrid was preparing to move Teresa Romero room and get out and strict isolation in which it was since joining last October 6. From now on, the precautions that health workers will be lighter, ie, the suit will not need maximum security but other measures such as gloves.

Some samples of bodily fluids Romero had been sent to Germany to be able to detect if the fluids present in virus Teresa was alive or dead.

Romero had been "worried" the last days for failing to be moved or had left with her husband, Javier Limón, medical sources reported.  https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsevilla.abc.es%2F%3Fns_campaign%3DRedes%2520Sociales%26ns_mchannel%3Dabc_sev%26ns_source%3Drrss%26ns_fee%3D0%26ns_linkname%3DCM&edit-text=

CDC Removed Info On Coughing And Sneezing From Ebola Q&A (UPDATE)

Posted: 10/30/2014 6:08 pm EDT Updated: 10/31/2014 2:59 pm ED

WASHINGTON -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has quietly removed some Ebola information from its website. The changes follow claims from news outlets and conservative blogs that the agency hasn't been forthcoming about how the virus spreads, but it was not clear on Thursday afternoon whether the removal was related to the reports.
The New York Post reported Tuesday that the agency "admitted" Ebola can be contracted through casual contact with a doorknob, seemingly contrary to the CDC's insistence that Ebola is only transmissible through direct contact with bodily fluids from a person sick with the disease. The Post cited a page on the CDC's website that said Ebola spreads through droplets that can travel short distances when a sick person coughs or sneezes.

Meryl Nass, an internal medicine physician in Ellsworth, Maine, first highlighted the page on her own blog over the weekend.
The page was a PDF document that explained the difference between infections spread through the air or by droplets. The PDF had been taken down as of Thursday afternoon, with this message in its place: "The What’s the difference between infections spread through air or by droplets? Fact sheet is being updated and is currently unavailable. Please visit cdc.gov/Ebola for up-to-date information on Ebola."
An earlier version of the page is still available in Google's cache. It said that while Ebola is not "airborne" like chickenpox or tuberculosis, it can travel a few feet in the air inside droplets emitted when someone coughs or sneezes.
"A person might also get infected by touching a surface or object that has germs on it and then touching their mouth or nose," the document said.
The CDC has also changed an Ebola Q&A, deleting the below question about coughing and sneezing (which are not typical Ebola symptoms):

Can Ebola spread by coughing? By sneezing?
Unlike respiratory illnesses like measles or chickenpox, which can be transmitted by virus particles that remain suspended in the air after an infected person coughs or sneezes, Ebola is transmitted by direct contact with body fluids of a person who has symptoms of Ebola disease. Although coughing and sneezing are not common symptoms of Ebola, if a symptomatic patient with Ebola coughs or sneezes on someone, and saliva or mucus come into contact with that person’s eyes, nose or mouth, these fluids may transmit the disease.

The version of the Q&A still online notes that Ebola can survive on doorknobs for several hours. The removed question is available in Google's cache from Oct. 29.
What's strange about removing the coughing-and-sneezing question is that it has been reposted all over the internet, including at news outlets like the Washington Post in early October, on state public health agency websites, and on blogs like Democratic Underground and Daily Kos.
A CDC official said the agency is continually updating its website. "This particular Q&A is being updated to ensure people understand that Ebola is not an airborne virus like the flu and will be reposted soon," the official said in an email.
Asked about the possibility of Ebola becoming airborne at an Oct. 7 press conference, CDC Director Tom Frieden said Ebola hasn't spread that way before and is unlikely to mutate into an airborne form.
"Ebola spreads by direct contact with someone who is sick or with the body fluids of someone who is sick or died from it," Frieden said. "We do not see airborne transmission in the outbreak in Africa. We don’t see it elsewhere in what we’ve seen so far."
UPDATE: 10/31/14, 7:41 a.m. -- The CDC has added a new answer about coughing and sneezing to its Ebola Q&A. The new answer emphasizes that the virus doesn't spread that way:

Can Ebola be spread by coughing or sneezing?
There is no evidence indicating that Ebola virus is spread by coughing or sneezing. Ebola virus is transmitted through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with Ebola; the virus is not transmitted through the air (like measles virus). However, droplets (e.g., splashes or sprays) of respiratory or other secretions from a person who is sick with Ebola could be infectious, and therefore certain precautions (called standard, contact, and droplet precautions) are recommended for use in healthcare settings to prevent the transmission of Ebola virus from patients sick with Ebola to healthcare personnel and other patients or family members.

UPDATE: 10/31/14 2:00 p.m. -- The CDC has replaced the document describing the difference between airborne infections and ones that spread via droplet. A key change is that the airborne section stresses that airborne germs "can be inhaled even after the original person is no longer nearby." Droplet germs, by contrast, "travel shorter distances, less than about 6 feet from a source patient." Ebola is the latter type of germ.
This article has been updated to include the CDC's response. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/30/cdc-ebola_n_6078072.html?&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000016

‘Possible Ebola patient’ hospitalized in central Vietnam- update MALARIA

A Vietnamese man who arrived from Guinea five days ago is suspected of having Ebola after showing a high fever and was quarantined in a hospital in central Vietnam’s Da Nang City on Saturday.

Initial information found that Hoan My Hospital based in Da Nang admitted a patient who arrived from Guinea, one of three countries in West Africa worst affected by Ebola, at some 10:30 am on November 1.  

The patient, identified as 26-year-old Chu Van Chung, had a high fever and headache upon his arrival at the hospital, according to Hoan My Hospital.

On the afternoon the same day, Chung was transported to Da Nang Hospital where he is being fully isolated and receiving special medical attention. About 4 to 5 staff members of the hospital in protective clothes are taking care of him.

Before returning to Vietnam, Chu had worked in Guinea for two years. He departed from Guinea five days ago and went through Morocco, Qatar before landing in Vietnam through Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son Nhat airport.

On October 31, Chung arrived in Da Nang City and stayed in a hotel on Le Dinh Duong Street.

With regard to this suspected Ebola case, the Department of Health of Da Nang organized an emergency meeting on the same day.

At the meeting, a representative from Da Nang Hospital said the suspected Ebola patient had a high fever (up to 40 degrees C) and was in a panic when he was admitted to the hospital.

According to the representative, the hospital received the suspected patient in accordance with guidelines for diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) promulgated by Vietnam’s Ministry of Health.

The representative said the hospital has taken a sample of blood from the patient for testing and will announce the results in the next two days.

Pham Hung Chien, director of the Da Nang Department of Health, required Da Nang hospital to set up a special force to isolate the suspected Ebola patient and the hospital staff members who have contacted him alike.

WHO announced on Friday that there have been 13,567 reported Ebola cases in eight affected countries since the outbreak began, with 4951 reported deaths.   http://generationnwo.blogspot.com/2014/11/possible-ebola-patient-hospitalized-in_1.html?spref=tw  

Patients with suspected Ebola in Danang positive for malaria

Saturday, 1/11/2014 - 9:37 PM (GMT + 7)

 

Da Nang International Airport current temperature instrumentation passengers coming from affected areas Ebola. (Photo: Vnxpress.net)

Nhan Dan Online On 1-11, Department of Preventive Health (MOH) said the surveillance system of infectious diseases recorded a case of male citizens of Vietnam, 26 years old, native of Thanh Hoa, Vietnam entry date 30-10 from Guinea through the gate at Tan Son Nhat airport, then two days with high fever. According to the latest information on the evening of 1-11, the results of blood tests of patients positive for malaria parasites.

However, the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology are conducting screening tests specific for Ebola final outcome of this case and passengers still need to continue to monitor the evolving health within 21 days of Guinea exit. It is known that malaria is one of the diseases currently circulating and met in some areas of Africa.
Earlier, according to the Department of Preventive Medicine, the passenger entry made medical report and no fever. Passengers flying to Da Nang the next day. 1-11 days, passengers have high fever (40 ° C) and Hoan My hospital visit, where detection of patients with a history of returning from endemic areas has therefore been transferred to the Hospital Danang in 11 hours and 30 minutes in the day to advance into isolation for the diagnosis of fever of unknown cause.
Currently the patient is still awake, have symptoms of high fever (40 ° C), headache, but do not have symptoms like bleeding, bloody diarrhea, bleeding gums ... Currently passengers to continue to be monitored, to closely monitor developments in science Lay health of Da Nang General Hospital. Specimens were collected and transported to the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in the evening today to confirm the diagnosis.
After the discovery of cases of fever passengers, Department of Preventive Medicine - The Health Ministry has instructed the health sector Danang closely monitor patient status changes, prepare plans, cope the situation as prescribed, and require rapid response team central region for timely inspection, monitoring and verification.
This afternoon, prevention Steering Committee of Da Nang City held a meeting to direct the deployment units prevention activities. List of all the passengers in close contact with the above being set up to track, monitor their health. To date, the medical unit of Danang has taken several measures to track patients as well as those exposed, surveillance, environmental treatment, isolation and treatment as prescribed.  https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nhandan.org.vn%2F&edit-text=

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The condition of a New York City doctor who is being treated for Ebola after returning from West Africa has improved to "stable" from "serious from stable," hospital officials said on Saturday.

Dr. Craig Spencer remains in isolation at New York City's Bellevue Hospital, where he was admitted on Oct. 23. He had worked with Ebola patients in Guinea.

S.Leone Ebola outbreak 'catastrophic': aid group MSF

16 hours ago

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A team of Ebola funeral agents carry a body at the Fing Tom cemetery in Freetown, on October 10, 2014 (AFP Photo/Florian Plaucheur)

Barcelona (AFP) - Ebola has wiped out whole villages in Sierra Leone and may have caused many more deaths than the nearly 5,000 official global toll, a senior coordinator of the medical aid group MSF said Friday.

Rony Zachariah of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said after visiting Sierra Leone that the Ebola figures were "under-reported", in an interview with AFP on the sidelines of a medical conference in Barcelona.

"The situation is catastrophic. There are several villages and communities that have been basically wiped out. In one of the villages I went to, there were 40 inhabitants and 39 died," he said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) published revised figures on Friday showing 4,951 people have died of Ebola and there was a total of 13,567 reported cases.

"The WHO says there is a correction factor of 2.5, so maybe it is 2.5 times higher and maybe that is not far from the truth. It could be 10,000, 15,000 or 20,000," said Zachariah.

He stressed that "whole communities have disappeared but many of them are not in the statistics. The situation on the ground is actually much worse."

He added that in some places the local healthcare systems were overwhelmed.

"You have one nurse for 10,000 people and then you lose 10, 11, 12 nurses. How is the health system going to work?"

After isolated cases in Europe, "we might get a vaccine and a treatment... but even now we need to go much faster because the clock is ticking," he said. "We want action now."  http://news.yahoo.com/leone-ebola-outbreak-catastrophic-aid-group-msf-223833151.html