CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - Identification of agents effective against multiple toxins and viruses by host-oriented cell targeting

prweb.com - by Cynthia Lujan - September 1, 2015

A new host-based therapy for Ebola, anthrax and other deadly infectious diseases has been discovered by researchers at the Keck Graduate Institute and its collaborators. The discovery has the potential to speed to market treatments for previously untreatable diseases.

The findings were published online on August 27 by Scientific Reports, an open access research journal from the publishers of Nature.

The lead authors of the story were Leoor Zilberminitz and William Leonardi, doctoral students in KGI laboratory of assistant professor Mikhail Martchenko. The researchers screened a library of 1,581 drugs previously approved by the FDA for in vitro protection of mammalian cells against Bacillus anthracis lethal toxin and diphtheria toxin, which normally kill 50-70% of unprotected cells. They then investigated the 1% most promising compounds that both provided the best protection against the two toxins and were not toxic to uninfected cells.

About 80 percent of New Orleans was flooded when Hurricane Katrina's storm surge overwhelmed the city's levees.
Credit: Kelly Garbato/flickr

climatecentral.org - by Andrea Thompson - September 1, 2015

Black swans are catastrophic events that no one sees coming, while “grey swans,” as the are known, are extreme events for which there’s no historical precedent, but that could still potentially be predicted. A new study takes this concept into the realm of weather and climate, finding that global warming might sharply increase the odds of grey swan hurricanes and storm surge over the coming century.

While such tempests would still remain relatively rare, they could pose unrecognized but potentially serious threats to coastal areas like Tampa, Fla., and Dubai, with storm surge totals reaching into the double digits when measured in feet.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Grey swan tropical cyclones

submitted by Gavin Macgregor-Skinner

SFCG’s Director Bloh (L) and participants of the workshop (R)

liberianobserver.com - by Joaquin Sendolo - August 31, 2015

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided US$290,000 through IREX to Search for Common Ground (SFCG) to sensitize communities on the negative impacts stigma makes on Ebola survivors.

Since the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Liberia, those who survived the disease have reportedly suffered stigma in various communities, thus causing them to feel discriminated against.

The stigma comes about because of fear that survivors could still be transmit[ting] the virus when they are touched since it is one way of contracting EVD.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

latinamericanpost.com - by Keith Johnson - August 29, 2015

The Chinese contagion that sparked “Black Monday” is especially worrisome for crude oil prices, which this summer were thought to have finally found a floor after a year of steady price declines. But that floor suddenly looks rotten: U.S. benchmark crude prices fell well below $40 a barrel on Monday, their lowest levels since the depths of the global financial crisis.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

usnews.com - Associated Press (AP) - by CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY - August 30, 2015

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Health officials in Sierra Leone on Sunday confirmed an Ebola death less than a week after the country's last known patient was discharged from a hospital.

Samples from the body of a 67-year-old woman who died recently in Kambia district in the country's north came back positive for the deadly disease, said chief medical officer Dr. Brima Kargbo. . . .

. . . The National Ebola Response Center had deployed teams to conduct surveillance and trace people who were in contact with the woman, said OB Sisay, the center's director.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

An illustration of the flu virus.   Credit: Sebastian Kaulitzki/Getty Images

CLICK HERE - Nature Medicine - Hemagglutinin-stem nanoparticles generate heterosubtypic influenza protection

CLICK HERE - Science - A stable trimeric influenza hemagglutinin stem as a broadly protective immunogen

The yearly flu shot could soon be a thing of the past.

huffingtonpost.com - by Joe Satran - August 28, 2015

A universal flu vaccine -- one that provides immunity against every strain of the influenza virus for multiple years -- is the holy grail of flu research. It would be a medical breakthrough on the order of penicillin, with the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives every year. And scientists just got one crucial step closer to making it a reality.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - BBC - Flu Vaccine Breakthrough Claim by Scientists

allafrica.com - August 24, 2015

Freetown — The Guinean Ebola Ring Vaccine Trial has been extended to Sierra Leone as a move to stop the transmission across the region.

Addressing participants in the opening ceremony of the training session at the Brookfields Hotel Conference Hall in Freetown, the WHO Ebola Technical Coordinator Sierra Leone, Dr. Margaret Lamumu said prior to the extension of the vaccine to Sierra Leone the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and WHO Joint Team visited five sites to make available the vaccine study, adding that expert trainers from the UK were targeted to do the training. . . .

. . . The Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Brima Kargbo said the use of the vaccine would help break the chain of transmission, stressing the need to work collectively as a team to control the spread of the disease.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

(CLICK HERE - For Additional Information)

CDC - American Hospital Association - August 27, 2015

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today issued updated guidance regarding personal protective equipment for health care personnel caring for suspected and confirmed Ebola patients in U.S. health care facilities. The changes clarify the use of fluid-resistant and impermeable gowns and coveralls, and provide specifications to assist facilities in selecting and ordering the recommended garments. The updates also provide additional explanation related to PPE for confirmed Ebola patients. For more information, see the updated PPE Frequently Asked Questions.

http://news.aha.org/article/150827-cdc-updates-ebola-ppe-guidance-for-us-health-care-facilities

Ebola Situation Reports:

CLICK HERE -  Interagency Collaboration on Ebola - Situation Report - 25 August 2015 (7 page .PDF report)

CLICK HERE - WHO - Situation Report - 26 August 2015

CLICK HERE - Report Archives - Interagency Collaboration on Ebola

CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW - Current - Report Archives - WHO
http://apps.who.int/ebola/ebola-situation-reports
http://apps.who.int/ebola/ebola-situation-reports-archive

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW - Older Report Archives - WHO
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/situation-reports/archive/en/

Health care workers deemed at high risk for infection didn't get sick after treatment with anti-flu regimen

CLICK HERE - The Lancet - Post-exposure prophylaxis against Ebola virus disease with experimental antiviral agents: a case-series of health-care workers

nlm.nih.gov - by Robert Preidt - August 25, 2015

Antiviral drugs may help protect people from developing Ebola after exposure to the deadly virus, a new case study suggests.

"We are excited to publish the first report of an antiviral-based post-exposure treatment against Ebola-virus infection in humans. We believe this work justifies further study of this postexposure treatment to protect health care workers accidentally exposed to Ebola virus in the field," lead author Dr. Michael Jacobs, of the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust, London, said in a news release from The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

"What is more, a similar approach to treat household contacts of Ebola cases may work to prevent a major route of spread during an epidemic," he added.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

link.springer.com - EcoHealth - August 13, 2015 
Siv Aina J. Leendertz, Jan F. Gogarten, Ariane Düx, Sebastien Calvignac-Spencer, Fabian H. Leendertz

CLICK HERE - Assessing the Evidence Supporting Fruit Bats as the Primary Reservoirs for Ebola Viruses

Introduction

Since their discovery 40 years ago, Ebola viruses (in the following: EBOV; family Filoviridae, genus Ebolavirus) continue to emerge unpredictably and cause Ebola virus disease (EVD) in humans and susceptible animals in tropical Africa (Leroy et al. 2004; Feldmann and Geisbert 2011). The scale of the current epidemic in West Africa demonstrates the impact that a single spillover event can have (Baize et al. 2014; Gire et al. 2014). Meanwhile, the reservoir(s) and ecology of EBOV remain largely unknown (Groseth et al. 2007; Feldmann and Geisbert 2011), hampering prediction of future outbreaks.

Mattia Panciroli / Flickr cc

CLICK HERE - WHO - First meeting of the Review Committee on the role of International Health Regulations in the Ebola response and WHO’s work in emergencies

cidrap.umn.edu - by Lisa Schnirring - August 25, 2015

A World Health Organization (WHO) committee tasked with reviewing how well the International Health Regulations (IHRs) worked during the Ebola outbreak wrapped up their first meeting today, with plans to dig into three main topics in the months ahead.

The group's newly elected chairman, Didier Houssin, MD, addressed reporters today during a telebriefing at the end of the 2-day meeting in Geneva. He is a surgeon who now heads the Evaluation Agency for Research and Higher Education in Paris. Houssin has served on WHO advisory groups before and has led some of its pandemic preparedness and IHR review groups in recent years.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

From WFP and FAO . . .

FAO – July 2015 – Food and nutrition situation at the beginning of the hunger gap period and agricultural outlook in the Sahel and West Africa (see number 5)
http://www.fao.org/emergencies/resources/documents/resources-detail/en/c/296696/

FAO – Sierra Leone – Food Security and Safety
http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index/en/?iso3=SLE&paia=2

FAO in Emergencies – Sierra Leone (see list of reports at the bottom)
http://www.fao.org/emergencies/countries/detail/en/c/161501/

FAO – Liberia – Food Security and Safety
http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index/en/?iso3=LBR&paia=2

FAO in Emergencies – Liberia (see list of reports at the bottom)
http://www.fao.org/emergencies/countries/detail/en/c/161431/

EUREKEALERT                                                                                                               Aug. 25, 2015
PITTSBURGH--The historic outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa that began in March 2014 and has killed more than 11,000 people since, has raised new questions about the resilience of the virus and tested scientists' understanding of how to contain it. The latest discovery by a group of microbial risk-assessment and virology researchers suggests that the procedures for disposal of Ebola-contaminated liquid waste might underestimate the virus' ability to survive in wastewater.

Current epidemic response procedures from both the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise that after a period of days, Ebola-contaminated liquid can be disposed of directly into a sewage system without additional treatment.

However, new data recently published by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, Drexel University, and the National Institutes of Health indicate that Ebola can survive in detectable concentrations in wastewater for at least a week or longer.

Read complete story.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-08/uop-pda082515.php

How a slowdown in China can take money out of your pocket

time.com - by Alex Fitzpatrick and Heather Jones - August 24, 2015

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 1,000 points Monday morning, taking millions of Americans’ 401(k) plans down with it. While stocks regained some of their lost ground by Monday afternoon, continued uncertainty over factors as far-ranging as China’s economy to global commodity prices could continue to wreak havoc on the markets for the rest of the week and beyond.

How can an economic slowdown in China take money out of your pocket? Check out the TIME infographic (in the link) below to learn more:

(CLICK HERE - TIME infographic)