Sierra Leone

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submitted by George Hurlburt

Sleeplessness, along with abdominal and joint pain are common even months after recovery from the dreaded virus

scientificamerican.com - by Dina Fine Maron - September 9, 2015

The first snapshot of health complications facing Ebola survivors in Sierra Leone presents a dismal picture of their road to recovery. A new study has found that up to four months after blood tests indicated that they were Ebola-free, more than half of survivors continue to suffer from joint pain, headaches or muscle pain. And more than 40 percent of survivors complain of sleeplessness and visual problems. Perhaps most worryingly, almost all the survivors—96 percent—reported being rejected by their communities after they were released from the hospital. The majority said they were still too scared to return home.

submitted by Gavin Macgregor-Skinner

Ebola Outbreak update dated Sep 8 from the National Ebola Response Centre in Sierra Leone.

The four new Sierra Leone cases are in Sella Kaffta, a village in Kambia district in the northwest part of the country on Guinea's border. All the newly reported patients had contact with a 67-year-old woman whose death from Ebola was announced last week. After she died her body was washed before burial. There are 50 high-risk close contacts being monitored. Experimental ring vaccine campaign by WHO began Sep 4 and the newly diagnosed Ebola patients were not among the 116 people who received post-exposure VSV-EBOV vaccine.

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Update
http://health.gov.sl/?p=617

Ebola Virus Disease – Situation Report
http://health.gov.sl/?p=537

Ministry of Health and Sanitation - The Republic of Sierra Leone
http://health.gov.sl

National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) - Sierra Leone
http://www.nerc.sl

National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) - Sierra Leone - Evening Briefings
http://nerc.sl/?q=document-types/nerc-briefings

TECH TIMES by rina Maria Doctor     Sept. 3, 2015
The World Health Organization (WHO) is set to vaccinate about 200 people in Sierra Leone, who were believed to have been directly or indirectly exposed to a woman who succumbed to death due to the virus on Saturday, Aug. 29.

The 67-year-old woman, whose diagnostic test results came positive for Ebola, was a merchant from the Kambia District, which is close to the border of Guinea. She died five days after Sierra Leone has begun a countdown projected to last for 42 days before the country may be declared free from the deadly virus. Before her diagnosis, the last patient diagnosed with the disease was reported on Aug. 8....

WHO will immunize the people in the area of Tonko Limba who have had direct and indirect exposures to the deceased, says Margaret Harris, a spokesperson from WHO. This effort will also include people who have had close contacts with the said exposed individuals....

Source:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - Date Published:08/20/2015

Annotation:This 38-page document provides a standard format for creating an Ebola Concept of Operations (ConOps) plan at the state, territorial, or major metropolitan area government level. It provides information on measures local governments, agencies, and organizations can take to support the plan. The ConOps in the template describes strategic, high-level considerations for establishing a regional tiered system to safely and effectively manage persons under investigation (PUIs) or patients confirmed with Ebola.

(38 page .PDF document)
URL: http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/documents/ebola-concept-of-operations-planning-template-8-20-2015.pdf

Authors:Dugas, Robert; Lamoureux, Joe; Mangieri, William; et al.
Type:Guideline/Assessment Tool
ID:11129. From Disaster LitTM, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

http://disasterlit.nlm.nih.gov/record/11129