MONROVIA-- Liberia is on the verge of containing the spread of the Ebola virus with only two of its 15 counties reporting new infections, the head of the country's Ebola response said on Tuesday.
Pedestrians walk past a sign reading ''Ebola disease outbreak'' outside the Ministry of Finance in Monrovia January 12, 2015. Credit: Reuters/James Giahyue
Tolbert Nyenswah, who is also a deputy health minister, said the new cases were reported in Montserrado county, which includes the capital Monrovia, and Grand Cape Mount, on the border with Sierra Leone.
Bong, Nimba, Sinoe, and Margibi counties have not reported a single case since the end of December, he said. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Bong, Nimba and Sinoe have gone 21 days without a positive case - the maximum incubation period for the virus.
At 4:50 a.m. at the Kasanka National Park in northern Zambia, tourists watch from a platform in a tree as the sound of millions of wings accompanies the sunrise.
Straw-coloured Fruit Bats fly in Kasanka National Park, Zambia. Photographer: Fabian von Poser/Getty Images
China is ramping up its assistance in the fight against Ebola by dispatching an additional 232 army medical workers to West Africa, state media reported.
The latest contingent to be sent to afflicted nations will depart on Tuesday evening, with 154 of them headed to Liberia and 78 to Sierra Leone, according to the China Daily newspaper.
They will join 43 army doctors and 35 specialists from the Chinese Center for Disease Control already working in Sierra Leone, where they have treated 61 patients and trained 1,600 local medical workers.
WASHINGTON --The director of the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention said on Tuesday he was "confident" that the Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa can be brought under control but that "we are by no means out of the woods."
Speaking at a breakfast meeting in Washington with public health officials and lawmakers, Dr. Tom Frieden said it is vital that every case of the disease is eliminated.
"I remain very confident we can get to zero cases in this epidemic if we continue the way we're going and nothing unexpected happens," Frieden said.
USAID: Eyes on Guinea as Liberia, Sierra Leone improve on Ebola
The rate of new Ebola cases in Liberia has plunged, Sierra Leone is beginning to turn the corner in dealing with the deadly virus and health officials are now focused on Guinea, a USAID official said on Tuesday.
GENEVA - The World Health Organization says governments flouted their obligations during the Ebola crisis and wants more power to tackle health emergencies in future, documents published by the international agency showed on Monday.
The Geneva-based U.N. health organisation has been heavily criticised for its slow response to the Ebola epidemic, which has now killed at least 8,371 people out of more than 21,000 cases in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
The WHO promised in October to publish a full review of its handling of the outbreak once the epidemic was under control.
But it has not yet done so.
The documents submitted to its 34-nation Executive Board said governments had put International Health Regulations that cover public health risks and disease outbreaks at risk through actions such as closing borders and discriminating against travellers from Ebola-affected countries.
REUTERS by Kate Kelland Jan.12, 2015 LONDON --Developing and bringing to market effective Ebola vaccines requires extreme measures and unprecedented international cooperation, global health experts said on Monday.
A health worker wearing protective gear stands outside a quarantine zone in a Red Cross facility in the town of Koidu, Kono district in Eastern Sierra Leone December 18, 2014.Credit: Reuters/Baz Ratner
In an interim report on a roadmap for vaccines against the current and any future outbreaks of the deadly virus, infectious disease specialists Jeremy Farrar and Mike Osterholm said the scope of effort was "too complex for any single government, organization or company". They called for sustained public-private sector partnership and commitment.
CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE AND POLICY RESEARCH by Lisa Schnirring Jan. 9, 2015
The next steps in testing Ebola vaccines as well as a picture of how they might be used in West Africa's outbreak region became clearer today as officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) shared the outcome of yesterday's (Thursday's) high-level meeting in Geneva.
Large phase 3 trials in West Africa's outbreak setting will be next up to see if the vaccines work, with the studies designed to collect more safety data, a task usually covered in phase 2 trials, experts involved in the meeting said today at a WHO media telebriefing. However, as Ebola infections drop off in the outbreak region, scientists face a closing window of opportunity to see how the vaccines perform in a real-life setting.
Experts also signaled a possible role for two Ebola vaccine formulations: a single-dose vaccine providing shorter-term immunity that could be used to tamp down Ebola flare-ups and a prime-boost vaccine that may provide more durable immunity and could be used for other immunization strategies.
Latest surveys point to declines in employment, food insecurity, and long-term welfare concerns
THE WORLD BANK Jan. 12, 2015
WASHINGTON-- The socio-economic impacts of Ebola in Liberia and Sierra Leone are far-reaching and persistent, according to two new World Bank Group reports. Both countries continue to experience job losses, despite their differing health outlooks. These impacts have not been limited to the areas where infections have been the highest, which points to economy-wide slowdowns. As a result, many households have been forced to take short-term actions to cope, which can have substantial long-term effects on welfare.
“The Ebola virus itself must be eradicated- this is the number one priority,” said Ana Revenga, Senior Director for Poverty at the World Bank Group. “But its socio-economic side effects put the current and future prosperity of households in Liberia and Sierra Leone at high risk. We must pay careful attention to those who are most vulnerable to both health and economic shocks, and ensure that they are supported throughout and after the crisis.”
LONDON- A British nurse diagnosed with Ebola last month is recovering and is no longer in a critical condition, the London hospital treating her said in a statement on Monday.
Pauline Cafferkey, a 39-year-old nurse who normally works at a Scottish health center, became the first person to be diagnosed with the disease in Britain after contracting it in Sierra Leone where she was volunteering at an Ebola clinic.
"Pauline Cafferkey is showing signs of improvement and is no longer critically ill," the statement from the Royal Free Hospital said. "She remains in isolation as she receives specialist care for the Ebola virus."
Cafferkey is being treated with blood plasma from an Ebola survivor and an unnamed experimental anti-viral drug, the hospital has said.
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