All Africa                                                                                    Oct. 7, 2014

New York dateline article by Tami Hultman contains a description of what some companies are doing to help counter the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

 

The story described contacts  with various companies and said:

"The prompt corporate response is the result of a months-long preparatory process to coordinate actions that began with aggressive programs information and education programs. Since March, when the Ebola threat re-emerged in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, after a relatively small rural outbreak earlier in the year, companies with operations in the area had been preparing for an emerging crisis."

Associated Press                                                         Oct. 8, 2010

By Mathew Lee

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry made an urgent plea Wednesday for nations to step up their response to the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, saying more money, equipment and personnel are needed now.

In an impassioned appeal, Kerry said progress against the disease was being made, but far too slowly, and that the world is not where it needs to be in stemming Ebola's spread....

"We need people to step up now," he said. "Now is the time for action, not words. And frankly, there is not a moment to waste in this effort."

Speaking with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Kerry added that it is essential for airlines to keep flying to West Africa and for borders to remain open to allow for the movement of assistance and medical staff.

See Full Story

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/08/john-kerry-ebola_n_5952798.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Text of full remarks, with charts

UK and Israel send additional assistance. Two stories

 British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and U.S. Secretary of State Kerry urged all nations to boost their response to combat the Ebola virus

BRITAIN SENDS 750 MILITARY PERSONNEL AND MEDICAL SHIP

BBC                                                                Oct. 8, 2014

The UK is sending 750 military personnel to Sierra Leone to help deal with the deadly Ebola outbreak, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has confirmed.

The UK will also send medical ship the RFA Argus and three helicopters. The personnel will be deployed next week.

It comes as Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was "now entirely possible that someone with Ebola will come to the UK either by one route or another".

See full story

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29542129

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Associated Press                          October 8, 2014 updated 3:43 PM

By Licia A. Caldwell

Dallas News         Updated: 08 October 2014 10:36 AM

Dallas-- Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas on Wednesday announced that Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who was the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, has died.

The hospital issued the following statement by email:

NEW YORK TIMES                             Oct. 8, 2014

DETAILED STORY OF WHAT A DAY IS LIKE IN A LIBERIAN EBOLA CLINIC

By Sheri Fink, MD

MDSUAKOKO, Liberia — The dirt road winds and dips, passes through a rubber plantation and arrives up a hill, near the grounds of an old leper colony. The latest scourge, Ebola, is under assault here in a cluster of cobalt-blue buildings operated by an American charity, International Medical Corps. In the newly opened treatment center, Liberian workers and volunteers from abroad identify who is infected, save those they can and try to halt the virus’s spread.

It is a place both ordinary and otherworldly. Young men who feel well enough run laps around the ward; acrid smoke wafts from a medical waste incinerator into the expansive tropical sky; doctors are unrecognizable in yellow protective suits; patients who may not have Ebola listen to a radio with those who do, separated by a fence and fresh air.

Here are the rhythms of a single day:

  SITUATION IN SPAIN WHERE A NURSE HAS BEEN HOSPITALISED FOR SUSPECTED EBOLA: THREE RELATED STORIES

Health workers attend a protest outside Madrid's La Paz Hospital calling for the national health minister's resignation after a Spanish nurse contracted Ebola. (Andrea Comas/Reuters)

ASSOCIATED PRESS                         OCT. 8, 2014

By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY and CIARAN GILES

MADRID (AP) - Spanish health officials were investigating Wednesday whether a nursing assistant infected with Ebola got the deadly disease by touching her face with Ebola-tainted protective gloves, while a strike by Ebola burial teams in Sierra Leone left abandoned bodies in the streets of the capital.

More than 3,400 people have been killed by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has hit Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia hardest. The case of Spanish nursing assistant Teresa Romero has shown that health workers can contact Ebola even in highly sophisticated medical centers in Europe.

AFP                           OCT. 8, 2014

Brussels (AFP) - The European Union said Tuesday it is urgently airlifting relief goods to West Africa to combat the Ebola crisis, as the disease threatened its shores with an infection in Spain.

Three 747 jumbo jet cargo planes carrying 100 tonnes of aid will be sent to the worst-affected countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, the European Commission said.

The first plane leaves on Friday for Freetown carrying personal protection equipment including masks and gloves and medicines.

 SEE FULL ARTICLE

http://news.yahoo.com/eu-sends-ebola-airlift-west-africa-191524011.html?utm_source=October+8+2014+EN&utm_campaign=10%2F8%2F2014&utm_medium=email

NEW YORK TIMES          Oct. 7, 2014

At least 14 Ebola cases have been treated outside of West Africa in the current outbreak. Most of these involve health and aid workers who contracted Ebola in West Africa and were transported back to their home country for treatment.

Two people were diagnosed outside of West Africa: one, a Liberian man who began showing symptoms four days after arriving in Dallas, and the other, a Spanish nurse who became ill after treating a missionary in a Madrid Hospital. These cases are compiled from reports by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, Doctors Without Borders and other official agencies.

See chart and full article

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/31/world/africa/ebola-virus-outbreak-qa.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

Commentary by Jim Young Kim, President of the World Bank Group 
                                                              Oct. 6, 2014

As the spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa shows, the importance of reducing inequality could not be more clear. The battle against the virus is a fight on many fronts -- human lives and health foremost among them.

But the fight against Ebola is also a fight against inequality. The knowledge and infrastructure to treat the sick and contain the virus exists in high- and middle-income counties. However, over many years, we have failed to make these things accessible to low-income people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. So now thousands of people in these countries are dying because, in the lottery of birth, they were born in the wrong place.

See full article

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-yong-kim/the-fight-against-ebola-i_b_5938716.html

BBC                   Oct. 7, 2014

There are no plans to introduce Ebola screening for those arriving in the UK, Public Health England (PHE) has said.

President Barack Obama said on Monday that the US planned to screen incoming air passengers for the virus.

But PHE said this was not recommended by the World Health Organization and would mean screening "huge numbers of low-risk people".

It also said if a case of Ebola was reported in the UK, the affected person would be isolated and protective measures would be implemented.

Dr Brian McCloskey, director of global health at PHE, said: "Our robust, well-developed and well-tested NHS systems for managing unusual infectious diseases are all active permanently, and always available and regularly tested and proven to be effective.

See full article

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29518342

The White House Text of Fact Sheet on USG responses to the Ebola Crisis

Office of the Press Secretary                              For Immediate Release October 06, 2014T

Since the first cases of Ebola were reported in West Africa in March 2014, the United States has mounted a whole-of-government response to contain and eliminate the epidemic at its source, while also taking prudent measures at home. The President last month outlined a stepped-up U.S. response, leveraging more thoroughly the unique capabilities of the U.S. military to support the civilian-led response in West Africa. Domestically, we have prepared for the diagnosis of an Ebola case on U.S. soil and have measures in place to stop this and any potential future cases in their tracks. 

Specifically, our strategy is predicated on four key goals:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - October 5, 2014

CDC Telebriefing: CDC update on first Ebola case diagnosed in the United States.

(READ PRESS BRIEFING TRANSCRIPT HERE)

c-span.org - October 4, 2014

Professor Peter Piot, the Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: ‘Around June it became clear to me there was something different about this outbreak. I began to get really worried’ Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP

theguardian.com - October 4, 2014
Rafaela von Bredow and Veronika Hackenbroch

. . . "it should be clear to all of us: This isn't just an epidemic any more. This is a humanitarian catastrophe. We don't just need care personnel, but also logistics experts, trucks, jeeps and foodstuffs. Such an epidemic can destabilise entire regions. I can only hope that we will be able to get it under control. I really never thought that it could get this bad" . . .

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)