Conakry

nbcnews.com

A medical missionary recovering from Ebola infection in Nebraska was given an experimental drug made by a Canadian company, his doctors said Monday. They’d already said that Dr. Rick Sacra got transfusions of serum from recovered Ebola patient Dr. Kent Brantly. They also had revealed that he got a weeklong treatment course of an experimental drug but had not said what drug it was.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/doctor-recovering-ebola-got-experimental-tekmira-drug-n209191

Aryn Baker - Sept. 22, 2014 - time.com

The Free Pentecostal Global Mission Church in the Chickensoup Factory district of Monrovia uses the pulpit to teach about the deadly virus, one sermon at a time

“Lord,” shouts the Reverend Joseph T.S. Menjor into a microphone. “We are tired of this situation. We are calling on you to cast this abomination from our country. Jesus, we want our land to be free of Ebola. Cast out this disease!”

The pastor is leading his people in prayer, but it is not a moment of quiet reflection. No, his congregation is on its feet, swaying to a gospel hymn, eyes closed and hands raised in supplication. At Menjor’s call, the 600 or so congregants of the Free Pentecostal Global Mission Church in the Chickensoup Factory district of Monrovia, Liberia chant a chorus of amens and launch into a cacophony of individual prayers, symbolically casting the evil of Ebola to the ground with repeated downward thrusts of their hands.

WHO: Ebola Response Roadmap Situation Report
1 October 2014  OVERVIEW
The total number of probable, confirmed and suspected cases (see Annex 1) in the current outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa reported up to 28 September 2014 is 7178, with 3,338 deaths. Countries affected are Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Figure 1 shows the total number of confirmed and probable cases in the three high-transmission countries (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone) reported in each epidemiological week between 30 December 2013 (start of epidemiological week 1) and 28 September 2014 (end of epidemiological week 39). For the second week in a row the total number of reported new cases has fallen. It is clear, however, that EVD cases are under-reported from several key locations. Transmission remains persistent and widespread in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with strong evidence of increasing case incidence in several districts. There are few signs yet that the EVD epidemic in West Africa is being brought under control.
Read Full Report (with graphs)http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/135600/1/roadmapsitrep_1Oct2014_eng.pdf

Vectors, Hosts, Fomites and Food….The challenge of controlling Ebola in West Africa

John T. Hoffman

Colonel, USA, Retired

Senior Research Fellow

National Center for Food Protection and Defense

University of Minnesota

September 29, 2014

Control of VHF Ebola in West Africa is complicated by the fact that we know so little as to the mechanisms for the spread of the disease other than direct contact with infected persons or their bodily fluids, which local wildlife and rodents actually serve as hosts for the virus and the actual survivability of viable Ebola virus on fomites.   Given these knowledge gaps, modeling the spread and control of the disease with any probability of being close to reality is unlikely.    Potentially, these gaps suggest that the current focus on treatment and traditional control protocols have be insufficient to stop the outbreak and produce an Ebola free West Africa.