Africa

Ebola outbreak help extends from space

Mon, 2015-07-20 10:35 — mike kraft

Telemedicine and innovative devices could help reduce unnecessary exposures to virus

(Two items, scroll down.)

CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORP. July 19, 2015

Space technology such as satellite images and telemedicine could play a bigger role in helping to control the Ebola outbreak that's killed more than 11,250 people, a Canadian doctor says.

Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield holds the Microflow experiment to test how the instrument counts blood cells in orbit. Such space spinoffs have the potential to be applied to outbreaks of infectious diseases on Earth. (NASA)

This week's issue of the medical journal Lancet Infectious Disease includes a commentary titled "Help from Above — outer space and the fight against Ebola."

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Ebola: 'Fear, Denial and Fatigue Fuelling Outbreak'

Sun, 2015-07-19 22:45 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Obi Sesay says they must get the 'last hardcore' to 'take responsibility'

bbc.com - by Tulip Mazumdar - July 14, 2015

Health officials leading the fight against Ebola in Sierra Leone say fear, fatigue and denial are allowing the virus to continue to spread.

Cases had been falling sharply since the start of the year. But the decline has stalled and more than a year since the outbreak was first declared in Sierra Leone, new cases are still emerging every week. . . .

. . . "We have not been successful in convincing a last hard core of the population to change their behaviour," said Obi Sesay, director of the National Ebola Response Centre.

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Ebola crisis update MSF

Sun, 2015-07-19 20:38 — mike kraft

MSF July 17, 2015

Though Ebola has faded from the news headlines, the epidemic in West Africa continues to claim lives today. Around 30 people become infected each week in Sierra Leone and Guinea – a number that would be considered a major disaster under normal circumstances – and the outbreak has recently re-emerged in Liberia.

Liberia: After being declared Ebola-free on 9May, six (6) new cases have been confirmed since the re-emergence of the virus at the end of June.
Guinea: 13 confirmed cases in the country in the week to 12July in three main hotspots (Forecariah, Boké/Fria, Conakry)
Sierra Leone: 14 confirmed cases in the country in the week to 12July in three main hotspots (Freetown, Port Loko, Kambia).

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http://www.msf.org/article/ebola-crisis-update-17-july-2015

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Liberia Authorities Track Herbalist Who Escaped Ebola Quarantine

Fri, 2015-07-17 22:31 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The Ebola virus treatment center where four people are currently being treated is seen in Paynesville, Liberia, July 16, 2015. REUTERS/James Giahyue

af.reuters.com - July 17, 2015

MONROVIA (Reuters) - A herbalist who treated the 17-year-old boy who sparked Liberia's third wave of Ebola infections has escaped quarantine and fled to Nimba County in the north of the country near Guinea, officials said on Thursday.

He was one of 120 people placed under quarantine for coming into contact with the deceased.

"The herbalist evaded quarantine and is on the run, this is a reason we are putting everybody on alert," Paul Karnue, a spokesman for the Nimba local government said.

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Liberia says 4 remaining Ebola patients have recovered: surveillance continues

Fri, 2015-07-17 22:05 — mike kraft

ASSOCIATED PRESS by JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH July 17, 2015

MONROVIA, Liberia (— The four remaining patients infected during Liberia's recent string of Ebola cases have recovered, meaning there are currently no confirmed cases in the country though more than 100 people are still under surveillance, a health official said Friday.

"There are no Ebola cases anywhere in Liberia as we speak," Deputy Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah told The Associated Press.

In an interview earlier with state media, he said the four patients had recovered and would be discharged in a ceremony on Monday.

"It is still too early to say is it is over," Nyenswah cautioned in the interview, noting that 123 contacts were being monitored.

http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/07/17/liberia-says-4-remaining-ebola-patients-have-recovered

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Re-emergence of Ebola in Liberia remains a mystery

Fri, 2015-07-17 10:11 — mike kraft

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USA TODAY by Gregg Zoroya and Samwar Fallah July 16, 2015

MONROVIA, Liberia — Six cases of Ebola have surfaced in Liberia in the two months since the nation was declared free of the deadly virus, raising fears the disease lingers in the human body in ways not fully understood.

Liberians read a story about Ebola on a public chalkboard in Monrovia on July 10, 2015. Liberia has had six new cases of Ebola after the World Health Organization declared the country free of Ebola on May 9, 2015.(Photo: Ahmed Jallanzo, EPA)

Three of those cases were in the past week, doubling the number of new infections since the virus re-emerged in late June, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday....

This new patient was a nurse who died Sunday on arrival at an Ebola treatment clinic in Monrovia, according to the United Nations and the Liberian government. She had been caring for her son, who became infected with the disease in a remote village and fled to the capital.

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'The Worst Atrocity You’ve Never Heard Of'

Wed, 2015-07-15 09:15 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The ethnic cleansing unfolding in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan doesn’t get much coverage. But once you’ve witnessed it, says Nicholas Kristof, it will haunt you. By Adam B. Ellick on Publish Date July 13, 2015. Photo by Nicholas Kristof/The New York Times.

nytimes.com - By ADAM B. ELLICK and NICHOLAS KRISTOF - July 13, 2015

You’ve heard of Darfur, and you know about the slaughter underway in Syria. But the worst ethnic cleansing you’ve never heard of is unfolding in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, where the government is bombing villages, schools and hospitals and trying to keep out food and medicine.

It doesn’t get much coverage, partly because it’s difficult to get access to. But when you’ve seen these atrocities, they haunt you. So we slipped into the Nuba Mountains through rebel lines to try to document the killings. This video is the result.

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Liberia confirms new Ebola case as outbreak spreads

Tue, 2015-07-14 13:34 — mike kraft

REUTERS July 14, 2015

MONROVIA - A Liberian woman has died of Ebola in a hospital in Monrovia shortly after being admitted, becoming the sixth confirmed case of the virus since it resurfaced last month after a seven-week lull, a senior medical official said on Tuesday.

The victim from Montserrado County, which contains Monrovia, is thought to be linked to the other five cases from neighboring Margibi County, where the disease reemerged.

Her detection raised fears that the infection may be spreading in a new area of the country.

Read complete story.

http://news.yahoo.com/liberia-confirms-ebola-case-outbreak-spreads-120753593.html

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South Sudan Food Crisis Deepens Amid Tanking Economy

Mon, 2015-07-13 18:28 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Almost 700,000 South Sudanese now live as refugees in neighbouring countries. The vast majority fled their homes since civil war broke out in December 2013. Photo: UNHCR

irinnews.org - by Andrew Green - June 1, 2015

Through 17 months of conflict, tens of thousands of people have been killed in South Sudan and two million more displaced. Schools, health centres and markets have been looted and destroyed. It took a $1.8 billion humanitarian response last year for the country to avoid a famine.

And it’s about to get even worse.

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CLICK HERE - Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) - The Republic of South Sudan
(5 page .PDF report)

CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - reliefweb - South Sudan

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UN: 29 Die in South Sudan Cholera Outbreak as Cases Continue to Increase in the Capital

Mon, 2015-07-13 17:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Grandmother Unice Keji, 58, sits beside her three grandchildren during a cholera outbreak in Juba last year.
Nick Owen / MSF

usnews.com - Associated Press - by Rodney Muhumuza - July 3, 2015

At least 29 people have died in South Sudan's latest cholera outbreak, the U.N. children's agency said Friday.

Cholera had sickened 484 people by the end of June and the number of cases continues to rise in the nation's capital of Juba, according to UNICEF.

Children under 5 comprise 13 percent of the cases, UNICEF said, adding that funding is needed as the agency has been using its flexible internal resources to meet critical needs.

In addition to Juba, cholera cases have also been reported in Bor, Jonglei state, as well as Torit in the state of Eastern Equatoria.

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