THE WASHINGTON POST by Kevin Sieff                          Jan. 5, 2015

PORT LOKO, Sierra Leone — When Fatmata Kabia walked into the Ebola isolation center, her chances of survival were almost zero.

Not because her symptoms were particularly bad — though they were. Not because the disease had already killed most of her family — though it had. Kabia, 21, appeared doomed for another reason: She was pregnant.

Meratu Koroma, 18, four months pregnant, battles intense pain while waiting for an Ebola test in Port Loko, Sierra Leone. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)

Few diseases are less understood than the Ebola virus, which has claimed more than 7,900 lives across West Africa. But one thing is clear: Pregnant Ebola patients rarely survive. And their babies never do.

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO  by Michaeleen Doucleff              Jan. 2, 2015

...Scientists think bats likely triggered the entire Ebola epidemic in West Africa....

So now the big question is: Where else in the world is Ebola hiding out in bats? Where could the next big outbreak occur?

Ecologists found signs of Ebola in a Rousettus leschenaultii fruit bat. These bats are widespread across south Asia, from India to China. Kevin Olival/EcoHealth Alliance

.. ecologist Kevin Olival at EcoHealth Alliance in New York City... hunts down another virus in bats, called Nipah. In humans, it causes inflammation in the brain and comas....

Nipah has outbreaks every few years in Bangladesh. So Olival went there back in 2010 and captured a bunch of bats. Many had signs of Nipah in their blood. Others had something surprising: "There's antibodies to something related to Ebola Zaire."

   MEDSCAPE     by  Laurie Barclay, MD    Dec. 31, 2014
Ebola fears and misconceptions reduced health facility use by pregnant and lactating women in Kenema District, Sierra Leone, according to findings from focus group discussions published in the January 2, 2015, issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

"Sierra Leone has the highest maternal mortality ratio and the fourth highest neonatal mortality rate in the world," write Michelle M. Dynes, PhD, from the Epidemic Intelligence Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, and colleagues. "By straining the fragile health care infrastructure, the [Ebola] epidemic might put pregnant women and their newborns at even greater risk for adverse outcomes."

Uptake of routine maternal and newborn healthcare is therefore essential to lowering infant and maternal mortality. Focus group discussions suggested that infection prevention and control training would reduce fear among healthcare workers and could help improve women's confidence in health facility safety.

Sierra Leone public health departments are using this information to create public health messages designed to encourage the use of maternal and newborn healthcare services....

A trip to the Liberian border village of Jene-Wonde reveals the dangers in declaring victory over Ebola.

Photograph by Laurie Garrett

foreignpolicy.com - by Laurie Garrett - December 29, 2014

Liberia - . . . As of Dec. 18 the Grand Cape Mount district has lost 99 people to Ebola, most in and around Jene-Wonde. . . Most of the sick and deceased, having gone untested for Ebola, were never entered into official records. . . A man standing close . . . waves his hand at the newly constructed CCC and asks, “When this place is opened and it’s overwhelmed, what happens next?”

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