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Fossil fuels should be phased out by 2100 says IPCC

A photo of smokestacks. The IPCC says fossil fuels without carbon capture should be "phased out" by 2100

Image: A photo of smokestacks. The IPCC says fossil fuels without carbon capture should be "phased out" by 2100

bbc.com - November 2nd 2014 -  Matt McGrath

The unrestricted use of fossil fuels should be phased out by 2100 if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change, a UN-backed expert panel says.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says in a stark report that most of the world's electricity can - and must - be produced from low-carbon sources by 2050.

If not, the world faces "severe, pervasive and irreversible" damage.

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Exclusive: U.S. Ebola researchers plead for access to virus samples

A transmission electron micrograph shows Ebola virus particles in this undated handout image released by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fredrick, Maryland. Credit: Reuters/USAMRIID/Handout

Image: A transmission electron micrograph shows Ebola virus particles in this undated handout image released by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fredrick, Maryland. Credit: Reuters/USAMRIID/Handout

reuters.com - November 5th 2014 - Julie Steenhuysen

Scientists across the United States say they cannot obtain samples of Ebola, complicating efforts to understand how the virus is mutating and develop new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics.

The problems reflect growing caution by regulators and transport companies about handling Ebola as well as the limited resources of West African countries which are struggling to help thousands of infected citizens.

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Funding cuts hamper health agencies’ ability to prepare for, respond to Ebola

HOMELAND SECURITY NEWS WIRE                        Nov.7, 2014

Federal and state funds for local health agencies have been cut over the past few years, so when hospitals and municipal health agencies are asked proactively to respond to possible threats of Ebola, many question how they will fund such activities. Since 2008, at least 51,000 state and local public health jobs (roughly 20 percent), have been lost due to cuts in federal funding, according to a new survey by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). Next week, the Senate Committee on Appropriations will hold a hearingto consider additional funding to prepare for an Ebola outbreak.

“It’s critically important to have a sustainable infrastructure, tools and the necessary resources to effectively address all potential health threats to the public, not just Ebola,” said James Blumenstock, emergency preparedness officer for ASTHO. “Public health threats don’t come one at a time, especially this time of year.”

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Ebola Quarantines Lead Potential Volunteers To Reassess Helping

ASSOCIATED PRESS                                                NOV. 8, 2014
By Jennifer Peltz
NEW YORK  .....As Ebola-related quarantine policies have arisen around the United States, some health workers are reassessing whether, or how long, they can be among the hundreds that officials say are needed to fight the outbreak.

Potential volunteers are anxious about what they might come back to, especially after seeing new rules arise so rapidly that nurse Kaci Hickox was sequestered in a medical tent for days because New Jersey announced new regulations the day she flew back from Sierra Leone. Others are facing family qualms. And as the year winds down, some aid workers wonder whether they'll be able to go home for the holidays.

Aid organizations say it's too soon to tell whether quarantine rules are significantly shrinking the number of volunteers, but the measures are complicating an already challenging search for help treating a disease that has killed nearly 5,000 people, including about 310 health care workers.

Some potential volunteers are wary of not only being quarantined but being seen as potential disease-carriers, rather than conscientious professionals.

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Infection Secrets of Ebola Explained

By attacking the body's first responders, the virus cripples the immune system before it can mount an effective defense

Researchers often describe the battle between the Ebola virus and the humans it occasionally infects as a race—one that people win only if their immune systems manage to pull ahead before the virus destroys too many of their internal defenses. What they may not know is that the virus is a cheat.

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Guinea - Ebola: Four New Outbreaks of the Ebola Epidemic Were Detected in Macenta Prefecture With the Largest Number of Cases

French.news.cn - November 5, 2014

Conakry - (Xinhua) - Four new outbreaks of the Ebola epidemic were detected in Macenta Prefecture, located in the southeast of Guinea along the border with Liberia, did we learned on Wednesday from official sources. On Tuesday, the prefectural coordination response against Ebola has identified 18 patients at the transit improved center of Macenta.

To date, the prefecture of Macenta has 888 contacts who are monitored by the health services.

Macenta has recorded the largest number of patients and deaths associated with the outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever, the cumulative number reached 557 cases with 339 deaths, according to the latest figures provided by the competent authorities.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=555807#post555807

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CONAKRY, 5 novembre (Xinhua) -- Quatre nouveaux foyers de l'épidémie d'Ebola ont été détectés dans la préfecture de Macenta, située dans le sud-est de la Guinéee, le long de la frontière avec le Liberia, a-t-on appris mercredi de sources officielles. Mardi, la coordination préfectorale de riposte contre Ebola a recensé 18 malades au centre de transit amélioré de Macenta.

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Ebola crisis draining development budgets in West Africa, study finds

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME                                              Nov. 5, 2014

New York  -- The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is impairing the ability of governments to raise revenues, increasing their exposure to domestic and foreign debts and may make them more dependent on aid, according to the latest study (PDF) on the socio-economic impact of the crisis carried out by the UN development agency.

Investments in kick-starting economies and long-term development urgently needed

“We need to make sure that the Ebola outbreak does not lead to socio-economic collapse,” said Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, the Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). “This crisis is already taking a toll on budgets and reducing the governments’ policy leeway to make much-needed investments in critical areas such as health and education for their citizens.” He added that the effects of the Ebola crisis will last long after the epidemic is brought under control.

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U.S. Ebola researchers plead for access to virus samples

Image: A transmission electron micrograph shows Ebola virus particles in this undated handout image released by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fredrick, Maryland. Credit: Reuters/USAMRIID/Handout

reuters.com - November 5th 2014 - Julie Steenhuysen

Scientists across the United States say they cannot obtain samples of Ebola, complicating efforts to understand how the virus is mutating and develop new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics.

The problems reflect growing caution by regulators and transport companies about handling Ebola as well as the limited resources of West African countries which are struggling to help thousands of infected citizens.

Ten scientists from eight major research institutions contacted by Reuters reported they were unable to get Ebola samples in recent months.

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Asia must do more to help global Ebola fight - World Bank

REUTERS                                            Nov. 4, 3014
ByJames Pearson

SEOUL, Korea --lAsian countries are not contributing enough to the global effort to fight Ebola, despite having a wealth of trained medical personnel who could help stop the spread of the deadly virus, World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim said on Tuesday.

World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim (L) listens to a reporter's question during a news conference in Seoul   November 4, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji

"Many countries in Asia who could help simply are not, especially when it comes to sending health workers," Kim told a news conference in Seoul....

"We need thousands of health workers, and we're going to need them over the next six months to a year. The fight against Ebola is not over until we get to zero cases in those three countries," Kim said.

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/11/04/uk-health-ebola-asia-idUKKBN0IO0BJ20141104

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West Africa Short 75 Percent of Needed Beds for Ebola

BLOOMBERG  NEWS                                  Nov. 4, 2014
By Jason Gale and Makiko Kitamura

The countries most affected by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa are still lacking about three-fourths of the treatment beds needed for patients, the World Health Organizationsaid.

As many as 4,388 beds are required in 50 Ebola treatment units across Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and there are now 1,126 beds, about 25 percent of the necessary capacity, Fadela Chaib, a WHO spokeswoman, told reporters in Geneva today. Twelve of 28 laboratories needed are operational, and 20 more foreign medical teams are needed to staff existing treatment centers, she said.

While empty beds exist at some treatment centers in Liberia, it’s important to maintain overcapacity as new cases can appear anywhere across the country, Bruce Aylward, the WHO’s assistant-general in charge of Ebola responses, said last week. International responders to the crisis have a Dec. 1 target to isolate 70 percent of cases and bury 70 percent of dead bodies safely.

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