Situation Report

Alberta Wildfire Growing, May Reach Saskatchewan

Sun, 2016-05-08 17:14 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Sara MacKinnon of Westville took this picture as she fled Fort McMurray.

cnn.com - by Ralph Ellis, Steve Almasy and Ray Sanchez - May 8, 2016

The massive wildfire that forced almost 90,000 people to evacuate in Alberta is growing and approaching the neighboring province of Saskatchewan, Canadian officials said Saturday.

Dry and extremely windy conditions are fueling the blaze, which has already scorched more than 1,560 square kilometers (602 square miles) and ravaged the city of Fort McMurray, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Saturday.

"The situation remains unpredictable and dangerous," he told reporters.

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AWC delivers 780 babies between January and April

Fri, 2016-05-06 08:32 — Mohamed S

The world yesterday commemorated the International Midwifery Day. To mark this day on the theme ‘Women and Babies’, Aberdeen Women Center (AWC) took part in the celebration with pregnant women and outreach sensitisation in the community.
Olivia Hill, Clinical Director of AWC, disclosed to Awoko that the Center that the centre was to deliver a total 780 babies between January and April 2016 under EmONC. Of these, 655 were normal deliveries and 125 were operative deliveries in the Caesarean Section and this is rated at 19%”.

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Climate Change and Ecosystem Services in Sierra Leone

Fri, 2016-05-06 07:25 — Mohamed S

By Dr. Kolleh A Bangura

To assist Sierra Leone protected areas in building their resilience to climate change, the PARCC (Protected Areas Resilience to Climate Change) project has assessed future climate impacts of land use change on ecosystem services in Sierra Leone. This includes applying five spatially detailed regional climate model projections developed for the project and scenarios of future land use change.

This article summarizes the main features of projected climate impacts on ecosystem services and their implications for focus project areas in Sierra Leone and future national planning. Findings from the latest annual assessment report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are referred to in order to provide guidance on the way to interpret these results.

Climate Projections

The projections for mean annual temperature in Sierra Leone for the end of the 21st century are for significant increases (with very high confidence):

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What everyone needs to know about China’s debt load

Thu, 2016-05-05 21:42 — Maeryn Obley

It needs a bit of work. (Reuters/Chance Chan)

Image: It needs a bit of work. (Reuters/Chance Chan)

qz.com - May 4th 2016 - Matt Phillips

Few have watched the development of the Chinese economy as closely as Arthur Kroeber.

His new book, published last month, is a wide-ranging and authoritative primer on the history and development of China’s unique blend of decentralized economic authoritarianism.

It’s an idiosyncratic system, developed in defiance of the advice of western-trained economists in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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World Humanitarian Summit

Thu, 2016-05-05 16:06 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The first-ever World Humanitarian Summit, set to take place in Istanbul on 23-24 May 2016, is a global call to action by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The Summit has three main goals:

To re-inspire and reinvigorate a commitment to humanity and to the universality of humanitarian principles.
To initiate a set of concrete actions and commitments aimed at enabling countries and communities to better prepare for and respond to crises, and be resilient to shocks.
To share best practices which can help save lives around the world, put affected people at the center of humanitarian action, and alleviate suffering.

https://www.worldhumanitariansummit.org/

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Dengue Antibodies Enhance Zika Infection?

Wed, 2016-05-04 21:46 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Dengue-infected tissue - CDC; Frederick Murphy, Cynthia Goldsmith

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Dengue Virus Antibodies Enhance Zika Virus Infection

Previous flavivirus infection could help explain the severity of symptoms in some people infected during the ongoing Zika outbreak, researchers report.

The Scientist - by Tanya Lewis - April 28, 2016

Scientists at Florida Gulf Coast University and their colleagues have found that human cells were more likely to be infected with Zika virus in vitro if they contained antibodies to dengue virus. Their findings, detailed Monday (April 25) in a bioRxiv preprint, could help explain why Zika infection appears to be more severe in areas where dengue is endemic, and points to a potential unintended effect of dengue vaccination.

Antibodies to dengue can increase the virus’s infectivity for certain types of immune cells through a process called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), resulting in the production of more virus and more severe illness.

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Study Sees Way to Limit Mosquitoes’ Ability to Spread Zika

Wed, 2016-05-04 17:44 — Kathy Gilbeaux

An Aedes Aegypti mosquito photographed on human skin. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Cell Host & Microbe - Wolbachia Blocks Currently Circulating Zika Virus Isolates in Brazilian Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes

Presence of Wolbachia bacterium in the insects seen limiting their ability to transmit the rapidly spreading virus

wsj.com - by REED JOHNSON, ROGERIO JELMAYER, and BETSY MCKAY - May 4, 2016

Introducing a common bacterium into a species of mosquitoes drastically limits the insects’ ability to transmit the dangerous Zika virus that has been spreading rapidly, according to researchers at Brazil’s leading medical-research institute.

In a new study published on Wednesday in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, researchers at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), in Rio de Janeiro, said their experiments have shown that injecting Aedes aegypti mosquito eggs with the Wolbachia bacterium makes the eventual adult mosquitoes highly resistant to the Zika virus, thereby limiting their ability to spread it.

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Heightened Surveillance: Liberia and Guinea Discharge Ebola Patients

Wed, 2016-05-04 06:46 — davidmc

Monrovia – Liberia’s and Guinea’s last known Ebola patients in a latest flare-up of the disease that hit both countries have now been discharged. All remaining contacts of confirmed cases that were placed under a 3-week period of medical monitoring have been cleared.

Liberia’s Ministry of Health, WHO and partners involved in the response held a ceremony at the Ebola treatment facility in Monrovia to celebrate the recovery and discharge of a 2-year-old boy, the final patient in the flare-up in Liberia.

His 5-year-old brother recovered a week earlier. On 29 April, the country also began a 42-day period of increased surveillance – amounting to two 21-day incubation cycles of the virus.

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How Ebola Destroyed Maternal Health Gains in Sierra Leone

Wed, 2016-05-04 05:53 — davidmc

By Finbarr O'Reilly May. 2, 2016

When she went into labor last November, 18-year-old Kema James climbed onto the back of a motorbike taxi in her village in eastern Sierra Leone and rode half an hour to the main government hospital in the nearby city of Kenema.

When her baby was delivered, he was sickly yellow and stricken with sepsis, an ailment caused by bacteria in the blood, and he hung limply in the hands of the hospital staff. He died five days later before he could be named.

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Researchers look to repurpose approved drugs to treat Zika virus

Wed, 2016-05-04 05:35 — davidmc

published by Liz Szabo

6:47 p.m. EDT May 2, 2016

ATLANTA — The need for drugs to prevent and treat Zika infections grows with every new patient diagnosed. The virus causes devastating birth defects and is strongly linked to a type of paralysis called Guillain-Barre syndrome.

There are currently no approved drugs against Zika; developing a new medication for any disease can take 10 to 20 years.

"The sense of urgency is enormous," said Mauro Martins Teixeira, who heads the immunopharmacology laboratory at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil. "In an emergency, everyone wants quick answers."

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