Guinea Resilience System

THE GUARDIAN      by Sarah Boseley                                                                         Feb. 25, 2015
 Scientists are warning of a real risk that the Ebola virus disease could become endemic in west Africa if efforts to end the epidemic slacken as the number of cases falls.

 All previous outbreaks of Ebola were stamped out within months and the virus disappeared from the human population each time. Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, however, have been in the grip of the virus for more than a year. While the numbers of cases dropped dramatically in December and early January, they have now plateaued and there are fears that the disease may not be totally eradicated....

Dr Margaret Harris in the director general’s office of the World Health Organisation said they were at “a bump in the road”.

REUTERS                                                            Feb. 25, 2015

 MONROVIA --Musa Pabai left an Ebola treatment centre in Liberia in November, grateful to have survived a disease that has killed nearly 10,000 people across West Africa but fearing he still could pose grave danger the person closest to him.

People await medical treatment in the outpatient lounge of Redemption Hospital, formerly an Ebola holding center, on February 2, 2015 in Monrovia, Liberia. Most hospitals and clinics have re-opened, as the Ebola epidemic wanes.
Image by: John Moore / Getty Images.

By Valentine's Day, nearly three months later, the 23-year-old had not yet returned to Hannah, his girlfriend and mother of his young son.

"I don't want to be tempted by her ... It would be a problem," he said in the capital Monrovia, where he spent his self-imposed exile, afraid that he could still infect her through sexual contact despite his clean bill of health.

Research has shown traces of Ebola in semen of some survivors for at least 82 days after the onset of symptoms and in vaginal secretions for a much shorter period.

submitted by George Hurlburt

A new paper diagnostic device can detect Ebola as well as other viral hemorrhagic fevers in about 10 minutes. The device (pictured here) has silver nanoparticles of different colors that indicate different diseases. On the left is the unused device, opened to reveal the contents inside. On the right, the device has been used for diagnosis; the colored bands show positive tests.  Photo - Jose Gomez-Marquez, Helena de Puig, and Chun-Wan Yen

Simple paper strip can diagnose Ebola and other fevers within 10 minutes

CLICK HERE - Lab on a Chip - Multicolored silver nanoparticles for multiplexed disease diagnostics: distinguishing dengue, yellow fever, and Ebola viruses

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - eurekalert.org - February 24, 2015

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- When diagnosing a case of Ebola, time is of the essence. . .

. . . A new test from MIT researchers . . . The device, a simple paper strip similar to a pregnancy test, can rapidly diagnose Ebola, as well as other viral hemorrhagic fevers such as yellow fever and dengue fever. . .

Despite a recent sharp drop in the overall number of Ebola cases, the situation remains precarious in West Africa

NATURE MAGAZINE  by Declan Butler                                                                    Feb. 24, 2015
More than a year since the start of one of the worst public health crises in recent history, Ebola cases have been tumbling in West Africa. But the epidemic is far from over: the risk of flare ups and further geographical spread will remain until there are no new cases.

The ease in case numbers means that public-health countermeasures and resources can be shifted in many places, from curbing runaway outbreaks to aggressively targeting the remaining, often smaller outbreaks....

At the same time, there is a danger of complacency. Reducing the number of cases to zero demands identifying and breaking all new chains of transmission, a task that still faces major obstacles—not least the fast approaching rainy season.

Highlighting the precariousness of the current situation, on February 20, the officials leading the United Nations' Ebola response efforts warned that the gains of the past few months risked unravelling.