Africa

http://www.voanews.com/media/video/sierra-leonean-in-us-sends-medical-supplies-home-to-combat-ebola/2535979.html

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Sierra Leonean in US Sends Medical Supplies Home to Combat Ebola

Wed, 2014-12-03 08:01 — Norea

voanews.com - by Deborah Block - Nov 26, 2014

On Thanksgiving day in the United States, Americans give thanks for their blessings. Among them is Bobby Smith, who emigrated to here 25 years ago from Sierra Leone. To give back, three years ago Smith began a small volunteer organization, Hope for Lives in Sierra Leone, to help the disadvantaged in his homeland -- one of the poorest countries in the world. As VOA’s Deborah Block reports, he now is sending medical supplies to help combat Ebola, which continues to devastate Sierra Leone.

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Finding the Ebola virus’ vulnerable points

Wed, 2014-12-03 07:25 — Norea

Three copies of the Ebola glycoprotein (blue) with antibodies (yellow) latched on to them. Picture by Stanford by Shalini Saxena - Nov 30 2014 - http://arstechnica.com

We know what antibodies stop it in its tracks—we now know where they attach.

The latest Ebola outbreak has dwarfed any that have occurred since the discovery of the virus in 1976; previous outbreaks have had lethality rates of up to 90 percent. Yet no vaccines or therapies are currently approved for human use, which limits our ability to treat patients and contain the outbreak. Mixtures of monoclonal antibodies (see sidebar) are a potential treatment option that has been used experimentally.

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http://www.npr.org/2014/11/30/367544593/in-liberia-ebola-shifts-from-cities-to-villages

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In Liberia, Ebola Shifts From Cities To Villages

Wed, 2014-12-03 07:15 — Norea

Liberia has been a death zone for those exposed to the Ebola virus. NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with correspondent Kelly McEvers about what she saw on the ground, and what she will find hard to forget.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The death toll in the largest Ebola outbreak in history continues to rise in West Africa. Just this past week, the World Health Organization reported 600 new cases in the three hardest hit countries - Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Liberia had been the epicenter of the outbreak. But now the country with the largest number of victims is neighboring Sierra Leone. NPR reporters have been covering the story in both countries. NPR's Kelly McEvers is about to finish nearly two weeks in Liberia. She joins us on the line. Hi, Kelly.

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https://time.com/3611314/u-n-ebola-global-threat-anthony-banbury-bbc/

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U.N. Mission Warns That Ebola Still Poses ‘Huge’ Global Threat

Wed, 2014-12-03 07:11 — Norea

A mother and child stand atop their mattresses in a classroom now used as Ebola isolation ward on Aug. 15, 2014, in Monrovia, Liberia by Elizabeth Barber - Dec. 1, 2014 - time.com

The U.N. mission is urging that the longer the disease is allowed to storm West Africa, the more likely it is that the virus will reappear elsewhere in the world.

The head of the U.N. Ebola mission in West Africa has said there is a “huge risk” of the Ebola outbreak expanding beyond the hard-hit region.

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WHO Says Liberia, Guinea Meeting Ebola Targets

Wed, 2014-12-03 06:57 — Norea

In this file photo taken Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, a healthcare worker in protective gear is sprayed with disinfectant after working in an Ebola treatment center in the west of Freetown, Sierra Leone

GENEVA — Dec 1, 2014 - by JOHN HEILPRIN Associated Press

Liberia and Guinea have met a Dec. 1 target for isolating 70 percent of people infected with Ebola and safely burying 70 percent of those who die but Sierra Leone has not, the World Health Organization said Monday.

Only last week, the U.N. health agency said only Guinea was on track to meet the targets for getting the Ebola outbreak under control in the three hardest-hit West African countries.

But at a news conference in Geneva, WHO's Dr. Bruce Aylward said the organization had revised its conclusion based on more analysis of its data. Sierra Leone also probably met the targets in the west of the country, he said, and likely will improve to the 70 percent target nationwide "in the coming weeks."

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30279932

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Ebola crisis: Struggling to change behaviour in Sierra Leone

Tue, 2014-12-02 21:45 — mike kraft

BBC by Andrew Harding Dec. 2, 2014

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone --

... "By now, everyone knows about Ebola; and nobody with symptoms should, logically, be dying at home or on the street anymore.

Sometimes suspected Ebola cases are not reported to the health authorities

They should all have been taken to hospital.

But to understand why that is not happening, all you have to do is drive to any of the impoverished suburbs of Freetown..."

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http://www.nature.com/news/positive-results-spur-race-for-ebola-vaccine-1.16468

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Positive results spur race for Ebola vaccine

Tue, 2014-12-02 19:52 — mike kraft

With trials under way, scientists are working out how to give vaccines in affected regions

NATURE By Ewan Callaway Dec. 2, 2014

Safety trials of Ebola vaccines are starting to return results: at least one is known to be safe and to summon an immune response against the virus.

The challenge now is to use the results to guide the larger studies that will reveal whether the vaccines work.

“The immune responses are there,” says infectious-disease researcher Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute in Oxford, UK. “The tough call is whether they’re enough to protect humans against Ebola.”

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To halt Ebola's spread, researchers race for data

Tue, 2014-12-02 19:26 — mike kraft

DISCOVER MAGAZINE By Kari Lydersen Dec. 2, 2014
.....redicting the trajectory of Ebola rather than playing catching-up could do much to help prevent and contain the disease. Some experts have called for prioritizing mobile treatment units that can be quickly relocated to the spots most needed. Figuring out where Ebola is likely to strike next or finding emerging hot spots early on would be key to the placement of these treatment centers.

But such modeling requires data, and lots of it. And for stressed healthcare workers on the ground and government and non-profit agencies scrambling to combat a raging epidemic, collecting and disseminating data is often not a high priority.

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Obama: Ebola still priority as public focus shifts

Tue, 2014-12-02 18:57 — mike kraft

ASSOCIATED PRESS Dec. 2, 2014

BETHESDA, Maryland — Declaring the "fight is nowhere close to being over," President Barack Obama on Tuesday heralded strides in the effort to confront Ebola in West Africa and in protecting the U.S. against the spread of the deadly virus. He said squelching the disease remains an urgent priority even if the American public's attention has shifted elsewhere.

"We cannot let down our guard, even for minute," Obama said. "We can't just fight this epidemic, we have to extinguish it."

Obama spoke after touring the National Institutes of Health in Washington's Maryland suburbs where he witnessed advances in Ebola-fighting research. He highlighted the NIH's progress in developing an Ebola vaccine, calling the initial results "exciting" while cautioning that there are "no guarantees" about the vaccine's ultimate success.

NIH researchers last week reported that the first safety study of a vaccine candidate found no serious side effects, and that it triggered signs of immune protection in 20 volunteers. U.S. health officials are planning much larger studies in West Africa to try to determine if the shots really work...

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