Africa Resilience Initiative

Protective suits are essential kit for some workers like firefighters and healthcare workers, but staying cool enough to work for long periods is a challenge.

africanews.com - September 19, 2018

A team at California’s Stanford University working on the regulation of body temperature have created a cooling system that could double the amount of time workers can spend wearing protective suits.

The research was prompted by healthcare workers from Sierra Leone who experienced debilitating heat when wearing suits that protected them from the highly infectious Ebola virus . . . 

 . . . the cooling system allowed the students to spend at least double the time being active than without it, and some tripled or quadrupled the time spent being active.

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CLICK HERE - STUDY - The Lancet - Persistence of Ebola virus after the end of widespread transmission in Liberia: an outbreak report

apnews.com - by Maria Cheng - July 23, 2018

A Liberian woman who probably caught Ebola in 2014 may have infected three relatives a year after she first fell sick, doctors reported in a study published Monday.

There have been previous instances of men spreading Ebola to women via sexual transmission — the virus can survive in semen for more than a year — but the new case is the first time scientists have suggested that Ebola was spread from a woman after such a prolonged period.

The rare possibility of Ebola spreading long after infection highlights the importance of monitoring survivors, especially with the imminent end of the most recent flare-up of the disease in Congo.

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submitted by Albert Gomez

Two women walk in front of a billboard, which says "Ebola must go. Stopping Ebola is Everybody's Business" in Monrovia, Liberia - 15 January 2015 - Photo: UNMIL/Emmanuel Tobey

futurehealthsystems.org - by Sehwah Sonkarlay - June 12, 2018

 . . . The ‘Understanding and Strengthening Community Resilience in Liberia’ meeting, which took place from 28th February – 1st March, was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Health, research organisations, and community members. Its aim was to understand the experience of Liberia in identifying and building resilience at the community level in the context of the recent Ebola epidemic, combined with its post-war and unique sociopolitical history.

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who.int - May 8, 2018

The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Bikoro in Equateur Province today (8 May). The outbreak declaration occurred after laboratory results confirmed two cases of EVD.

The Ministry of Health of Democratic of the Congo (DRC) informed WHO that two out of five samples collected from five patients tested positive for EVD at the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) in Kinshasa. More specimens are being collected for testing.