Sierra Leone

Combatting Rumors About Ebola: SMS Done Right

Sat, 2015-03-28 10:46 — mike kraft

When misinformation is a case of life or death, aid workers and communities need an ear to the ground

INTERNEWS by Anahi Ayala Iacucci March 26, 2015

What is now clear to healthcare organizations working on the ground in West Africa is that the Ebola epidemic has been driven as much by misinformation and rumors as by weaknesses in the health system. It is common sense that information is a critical element in combatting disease, particularly when contagion from common social practices, such as bathing the corpses of the deceased, were central to so much of the early spread of the disease. But in the context of a massive disease outbreak, when hundreds of international organizations and billions of dollars flood into a region whose fragile infrastructure has been damaged by years of civil war, information dissemination becomes a powerful challenge.

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The State of Vaccine Confidence

Sat, 2015-03-28 10:23 — mike kraft

The Vaccine Confidence Project 2015
LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE AND TROPICAL MEDICINE

Lead Authors: Heidi Larson, PhD and Will Schulz, MPH

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Ebola crisis points to wider global threat on a par with al-Qaida, warns UK medic

Fri, 2015-03-27 21:35 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Lisa O'Carroll March 27, 2015

Ebola should be seen as an early wake-up call to world leaders of the potential for an international health disaster in the same way that the 1998 US embassy bombings highlighted the possibility of further attacks by al-Qaida, a leading British medic in Sierra Leone has warned.

Dr Oliver Johnson has called for “a big political shakeup” at the World Health Organisation and says Britain’s Department for International Development must decide whether to “nationalise” aid and deploy the army the next time a humanitarian emergency hits.

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The tail of the epidemic and the challenge of tracing the very last Ebola case

Fri, 2015-03-27 20:53 — mike kraft

EUROSURVEILLANCE by K. Kaasik-Aaslav and D. Coulombier March 26, 2015

Upon entering what seems to be the tail of the epidemic and, as in any such moment, the ‘Ebola endgame’ strategy requires adaptation to the heterogeneity of the epidemiological situation. The tools for EVD control need to be fine-tuned and the commitment from the teams supporting local authorities in affected countries needs to be sustained.

While the pressure on clinical and laboratory expertise gradually decreases, the demand shifts towards field epidemiologists to assist local public health experts and support community workers to engage in active surveillance and to monitor remaining transmission chains in affected communities.

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Laboratory support during and after the Ebola virus endgame: towards a sustained laboratory infrastructure

Fri, 2015-03-27 15:05 — mike kraft

EUROSURVEILLANCE by I. Goodfellow, C. Reusken, and M. Koopmans

March 26, 2015

The Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa is on the brink of entering a second phase in which the (inter)national efforts to slow down virus transmission will be engaged to end the epidemic. The response community must consider the longevity of their current laboratory support, as it is essential that diagnostic capacity in the affected countries be supported beyond the end of the epidemic.

The emergency laboratory response should be used to support building structural diagnostic and outbreak surveillance capacity.

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Scientists argue over access to remaining Ebola hotspots

Fri, 2015-03-27 14:24 — mike kraft

SCIENCE by Kai Kupferschmidt March 26, 2015

The slowdown in the West African Ebola epidemic is welcome news and reason to be hopeful—but it’s also creating a new problem. With fewer new cases occurring, it is becoming more and more difficult to test vaccines and drugs. As a result, conflicts are looming over who can test Ebola drugs and vaccines in Guinea and Sierra Leone.

An Ebola treatment unit in Guinea.Samuel Hanryon/MSF

In Guinea, a large consortium that includes Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) vaccinated the first volunteers at risk of Ebola on Monday in a big trial of a vaccine produced by Merck and NewLink Genetics. But the team feels threatened because researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) are looking to move another vaccine study from Liberia, where the epidemic has come to a virtual standstill, to Guinea.

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British medic declared free of Ebola

Fri, 2015-03-27 11:47 — mike kraft

BBC by Smitha Mundasad March 27, 2015

A UK female military medic who has been discharged from hospital after being declared free of Ebola said it was thanks to medics that she is alive.

Anna Cross was the first person in the world to be given the experimental Ebola drug MIL 77, her doctors said.

Corporal Cross, aged 25 from Cambridge, caught the virus while working as a volunteer nurse in Sierra Leone.

Doctors at the hospital...described the drug she was given as a close relative of the medicine ZMapp and that MIL 77 was made in China...

It is too soon to know what role the drug played in Cpl Cross' recovery, they added.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32088310

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Ebola pioneer, stem cell researcher honoured with Canada Gairdner Awards

Thu, 2015-03-26 16:38 — mike kraft

CANADIAN PRESS March 25, 2015
One of the co-discoverers of the Ebola virus and a leading Canadian stem cell researcher are among this year's winners of the prestigious Canada Gairdner Awards.

Dr. Peter Piot is the recipient of the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award, recognizing his work on the discovery of the Ebola virus in 1976 and his leadership in the global response to the HIV-AIDS epidemic.

Dr. Janet Rossant, chief of research at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, is the recipient of the 2015 Canada Gairdner Wightman Award, which honours a Canadian who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in medicine and medical science.

Five international scientists are also being honoured with Canada Gairdner Awards, two each from the United States and Japan and one from Switzerland....

Dr. Peter Piot won the 2015 Canada Gairdner Global Health Award in recognition of his work on the discovery of the Ebola virus in 1976 and his leadership in the global response to the HIV-AIDS epidemic. (David Azia/Associated Press)

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Ebola virus not mutating as quickly as thought

Thu, 2015-03-26 16:17 — mike kraft

SCIENCE NEWS by Ashley Yaeger March 26, 2015

(Scroll down for full study.)

The virus causing the current Ebola epidemic in West Africa is not evolving as quickly as some scientists had suggested.

REGULAR RATE A genetic analysis suggests that the Ebola virus, shown here in orange, is not evolving as fast as expected.

In a paper last August, researchers reported that the virus (Zaire ebolavirus) was altering its genes almost twice as fast as it had during previous Ebola outbreaks in Central Africa (SN: 9/20/14, p. 7). However, a new genetic analysis shows that the virus is mutating at roughly the same rate as in past outbreaks, researchers report online March 26 in Science. The finding suggests the virus has not become more virulent or transmissible during the West Africa outbreak.

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Ebola upsurge could undo progress in blink of an eye, warns expert

Thu, 2015-03-26 10:32 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Sam Jones March 26, 2015

Despite the massive push to bring the number of new Ebola cases down to zero as quickly as possible, there will inevitably be “flare-ups” that could reverse the overall downward trend and prove difficult to contain, the UN’s response co-ordinator has warned.

Dr David Nabarro, the UN’s special envoy for Ebola, said the huge medical, administrative and logistical operation to fight the disease could still be set back by individuals ignoring official advice.

“There will be flare-ups, there will be disappointments; there will be people who evade quarantine – because nobody likes being told to stay put – there will be people who choose not to declare that they’ve got a relative ill, there will be people who get ill and just misdiagnose themselves,” he said....

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