Africa

U.N. Ebola chief voices guarded optimism

Fri, 2014-11-07 10:51 — mike kraft

ASSOCIATED PRESS NOV. 7, 2014

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N.'s Ebola chief said an extraordinary global response over the past month has made him hopeful the outbreak could end in 2015, though he cautioned that the fight to contain the disease is not even a quarter done.

"Until the last case of Ebola is under treatment, we have to stay on full alert," Dr. David Nabarro said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. "It's still bad."

Nabarro said a month ago that the number of Ebola cases was probably doubling every three-to-four weeks. He warned then that without a mass global mobilization, "the world will have to live with the Ebola virus forever" and that the response needed to be 20 times greater.

But in the past four weeks, the rate of Ebola infections seems to be slowing in some parts of West Africa, Nabarro said in the interview. In other hotspots, he said, it appears to be expanding the way it was a month ago.

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A Look at the Worst-Ever Ebola Epidemic by Numbers

Fri, 2014-11-07 10:33 — mike kraft

An overview of the numbers of Ebola cases in Africa and elsewhere.
ASSOCIATED PRESS NOV. 17, 2014b
By Maria Cheng, AP Medical Writer
LONDON --As the biggest-ever outbreak of Ebola continues to ravage West Africa, here are a few key numbers to get a handle on the epidemic:

13,042 and 4,818:

Medical workers wearing protective equipment surround a simulated patient during a demonstration for media members on their training for working with possible Ebola patients, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, at Madigan Army Medical Center on Joint Base Lewis McChord, near Tacoma, Wash. Madigan providers and nurses have been training to perform clinical skills, including inserting IVs, obtaining blood samples for testing and conducting ultrasounds while dressed in powered air purifying respirators, impermeable suits and multiple layers of gloves. The clinically-focused exercises use realistic patient simulators that speak through microphones and can express simulated bodily fluids. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) Close The Associated Press

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Experimental Ebola drugs should not be withheld, WHO says

Fri, 2014-11-07 10:07 — mike kraft

World Health Organisation doubts feasibility of placebo-controlled trials in west Africa, but FDA favours ‘gold standard’

THE GUARDIAN Nov. 6, 2014
By Sarah Bosley

Scientists involved in trials of experimental drug treatments for the Ebola epidemic in west Africa should not be compelled to withhold them from some patients, says the World Health Organisation, despite objections from the US that it is the only way to be sure they work.

Vials of the experimental VSE-EBOV vaccine for Ebola. Photograph: Mathilde Missioneiro/AP

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China to build Ebola hospital in Liberia

Thu, 2014-11-06 16:23 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN NOV. 6, 2014
By Jonathan Kaiman

BEIJING -- China plans to build a 100-bed medical centre in Liberia to combat Ebola, officials announced on Thursday, after criticism that the country is not doing enough to fight the disease.

Chinese medical staff receiving an Ebola training session in Beijing. The size of China's aid response to the outbreak has been criticised. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

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UT nasal spray vaccine for Ebola effective in monkeys

Thu, 2014-11-06 16:02 — mike kraft

By Todd Ackerman Nov. 5, 2014

... researchers at the University of Texas-Austin have developed a nasal spray vaccine that has protected monkeys against the deadly Ebola virus even a year after immunization.

The vaccine, a genetically engineered cold virus containing a tiny portion of Ebola DNA, saved 100 percent of monkeys who got a single spray through the nose in a new UT study. Injecting the vaccine only saved the lives of about 50 percent.

Maria Croyle, a professor of pharmaceutics and the study's principal investigator, said an inhaled Ebola vaccine is more attractive because it would be cheaper and safer than needle-delivered vaccines.

"The main advantage is the long-lasting protection after a single inhaled dose," Maria Croyle, a professor of pharmaceutics and the study's principal investigator, said in a statement. "This is important since the longevity of other vaccines for Ebola (hasn't been) fully evaluated....

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Ebola cases rise sharply in Sierra Leone

Thu, 2014-11-06 15:37 — mike kraft

USA TODAY Nov.6, 200r

by Liz Aazbo

Sierra Leone is reporting an alarming increase in the number of new Ebola cases, with 435 confirmed in the past week.

About 24% of the Ebola cases in Sierra Leone have been reported in the past three weeks, although the outbreak began in March, according to the World Health Organization.

Mothers wait inline for their children to be vaccinated by heath workers at the Pipeline Community Health Center, situated on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia. The Ebola outbreak has spawned hidden cases of malaria, pneumonia, typhoid and the like that are going untreated because people in the countries hardest hit by Ebola either cannot find an open clinic or are too afraid to go to one.(Photo: Abbas Dulleh, AP)

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Ebola Cases Seen Declining In Liberia, WHO Says In New Update

Thu, 2014-11-06 10:48 — mike kraft

NPR Nov. 6, 2014

There are currently 13,042 confirmed or suspected cases of the deadly Ebola virus in six countries, according to the World Health Organization. But the group says its latest figures also hold some good news, as the number of Ebola cases in hard-hit Liberia appear to be on the decline.

WHO released its data for the period up to Nov. 2 Wednesday, saying that Ebola has now been blamed for 4,818 reported deaths.

Health workers sit at the emergency entrance of a Doctors Without Borders clinic in Monrovia. New data seem to show a decline in Ebola cases in Liberia, WHO says.

The group said that the weekly incidence of Ebola seems to be stable in Guinea, rising in Sierra Leone, and declining in Liberia — continuing a trend that prompted a recent post by NPR's Goats and Soda blog.

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357 people now being monitored for Ebola in New York

Thu, 2014-11-06 09:39 — mike kraft

LOS ANGELES TIMES Nov.5, 2014
By Michael Muskal
The number of people who are being actively monitored for Ebola in New York has tripled to 357 people, none of whom has displayed any symptoms, city health officials announced Wednesday.

The vast majority of those being monitored arrived in New York in the last 21 days from West Africa, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation said in a statement. Those under monitoring are being checked out of “an abundance of caution,” the statement said.

The latest announcement comes as Ohio said it was officially Ebola-free and Texas prepared to end its observation period for the last 27 healthcare workers. The Texas group will complete its 21-day monitoring period on Friday, according to state officials.

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http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-ohio-ebola-free-monitoring-20141105-story.html

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Facebook looks to raise awareness, money to fight Ebola

Thu, 2014-11-06 09:16 — mike kraft

USA TODAY Nov. 6, 2014
by Jessica Guynn

SAN FRANCISCO — Just weeks after Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave $25 million to fight Ebola in Africa, his company is rolling out three initiatives to raise awareness — and more money.

Facebook CEO Marc Zuckerberg (Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images)

Unlike the billions of dollars that flowed to relief agencies in the aftermath of major natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, charitable giving to battle the Ebola outbreak has been trickling into the stricken region.

Which is why Facebook is using its global reach to send an urgent message to its 1.3 billion users: Nonprofit groups on the front lines of the humanitarian crisis in West Africa need help.

Over the next week, a message will appear at the top of News Feeds giving people the option to donate to three nonprofits: International Medical Corps, the Red Cross and Save the Children.

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/11/06/facebook-ebola/18572437/

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Ebola crisis draining development budgets in West Africa, study finds

Thu, 2014-11-06 08:59 — mike kraft

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME Nov. 5, 2014

New York -- The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is impairing the ability of governments to raise revenues, increasing their exposure to domestic and foreign debts and may make them more dependent on aid, according to the latest study (PDF) on the socio-economic impact of the crisis carried out by the UN development agency.

Investments in kick-starting economies and long-term development urgently needed

“We need to make sure that the Ebola outbreak does not lead to socio-economic collapse,” said Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, the Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). “This crisis is already taking a toll on budgets and reducing the governments’ policy leeway to make much-needed investments in critical areas such as health and education for their citizens.” He added that the effects of the Ebola crisis will last long after the epidemic is brought under control.

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