Sierra Leone

NEW YORK TIMES  by Sheri Fink and Allan Cowell                                                         March 12, 2015

A worker from Partners In Health, the prominent American medical aid organization, and an emergency worker from the British military have been infected with the deadly virus in Sierra Leone, health officials said Thursday.

The Partners In Health worker was the first in that group to be infected since it made an ambitious commitment last fall to help combat Ebola in West Africa, and was the first American health worker in months to get the disease while working in the region. ...

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD by  Bob Glissman                                                             March 11, 2015

  The West African countries hit hardest by the Ebola virus and the countries and groups that have helped battle the disease must remain vigilant if the number of new Ebola cases is to get to zero, health experts said Wednesday.

Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Public Health, spent a month in Sierra Leone as a consultant on Ebola for the World Health Organization. 

Dr. Ali Khan, who returned to Omaha late last week after a month in Sierra Leone, said progress is evident, but he cautioned officials there against becoming complacent. “Because with a disease like Ebola,” he said, “all you need is one case to restart an outbreak or a cluster of cases.”

REUTERS  by Misha Hussain                                                    March 12, 2015sC

(Scroll down for links to press release and full report.)

DAKAR -- West Africa may lose up to $15 billion over the next three years due to the impact of the Ebola outbreak on trade, investment and tourism, according to a report by the United Nations.

The world's deadliest Ebola epidemic has killed almost 10,000 people in the three most affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, deepening poverty in one of the least developed parts of the world.

"The consequences of Ebola are vast," said Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, Africa director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

"Stigma and risk aversion have caused considerable amounts of damage, shutting down borders and indirectly affecting the economies of a large number of countries in the sub-region."

Read complete story

http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-could-cost-west-africa-15-billion-over-150805196.html;_ylt=AwrBJSCTtwFVoAIAda3QtDMD

SCIENCE By Kai Kupferschmidt                                                                       March 11, 2015

Researchers in Sierra Leone today started a new phase II trial of an experimental drug in Ebola patients. The first participant received an injection of the therapeutic, called TKM-Ebola, this morning at an Ebola treatment unit in Kerry Town. The trial may expand to other sites; the study team hopes to have an answer fast so that it can either move on to another drug or start a phase III study of TKM-Ebola.

Produced by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals in Burnaby, Canada, TKM-Ebola is made of synthetic, small interfering RNAs packaged into lipid nanoparticles. The RNAs target three of Ebola’s seven genes, blocking the virus’s replication. TKM-Ebola has been shown to work well in monkeys; the efficacy trial in humans is only starting now because there was not enough of the drug available earlier. Also, the RNAs have been adapted to the strain circulating at the moment.

The study does not have a placebo arm; all patients at the trial site are eligible for the drug, and researchers hope to determine whether it works by comparing them with patients treated elsewhere.