Sierra Leone

It Kills Germs For Up To 6 Hours. Can It Wipe Out Ebola?

Fri, 2015-02-27 21:01 — mike kraft

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO by Emily Sohn Feb. 27, 2015

Clean hands go a long way toward preventing the spread of many illnesses, including Ebola. But finding the right hand-wash to impede deadly germs is tricky.

A health worker in Liberia washes up after leaving a clinic's Ebola isolation area. Tommy Trenchard for NPR

A squirt of alcohol-based sanitizer like Purell kills or denatures many microbes on contact. In the case of bacteria, essentially poking holes in their cell membranes, causing them to shrivel up like water balloons. For viruses, the mechanism is not well-understood. But alcohol evaporates after 15 seconds, allowing for rapid recontamination...

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Ebola: Sierra Leone village in lockdown after 31 new cases recorded

Fri, 2015-02-27 11:16 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Lisa O'Carroll Feb. 27, 2015

Efforts to beat Ebola in Sierra Leone have been dealt a setback after 31 new cases were recorded in one village.

Red Cross healthcare workers.

The community of 500 just outside the town of Makeni has now been put in lockdown by the army amid fears that more could be infected.

The World Health Organisation said cases have been linked to one man who escaped a quarantine in Freetown to go home to his village to get treatment from a traditional faith healer.

The quarantine area is a fishing community, yards from the hotel where many of humanitarian agencies have stayed.

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/27/ebola-sierra-leone-village-lockdown-31-new-cases

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Ebola halts HIV progress in Sierra Leone, says UN

Fri, 2015-02-27 10:46 — mike kraft

Thomson Reuters Foundation by Misha Hussain Feb.27, 2015

In an internal document seen by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) raised concerns that HIV prevalence and drug resistance in the country could increase as a result.

"Hospitals have closed down because they have been overrun by Ebola patients and non-Ebola patients are too afraid to go to them for fear of catching the virus," said Hakan Bjorkman, who manages UNDP's AIDS programme.

"HIV prevention activities in schools and awareness raising for the general population has been suspended due to the restriction of movement, the closure of all education institutions and the overall ban on public gathering."

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Decision on Ebola mass vaccination in August at earliest: WHO

Fri, 2015-02-27 10:21 — mike kraft

REUTERS by Stephanie Nebehay Feb. 27, 2015

GENEVA -- An independent advisory body will decide in August at the earliest on whether to recommend widespread introduction of an Ebola vaccine, depending on results of clinical trials and the epidemic's course, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

All three worst-hit countries in West Africa - Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - aim to conduct phase III final-stage clinical trials of experimental vaccines.

Liberia is already testing both the GlaxoSmithKline and Merck-NewLink vaccines, while Sierra Leone and Guinea are due to announce plans soon....

WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier, reporting on a three-day meeting of experts, told a news briefing: "Vaccine introduction is by no means a given and will depend on the results of clinical trials and recommendations from WHO's Strategy Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on vaccines and immunization....

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Fatality Rate Is Falling in West African Ebola Clinics

Fri, 2015-02-27 10:03 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES by Donald G. McNeil, Jr. Feb. 27, 2015

SEATTLE — As the Ebola epidemic in West Africa wanes, physicians from Doctors Without Borders are confronting a mystery: More of their patients are surviving. They do not know why.

Benetha Coleman, an Ebola survivor and nurse’s aide, comforted a baby with Ebola symptoms in Liberia, as seen through a net. Credit John Moore/Getty Images

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Diagnosing Ebola – a day in the life of a diagnostics lab in Sierra Leone

Thu, 2015-02-26 16:20 — mike kraft

Professor Ian Goodfellow describes an average day in an Ebola diagnostics lab, and challenges the team faced in setting it up, Courtesy of the Wells Trust Blog

BIOMED CENTRAL by Ian Goodfellow Feb. 25, 2015

During the first two weeks in Makeni, Sierra Leone, our focus was very much on getting the Ebola diagnostics lab operational as fast as possible. There was a real lack of diagnostic capacity in this area of the country the lab facility needed to go live prior to the opening of the treatment center.

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Report Slams U.S. Ebola Response and Readiness

Thu, 2015-02-26 10:52 — mike kraft

NBC NEWS by Maggie Fox Feb. 26, 2015

The United States fumbled its response to the Ebola epidemic before it even began, neglecting experiments to make vaccines and drugs against the virus, and cutting funding to key public health agencies, a presidential commission said Thursday.

Americans focused on their own almost nonexistent risk of catching Ebola from travelers instead of pressing to help the truly affected nations, the scathing report from the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues says.

They've been acting against their own best interest, the commission said in its report.

"Both justice and prudence demand that we do our part in combating such devastating outbreaks. Once we recognize our humanitarian obligations and the ability of infectious diseases to travel in our interconnected world, we cannot choose between the ethical and the prudential," it reads.

"Ethics and enlightened interest converge in calling for our country to address epidemics at their source."

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99 Ebola cases in past week, nearly two-thirds in Sierra Leone: WHO

Wed, 2015-02-25 19:51 — mike kraft

REUTERS Feb. 25 2015

GENEVA - Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone reported 99 new confirmed Ebola cases in the week to Feb. 22, down from 128 the previous week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

Sierra Leone accounted for the bulk of the latest infections with 63, signaling a halt to a steep decline recorded from December through January, followed by Guinea with 35 and Liberia just a single case, the U.N. agency said in its weekly report.

"Cases continue to arise from unknown chains of transmission," the WHO said. Sixteen of the new cases were identified in Guinea and Sierra Leone after post-mortem testing of people who died in the community "indicating that a significant number of individuals are still either unable or reluctant to seek treatment."

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http://news.yahoo.com/99-ebola-cases-past-week-nearly-two-thirds-195956152.html
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Update: Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic — West Africa, February 2015

CDC Weekly report Feb. 24, 2015

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Ending the Ebola Outbreak

Wed, 2015-02-25 19:36 — mike kraft

GRAPHICS ON THE EBOLA OUTBREAK

THE NEW YORK TIMES by KK. Rebecca Lai Feb 24, 2015

Months of declining cases have fed hopes that the Ebola outbreak might finally be ending. “There are now 10 times fewer people diagnosed with Ebola each week than there were in September last year,”said Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nation’s special envoy on the Ebola crisis.

The number of new Ebola cases fell rapidly in December and January, but officials with the United Nations and the World Health Organization cautioned that ending the outbreak entirely would be extremely difficult.

“The outbreak still presents a grave threat,” Dr. Nabarro said. “We have to really work hard to get to what we call zero-zero — zero cases, zero transmissions.”

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Ebola endemic risk remains in west Africa, scientists warn

Wed, 2015-02-25 19:19 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Sarah Boseley Feb. 25, 2015
Scientists are warning of a real risk that the Ebola virus disease could become endemic in west Africa if efforts to end the epidemic slacken as the number of cases falls.

All previous outbreaks of Ebola were stamped out within months and the virus disappeared from the human population each time. Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, however, have been in the grip of the virus for more than a year. While the numbers of cases dropped dramatically in December and early January, they have now plateaued and there are fears that the disease may not be totally eradicated....

Dr Margaret Harris in the director general’s office of the World Health Organisation said they were at “a bump in the road”.

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