Africa

REUTERS                                                     Nov. 7, 2014
By Sharon Begley

NEW YORK - A group of scientists including three Nobel laureates in medicine has proposed that U.S. health officials chart a new path to developing Ebola drugs and vaccines by harnessing antibodies produced by survivors of the deadly outbreak.

The proposal builds on the use of "convalescent serum," or survivors' blood, which has been given to at least four U.S. Ebola patients who then recovered from the virus. It is based on an approach called passive immunization, which has been used since the 19th century to treat diseases such as diphtheria but has been largely surpassed by vaccination.

The scientists propose using new genetic and other technologies to find hundreds or thousands of different Ebola antibodies, determine their genetic recipe, grow them in commercial quantities and combine them into a single treatment analogous to the multi-drug cocktails that treat HIV-AIDS.

Read complete story

http://www.trust.org/item/20141107142347-pfohr

ABC NEWS                                                                                                            Nov 7, 2014

by  Sydney Ludkin 

DALLAS The final person in Texas being monitored for Ebola has passed the virus's 21-day incubation period, marking the end of the state's Ebola crisis.

None of the 177 people who had contact with the state's Ebola patients -- Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, and two of the Dallas nurses who cared for him, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson -- have contracted Ebola, state officials said. The list included health care workers, people who shared the same households as the Ebola patients and other community contacts.

"Hopefully, Americans will be relieved and fear will be eased," said Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News chief health and medical editor. "In Dallas, not even the people who lived with a very sick person with Ebola became ill."

Read complete story

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/person-completes-ebola-monitoring-texas/story?id=26742640

An overview of the numbers of Ebola cases in Africa and elsewhere.
ASSOCIATED PRESS                                                 NOV. 17, 2014b
By Maria Cheng, AP Medical Writer
LONDON --As the biggest-ever outbreak of Ebola continues to ravage West Africa, here are a few key numbers to get a handle on the epidemic:

13,042 and 4,818:

Medical workers wearing protective equipment surround a simulated patient during a demonstration for media members on their training for working with possible Ebola patients, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, at Madigan Army Medical Center on Joint Base Lewis McChord, near Tacoma, Wash. Madigan providers and nurses have been training to perform clinical skills, including inserting IVs, obtaining blood samples for testing and conducting ultrasounds while dressed in powered air purifying respirators, impermeable suits and multiple layers of gloves. The clinically-focused exercises use realistic patient simulators that speak through microphones and can express simulated bodily fluids. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) Close The Associated Press

French.news.cn - November 5, 2014

Conakry - (Xinhua) - Four new outbreaks of the Ebola epidemic were detected in Macenta Prefecture, located in the southeast of Guinea along the border with Liberia, did we learned on Wednesday from official sources. On Tuesday, the prefectural coordination response against Ebola has identified 18 patients at the transit improved center of Macenta.

To date, the prefecture of Macenta has 888 contacts who are monitored by the health services.

Macenta has recorded the largest number of patients and deaths associated with the outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever, the cumulative number reached 557 cases with 339 deaths, according to the latest figures provided by the competent authorities.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=555807#post555807

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONAKRY, 5 novembre (Xinhua) -- Quatre nouveaux foyers de l'épidémie d'Ebola ont été détectés dans la préfecture de Macenta, située dans le sud-est de la Guinéee, le long de la frontière avec le Liberia, a-t-on appris mercredi de sources officielles. Mardi, la coordination préfectorale de riposte contre Ebola a recensé 18 malades au centre de transit amélioré de Macenta.