Situation Report

Too many dying in Sierra Leone as result of Ebola response not virus itself – report

Tue, 2015-04-28 15:40 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Sarah Boseley April 28, 2015

Too many people are dying in Sierra Leone not from Ebola but as a result of the response to it, according to a report on the collapse of healthcare in the west African country.

Health workers at the Kerry Town Ebola treatment centre on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone, last November. Photograph: Francisco Leong/AFP/Getty Images

Ebola has killed at least 3,900 people in Sierra Leone so far, but the epidemic has critically damaged the ability of the country’s limited healthcare system to cope with anything else, including soaring HIV and tuberculosis rates.

More people are believed to have died from malaria than from Ebola, while deaths of mothers and babies in childbirth are thought to have risen significantly.

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UN Says It Will Try to Identify All Ebola Cases by June

Tue, 2015-04-28 11:16 — mike kraft

ASSOCIATED PRESS by Maria Cheng April 28, 2015

LONDON — The World Health Organization says it aims to identify and isolate all new Ebola cases in West Africa by the end of May to stop the spread of the lethal virus before the rainy season.

In a new Ebola plan released on Tuesday, the U.N. health agency said it hopes to limit transmission of the virus to the coastal areas of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone before the rainy season begins, normally in April or May.

WHO said the decline in Ebola's spread has "plateaued," partly due to "persistently high transmission" in Guinea and Sierra Leone. Officials say the rainy season will make it more difficult for responders to reach remote areas....

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Nepal Earthquake: Where to Donate

Mon, 2015-04-27 12:11 — mike kraft

NEW WORK TIMES April 27, 2015

Here is a list of some of the groups soliciting donations for relief efforts in Nepal:

American Jewish World Service: ajws.org

AmeriCares: americares.org

The Salvation Army: salvationarmyusa.org

International Medical Corps: internationalmedicalcorps.org

Handicap International: handicap-international.us

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Nepal Earthquake Poses Challenge to International Aid Agencies

Mon, 2015-04-27 12:00 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES by Mark Scott April 27, 2015

LONDON — International aid agencies and governments mobilized on Sunday to respond to the earthquake in Nepal, saying they faced challenges in getting assistance to the country and distributing it amid the widespread devastation there.

Displaced residents waiting in line to receive drinking water in Katmandu on Sunday. Credit Niranjan

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Ella Foundation announces key outcomes in Ebola vaccine research

Mon, 2015-04-27 11:16 — mike kraft

BUSINESS STANDARD April 27, 2015

HYDERABAD, India --Ella Foundation, which has taken up research for finding a potential vaccine for the deadly Ebola virus, today said it had successfully completed preliminary studies on the virus, which was responsible for high fatalities among humans in central Africa.

The Hyderabad-based foundation said it had completed the preliminary animal (with mice) experiments of the virus' glycoprotein with the targeted adenovirus, and the "immune response results have been good", which would be followed by toxicology tests and the subsequent clinical trials involving human beings.

Adenoviruses are responsible for respiratory infections, gastroenteritis, cystitis, and primary pneumonia in humans, and are therefore used as a clear target to understand the human immunity characteristics in laboratory. However, the efficacy of the vaccine is judged by the outcomes seen in human trials.

Read complete story.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/ella-foundation-announces-key-outcomes-in-ebola-vaccine-research-115042700631_1.html

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Troops get malaria during Ebola deployment

Fri, 2015-04-24 10:34 — mike kraft

MILITARY TIMES by Patrice Kimm April 23, 2015

The unprecedented deployment of U.S. troops to West Africa last year as part of the international response to the Ebola crisis saw no American service members contracting the deadly virus.

But five soldiers did fall prey to another disease. They contracted malaria, a concern that underscores the need for continued vaccine research, according to Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho.

Army officials say three troops contracted malaria in Liberia between October and November and two more were suspected of having a malaria infection.

All responded to treatment, Horoho said.

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http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/benefits/health-care/2015/04/23/us-military-ebola-deployment-malaria/26236769/

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Ebola survivors donate plasma to tackle outbreak

Wed, 2015-04-22 21:58 — mike kraft

EUREKALERT April 22, 2015
UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL --
The first donations of plasma, from survivors of the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, have been received by an international research team working to help tackle current and future disease outbreaks in West Africa.

The team, led by scientists at the University of Liverpool and colleagues at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Services, Ministry of Health, Sierra Leone, is investigating how plasma from Ebola survivors could help treat patients with the disease at the Ebola Treatment Unit, run by the 34th Regiment Military Hospital group in Freetown.

Dr Calum Semple, from the University's Institute of Child Health, and his collaborators developed a convalescent plasma protocol in readiness for an outbreak, such as Ebola, as part of the outbreak preparatory work of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium.

The study is one of several being supported by the Wellcome Trust's platform for evaluating experimental Ebola therapeutics in West Africa.

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http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-04/uol-esd042215.php

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More than 26,000 have been infected with Ebola: WHO

Wed, 2015-04-22 21:12 — mike kraft

AFP

(Scroll down for complete WHO report April 22, 2015

Geneva - More than 26,000 people have been infected with Ebola since the outbreak began and more than 10,800 have died, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

The UN health body also warned that the decline in confirmed cases appeared to have stagnated, urging increased efforts to stop transmission of the deadly virus.

In all, 26,079 people have contracted the disease over the past 16 months, and 10,823 of them have died, almost all of them in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone....

In the week leading to April 19, 33 new confirmed cases were reported, with 21 in Guinea, 12 in Sierra Leone and none in Liberia.

That compares to 37 new confirmed cases the week before, and 30 the week before that....

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Mapping of Assessments and Identification of Gaps - Sierra Leone and Liberia

Wed, 2015-04-22 15:45 — mike kraft

ACAPS April 22, 2015

Survey of surveys for Liberia and Sierra Leone, April, 1015

A multitude of needs assessments have been conducted to capture impacts of the Ebola outbreak on affected communities, since March 2014. This paper reviews all of the assessments on Liberia and Sierra Leone made available to the Ebola Needs Analysis Project, between December 2014 and 20 March 2015. Several assessments have been conducted at a regional level. This report focuses only on those conducted on a national level or lower, to allow for disaggregation of results. http://acaps.org/img/documents/t-acaps_mapping_assessments_-identifying_gaps_22_april_2015.pdf

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http://acaps.org/img/documents/t-acaps_mapping_assessments_-identifying_gaps_22_april_2015.pdf

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Tekmira Ebola drug succeeds in small monkey study

Wed, 2015-04-22 15:03 — mike kraft

REUTERS by Aharon Begley Aug. 22, 2015
NEW YORK --An experimental Ebola drug from Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp cured all three monkeys intentionally infected with the virus, scientists reported on Wednesday, the first such success against the strain of Ebola in West Africa's 2014-2015 outbreak.

Although other experimental treatments appeared to help Ebola patients last year, especially in the United States, those one-time uses cannot prove efficacy against the "Makona" strain, since patients' recovery might be due to other causes. Similarly, drugs, including Mapp Biopharmaceutical's ZMapp, cured monkeys in lab experiments, but in a strain of Ebola different from that responsible for the current outbreak, the worst ever recorded.

"We can't say for certain that an experimental drug that works against one strain will work in another, even if they're almost identical genetically," said Thomas Geisbert of the University of Texas Medical Branch, senior author of the study published in the journal Nature.

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