DW                                                                                                                                    Dec 23, 2014

MONROVIA-- Liberia has hailed the official opening of its first German Ebola treatment center. The ceremony took place one day after global health officials announced that the Ebola death toll had passed 7,500.

The German-Liberia Ebola treatment Center was officially opened by Liberia's Assistant Minister for Health, Tolbert Nyenswah and the German ambassador to Liberia, Ralph Timmermann.

The center has an initial capacity of 50 beds. "There are three different wards - one for suspected cases, another for probable cases and yet another for confirmed cases," Christian Schuh, outgoing head of the German Red Cross told DW at the ceremony in the center in Paynesville on the outskirts of the capital Monrovia on Tuesday.

There are also facilities and space for nurses, doctors, pharmacies, training and teaching....

Timmermann said Germany had so far raised $150 million (123 million euros) to help fight Ebola in the three worst affected countries, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

NATURE     by  Delcan Butler                                                                                        Dec. 23, 2014

With no drugs available to treat Ebola, eyes are turning to a therapy that had largely been relegated to the history books: transfusing patients with blood plasma donated by survivors, which contains antibodies against the virus.

Survivors of Ebola carry antibodies that might be used to save the lives of those infected with the virus. Michel du Cille/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Clinical trials of convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) have started in the past few weeks in Liberia, and are due to begin soon in Guinea and Sierra Leone. If the therapy saves lives, the approach could quickly be scaled up.

WIRED     by   Erika Check Hayden                                                                              Dec. 23, 2014

KENEMA, Sierra Leone—Mohammed Sankoh Yillah, an outreach worker, spent days in the Ebola ward caring for his sister, nurse Mbalu Fonnie. After Fonnie died in July, Yillah tested positive for the virus. He was transported to another hospital for treatment, but asked to come back to Kenema to die.

But Yillah survived.

Today Yillah sits with four colleagues in an office, discussing a new research project. The study is collecting information about survivors like him. The hope is that the study might help explain why he and others beat Ebola, while their friends and colleagues—Alex, Mbalu—did not.

Epidemiologist Lina Moses runs the meeting. Her colleagues back at Tulane University, she says, hope to analyze blood samples from survivors; she collected 29 such samples here in November. “What they want to know in the laboratory,” she says, “is what kind of antibodies Mohammed Yillah has that helped him to survive Ebola.”

WORLD BANK PRESS RELEASE                                Dec. 22, 2014

The World Bank has approved a US$500,000 reallocation of existing development funds from on-going health and nutrition projects to support The Gambia prepare a plan in case of  a possible Ebola outbreak.

While there have been no reported cases of Ebola in The Gambia, its Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, working closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, has nonetheless prepared a disease and Ebola preparedness plan.

 “The Ebola epidemic in neighboring countries has affected tourism in The Gambia as people are afraid to travel to and within Africa, resulting in great economic losses for the country,” said Vera Songwe, the World Bank Country Director for The Gambia. “We acknowledge that the virus is expanding both geographically and in the number of reported cases. The spread from Guinea to Mali highlights the escalating risk to regional security, stability and economic growth.

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/12/22/world-bank-the-gambia-ebola-prevention-plan

BBC     By Smitha Mundasad                                Dec. 22, 2014
The first-ever trial of an Ebola vaccine in Africa shows promising initial results, according to a report in the Lancet medical journal.

Scientists say it is a crucial step as other vaccines have shown lower levels of protection in African populations.

Tests involving Ugandan and American volunteers reveal the vaccine is so far safe and generates an immune response in both populations.

It provides reassurance for other trials currently underway, they say.

No proven vaccine exists to prevent people from getting the disease, though several trials are underway.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health tested this experimental vaccine on healthy adults in Uganda, having first trialled it in the United States.

Dr Julie Ledgerwood, the lead researcher, said: "This is the first study to show comparable safety and immune response of an experimental Ebola vaccine in an African population.

Read complete story

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30577776

WALL STREET JOURNAL by Junian E. Barnes and Felicia Schwartz                                                 Dec. 22, 2014
WASHINGTON—The U.S. will complete the last of its Ebola treatment units in Liberia by the end of December, setting the stage for the military to decide next month whether to send some service members home or send them to another West African country, the top U.S. commander in Liberia said Monday.

The U.S. will decide by mid-January whether to redeploy troops to Sierra Leone or Guinea or simply further shrink the size of the military mission in Liberia, Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, the commander of the military’s Ebola task force, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

The military task force has been involved in the building of 14 treatment units, in addition to the treatment unit completed before the 101st Airborne Division arrived. ...

Read complete story

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-to-complete-ebola-treatment-units-in-liberia-by-end-of-december-1419285448

THE GUARDIAN           by Sarah Boseley                                                                    Dec. 22, 2014

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -- Ebola patients at a treatment centre in Sierra Leone have been given a heart drug that is untested against the virus in animals and humans, a move that has been deemed reckless by one senior scientist and has prompted UK medical staff at the centre to leave.

                British health workers help an Ebola patient in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photograph: Baz Ratner/Reuters

A 14-strong team of British doctors, nurses and paramedics stopped working at the Lakka treatment centre in Freetown because of their concerns over what they considered the experimental and potentially dangerous use of the drug, and other safety issues.

HUFFINGTON POST     by  Arthur Delany                                                                      Dec, 22, 2014

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) traveled to the West African nation of Liberia this week, partly to remind the American people that an Ebola epidemic is still going on, Coons told reporters Monday.

                     Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) elbow-bumps an Ebola survivor in Liberia. | Chris Coons Flickr | Flickr

"My hope was to remind the American people that this is an investment that helps keep the world safe, not just help Liberians, although helping Liberia is a worthy goal in and of itself," Coons said on a conference call in response to a question from HuffPost.

GENOMEWEB                                                                                                                        Dec. 22, 2014
NEW YORK -- Tekmira Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has signed a deal that will support the clinical testing of its experimental Ebola therapy designed against the strain of the virus behind the outbreak in West Africa.

Tekmira has long been developing an siRNA-based Ebola drug called TKM-Ebola, but a Phase I study of that agent was suspended by US regulators until the company could provide additional safety data. Earlier this year, Tekmira management indicated that that trial might not restart as early as anticipated since the firm had begun focusing on a version specifically for the Guinea strain of the Ebola virus, which is driving the ongoing outbreak.

Tekmira said it has now inked a manufacturing and clinical trial agreement with the University of Oxford to provide the new drug, called TKM-Ebola-Guinea, for clinical trials in West Africa. The university is the representative of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium, which will be testing TKM-Ebola-Guinea in infected individuals with funding from the Wellcome Trust.

REUTERS       by  Julie Steenhuysen                                                                                 Dec. 22, 2014
CHICAGO --For months, Vanderbilt University researcher Dr. James Crowe has been desperately seeking access to the blood of U.S. Ebola survivors, hoping to extract the proteins that helped them overcome the deadly virus for use in new, potent drugs.

His efforts finally paid off in mid-November with a donation from Dr. Rick Sacra, a University of Massachusetts physician who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia. The donation puts Crowe at the forefront of a new model for fighting the virus...

MILITARY TIMES By Andrew Tilghman                                                                                Dec. 19, 2014
Thousands of troops deployed to West Africa to help contain the Ebola virus will have to wait a few more weeks to find out whether the policy of 21-day quarantines after their redeployment will continue, military officials said.

The Pentagon has granted an extension on the deadline for reviewing the controversial rule requiring a 21-day, post-deployment quarantine. The review will now be completed by Jan. 30, 2015.

When Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the quarantine on Oct. 29, he ordered military officials to conduct a review within 45 days to determine whether it was effective and necessary.

That review was due on Dec. 12, but Hagel granted a seven-week extension following a request from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey.

Read complete story.
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2014/12/19/ebola-quarantine-review/20637663/?utm_source=December+22+2014+EN&utm_campaign=12%2F22%2F2014&utm_medium=email

BBC                                                                                                                       Dec. 22 2014

Spending cuts imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may have contributed to the rapid spread of Ebola in three West African states, UK-based researchers say.

                      Sierra Leone, along with Liberia and Guinea, have poor health facilities

It had led to "under-funded, insufficiently staffed, and poorly prepared health systems" in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, they said.

The IMF denied the allegation.

"A major reason why the Ebola outbreak spread so rapidly was the weakness of healthcare systems in the region, and it would be unfortunate if underlying causes were overlooked," said Cambridge University sociologist and lead study author Alexander Kentikelenis....

The IMF said in a statement that health spending in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone had, in fact, increased in the 2010-2013 period.

Image: A picture of people on ice and snow. Caption reads: Enjoy it while you can. Image: Thomas A. Brown and Simon T. Belt

slate.com - December 12th, 2014 - Eric Holthaus

Ice has been a relatively constant feature of the Arctic for most of the past 36 million years, but there have been some gaps. Scientists aren’t exactly sure what happened during the most recent major ice-free period, but it’s often considered an analog to our future, warmer Earth. The only difference is, the gap in Arctic sea ice that scientists believe will happen by midcentury is being caused by us.*

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

REUTERS   by    Emma Farge                                                                                                 Dec. 21, 2014       
KOIDU, Sierra Leone -- The rapid response team has arrived and the chaos is easing, but medics in a remote Sierra Leonean district are struggling to control a local Ebola outbreak when it's too late to nip it in the bud.

Health workers rest outside a quarantine zone at a Red Cross facility in the town of Koidu, Kono district in Eastern Sierra Leone December 19, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Baz Ratner

A deployment of medical workers and equipment to Kono District has been the fastest so far in Sierra Leone, a country with nearly half the total Ebola cases,- under a strategy of tackling epidemic hotspots before they get too big.

But officials say responses need to be yet faster to fight the fever that has killed more than 7,000 people across West Africa.