UNITED NATIONS NEWS CENTRE                                                                             Dec. 4, 2014
Four hundred motorbikes equipped with cooler boxes will help speed up deliveries of blood samples to laboratories from remote areas of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and reduce the waiting time for Ebola test results, thanks to a donation today from Germany to the United Nations.

Four hundred cooler box-equipped motorbikes for the Ebola Response were officially handed over to the UN Humanitarian Response Depot by German Ambassador to Ghana Ruediger John, and will be used to bring blood samples to labs in the most affected areas of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. UNMEER Photo/Martine Perret

At UN Headquarters, meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters that the immediate priorities of the United Nations are to stop the virus and to treat all the people who have Ebola. “We have to ensure that all essential services are provided, and also we have to help them preserve their social and political stability, and keeping a further outbreak from happening.”

WASHINGTON POST  by Lena H. Sunand and Kevin Sieff                                               Dec. 14, 2014

The United States is weighing an increase in aid, including a possible military component, to help fight the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, the country in West Africa where the deadly virus is spreading the fastest, officials said Thursday.

“We are looking at what more can be done in Sierra Leone, recognizing that is the forefront when it comes to the virus, and we’re clearly looking at all options,” said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss policies that are being formulated.

“Nothing is off the table,” he said. “If we determine that only the U.S. military with its unique capabilities can bring this under control, it is something we are willing to consider.”

Among the options is shifting foreign medical teams from­ ­Liberia to Sierra Leone, said ­Andrew Weber, the State Department’s deputy coordinator for Ebola response, in an interview.

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WIRED     Essay by David Burris                                                                                        Dec. 14, 2014

...Deadly and infectious viruses such as Ebola are an inevitable and unavoidable fact of nature. In other words, they are examples of a Hard Trend. And they demand new innovations in order to combat them.

...the deadly force of Ebola is the kind of imminent threat that inspires human minds to new heights. It teaches us that Hard Trends come at us fast and provide the catalyst to overcome inertia and bring about technological innovations.

NIAID/Flickr

Communication is key to mobilizing populations in countries affected by Ebola. In order to treat the sick and prevent the spread of the disease, healthcare workers need to be able to coordinate with people on the frontline and know where to send supplies. At the moment, telecommunications technologies are not keeping pace with the intense demands that Ebola creates.

NEW YORK TIMES --by Gardiner Harris                                                                                 Dec. 4, 2014

AMRAVATI, India — A deadly epidemic that could have global implications is quietly sweeping India, and among its many victims are tens of thousands of newborns dying because once-miraculous cures no longer work.

Everybody and his uncle, it seems, has an idea of something that might work to cure people infected with the deadly virus

 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN    By Helen Branswell                        Dec. 4, 2014

When it comes to treatments for Ebola, there has been a nearly four-decade-long drought. Nothing in the medical arsenal attacks the virus directly....

Dr. John M. Dye, Jr., U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) Viral Immunology branch chief, works in a laboratory at the USAMRIID headquarters in Frederick, Maryland. Dr. Dye is leading a team that is conducting a study with nonhuman primates involving the experimental drug ZMapp, an experimental treatment for Ebola patients. Credit: CDC

MILITARYNEWS.COM  by Richard Sisk                            Dec. 3, 2014

The U.S. military was scaling back its efforts against Ebola in Liberia amid encouraging signs of progress against the epidemic, Army Gen. David Rodriguez said Wednesday.

U.S. personnel construct the Monrovia Medical Unit site in Monrovia, Liberia. The MMU is being constructed in the event any medical workers in the area catch Ebola while assisting in Operation United Assistance. Craig Philbrick/Army

The military initially planned to construct 17 treatment centers of 100 beds each in Liberia, but will now set up 10 centers for virus victims. The first three centers will have 100 beds, but the remaining seven will have 50 beds, Rodriguez, head of U.S. Africa Command, said at a Pentagon briefing.

Rodriguez also said the military was looking at possibly easing the 30-day quarantine period for troops returning from West Africa. However, he stressed that no decisions had been made.

November 21, 2014 - A family behind a bright orange quarantine rope learns of the death of a family member.
Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post

WASHINGTON POST--by Kevin Sieff                                                                 Dec. 4, 2014
KOINADUGU, Sierra Leone --
...Six months after the world’s largest Ebola outbreak began, experts say one of their biggest challenges is persuading people to trust the medical system. Families still hide suspected Ebola victimsor refuse to take them to health facilities. The problem exists in Liberia, but some foreign health officials say it’s even more daunting in Sierra Leone, where the transmission rate continues to climb even as it declines in the neighboring country.

In rural areas like Koinadugu, a district bordering Guinea, the problem is especially severe. There is no electricity or running water, let alone a modern hospital. Medicine usually means local herbs, generic malaria pills or the advice of a local healer. People whisper that disinfectant spreads the disease rather than kills it.

BLOOMBERG--By Andrew Pollack and Doni Bloomfield                                                                  Dec.4, 2014

ATLANTA-- An American health worker who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus arrived at an Atlanta hospital today for possible treatment after being evacuated by air from West Africa, where the outbreak is at its worst.

The health worker, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was admitted this morning at Emory University Hospital, which has successfully treated four other Ebola patients, the hospital said in an e-mail.

“Emory cannot share more details out of respect for patient privacy and in accordance with the patient’s wishes,” the hospital said. Phoenix Air, a medical charter company, flew the patient from West Africa, according to the statement. Earlier this week, Emory was named one of 35 U.S. hospitals designated to treat Ebola patients.

Emory didn’t say in what country the health worker may have been exposed.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-04/health-care-worker-who-may-have-ebola-headed-to-u-s-.html

VOICE OF AMERICA                                      Dec. 3, 2014

New data shows the Ebola outbreak intensifying in Sierra Leone, even as it stabilizes or drops off in other West African countries.   (Scroll down for link to WHO roadmap.)

The World Health Organization says Sierra Leone reported 537 new confirmed cases in the week ending November 30, a jump of more than 150 over the week before.  

In its latest update Wednesday, the WHO says "transmission remains persistent and intense across the country with the exception of the south."  The worst affected area was the capital, Freetown, where more than 200 new cases were reported.  

According to the WHO, the number of Ebola cases worldwide is more than 17,000, with all but a few dozen in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.  The overall death toll is up to 6,070.

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http://www.voanews.com/content/ebola-spreading-faster-in-sierra-leone/2544743.html?utm_source=December+4+2014+EN&utm_campaign=12%2F4%2F2014&utm_medium=email

THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE                                                                                 Dec. 3, 2014
By Edward Cox, M.D., M.P.H., Luciana Borio, M.D., and Robert Temple, M.D.

...Studying investigational therapies for EVD presents scientific, practical, and ethical challenges. Not surprisingly, there has been substantial debate about the best and most appropriate study approaches.2,3 It is generally agreed that a trial with a concurrent control group, in which patients are randomly assigned to receive the test drug plus the best available supportive care (BASC) or to BASC alone, would be the most efficient and reliable way to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of candidate products.

 Some people in the health care community, however, have argued against such trials, urging instead use of a historical control — that is, making investigational drugs as widely available as their supply allows and then comparing mortality rates among treated patients with rates that would have been expected absent the drugs, on the basis of past experience with EVD.

AFP                                                                                                                     Dec. 3, 2014

FREETOWN --World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim announced a $160 million two-year economic recovery plan on Wednesday to help impoverished Sierra Leone battle the worst Ebola outbreak on record.

Kim said after a closed-door meeting with President Ernest Bai Koroma in Freetown the cash would go towards regional operations centres and emergency response teams in the hard-hit west and north of the country.

The aid would also focus on the country's floundering farming sector and rural job creation, he told reporters...

Kim flew to Conakry later on Wednesday, where he was expected to meet government officials and health experts.
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http://www.straitstimes.com/news/world/more-world-stories/story/world-bank-announces-200-million-ebola-hit-sierra-leone-20141204

AFP                                                                                                          Dec. 2, 2014

FREETOWN -- Ebola-hit Sierra Leone has quarantined hundreds of thousands more citizens, it said Tuesday, sealing off a sixth district, with more than half of the country's population already under lockdown.

A nurse wearing personal protective equipment checks on a patient at the Kenama ebola treatment center run by the Red Cross Society on November 15, 2014 in Sierra Leone ©Francisco Leong (AFP/File)

Tonkolili, in the centre, was added to the growing list of districts which no one is allowed to leave or enter without special dispensation, in an effort to combat an outbreak which is spiralling out of control, with 1,400 deaths so far....

The northern districts of Port Loko and Bombali were closed off indefinitely along with the southern district of Moyamba in September -- effectively sealing in more than one million people.

INSTITUTE FOR SECURITY STUDIES                                                                                Dec. 2, 2014

Morocco’s refusal to host the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) from 17 January to 8 February next year, due to fears of Ebola,has sparked a furore among soccer lovers across the continent.

The North African kingdom has since become the target of some of the most aggressive xenophobia from fellow Africans, notably on social media. ‘Morocco is scared of outsiders,’ ‘Morocco is not an African country,’ are some of the insults that have been directed at the country in the wake of its decision.

... The competition has now been moved to Equatorial Guinea, co-host of the 2012 Afcon with Gabon. This decision has huge financial and political implications. Morocco has also been barred from participating in the 2015 Afcon, and risks more sanctions for its national team and Moroccan clubs.

REUTERS-by  Misha Hussain                                   Dec. 3, 2014

DAKAR, Senegal   - Some five million children are out of school in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone because of the deadly Ebola outbreak, according to a report by the Global Business Coalition for Education.

A man walks by a mural with health instructions on treating the Ebola virus, in Monrovia, November 18, 2014. Credit: Reuters/James Giahyue

Schools and other public buildings have been closed because they are believed to increase the spread of the virus. Many are now used as holding centers for Ebola patients.

The report, co-written with A World at School, said being out of school can have a crippling impact on vulnerable children, especially girls, who are more likely to face high-risk situations as a result, including early marriage and pregnancy.

If schools are not reopened, the most vulnerable children will become trapped in a cycle of poverty with devastating consequences for their health and economic development, the report said.

Read complete story.

100resilientcities.org - by Michael Berkowitz - December 2, 2014

Today we proudly announce the second group of cities selected to join 100 Resilient Cities – cities who have demonstrated a commitment to building their own capacities to navigate the shocks and stresses of an increasingly complex 21st Century.

During the our first 18 months, we've seen our first cohort of cities mature, appoint chief resilience officers, and embark on their own resilience strategy processes. No doubt this momentum contributed to the immense response we saw to the second round of the 100 Resilient Cities Challenge has been enormous, with 331 exceptional applications from cities around the world, submitted in seven languages.