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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Sierra Leone diamond zone hit by largely hidden #Ebola outbreak




Sierra Leone diamond zone hit by largely hidden Ebola outbreak

Source: Reuters - Wed, 10 Dec 2014 21:51 GMT

Diamond-rich Kono district reports spike in Ebola cases
* Grim scene in hospital as scores of bodies found
FREETOWN, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Health officials in Sierra Leone fear a major Ebola outbreak may have gone largely unreported until now in a remote district where the World Health Organization (WHO) said scores of bodies piled up in a hospital.
The WHO said on Wednesday that it had sent a response team to the diamond-rich Kono district following a worrying spike in reported Ebola cases in the district, which lies along the country's eastern border with Guinea.
"They uncovered a grim scene," the U.N. health agency said in a statement. "In 11 days, two teams buried 87 bodies, including a nurse, an ambulance driver, and a janitor drafted into removing bodies as they piled up."
Twenty-five people had died in a hastily cordoned off section of the local hospital in the five days before the team arrived. They found that villages scattered across eight of the area's 15 chiefdoms had been hit by Ebola.
Officially the district of over 350,000 inhabitants had reported 119 cases up to Dec. 9.
"We are only seeing the ears of the hippo," said Dr. Amara Jambai, Sierra Leone's Director of Disease Prevention and Control, expressing concern that the official figures underrepresented the size of the outbreak in Kono.
The worst Ebola epidemic on record has killed 6,388 people out of 17,942 cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone according to WHO data.
The toll continues to grow, fuelled principally by new infections in Sierra Leone, but health officials worry that the true scale of the epidemic may be even larger.
The team's findings in Kono did not appear to be reflected in the WHO's most recent data on the epidemic published on Wednesday, which showed 24 cases reported in the district in the week leading up to Dec. 7.
Sierra Leone recently overtook neighbouring Liberia for the highest number of Ebola cases, recording 7,897 since the epidemic was first identified earlier this year.
But it has registered just 1,768 deaths, well below Liberia's 3,177 dead, raising concerns that some fatalities may not be reflected in the figures.
"It is difficult to put an exact figure on the deaths," Sierra Leone's health minister Abu Bakarr Fofanah told Reuters in an interview in Geneva, explaining that his country was only counting deaths from laboratory confirmed Ebola cases.
"They are adding suspected cases, so that is causing the discrepancies in the results. We are going by the textbook," he said. (Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Tom Heneghan) http://www.trust.org/item/20141210215026-44c4n/
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Sunday, December 7, 2014

Tenth Sierra Leone doctor dies of #Ebola


 7 December 2014

By Afp
Published: 13:48A tenth doctor has died after contracting Ebola in Sierra Leone, the government said on Sunday, increasing alarm over the safety of medics battling the deadly epidemic.
Aiah Solomon Konoyima's death late on Saturday at an Ebola treatment unit in Hastings, near the capital Freetown, came just a day after two of his colleagues were killed by the virus.
"He had been in the centre for over a week and few days ago he was moved to the recovery ward as he had great signs of recovery," chief medical officer Brima Kargbo told AFP.
A nurse wearing personal protective equipment checks on a patient at the Kenema Ebola treatment center on November 15, 2014"The continuing death of our doctors and the mode of transmission of the virus are worrisome, and we will intensify all skills to arrest the situation."
Even before the Ebola epidemic spread from Guinea in May, Sierra Leone, one of the world's poorest countries, was still struggling to rebuild its health services after a decade-long civil war in the 1990s.
In 2010 the nation was estimated to have around one doctor for every 50,000 people -- or roughly 120 doctors for the entire country.
Geraldine George, president of the country's Junior Doctors Association, voiced "grave concerns" last week over the deaths of doctors, urging the government to pile more resources into fighting Ebola.
The doctors are among more than 300 healthcare workers to have died treating patients infected in the deadly outbreak, which appears to be stabilising in Guinea and Liberia, but is still spreading at an alarming rate in Sierra Leone.
The Sierra Leone government announced on Saturday that two doctors had died the previous day, one in the Hastings clinic and another at the British-run Kerry Town Ebola treatment centre a short drive from Freetown... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-2864515/Tenth-Sierra-Leone-doctor-dies-Ebola.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-2864515/Tenth-Sierra-Leone-doctor-dies-Ebola.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

The US Is Stockpiling Ebola Survivors’ Plasma to Treat Future Patients

The US Is Stockpiling Ebola Survivors’ Plasma to Treat Future Patients
 
BY KATIE M. PALMER   11.24.14 

On Friday, the FDA announced that it would start developing a stockpile of blood plasma from Ebola survivors, treated with a pathogen inactivation system that’s never been used before in the United States. So far, the US has had some amazing success in curing Ebola, possibly thanks to experimental plasma treatments. Drawn from survivors, the stuff comes enriched in antibodies that could help to fight off the disease—but it also has the potential to carry other diseases, like malaria, that are common in west Africa where Ebola is raging. The new system will kill off any extra contaminants that may be lurking in this potentially live-saving serum.

It’s the same one, Cerus Corporation’s Intercept system, that will be used in a Gates Foundation-funded study of Ebola treatments in West Africa. The pathogen-killing molecule at the heart of the system is amotosalen, part of a class of three-ringed molecules called psoralens. They’re the compounds in lime that cause what some doctors call “Mexican beer dermatitis”: Get a squirt of the citrus on your skin when you push it into your Corona, spend a few hours on the beach in the sunlight, and the molecules interact with the UV rays to give you a nasty rash.

Amotosalen works in the same way. When technicians add it to blood plasma, it nestles in the middle of DNA and RNA helices, linking the bases on either side. Then, activated by a burst of UV light, it irreversibly bonds to those bases—so the genetic material can’t replicate any more. Pathogens, inactivated.

Europe has long used blood purification systems—Intercept was first approved eight years ago, and there are other techniques, too. But the FDA has been slow to approve the same technology in the US, mostly, it seems, for lack of demand. We already screen donated blood for several common contaminants: infectious diseases like hepatitis, West Nile, and Chagas disease. (The Red Cross also screens for HIV, but unfortunately the FDA still prohibits gay men from donating blood.) Those screens mean it’s very safe to use donated blood in the United States. But that can change when new diseases enter the pipeline—ones that we don’t test for, or ones that we don’t even know exist.

/ For the FDA, the tipping point might have been two diseases that are new to the US, Chikungunya and dengue. As temperatures rise, mosquitoes migrate northwards, carrying diseases that have historically been stuck in warmer, tropical countries. So in October, the FDA approved the Intercept system for use in areas like Florida and Texas where the mosquito-borne diseases are becoming a problem. (Nobody’s used the treated plasma yet.) Because they’re so uncommon here, we don’t test for those two diseases, or malaria. But soon, testing may not be enough.
“There’s an increasing realization that it’s challenging to be proactive about epidemics with our current testing paradigm,” said William ‘Obi’ Greenman, Cerus’ president and chief executive officer. We may be confronting enough new pathogens in this rapidly changing climate of ours that inactivation will become necessary to keep our blood supply safe. If so, the FDA is ready; Greenman says they’re likely to approve the Intercept system to treat all donated blood in the next several months.
http://www.wired.com/2014/11/feds-stockpiling-ebola-survivors-plasma-treat-future-patients
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Workers dump Ebola bodies in salary protest

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Workers dump Ebola bodies in salary protest


Liberian health workers at Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Ebola treatment centre in Monrovia on October 18, 2014. A UN employee flown to France for treatment after contracting Ebola in Sierra Leone has been cured and has left the country. PHOTO | ZOOM DOSSO |
Liberian health workers at Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Ebola treatment centre in Monrovia. Burial workers in the Sierra Leonean city of Kenema have dumped bodies in public in protest at non-payment of allowances for handling Ebola victims. PHOTO | ZOOM DOSSO |   AFP

In Summary

  • The burial workers’ industrial action comes two weeks after health workers went on strike for similar reasons at a clinic near Bo - the only facility in southern Sierra Leone treating Ebola victims.
  • The burial workers told a BBC reporter they had not been paid agreed extra risk allowances for October and November.

KENEMA, Tuesday
Burial workers in the Sierra Leonean city of Kenema have dumped bodies in public in protest at non-payment of allowances for handling Ebola victims.
The workers, who have gone on strike over the issue, left 15 bodies abandoned at the city’s main hospital today.
One of the bodies was reportedly left by the hospital manager’s office and two others by the hospital entrance.
Sierra Leone is one of the countries worst affected by this year’s Ebola outbreak, with more than 1,200 deaths. Burial worker at Kenema Burial workers are especially at risk of becoming infected.
Kenema is the third largest city in Sierra Leone and the biggest in the east, where the Ebola outbreak first emerged in the country.
The burial workers told a BBC reporter they had not been paid agreed extra risk allowances for October and November.
The bodies have now been taken away but the workers remain on strike.
There has been no immediate comment by the hospital’s management or the Sierra Leonean health ministry.
DANGER AFTER DEATH
The burial workers’ industrial action comes two weeks after health workers went on strike for similar reasons at a clinic near Bo - the only facility in southern Sierra Leone treating Ebola victims.
Ebola has killed more than 5,000 people in West Africa this year, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the outbreak a global health emergency.
People are infected when they have direct contact through broken skin, or the mouth and nose, with the blood, vomit, faeces or bodily fluids of someone with Ebola.
Meanwhile, an Italian doctor who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone arrived Tuesday in Rome, where he will receive specialist treatment, media reported.
The doctor, the first Italian to be infected with the disease, was flown into the military airport of Pratica di Mare, outside the capital.
The doctor, who reports say is a 50-year-old man, was transported in a specially sealed unit on board a military plane, TV pictures showed.
He will be hospitalised at the Lazzaro Spallanzani national institute for infectious diseases.
The Italian health ministry said he has not yet developed feverish symptoms and his general condition is good.
The doctor was working for the charity Emergency at a clinic for Ebola victims.(BBC and AFP)http://www.nation.co.ke/news/africa/Workers-dump-Ebola-bodies-in-salary-protest/-/1066/2535134/-/yj6ybw/-/index.html
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Ebola scare as Ethiopian expat ‘infects’ 4 men, 5 policemen

Ebola scare as Ethiopian expat ‘infects’ 4 men, 5 policemen
KUWAIT CITY, Nov 25: An Ethiopian expatriate who was detained in Sa’ad Al- Abdullah Police Station has been referred to the Jahra Hospital because he is suffering from an infectious disease that can spread through air, reports Al-Shahed daily. Four inmates in the same cell and five policemen of the police station have also been referred to Jahra Hospital for medical examinations to ensure they are not infected with the same disease. Meanwhile, Al-Watan Arabic newspaper reported that the four individuals who were detained in the same cell have been released and that one has been referred to the deportation center while the other three were handed over to their sponsors. However, it is uncertain if these individual were infected or not. It is also not known so far whether the Ethiopian expatriate is suffering from Ebola.http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/211154/reftab/69/Default.aspx
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Monday, November 24, 2014

First suspected Ebola case emerges in Faisalabad

hat tip to tetano for finding  it

By Sehrish Wasif / Shamsul Islam
Published: November 25, 2014
An sign explaining the symptoms of Ebola stands inside a hall for arriving passengers at the international airport in Guatemala City. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD / FAISALABAD: A patient suspected to be suffering from Ebola virus disease (EVD) was hospitalised at the Allied Hospital on Monday. If confirmed, this will be the first case in Pakistan of Ebola virus – the disease that has killed more than 5,000 people in its latest outbreak in West Africa, especially in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
Zulfiqar Ahmad, 40, a resident of Chiniot district, returned to Pakistan from the sub-Saharan nation of Togo on November 16. Initially, he was hospitalised at the District Headquarters Hospital, Chiniot, for treatment of multiple health conditions. His condition, however, didn’t improve and subsequently his family admitted him to Faisalabad’s Allied Hospital where medics, after initial diagnostic tests, said it might be a case of Ebola virus.

“Zulfiqar is a chronic patient of various diseases and remained hospitalised for more than 20 days in Togo before returning to Pakistan,” Medical Superintendent Dr Rashid Maqbool told The Express Tribune.
“The patient has serious liver issues. Blood is coming from his mouth, urine and bowl,” Dr Maqbool said. “He is in a critical condition. We have sent his blood and urine samples to the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad,” he added. “The test reports will establish whether or not it’s Ebola virus.”
Dr Maqbool said they have constituted a special team to treat the patient who has been kept in isolation as the medical and paramedical staffs were taking all precautionary measures.
In Islamabad, a senior official at the NIH said that it was too early to say that it was an Ebola virus case. “The patient, Zulfiqar, came from Togo where no EVD case has been reported so far,” the official told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity.
He said the patient’s blood and urine samples would be sent to the WHO collaborating centres for viral hemorrhagic fevers. A senior official of the World Health Organisation (WHO), meanwhile, told The Express Tribune that the patient could be suffering from hemorrhagic fever. “The situation would become clear after the laboratory tests,” he added.  http://tribune.com.pk/story/796779/first-suspected-ebola-case-emerges-in-faisalabad/
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Pakistan-The patient was transferred to the ward sulysn Suspected #Ebola virus

The patient was transferred to the ward sulysn Suspected Ebola virus

Chiniot, Punjab Health Department Abiola virus alleged patient walking on the news media took notice.
Faisalabad: (Reuters) Ebola virus in Chiniot, Punjab Health Department reported that the patient ZA Allied Hospital Faisalabad, the patient was transferred to the ward is sulysn. Patients taking blood samples have been sent for testing by teams of experts from the World Health Organization in Chiniot area and the patient's relatives will be screened. After identifying patient health teams have reached the Property.  https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dunya.com.pk%2F&edit-text=
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Saturday, November 22, 2014

Spanish aid worker


21 DAYS REMAIN IN OBSERVATION
The cooperating repatriated from Mali continues to show no symptoms of Ebola
22/11/2014 at 16:23 pm
  The Spanish aid worker, accidentally pricked with a needle that could be infected by the virus remains asymptomatic after spending his first night in the hospital Carlos III de Madrid. Moreover, this Saturday is over the period in which the medical staff who treated Teresa Romero at this center was under surveillance.
22/11/2014 at 16:23 pm

The cooperating doctor moved to Spain from Mali in the event has been infected with Ebola remains under observation in hospital Carlos III de Madrid without showing symptoms of having contracted the disease, health officials have indicated. The Navarre health worker, member of the NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), is under observation but no insulation on the sixth floor of that center, equipped to handle cases of this virus.

The doctor came to the hospital Carlos III a quarter to eleven in the morning of Friday, from Torrejón Air Base after being repatriated from Mali, where he accidentally pricked with a needle that had been in contact with contaminated by Ebola material. Health officials explained that the cooperating will not be subjected to the test to see if it has been infected with Ebola while not present the symptoms of the disease, as has happened so far.

In the current situation, the health professional is not a patient, because he is not sick (no fever, for example), but a high risk contact observation. Since MSF have indicated that there is nothing new to report about his partner in the day Saturday. The cooperating remain for 21 days under observation in hospital Carlos III and in the case of having contracted the disease, as indicated by the Ministry of Health, have all the experimental therapeutic alternatives that are being used throughout the experimental -vacuna world antiviral and plasmapheresis.
The second day of entry of the cooperating coincides with the end of the period of surveillance to which they were subjected healthcare hospital La Paz-Carlos III de Madrid who attended nursing assistant Teresa Romero, more than a hundred doctors and nurses have not developed Ebola. During the almost 30 days he remained admitted to the Carlos III before discharge, most of them with strict isolation measures to prevent contagion, Romero was attended by over a hundred people including doctors, nurses, aides, orderlies and cleaners.

All have been or are being monitored by the Risk Prevention Service of the hospital; ie, has called them twice daily to ask if they had fever -37.7 degrees, or if they were wrong, as they maintained for 21 days is considered the maximum incubation period of the virus. In the case of the health care team, quarantine started counting after the last contact with each patient had until November 1, the day that analyzes determined that all fluids Romero were virus-free and therefore already there was no risk of infection, so that the insulation rose.

Controls for the healthcare personnel entered to clean the room Romero conclude next Tuesday, the 25th, and staff of the company's biodecontamination Wednesday. However, Spain is not officially free of Ebola until they pass 42 days after recovery or death of the last patient in the country, according to the criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO). Therefore, to reach this conclusion before we have to wait to see if the Navarre cooperating moved yesterday from Mali has contracted the virus.  http://www.antena3.com/noticias/sociedad/cooperante-repatriada-mali-sigue-mostrar-sintomas-ebola_2014112200081.html
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Quarantined Indian's samples found negative for Ebola; 117 under observation

Quarantined Indian's samples found negative for Ebola; 117 under observation  Saturday, November 22, 2014, 22:58 [IST]
New Delhi, Nov 22: The Indian man, who had travelled to Liberia and got infected with Ebola but cured, continues to be symptom free and his tests for the killer virus have been found negative, an official statement said Saturday. "The 26-year-old male, Indian, who had undergone Ebola treatment in Liberia, is presently quarantined at Airport Health Organization Quarantine Centre, New Delhi," the statement said. Indian man tests negative for Ebola "His urine and saliva samples were tested at National Centre for Disease Control Nov 21 and have been found negative for Ebola Virus," it added. Union Health and Family Welfare Secretary Lov Verma held a video conference with principal secretaries, health, of states and union territories to discuss measures against the disease. "The need to strengthen surveillance at ports and airports was emphasized. States were informed that central teams would again be visiting designated ports and airports to review the passenger screening," the statement added. Kerala Keeps Strict Vigil on Ebola, 117 Under Observation Keeping a strict vigil on the people arriving in Thiruvananthapuram from Ebola-hit regions, Kerala has kept under observation as many as 117 passengers arriving in Thiruvananthapuram from deadly virus-hit African nations.
 
  According to state Health Department officials, 680 incoming passengers, who arrived at various airports and seaports in the state from Ebola-hit regions, have been examined since August 12. Of them, 563 were confirmed as "not infected" after 30 days observation and the rest 117 were under observation, said Amar Fettle, the state nodal officer for Ebola screening. "We have screened passengers who arrived from African countries like Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
Though Nigeria has now been taken off the surveillance list, we continue to examine those coming from there also. So far, no positive case has been reported anywhere in the state," Mr Fettle told PTI. Detailing Kerala's preparedness to tackle Ebola, he said the state has already put in place a strong surveillance network at airports and seaports. "We have basic isolation care units at all three airports. Besides this, tertiary care units have also been set up at medical college and general hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kottayam and Kozhikode. 
 We also have home-surveillance system to monitor the persons under observation," he said. The health department's rapid response teams were also ready to tackle all emergency situations, the officer said. The deadly Ebola virus has claimed a large number of lives in Africa and in some other parts of the world.
Read more at: http://www.oneindia.com/india/quarantined-indian-s-samples-found-negative-ebola-117-under-observation-1569871.html
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#H5N8 Bird flu detected in wild ducks species

Bird flu detected in wild ducks species

November 22, 2014, 18:03
 In a wild duck species, the payment is fixed in northeastern Germany avian flu. According to the Minister of Agriculture of the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Till Backhaus, it is for the first time in Europe that the bird flu virus has been detected in wild birds.
 
It is the variation highly contagious among birds H5N8 that was only from Asia known as Backhaus.

Backhaus said today that the payment has been shot in a place that is far beyond the 'risk'. That area was demarcated in a radius of 50 kilometers around the site of the recent outbreak of bird flu at a turkey farm in Greifswald in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Bird flu has now broken out in the Netherlands and Britain.  https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.volkskrant.nl%2Fwetenschap%2Fnieuw-ebola-geval-in-mali~a3796275%2F&edit-text=
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Hospital Mali: A suspected case of the disease Ebola fled ...

Hospital Mali: A suspected case of the disease Ebola fled ...

By New Horizon - Date: November 21, 2014
Tuesday, November 18, panic was big at the Hospital of Mali, following the miraculous disappearance of a suspected case of Ebola virus disease in the hospital. According to the findings, the Hospital of Mali is one of the hospitals in our country in which hygiene and control measures are followed rigorously. So that the peak is strong ... Among the many patients who arrive at the hospital in Mali, cases of suspected Ebola infection were recorded. About Dr. Mamadou Adama Kane, Director General Hospital in Mali, recently told us that: "We have had to deal with suspected cases of Ebola virus disease. We sent these people at the cons of isolation for analysis to know their real condition. But all these people were declared negative. "
If the patient goes to the hospital to find solutions to his illness, this mindset does not seem to be shared by all patients. As it was given to us to know the case of the patient suspected of being infected with Ebola virus. It would simply fled, to the surprise of everyone. It was the last Tuesday Hospital Mali.
A source who requested anonymity we reported that: "They came on board a vehicle. The patient was accompanied by other people. Apparently their vehicle like a machine Guinea. Since it was a suspected case, we made ​​contact with the investigation team, in order to evacuate the patient for analysis and to learn more about his health. But before the arrival of the team, the suspect cases, people who were with him, and their vehicle were all gone in nature ... so miraculous. "
Tougouna A. TRAORÉ   https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmalijet.com%2Fla_societe_malienne_aujourdhui%2Fla_sante_au_mali%2F116833-ebola-au-mali-nouveau-cas-positif-310-personnes-sous-surveillanc.html&edit-text=
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Ebola in Mali: new positive cases, 310 people under medical supervision

Ebola in Mali: new positive cases, 310 people under medical supervision

By MaliJet - Date: 15 minutes ago
A new case of Ebola was reported Saturday to Mali and this person was admitted to an intensive care Bamako, said a statement from the Malian Ministry of Health.
"One of two suspects who were being tested, one was found negative, the other positive. The latter was placed in isolation center for intensive treatment, "said the official statement.
According to the same press release, 310 people could be infected with Ebola are under medical supervision in Mali.
http://malijet.com/la_societe_malienne_aujourdhui/la_sante_au_mali/116833-ebola-au-mali-nouveau-cas-positif-310-personnes-sous-surveillanc.html
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Wednesday, November 19, 2014

#Ebola spreading intensely in Sierra Leone as toll rises: WHO


Ebola spreading intensely in Sierra Leone as toll rises: WHO

By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA Wed Nov 19, 2014 1:58pm EST

(Reuters) - The toll in the Ebola epidemic has risen to 5,420 deaths out of 15,145 cases in eight countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, with transmission of the deadly virus still "intense and widespread" in Sierra Leone.
The figures, through Nov. 16, represent a jump of 243 deaths and 732 cases since those issued last Friday, and cases continue to be under-reported, the WHO said in its latest update.
Sierra Leone, a former British colony, confirmed 533 new cases in the week to Nov. 16, it said, accounting for much of the increase. It also reported 63 deaths since last Friday.
"Much of this was driven by intense transmission in the country's west and north," the WHO said.
The capital Freetown, which accounted for 168 new confirmed cases, and nearby Port Loko were particularly hard-hit.
A Cuban doctor infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone will be flown to Switzerland in the next 48 hours for hospitalization in Geneva, Swiss health authorities said on Wednesday. He is the first Cuban known to have contracted the disease.
The outbreaks in Guinea and Liberia currently appear to be driven by intense transmission in several key districts, the WHO said, citing N'Zerekore and Macenta in Guinea and Montserrado in Liberia, which includes the capital Monrovia.
In the three most affected countries - Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - 1,159 beds are now operational in 18 Ebola treatment centers, or one-quarter percent of beds planned, according to the U.N. agency. But only 13 percent of Ebola patients in Sierra Leone are in isolation, its figures show.
"As this number increases, so does the capacity to isolate patients and prevent further transmission of the disease."
Authorities in Mali have reported 6 Ebola cases including five deaths, the WHO said. All contacts of its first case, a two-year-old girl who died in October, have survived the 21-day incubation period.
The remaining cases have been in Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and the United States.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said on Wednesday that her government has the upper hand in the fight against Ebola, but warned against complacency or any reduction in international support.
WHO said that in Liberia, 80 probable cases were reported in the week to 15 November. "Nationally, on average, between 10 and 20 laboratory-confirmed cases are being reported each day."
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Ralph Boulton) http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/19/us-health-ebola-who-idUSKCN0J31ZU20141119
 
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No Ebola threat in India: Health Minister

Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda on Wednesday assuaged fears of an Ebola outbreak in the country. He said despite the presence of an Indian national who has tested positive for the virus, there is no fear of contamination.
The 26­year old male who is currently in an isolation facility in the Delhi airport, is cured of Ebola, but will remain in isolation for the 21­day quarantine period, Mr. Nadda said. He said authorities at all ports of entry to the country have been asked to reinforce screening of arrivals to ensure there are no lapses.
“This individual too is cured of Ebola, but we decided to test him for the virus and found it in his semen. Since he can pass it through sexual contact, we have decided to quarantine him. He will be released only when his tests comes back negative. All precautions are being taken and there is no reason for panic,” an official of the Health Ministry said here on Wednesday.
The detection of the virus in the 26­year­old man, who reached here on November 10, was a result of “extra caution” shown by the government, he told reporters. “Due to its extra caution, the Health Ministry tested body fluids of the man even after his blood tested negative for Ebola. I want to say the situation is under complete control. We have similar arrangements at 24 airports across the country,” he told reporters.
The tour and medical history of passengers are being checked at airports, he said. The man will remain quarantined at a special facility at Delhi airport so long as medical reports confirm that he is completely rid of the virus.
The man was treated for Ebola in Liberia and carried a certificate from authorities there that he was cured. The Ministry had said the man was already treated for the deadly disease in the African country and carried no symptoms but tests of his semen samples were positive, prompting authorities to put him under isolation. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/no-ebola-threat-in-india-health-minister/article6615002.ece
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Monday, November 17, 2014

Marcel Rudasingwa, Head of United Nations Mission Ebola in Guinea died

Marcel Rudasingwa, Head of United Nations Mission Ebola in Guinea died
Marcel Rudasingwa, 59, was appointed last October by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The causes of his death are still unknown.
The Head of United Nations Mission for the emergency response to Ebola in Guinea (UNMEER) died Monday at his hotel in Conakry, the Guinean capital.  http://linkis.com/wp.me/qrLEC
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#Ebola: more than 570 people under medical supervision in Mali

: November 17, 2014
Mali |

Ebola: more than 570 people under medical supervision in Mali

Mali, last hit by Ebola, with four deaths in five cases registered in the country less than a month, said Monday it has put under health surveillance more than 570 people who have had contact with the virus.
All these people are linked to a Guinean imam died October 25 in Bamako, the capital, and not the first case, a two year old girl also came from Guinea and died October 24 in Kayes (west), which has resulted in any contamination, said the Ministry of Health.
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita President visited Monday afternoon to Kourémalé (120 km south of Bamako), which straddles the border with Guinea, where the Imam lived, found the AFP correspondent.
The Health Minister Ousmane Koné, one of the ten members of the government who accompanied him, said that "577 people were in touch daily monitoring."
A previous review was finalized on Sunday reported 442 people under medical supervision, including a doctor from the Pasteur Clinic in Bamako, tested positive for the virus.
"I ask you to be vigilant. We do not close the borders, but do not let anyone come in Mali without him washing his hands, and without taking his temperature, "said the Malian Keita medical corps in the border.
To give an example, the head of state has washed his hands and was caught temperature. He also addressed the population of Kourémalé local Bambara and French.
"We declare a war without thank you to Ebola. Take good habits. The Malian government has mobilized, "he was assured.
"I'm here to tell you that Ebola will be out of Mali. Our action plan is developed, it is clear, "he said.
According to the "action plan" that AFP was able to consult on the border, "all suspected cases must be initially quarantined, and a sample taken for immediate analysis."
Control of people from Guinea was strengthened, also found AFP.
"Before, there were several places of passage across the border. Today, there is only one crossing point, "said AFP Adjutant Moussé Kante.
Monday morning, the President visited Mali in Bamako contaminated doctor.
"Those guilty of negligence in this case will answer for their actions before the courts," he has said there.
Monday evening, the prosecutor announced the opening of a judicial inquiry to "determine responsibility in the case of Guinea sick" Ebola came to be treated in Mali.
On the number of deaths of Ebola, the record was still four: the girl first, and secondly, the imam, a relative, a nurse and clinical Shepherd.
The Ebola outbreak, which was declared in December 2013 in the southern Guinea, has died on 5177 14 413 cases recorded in eight countries, according to the latest report of the World Health Organization (WHO) stopped to 11 November. http://maliactu.net/ebola-plus-de-570-personnes-sous-surveillance-sanitaire-au-mali/
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Thursday, November 13, 2014

Ebola virus disease - West Africa (05): MSF/UK concerns

2014-11-13 18:19:31
Subject: PRO/MENA> Ebola virus disease - West Africa (05): MSF/UK concerns
Archive Number: 20141113.2948085
EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE (05): MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES/UK CONCERNS

Date: Tue 11 Nov 2014
Source: The Guardian [edited]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/11/ebola-crisis-outpaced-epidemic-msf-uk-mps


The Ebola epidemic is still outstripping efforts to contain it, according to doctors from Medecins Sans Frontieres who have mounted most of the early response in west Africa.

Speaking to MPs [Members of Parliament] from the House of Commons international development committee, MSF's head of UK programmes said the apparent decline in numbers in Liberia did not signal the end of the epidemic.

"We are still being outpaced," said Andre Heller-Perrache. "There are far more actors on the ground but we are still being outpaced by it, with Sierra Leone being the most concerning case we have."

Dr Javid Abdelmoneim, a UK-based doctor in emergency medicine who has recently returned from Sierra Leone where he was a volunteer with MSF, said there was "too little of everything being done in terms of intervention".

He described how doctors in MSF's treatment centre in Kailahun would don protective suits to meet an ambulance that could have been travelling across the country for 10 hours expecting dead bodies, which are highly infectious.

"Usually there is a patient who is dead," he said. "There was [in one ambulance] one dead woman and 2 who were alive but terrified. They have watched this poor woman die a wretched death and they are thinking, 'I'm now going to die as well.'"

Prof John Edmunds, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who in September [2014] called the outbreak a potential doomsday scenario, said he would not say that the nightmare had been averted. "Things have improved dramatically in Liberia now -- cases were doubling every 2 weeks. Now there is a turnaround and they are declining.
"The number of cases in Liberia has flattened out. The increase has stopped and come down, but we haven't got rid of Ebola. In Guinea and Sierra Leone the rate of increase hasn't really changed much at all."

The improvements in Liberia have been seen as safe burials have increased in Monrovia and the numbers of treatment beds have gone up. MSF said the opening of new treatment centres could not be rushed, however. "It may take time to build something but the most critical moment is the opening of the treatment centre," said Abdelmoneim.

Rushing things could put health and sanitation workers at risk. "The opening is always going to be slow and needs to be done safely and effectively for the sake of the healthcare workers," he said.

Justine Greening, the international development secretary, told the committee 1000 NHS staff had volunteered to work in West Africa, although it is thought that few, if any, have yet left the UK. "Many are now going through a process of being trained up and will be heading out to Sierra Leone," she said. They would help staff the UK treatment centres that are being constructed.

Abdelmoneim said some may face difficulties over their absence from their usual NHS jobs. "Whether they can get the time away from their trusts and their position backfilled is an altogether different question," he told MPs.

Edmunds said more staff were critical to the Ebola response. "There are not many UK health workers out there at the moment. There is no point opening new treatment centres if there is nobody to staff them," he told MPs.

"This needs to be much more urgent on the part of the NHS for our own good. If we don't stop this epidemic in west Africa, we are going to get cases in the UK."

[Byline: Sarah Bosely]

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-MENA


[The Guardian article above relays the concerns of doctors from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) who assert that the Ebola epidemic is still outstripping efforts to contain it. MSF'S head of UK programmes informed the MPs from the House of Commons international development committee, that the apparent decrease in Ebola cases in Liberia did not denote the end of the epidemic. Andre Heller-Perrache added that "we are still outpaced by it with Sierra Leone being the most concerning case we have."

Apparently the outbreak is still ongoing, however, there was an important improvement in Liberia, with a decline in the number of cases that originally used to double every 2 weeks. The improvements in Liberia have been detected as adoption of safe burials have increased in Monrovia and treatment beds have augmented.

More efforts are needed to increase the number of staff serving in Ebola treatment centers since apparently not many health workers are volunteering to do so as witnessed by Prof John Edmund's who told the MPs that, "There are not many UK health workers out there at the moment. There is no point opening new treatment centres if there is nobody to staff them."

More urgent efforts are required on the part of the NHS to stop the epidemic in West Africa, thus preventing cases in the UK - Mod.GMM

The HealthMap/ProMED map of Liberia can be found at: http://healthmap.org/promed/p/54.]n  http://promedmail.org/direct.php?id=20141113.2948085&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeedhttp://promedmail.org/direct.php?id=20141113.2948085&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed
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90 troops at Langley for Ebola monitoring

90 troops at Langley, a for #Ebola monitoring

 Troops from Ebola-related deployments arrive at Langley AFB for quarantine

Returning troops being monitored at Langley AFB have “no known exposure” to Ebola
HAMPTON — Ninety service members have arrived at Langley Air Force Base from deployments to Ebola-riddled West Africa to undergo a mandatory 21-day isolation before returning to their families.
The troops arrived just after 1 p.m. Thursday, according to base spokesman Alton Dunham. He could not identify the military units that arrived, but said they represent all four military branches, including airmen from Langley.
"None of the arrived service members had contact (with Ebola)," Dunham said. "All are listed as 'no known exposure.' "
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ordered the isolation off all U.S. service members returning from Ebola-related deployments on Oct. 31. On Nov. 7, Langley was designated one of five U.S. bases that would monitor troops.
The base erected a "mini-city" complete with a fitness center, dining facility and Internet access in a training area now called Langley Transit Center. The facility can comfortably hold 90 people and by mid-December will be able to accommodate 150.
Returning troops will be monitored for 21 days, apart from family members and the general public. They will have access to phones and computers to talk with family, but no visits are allowed.
Last month, about 60 soldiers from Fort Eustis left for Liberia, where the African Ebola outbreak is worst. They are not among those in isolation, Dunham said.
Another group of Langley airmen arrived home Oct. 20, before the isolation period was imposed. They were monitored twice daily for symptoms of the deadly virus, which include fevers of 101.5 or higher, severe headaches, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain and unexplained bleeding or bruising.. http://www.dailypress.com/news/military/dp-nws-langley-receives-troops-20141113-story.html
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Ebola is a fourth victim in Bamako, Mali

Ebola is a fourth victim in Bamako, Mali



The Ebola virus has claimed another victim in Bamako. On Thursday, a fourth person died in isolation center in Bamako.
Last night, a little girl was brought by her family at the Gabriel Touré Hospital in Bamako. An Ebola test was performed and proved positive. On Thursday, the girl died in the Ebola isolation center in Dijicoroni Para.

"When the girl arrived at the hospital, Ebola first test was performed and proved positive. This morning, we made two samples for two new tests to be sure it is Ebola. But even before the arrival of the results of these tests, the girl is dead, "said Mary Adama Traore, spokesman Gabriel Touré hospital.

However, the Malian Ministry of Communications, the result of a single test is not enough to say that the girl died of Ebola. We must await the results of two other tests planned for tomorrow, Friday and conclude that it is not an Ebola victim.  http://malijet.com/la_societe_malienne_aujourdhui/la_sante_au_mali/116128-ebola-fait-une-quatrieme-victime-a-bamako-au-mali.html
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The nurse Ebola victim at the Pasteur Clinic



[PHOTO] L'infirmier victime d'Ebola à la clinique Pasteur

He was only 25 years old and had been tenured since only two weeks after 3 months of training.

Pray for the repose of his soul.
 http://malijet.com/photos/image-du-jour/116123-photo-l-infirmier-victime-d-ebola-a-la-clinique-pasteur.html
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UN encourages travel to 'vibrant and alive' Ebola-hit West Africa, as death toll tops 5,000


Published on Nov 13, 2014 2:57 AM

David Nabarro, the senior UN coordinator for the international response to Ebola, poses during an interview with Reuters at the UN headquarters in New York Oct 8, 2014. Nabarro on Wednesday encouraged tourists to visit West Africa, saying Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea were "vibrant and alive" and that contact with infected people was largely avoidable. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) - The UN's Ebola czar on Wednesday encouraged tourists to visit West Africa, saying Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea were "vibrant and alive" and that contact with infected people was largely avoidable.
"I want to encourage everybody to maintain travel, tourism even to places that have Ebola. There is just no reason not to go to Freetown, Monrovia, Conakry," David Nabarro, the UN coordinator on Ebola, told the UN Economic and Social Council.
"These are cities which have got fabulous places for tourism. They are unfortunately not very full at the moment."
His push came as the death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa's three hardest-hit countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, rose to 5,147 out of 14,068 cases as of Nov 9 end, according to the the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday.   http://www.straitstimes.com/news/world/united-states/story/un-encourages-travel-vibrant-and-alive-ebola-hit-west-africa-death-to#sthash.28bfCxdY.dpuf
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Mali: Second victim of Ebola virus in Mali: Back to the wall, the Ministry of Health lays the blame on the clinic "Pastor"

November 13, 2014

Mali: Second victim of Ebola virus in Mali: Back to the wall, the Ministry of Health lays the blame on the clinic "Pastor"

Ousmane Koné, After a first victim imported from Guinea Ebola virus, there's less than a month, Mali is still struck by the Ebola virus. And the surprise is final. Because this time, the virus is taken in by a nationally recognized private hospital called "clinical Shepherd" by an old Guinean patient. The record is abysmal. A young nurse of 25 years passed away and 70 people were quarantined. Faced with KO and general panic, the Department of Health and Public Hygiene, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014, during a brief press conference, tried to show white paws. And in his headlong rush, it loads the managers and staff of the hospital. To believe Dr. Samba Sow, coordinator of emergency operations center, they did not follow the protective measures despite having received training on the management of emergencies. Better, he also criticizes the clinic to have ignored the suspect a specialist in internal and isolated clinic at the time of passage of his medical team event..

. ..Regarding security measures taken by the Department, Professor Ousmane Doumbia say more than 70 people are now quarantined, including 30 from the clinic staff and 40 among the relatives of the victim.

November 13, 2014  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=

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Mali: Two doctors are in isolation

November 13, 2014

Mali: The main shareholder of the Pasteur Clinic, Dr. Ben Baba: "We are seeking the support of the state for the management of patients" "We are the victims: Two doctors are in isolation"

Dr Ben Baba, cardiologist and president of the clinic pastor
Following the death from disease Ebola a nurse trainee Polyclinic Pasteur virus, on the evening of Tuesday, November 11, the principal shareholder of the institution reference Dr. Ben Baba, better known by the sobriquet of Alwata, cardiologist by profession, hosted a press conference at the Hotel Salam.
 
It was in the afternoon yesterday at the Hotel Salam. The Ministry of Health and WHO, which were due to him, are left invisible. Fortunately, his wife was there to accompany and support.
According to the narration of the facts by Dr. Ben Baba, trainee nurse died in his clinic called Salifou Diarra. Since then, the clinic is put under quarantine and monitored by security forces, including MINUSMA, which also has patients in the lot.
"A preliminary assessment has been made. An epidemiological investigation is ongoing. It will include many things. Meanwhile, it must be said that the Guinean patient Koïta Umar, 65, came to consultation on October 25 (Saturday) between 21 h and 22 h. He was admitted to the emergency. The attending physician, Dr. Doumbia, has examined and hospitalized.
I do not have yet not seen the file, but according to information I have been given, the patient suffered from pneumonia. Two days later, on October 27, he had complications. He died. The body was returned to his family in Daoudabougou, which then went according to our information, to make the funeral Kourémalé.
It was only well after the team from the Ministry of Health has informed us that the patient who died was a suspect Ebola cases. Immediately, the process of monitoring and prevention began: hand washing, taking the temperature at the entrance to Shepherd. This is not all. All those who have had contact with the old were listed and the Department of Health all addresses.
Saturday, November 8, the nurse trainee Salifou Diarra appeared at the clinic. He was hospitalized and isolated in a room, not without alerting the team of Prof. Sow in charge of the fight against Ebola epidemic. On Sunday, there were samples. The result of that would fall a few hours later, we were contacted forty-eight hours later, that is to say, two days after the death of the patient. (Note: this is called the doctor after death).
WHO, MSF, CDC and the team of Prof. Sow are now disinfecting the rooms. The clinic is quarantined. There are 35 patients hospitalized, 22 of MINUSMA. We have problems to feed them, to give them something to drink, because we do not have access to the clinic.
It is difficult that we could send them to eat through the security forces. Patients who are not doctors or nurses have to care for them. We want the support of the state for the care of these patients or their transfer, "said Dr. Ben Baba to the press. Before adding that he was in contact with the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Health.
He found that his normal clinic is closed for 21 days. During this period, there will be no consultation or hospitalization. Following questions from reporters, the speaker will argue that this case of Ebola was imported from Guinea, as the nurse trainee has been in contact with the old Koïta, who was imam Kourémalé. It also says that three nurses fled the Pasteur Clinic after the death of Salifou Diarrra, along with three other patients.
As for Dr. Doumbia, who examined the Guinean, it is under surveillance, while his colleague who was in charge of the nursing student, Dr. Djoumandé is declared suspect. What did tell Dr. Ben Baba "we are victims".
Finally, he insisted that the state should help them to manage patients through trained and equipped personnel. He also invited each other to observe strict hygiene rules on the matter.  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=
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