Liberia

Ebola in West Africa hampering fight against malaria

Sun, 2014-12-28 21:05 — mike kraft

ASSOCIATED PRESS by By Michelle Faul Dec. 29, 2014

GUECKEDOU, Guinea – West Africa’s fight to contain Ebola has hampered the campaign against malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that is claiming many thousands more lives than the dreaded virus.

Woman in the Guinean village of Meliandou, above, near the area considered to be Ebola's ground zero. The fight against Ebola in West Africa is holding back efforts to prevent and treat malaria. Jerome Delay / AP Photo

In Gueckedou, near the village where Ebola first started killing people in Guinea’s tropical southern forests a year ago, doctors say they have had to stop pricking fingers to do blood tests for malaria.

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Year in Review: Efforts to stop Ebola are gaining ground, but the fight isn't won

Sun, 2014-12-28 10:56 — mike kraft

Ebola: Year in Review of 2014 developments
LOS ANGELES TIMES by Alexandra Zavis Dec. 28, 2014

...As 2015 approaches, there is reason to hope that what at first was a plodding international response is finally catching up with the virus. In Liberia, where just a few months ago bodies were left in the streets for days and patients were turned away from treatment facilities because there weren't enough beds or personnel, the number of cases has been dropping rapidly. There are also signs that the disease may be slowing in Sierra Leone, which has overtaken Liberia as the country with the biggest caseload.

Liberian children are encouraged to wash their hands at the Women in Peace Building Program in Monrovia. Ahmed Jallanzo / European Pressphoto Agency.

...Although the tactics being used have stemmed smaller Ebola outbreaks, some experts are beginning to question whether this one has spread too far to be fully contained without a vaccine or cure.

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Ebola death toll rises to 7,588 globally, WHO says

Fri, 2014-12-26 15:29 — mike kraft

AFP Dec. 26, 2014

The global death toll from Ebola has risen to 7,588 out of 19,497 confirmed cases recorded in the year-old epidemic raging in West Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

The virus is still spreading intensely in Sierra Leone, especially in the north and west, with 315 new confirmed cases reported in the former British colony in the week to December 21, it said. These included 115 cases in the capital Freetown.

"The neighbouring district of Port Loko experienced a surge in new cases, reporting 92 confirmed cases compared with 56 the previous week," the WHO said.

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http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ebola-death-toll-rises-to-7-588-globally-who-says-1.2884197

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http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/situation-reports/en/

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Where Ebola Has Closed Schools, A Radio Program Provides A Faint Signal Of Hope

Fri, 2014-12-26 13:32 — mike kraft

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO by Ofeibea Quist-Arcton Dec. 25, 2014

MONROVIA -- Working with UNICEF and another nonprofit, Talking Drum, in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, the government aims to provide lessons to children across the country, hit by the Ebola outbreak. Most schools closed this past summer and will likely remain closed for months....

Florence Allen Jones, right, is part of the education ministry's classes-by-radio team.

The radio classes are broadcast on local stations, and on United Nations radio. The Education Ministry acknowledged that the broadcasts are not reaching nationwide. In any case, few children in Liberia's 15 counties have access to a radio, or even the batteries to power one. Wealthy parents have hired home tutors for their kids, but many other youngsters have taken to peddling petty goods, like trinkets or donuts, on the streets of Monrovia, to try to earn a little money for their families while schools are closed.

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Next in Ebola Plan: UN Teams to Study Lines of Transmission

Fri, 2014-12-26 09:17 — mike kraft

REUTERS Dec. 24, 2014

ACCRA—Medical detective work will be the next big phase in the fight against Ebola when the United Nations deploys hundreds of health workers to identify chains of infection as the virus passes from person to person, top U.N. health workers said.
Health workers bury the body of a suspected Ebola victim at a cemetery in Freetown, Dec. 21, 2014.

The health teams will travel to each district and region of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the three countries at the center of the epidemic, to trace who each infected person has potentially contacted.

The effort will run in parallel with measures to minimize the spread of infection, such as treating all Ebola patients in specialized centers and burying all victims safely.

But Phase Two of the plan is to contain the virus by understanding its lines of transmission, said World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan.

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The perilous trek of a 4-year-old Liberian suspected of having Ebola

Wed, 2014-12-24 09:29 — mike kraft

The village of Quewein, without electricity or clean water, and others like it pose new challenges in the campaign to stop the virus. David Korn, 39, the town chief of Quewein, Liberia, says Ebola is “tearing the village apart.” Michel du Cille/The Washington Post

Ebola's Deep Persistence

THE WASHINGTON POST by Justin Jouvenal Dec. 24, 2014

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German Ebola treatment center officially opened in Liberia

Tue, 2014-12-23 20:22 — mike kraft

DW Dec 23, 2014

MONROVIA-- Liberia has hailed the official opening of its first German Ebola treatment center. The ceremony took place one day after global health officials announced that the Ebola death toll had passed 7,500.

The German-Liberia Ebola treatment Center was officially opened by Liberia's Assistant Minister for Health, Tolbert Nyenswah and the German ambassador to Liberia, Ralph Timmermann.

The center has an initial capacity of 50 beds. "There are three different wards - one for suspected cases, another for probable cases and yet another for confirmed cases," Christian Schuh, outgoing head of the German Red Cross told DW at the ceremony in the center in Paynesville on the outskirts of the capital Monrovia on Tuesday.

There are also facilities and space for nurses, doctors, pharmacies, training and teaching....

Timmermann said Germany had so far raised $150 million (123 million euros) to help fight Ebola in the three worst affected countries, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

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Ebola raises profile of blood-based therapy

Tue, 2014-12-23 13:43 — mike kraft

NATURE by Delcan Butler Dec. 23, 2014

With no drugs available to treat Ebola, eyes are turning to a therapy that had largely been relegated to the history books: transfusing patients with blood plasma donated by survivors, which contains antibodies against the virus.

Survivors of Ebola carry antibodies that might be used to save the lives of those infected with the virus. Michel du Cille/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Clinical trials of convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) have started in the past few weeks in Liberia, and are due to begin soon in Guinea and Sierra Leone. If the therapy saves lives, the approach could quickly be scaled up.

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C.D.C. Head Says Fight on Ebola Will Be Long

Tue, 2014-12-23 06:58 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES by Denise Grady Dec. 23, 2014
There are reasons for both hope and continued worry about the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Monday.

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U.S. to Complete Ebola Treatment Units in Liberia by End of December

Mon, 2014-12-22 21:51 — mike kraft

WALL STREET JOURNAL by Junian E. Barnes and Felicia Schwartz Dec. 22, 2014
WASHINGTON—The U.S. will complete the last of its Ebola treatment units in Liberia by the end of December, setting the stage for the military to decide next month whether to send some service members home or send them to another West African country, the top U.S. commander in Liberia said Monday.

The U.S. will decide by mid-January whether to redeploy troops to Sierra Leone or Guinea or simply further shrink the size of the military mission in Liberia, Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, the commander of the military’s Ebola task force, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

The military task force has been involved in the building of 14 treatment units, in addition to the treatment unit completed before the 101st Airborne Division arrived. ...

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http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-to-complete-ebola-treatment-units-in-liberia-by-end-of-december-1419285448

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