Global Health

Primary tabs

Mon, 2009-03-09 11:54 — mdmcdonald

The mission of the Global Health Working Group is to explore and improve current and emerging states of health and human security worldwide.

General Topic Tags:

Adaptation

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Group:

Request group membership

Group description:

This Working Group is focused on exploring current and emerging states of health and human security worldwide.

Group roles and permissions:

Use default roles and permissions

Group visibility:

Public - accessible to all site users

Add Content to this group

Click to add a new Group Post Simple to this group
Click to add a new Group Post Simple w Images to this group
Click to add a new Group Post to this group
Click to add a new PRIVATE Group Post to this group
Click to add a new TASK to this group

Members

Aboubacar Conte	admin	Albert Gomez	Allan	Anthony	Carrielaj
Chisina Kapungu	ChrisAllen	Corey Watts	CPetry	DeannaPolk	Elhadj Drame
Gavin Macgregor...	Hadiatou Balde	hank_test	jranck	JSole	Kathy Gilbeaux
Lisa Stelly Thomas	loguest	Maeryn Obley	mdmcdonald	MDMcDonald_me_com	Mika Shimizu
mike kraft	njchapman	Norea	Tiaji Salaam-Blyther	tnovotny

Request group membership

Email address for group

Fear of Ebola's sexual transmission drives abstinence, panic

Wed, 2015-02-25 10:04 — mike kraft

REUTERS Feb. 25, 2015

MONROVIA --Musa Pabai left an Ebola treatment centre in Liberia in November, grateful to have survived a disease that has killed nearly 10,000 people across West Africa but fearing he still could pose grave danger the person closest to him.

People await medical treatment in the outpatient lounge of Redemption Hospital, formerly an Ebola holding center, on February 2, 2015 in Monrovia, Liberia. Most hospitals and clinics have re-opened, as the Ebola epidemic wanes.
Image by: John Moore / Getty Images.

By Valentine's Day, nearly three months later, the 23-year-old had not yet returned to Hannah, his girlfriend and mother of his young son.

"I don't want to be tempted by her ... It would be a problem," he said in the capital Monrovia, where he spent his self-imposed exile, afraid that he could still infect her through sexual contact despite his clean bill of health.

Research has shown traces of Ebola in semen of some survivors for at least 82 days after the onset of symptoms and in vaginal secretions for a much shorter period.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Read more about Fear of Ebola's sexual transmission drives abstinence, panic
Log in or register to post comments

First Ebola survivors talk of hope and despair in Guinea

Wed, 2015-02-25 07:43 — mike kraft

What it was like for two survivors of Ebola in Guinea

REUTERS By Misha Hussain Feb. 24, 2015

GUECKEDOU, Guinea (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Lying in an Ebola treatment center in southeast Guinea, hidden behind thick plastic sheets and surrounded by nurses in yellow protective suits, Rose Komano feared she would not survive the virus that had robbed her of so many loved ones.

"Everyone before me had died, I was terrified," Komano recalled.

But the 18-year-old became the first person to beat Ebola in the region of Gueckedou, where the latest outbreak of the disease was initially detected in March 2014...

In the capital Conakry, survivor Dore Zorobo had no such luck when he and six colleagues were infected by a sick woman from Sierra Leone seeking treatment at Donka hospital, where he worked as a lab technician on blood samples.

"Ebola turned my life upside down," said Zorobo, 32, from Lola in southeast Guinea, who was infected through a small cut on his hand in June.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about First Ebola survivors talk of hope and despair in Guinea
Log in or register to post comments

Quick Test for Ebola - MIT

Tue, 2015-02-24 21:49 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by George Hurlburt

A new paper diagnostic device can detect Ebola as well as other viral hemorrhagic fevers in about 10 minutes. The device (pictured here) has silver nanoparticles of different colors that indicate different diseases. On the left is the unused device, opened to reveal the contents inside. On the right, the device has been used for diagnosis; the colored bands show positive tests. Photo - Jose Gomez-Marquez, Helena de Puig, and Chun-Wan Yen

Simple paper strip can diagnose Ebola and other fevers within 10 minutes

CLICK HERE - Lab on a Chip - Multicolored silver nanoparticles for multiplexed disease diagnostics: distinguishing dengue, yellow fever, and Ebola viruses

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - eurekalert.org - February 24, 2015

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- When diagnosing a case of Ebola, time is of the essence. . .

. . . A new test from MIT researchers . . . The device, a simple paper strip similar to a pregnancy test, can rapidly diagnose Ebola, as well as other viral hemorrhagic fevers such as yellow fever and dengue fever. . .

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Situation Report

Read more about Quick Test for Ebola - MIT
Log in or register to post comments

Link Removal for the Control of Stochastically Evolving Epidemics Over Networks: A Comparison of Approaches

Tue, 2015-02-24 21:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by George Hurlburt

CLICK HERE - Link Removal for the Control of Stochastically Evolving Epidemics Over Networks: A Comparison of Approaches

sciencedirect.com - Elsevier - February 16, 2015 - doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.02.005

Highlights

• Disease control efforts are often constrained by limited resources.
• Limited resources can be used more effectively by leveraging network information.
• We compare four link removal algorithms to prevent disease spread under a budget.
• Optimal quarantining performs best for large budgets and structured networks.
• Knowing where an outbreak begins is most valuable at moderate budget levels.

Abstract

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Situation Report

6 Challenges to Stamping Out Ebola

Tue, 2015-02-24 19:01 — mike kraft

Despite a recent sharp drop in the overall number of Ebola cases, the situation remains precarious in West Africa

NATURE MAGAZINE by Declan Butler Feb. 24, 2015
More than a year since the start of one of the worst public health crises in recent history, Ebola cases have been tumbling in West Africa. But the epidemic is far from over: the risk of flare ups and further geographical spread will remain until there are no new cases.

The ease in case numbers means that public-health countermeasures and resources can be shifted in many places, from curbing runaway outbreaks to aggressively targeting the remaining, often smaller outbreaks....

At the same time, there is a danger of complacency. Reducing the number of cases to zero demands identifying and breaking all new chains of transmission, a task that still faces major obstacles—not least the fast approaching rainy season.

Highlighting the precariousness of the current situation, on February 20, the officials leading the United Nations' Ebola response efforts warned that the gains of the past few months risked unravelling.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Situation Report

Read more about 6 Challenges to Stamping Out Ebola
Log in or register to post comments

Nowhere to run: North Korea, citing Ebola concerns, bars foreigners from Pyongyang marathon

Mon, 2015-02-23 22:17 — mike kraft

ASSOCIATED PRESS By ERIC TALMADGE Feb. 23, 2015

TOKYO — Further restricting travel to the already isolated country, North Korea barred foreigners from one of its most popular tourist events — the annual Pyongyang marathon — because of concerns over the Ebola virus, travel agencies said Monday.

While no cases of Ebola have been reported anywhere near North Korea, the country shut out foreign tourists in October with some of the strictest Ebola regulations in the world. North Korean media have suggested Ebola was created by the U.S. military as a biological weapon.

Nick Bonner, co-founder of Beijing-based Koryo Tours, said he did not think the decision reflected any deeper problems in the North's secretive and often enigmatic government, though the news comes amid reports leader Kim Jong Un has called for increased combat readiness and, at a meeting of senior party and military leaders, described tensions on the peninsula as graver than ever before.

Read complete story.

http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/02/23/north-korea-bars-foreigners-from-pyongyang-marathon

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Nowhere to run: North Korea, citing Ebola concerns, bars foreigners from Pyongyang marathon
Log in or register to post comments

2 leading Ebola vaccines appear safe, WHO says

Mon, 2015-02-23 20:07 — mike kraft

ASSOCIATED PRESS by Maria Cheng Feb. 23, 2015

LONDON – The World Health Organization says the two leading Ebola vaccines appear safe and will soon be tested in healthy volunteers in West Africa.

After an expert meeting this week, WHO said there is now enough information to conclude that the two most advanced Ebola vaccines — one made by GlaxoSmithKline and the other licensed by Merck and NewLink — have "an acceptable safety profile."

In a press briefing Friday, Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, who heads WHO's Ebola vaccine efforts, said "the cupboard (for Ebola vaccines) is filling up rapidly."

She said further trials in healthy people in West Africa, including health workers, are scheduled to start soon. Kieny added several other vaccines were being developed in the U.S., Russia and elsewhere.

Read complete story.
http://www.baxterbulletin.com/story/life/health/2015/02/23/leading-ebola-vaccines-appear-safe-says/23901829/

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about 2 leading Ebola vaccines appear safe, WHO says
Log in or register to post comments

Limited Promise in early results from Ebola drug trial

Mon, 2015-02-23 19:29 — mike kraft

AFP Feb. 23, 2015
Los Angeles - Early results from an Ebola trial using the experimental drug Avigan (favipiravir) showed Monday it was somewhat effective at saving lives if given early in the illness, but not later.

Early results from an Ebola trial using the experimental drug Avigan (favipiravir) show it is somewhat effective at saving lives if given early in the illness (AFP Photo/George Frey)

The antiviral treatment is being developed by the Japanese company Toyama Chemical, and has been shown safe and effective against some other viruses including influenza, West Nile and yellow fever.

An ongoing clinical trial in Guinea is testing the drug's use in patients with the Ebola virus, which causes severe vomiting, diarrhea and sometimes fatal bleeding.

Results from only 80 people are available so far, but they show that among those who received the drug early in their illness, 15 percent died of Ebola.

Read complete story.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Limited Promise in early results from Ebola drug trial
1 comment
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola crisis: Sierra Leone orphanage quarantined

Mon, 2015-02-23 17:29 — mike kraft

BBC by Umaru Fofana Feb. 23, 2015

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone --An orphanage run by a UK charity in Sierra Leone has been quarantined after one of its local staff was diagnosed with the deadly Ebola virus.

Augustine Baker is said to be in a stable condition at a local treatment centre after becoming ill last week....

St George Foundation orphanage co-founder Philip Dean told the BBC that 33 children and seven staff were now in isolation.

The BBC's Umaru Fofana in the capital, Freetown, says that the quarantine at the St George Foundation orphanage is self-imposed, and is expected to last for three weeks.

Read complete story.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31587180

St George Foundation has helped about 200 children orphaned by Ebola.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Situation Report

Read more about Ebola crisis: Sierra Leone orphanage quarantined
Log in or register to post comments

Funding to Fight Ebola: Not Too Little, but Definitely Too Late

Mon, 2015-02-23 15:39 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Center for Global Development - cgdev.org -by Karen A. Grépin and Amanda Glassman - February 4, 2015

. . . In a new paper out today in the BMJ, Karen investigated the level and speed of the international response to the Ebola outbreak and contrasted it with the appeals made by international leaders to curb the spread of the disease. Contrary to widespread belief, Karen finds that, overall, the level of donations to the response were actually robust: as of December 31st, 2,104 donors had pledged almost $3 billion towards controlling the epidemic. Notably, this is actually larger than the official appeals for upwards of $1.5 billion. In addition, the data used underestimate total donations, in particular those given by the World Bank, which mobilized at least $1 billion in financing to help support affected countries.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags: