Africa

LIBERIAN OBSERVER  by Gloria T. Tambia                                                              Dec. 29, 2014

MONROVIA, Liberia --Two thousand persons have been quarantined in Lofe Town, Margibi County, after a corpse transported for burial was confirmed by the County Health Authorities of being Ebola infected.

The Margibi health authorities received a call that a body had been transported from Monrovia for burial, according to the Director of Community Health for Margibi County, Mr. Joseph J. Korhene. He said that the health team and Ebola Task Force, on arriving at the scene on December 18, took a specimen of the corpse that confirmed it to be Ebola positive.

Mr. Korhene...said that before the health team arrived in Lofe Town, the family had already finished the wake-keeping, which brought together people from eight surrounding villages. He said the infected corpse was that of a woman who had died in the Bushrod Island community near Monrovia.

Mr. Korhene who declined to reveal the identity of the deceased said that her family knew that she had died of Ebola but had decided to bury her without the involvement of the Ebola Task Force anyway.

In-Depth report on lessons to be learned from the Ebola crisis

THE WASHINGTON POST by By Lena H. Sun, Brady Dennis and Joel Achenbach                            Dec. 29, 2014

A year after it began, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa continues to be unpredictable, forcing governments and aid groups to improvise strategies as they chase a virus that is unencumbered by borders or bureaucracy.

The people fighting Ebola are coming up with lists of lessons learned — not only for the current battle, which has killed more than 7,500 people and is far from over, but also for future outbreaks of deadly contagions.

Alice Jallabah, head of a bushmeat seller group, holds dried bushmeat in Monrovia. (Zoom Dosso/AFP/Getty Images)

ASSOCIATED PRESS by  JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH             Dec. 29, 2014

MONROVIA --  Dozens of new Ebola cases have erupted in Liberia, near the border with Sierra Leone, Liberian health officials warned Monday, marking a setback amid recent improvements.

The flare-up is due to a number of factors including people going in and out of Liberia and traditional practices such as the washing of bodies, said Liberia's Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah.

Forty-nine cases were reported in in western Grand Cape Mount County between December 1 and 25, Nyenswah told state radio.

"In a very small population, an increase in the number of (Ebola) cases raises high level of concerns that we need to take very seriously as people of Liberia and people of Grand Cape Mount in particular," he said.

Read complete story.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/liberia-reports-dozens-ebola-cases-border-27873523

HUFFINGTON POST   by  Jenifer Bendery

 WASHINGTON -- White House Ebola czar Ron Klain warned Sunday that the virus is still a global threat and will continue to be until it is completely wiped out.

This won't be done until we get all the way to zero," Klain said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "It's like a forest fire. A few embers burning and the thing can re-ignite at any time."

He said the United States has made "significant strides" to prepare for the occasional case of Ebola, but West Africa is still struggling with its outbreak. While Liberia has reduced new cases of Ebola from 50 to 100 a day to five to 10 a day, Sierra Leone and Guinea aren't having the same success.

"We're nearing a pivot point in this," Klain said.

Read complete story.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/28/ebola-ron-klain_n_6387194.html