Cases may be nearing zero in certain areas, but the threat of the disease lingers

 TIME MAGAZINE  by Maya Rhodan                                                   April 16, 2015

There were only 37 confirmed cases of Ebola last week, just a year after the deadly virus was spreading quickly across Western Africa. But key stakeholders in the effort to reduce the number of cases to zero said Thursday that success is not guaranteed.

President Barack Obama, flanked by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, left, and Guinean President Alpha Condé, speaks in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 15, 2015, to discuss the progress made in the international Ebola response. Manuel Balce Ceneta—AP

“We are dealing now with the most difficult areas,” said Bruce Aylward, the assistant director-general of polio and emergencies at the World Health Organization. “We’re dealing with issues of fear, of trust with communities that have been marginalized. That have not been fully engaged.”

AFP    by Zoom Dosso                                       april 16, 2015
Monrovia - Estella Verdier keeps vigil by her sick four-month-old grandson's hospital bed, praying for his recovery but placing her faith in the earthly healing powers of Liberia's first ever children's hospital.

A woman sits next to her baby on April 7, 2015 in Liberia's first ever children's hospital, just opened in Monrovia by Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), part of the country's response to the daunting challenge of repairing its wrecked health service (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)

The 46-bed unit, just opened in Monrovia by Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), is part of the country's response to the challenge of repairing its wrecked health service as it emerges from the nightmare of Ebola...

With its Ebola clinics now empty, Liberia's priority is curing the ailing healthcare system.

"We basically decided to come and help the medical system in the effort of restoration after Ebola hit," MSF project coordinator Ondrej Horvath told AFP.

REUTERS                                                                                              April 16, 2015

CONAKRY - - Guinean authorities have confirmed at least nine new cases of Ebola in the southwest region of Forecariah near the border with Sierra Leone, the area hardest hit by the year-old outbreak, a senior health official said on Thursday.

Authorities launched a four day, door-to-door campaign in Forecariah on April 12 to improve community participation in reporting suspected cases and as part of an emergency 45-day drive to tackle Ebola in the west of the country.

Sakoba Keita, national coordinator for the fight against Ebola in the West African country, said...92 percent of households in Forecariah had been reached in the four day program.

"We have been able to find nine sick people (with Ebola) hiding in Forecariah," Keita told a news conference. "That discovery will allow us at least to stop the development of new chains of infection."

UPDATE with testimony to Congress.

Obama says Ebola-fighting goal is to prevent any new cases

(Scroll down for earlier story and link to Congressional testimony by administration officials)

ASSOCIATED PRESS       by Jim Kuhnhenn                                              APRIL 15.                                    

WASHINGTON — Citing significant gains in fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, President Obama declared Wednesday that the international goal now is to prevent any new cases of the deadly virus in the afflicted region....

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, back right, meets with, from left, Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Guinean President Alpha Condé, in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 15, 2015, to discuss progress made in the international Ebola response. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press)