REUTERS  BY Umaru Fofana                                                                        Jan. 10, 2015

FREETOWN --Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF) has opened the first care center in the current Ebola epidemic for pregnant women, whose survival rate from the virus is virtually zero, the charity said on Saturday....

There is currently one patient in the clinic, which is perched on a hill in the compound of a disused Methodist boys high school in the Sierra Leone capital.

Women are particularly vulnerable to a disease spread through direct contact with infected people and with the corpses of victims, because women often care for sick family members, said MSF Field Coordinator, Esperanza Santos.

...Whether the world's worst-ever Ebola outbreak can be wiped out in West Africa in 2015 is uncertain. To a large extent, it depends as much on locals changing their practices and beliefs as it does on continued international assistance.

 One of the biggest problems is finding all contacts of confirmed cases. Teams are in place in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three worst-hit countries, to monitor suspect cases, but too little is known about where the virus is spreading. Typically, every confirmed Ebola case has about 12 to 20 possible contacts who must be monitored. In Sierra Leone, the epicenter of the current crisis, officials are reporting just eight, leading to suspicions that contact tracing is inadequate....

 Among concrete progress since the crisis gained international attention last summer, a major initiative led by the U.N. has been put into place, including:

Read complete story.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/ending-ebola-15-depends-locals-foreign-aid-28121449?singlePage=true

EUROSURVEILLANCE                                                              Volume 20, Issue 1, Jan. 8 2015

Australian researchers reported on an automated text-message system used for actively monitoring people potentially exposed to Ebola. The system prompts contacts to submit information on symptoms and temperature twice a day. The Department of Health in Western Australia uses the system, called "EbolaTracks," to track travelers returning from West Africa and (potentially) contacts of any local cases.

Twenty-two people were enrolled in the program as of Jan 5, and 14 have completed active monitoring. The system sent 1,108 text messages and got a 91% response rate. Health officials followed up by phone when they didn't get a reply. Such systems could be valuable tools for larger-scale contact monitoring for Ebola or other infectious diseases, they concluded.

http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20999

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES  by Jayalakshmi K                 Jan. 15, 2015

Researchers at DPZ, Germany, have developed a simple Ebola diagnostics kit that detects the virus in 15 minutes, without requiring any electricity, cold chain or lab equipment.

The diagnostics-in-a-suitcase that comes equipped with all the required reagents is operated by an integrated solar panel and a power pack.

ASSOCIATED PRESS  by Maria Cheng                                                                          Jan. 9, 2015
LONDON --The World Health Organizationsays the two leading Ebola vaccines appear safe and will soon be tested in healthy volunteers in West Africa.

After an expert meeting this week, WHO said there is now enough information to conclude that the two most advanced Ebola vaccines ? one made by GlaxoSmithKline and the other licensed by Merck and NewLink ? have "an acceptable safety profile."

In a press briefing on Friday, Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, who heads WHO's Ebola vaccine efforts, said "the cupboard (for Ebola vaccines) is filling up rapidly."

She said further trials in healthy people in West Africa, including health workers, are scheduled to start soon. Kieny added several other vaccines were being developed in the U.S., Russia and elsewhere.

Read complete story.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/leading-ebola-vaccines-safe-tests-starting-28107527

UNITED NATIONS NEWS CENTRE                                Jan. 8, 2015

GENEVA--The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today convened in Geneva its second ever high-level meeting on Ebola vaccines access and financing, to review the current status of clinical trials and plans for Phase II and Phase III efficacy trials.

WHO mobile lab scientists at the crossing point between Guinea and Sierra Leone, two of the countries affected by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Photo: WHO/Saffea Gborie

“We are here to take stock, plan the next steps, and make sure that all partners are working in tandem. We all want the momentum and sense of urgency to continue,” Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO said as she kicked off the meeting.

The most advanced candidate Ebola vaccine is scheduled to enter Phase III efficacy clinical trials in West Africa in January/February 2015, and if shown effective – will be available for deployment a few months later.

REUTERS   by James Harding Giahyue                                                  Jan. 8, 2015

The International Monetary Fund is preparing around $150 million in additional support to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the countries at the heart of the Ebola epidemic, the Fund's representative in Liberia told Reuters on Thursday.

"In Guinea and Sierra Leone, existing Fund financial programs are being augmented to provide more resources to these countries. In Liberia, a one-off disbursement under the Fund's Rapid Credit Facility is being considered," Charles Amo-Yartey told Reuters in an email.

The money could be made available in the first quarter of this year and would add to $130 million disbursed by the Fund in September.

Read complete story.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/08/health-ebola-imf-idUSL6N0UN3RA20150108

BBC      by Tulip Mazumdar                                                                                     Jan. 7, 2015
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone --

...One factor crucial to ending the outbreak is the safe burial of Ebola victims, because their bodies are particularly toxic.

The UK is funding more than 100 burial teams in Sierra Leone. Tulip Mazumdar spent the day with one of them, the Sierra Leone Red Cross Burial Team 9 in the capital Freetown. Here she describes her day....

                 The team is called to collect a body and, before it is removed, the group takes a moment to pray

Each burial team had around 10 people, including family liaison officers, disinfectant sprayers and drivers....

These were not highly trained medics or undertakers used to seeing dead bodies. They were people from the community, for example students and other volunteers. Depending on their job they are being paid approximately $10 (£6.60) a day.This is considered a very good wage in a country where most people survive on much less.

THE DAILY OBSERVER   by Gloria T. Tamba                                                        Jan. 8, 2015

(Two stories. Scroll down.)

MONROVIA -The United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) Special Representative to the Secretary General (SRSG), Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, has called on the Liberian government, as well as other Ebola-affected countries, for regional collaboration to battle the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)....

Head of UNMEER Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed (second right) meets in Monrovia with Special Representative for Liberia, Karin Landgren (second left), to discuss cooperation on Ebola between the two UN entities. Photo: UNMEER/Simon Ruf

According to him, Liberia has made great progress in the fight against the deadly virus, but said that a lot needs to be done. He called on health authorities of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the three hardest hit Ebola-affected countries in West Africa, to carry on regional collaboration by handling Ebola matters in a unique way that could eradicate the killer virus.

NBC NEWS    by Maggie Fox                                      Jan. 7, 2014

The Ebola virus has infected more than 800 health care workers, killing nearly 500 of them, according to the latest numbers released by the World Health Organization Wednesday....

 The new numbers on health care workers show that doctors, nurses and other people working at Ebola treatment centers are among those at highest risk. "A total of 838 health-care workers are known to have been infected with Ebola virus disease up to the end of 4 January 2015, 495 of whom have died," WHO said in a statement.

"The marked increase from the total of 678 health-care worker infections reported last week is due to additional cases reported from Sierra Leone that have occurred since the onset of the epidemic. These are not infections that have occurred between the two most recent reporting periods."

Read complete story.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/ebola-kills-nearly-500-health-care-workers-n281801

The UCL study used an economic model to determine what percentage of each region's fossil fuel reserves should be left untouched in order to meet climate goals. Reserves are defined as fuels that could be developed given current technology and economic conditions.
EMILY M. ENG, NG STAFF. SOURCE: C. MCGLADE AND P. EKINS. NATURE

New study says vast amounts of coal, oil, and gas must be left untouched to limit global warming.

CLICK HERE - STUDY - NATURE
The geographical distribution of fossil fuels unused when limiting global warming to
2 °C

Nature 517, 187–190 (08 January 2015) doi:10.1038/nature14016

nationalgeographic.com - January 7, 2015
by Christina Nunez

Canada's tar sands need to stay in the ground, the oil beneath the Arctic has to remain under the sea, and most of the world's coal must be left untouched in order to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 2°C, a study released Wednesday says.

MEDICALNEWS TODAY                                                            Jan. 6, 2015

Infectious diseases are one of the many health issues that worry the organizers of mass gatherings, such as the Hajj and the World Cup. Geographers' tools of the trade can help event organizers to better plan, monitor and respond timely to such eventualities. The ways in which geographers gather, analyze, and visualize information provide health officials with clearer pictures of the transport routes and environmental factors that may further the spread of viruses to and from the attendees' home countries.

In Chapter 3 of the new book Health, Science and Place: A New Model, geographer and biologist Dr. Amy Blatt explains how geographic information is used for disease surveillance at mass gatherings.
Read complete article

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/287577.php?tw

Read excerpt from the book,chapter 3.

by Dr. Amy Blatt
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-12003-4_3

FIERCEHEALTHCARE                 by Leslie Small                                                               Jan. 5. 2015

(Two items. Scroll down.)

With the Ebola crisis far from over as a new year begins, both this current threat to global health as well as past infectious disease outbreaks carry important lessons for critical care providers, according to an article in the American Journal of Critical Care.

Because new pathogens are so unpredictable, "outbreaks reinforce the importance of critical care knowledge, skill and teamwork in uncertain situations," wrote Cindy L. Munro, R.N., Ph.D., and Richard H. Savel, M.D, both editors of the AJCC. "The recent Ebola outbreak reminds us that hand-washing, personal protective equipment and pristine technique are essential."

THE DAILY BEAST  by Abby Haglage                                                                  Jan. 7, 2015

...Although a few smaller companies have become involved in the race for a vaccine, three major pharmaceutical makers are taking the lead—each pursuing a different vaccine. The trials are unprecedented for a variety of reasons, including the rapid timeline (trials of this nature generally take three to four years).

                                                      Steve Parsons-WPA Pool/Getty Images

Each individual race involves an unusual collaboration between researchers, manufacturers, and public-health entities. Together, the teams are working 24 hours a day for a product that promises much higher risk than it does profit.

Here’s what you need to know about the Ebola vaccine front-runners.

Read complete story.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/07/the-race-for-the-ebola-vaccine.html

NEW YORK TIMES  by Somini Sengupta                                                  Jan. 7, 2015

....Now, Ebola is battering three fragile countries in Africa and with it, the W.H.O.’s standing — in large part, Dr. Chan’s critics say, because she let governments around the world steer the agency to fit their own needs, instead of firmly taking the helm as the world’s doctor in chief.

Diplomacy is an inevitable, even necessary, part of running the world’s main health organization, vital to getting fractious countries to cooperate for the sake of global health, her critics acknowledge.