Twelve (12) medical doctors from Saving Lives Initiatives in the United States of American  including two Sierra Leoneans, one Orthopedic and General surgeons 

Date:April 12, 2016Source:University of Liverpool

Researchers from the University of Liverpool and the King's Sierra Leone Partnership are to present new findings into post-Ebola syndrome at a major European conference this week.

The Matron at the Connaught Hospital, Isatu Kamara on Tuesday revealed to this medium that the hospital needs more doctors in specialised areas.
She made this statement in an exclusive interview in her office at the Connaught Hospital in Freetown.In responding to the recent development at the hospital, Matron Kamara said

CLICK HERE - CDC Concludes Zika Causes Microcephaly and Other Birth Defects

CLICK HERE - NEJM - Zika Virus and Birth Defects — Reviewing the Evidence for Causality

It’s the first time US researchers have confirmed the link

theverge.com - by Loren Grush - April 13, 2016

For the first time, US disease experts have agreed that the mosquito-borne Zika virus does indeed cause babies to be born with abnormally small heads — a condition known as microcephaly. Until now, the two conditions were linked — but experts didn’t know for sure if Zika caused the brain-damaged condition. After reviewing existing data about Zika, researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have declared in the New England Journal of Medicine that the relationship was, as suspected, causal.

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President Ernest Bai Koroma has during a press conference held at State House on Thursday 8th April, 2016 restated his commitment to implementing robust post-Ebola programmes whilst he called for a collaborative effort in the Post-Ebola era of governance.

During the press briefing, the President acknowledged individuals and institutional efforts made by Sierra Leoneans including journalists.

With the Ebola outbreak over in Sierra Leone, Alpha Sesay has returned to school. The Red Cross volunteer is taking part in a joint project with UNDP to help reintegrate burial team members back into their communities.

Photo: Katherine Mueller - 1 April 2016

“Ebola, that was the name they gave us. Alpha Ebola,” says the 23-year-old. “Wherever you go, they will call you Ebola. Those Ebola boys are coming. That boy is part of a burial team. It was not really easy with us.

Recognizing the risk involved, members of the safe and dignified burial teams, all of them volunteers, received an additional financial incentive from the Red Cross. But that incentive, although appealing, came with its own set of challenges. “At first, I was saving some of the money,” explains Alpha. “Paying house rent. Feeding myself. I bought clothes. When my family realized that I had saved, they embraced me again.”

Sorie and Sewa are from the same village, Kebala, in Sierra Leone, they and Yokie are best friends. The three young men came to Freetown together to study as student nurses. When the Ebola epidemic began, they were given the option to work in the “red zone”—the Ebola isolation unit at Connaught Hospital—and agreed, despite the danger. Their family and friends disowned them and they were thrown out of their lodgings but were able to share a small room at the hospital.

Trained to wear the full PPE protection suit, they set to work treating very sick and infectious Ebola patients. They worked the night shift and often lost 5 or 6 patients a night. Sorie describes many patients gripping him tightly until the moment they died.

see more at: https://www.linktv.org/shows/trust-docs/three-best-friends-fought-and-survived-ebola-in-sierra-leone

pic by (Darrell Gulin/Corbis)

Vaccinations could be the best defense against devastating population drops

Over the last 20 years, the wild populations of many of the world’s great apes have drastically declined. Recent surveys have suggested that several species of large primates, including chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas, have experienced severe losses in population numbers. Now, some conservationists say that vaccinating great apes against diseases like the Ebola virus might be the quickest and most effective short-term step towards saving them from extinction.

New data from ten late-breaking abstracts is released at ECCMID 2016 – the annual meeting of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (ESCMID). At the congress, a dedicated session will examine recently released research across the full spectrum of infectious diseases both from a clinical and laboratory perspective.

Researchers presented recent data on a number of diagnostic tools to rapidly identify pathogens and therapies promising to treat challenging infections. The abstracts presented dealt with topics including meningitis, pulmonary tuberculosis, Zika and human papilloma virus.

Recent successes with monoclonal antibody cocktails ZMapp

A doctor checks on a pregnant woman at Buôn Mê Thuột General Hospital. Hospitals in HCM City have been providing counselling on the Zika virus.

VNA/VNS Photo Dương Ngọc - April, 13/2016

HCM CITY —  A pregnant woman visiting the Hùng Vương Obstetrics Hospital in HCM City picked up a leaflet about the Zika virus off a shelf in the examination room.

The woman, 41, was especially concerned about the virus after hearing that HCM City had recorded its first Zika case, that of a 33-year-old pregnant woman from District 2.

Twenty-one people have died of yellow fever in Democratic Republic of Congo, some of them from infections contracted in neighboring Angola, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

An outbreak has already killed 225 people and infected 1,600 in Angola. There was now a high risk of further spread in Congo, given the number of people who regularly travel between the two countries, the WHO said.

follow on: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-yellowfever-congodemocratic-idUSKCN0X90NK