Liberia

WASHINGTON POST  by Rachel Feltman     Dec. 14, 2014 

According to research published Tuesday by the Robert Koch-Institute, fruit bats are almost certainly to blame for the current Ebola outbreak, which has claimed 7,800 lives so far. But while most outbreaks caused by a fruit bat would have someone who hunted or handled the mammal for meat to blame for the contagion, the researchers believe that this case of bat-to-human transmission was sparked by children at play.

A child under observation for signs of Ebola. (Michel du Cille/The Washington Post)

Ebola is a zoonotic disease -- one that's spread between species. The first human cases of Ebola can indeed be traced roughly to the hunting, selling, and eating of bushmeat, or wild mammals like bats and non-human primates...

But the first case of 2014's outbreak has been traced to someone who shouldn't have had much contact with bushmeat. In October, researchers reported that patient zero of the outbreak was likely a 2-year-old boy named Emile Ouamouno who lived in the Guinea village of Meliandou.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN by Dina Fine Maron                                  Dec. 29, 2014
Kisses are at a premium in the capital of Liberia. Even a hug or a handshake between friends is often out of the question. That’s the new normal ever since Ebola began ravaging communities throughout Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. For much of the past year, residents of these west African countries have wondered if daily life will ever be able to return to the way things once were.

Monrovia, Liberia - November 2014: Ebola survivor Korlia Bonarwolo leads a training of health workers at a mock Ebola Treatment Unit in Liberia. "I think with the knowledge we have now, the treatment is going to be much greater," he says.

Photo: Morgana Wingard/Sarah Grile, 2014

And at the heart of the matter is a scientific question: has Ebola now found a permanent foothold among humans?

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.

Ebola death rate compared to other diseases

BBC   by James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website         Dec. 27, 2014

The world has witnessed the largest-ever epidemic of Ebola claim thousands of lives in West Africa in 2014....

Outbreaks such as Ebola have an ability to spread fear around the world, often through the prism of sensationalist media reporting.

So how does Ebola actually compare to previous outbreaks and other diseases? And while the world focuses on Ebola, are we guilty of ignoring much bigger killers?

Analysing the death rates from different viruses shows Ebola is certainly one of the most deadly infections ever encountered.
Read complete report
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29953765