Liberia

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INTERVIEW by Laura Starecheski                                     Feb. 20, 2015
BARKEDU,  LIBERIA --If you'd like to get an idea of what resilience is all about, take a lesson from Mamuedeh Kanneh.

She lost her husband to Ebola. But she's stayed strong. She's caring for 13 children, her own and orphans whose parents died of the virus.

Mamuedeh Kanneh was married to Laiye Barwor, the man who brought Ebola to Barkedu, Liberia. He died of the virus. She now cares for her children as well as children who lost their parents to the disease. John W. Poole/NPR

Kanneh lives in Barkedu, a village of about 6,000 in northern Liberia. Ebola took more than 150 lives. In her neighborhood there were many deaths, so people in other parts of Barkedu are scared of the orphans.

Kanneh has a strategy to help these children — and the village overall — get back to normal life. She sends the youngsters on errands so people can get used to seeing them and get over their fear. And the children can start to feel they're part of the community again....

 BBC NEWS                                                                                                         Feb. 20, 2015

Liberia is to reopen its borders following a reduction in the number of Ebola cases being reported in the country.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made the announcement on Friday and said nationwide curfews would also be lifted.

New infections have dropped to one-tenth of the level seen when the virus was at its peak.

But health officials warned the decline has levelled off in the last month.

Dr Bruce Aylward, who leads the World Health Organization's official Ebola response, said data showed the steep decrease in infections had now flattened, at a rate of around 120 to 150 new cases a week.

Read complete story.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31558363

REUTERS    by Tom Miles                             FeB. 20, 2015
GENEVA --The World Health Organization has approved the first rapid test for Ebola in a potential breakthrough for ending an epidemic that has killed almost 10,000 people in West Africa, it said on Friday.

The test, developed by U.S. firm Corgenix Medical Corp, is less accurate than the standard test but is easy to perform, does not require electricity, and can give results within 15 minutes, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said.

"It's a first rapid test. It's definitely a breakthrough," he said.

The standard laboratory test has a turnaround time of 12-24 hours. While the Corgenix test is not failsafe, it could quickly identify patients who need quarantine and make it much easier to verify rapidly any new outbreaks.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/20/us-health-ebola-testing-idUSKBN0LO0R920150220

AFP                                                                                                    Feb. 19, 2015

Geneva - Ebola-hit Sierre Leone and Guinea saw an increase in the last week in unsafe burials that risk spreading the disease, the World Health Organization reported.

A specialized team bury the body of an Ebola victim in Mananeh, Sierra Leone on October 6, 2014 (AFP Photo/Florian Plaucheur)

In Guinea, there were 39 unsafe burials and in Sierre Leone, there were 45 reported in the week to February 15, WHO said in a report late Wednesday.

WHO also warned that more than 40 new confirmed Ebola cases in the two countries had been identified only after the infected people had died in their communities, and not in treatment facilities.

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http://news.yahoo.com/unsafe-burials-increase-ebola-hit-countries-112025290.html;_ylt=AwrBJR8Y8.VU8EYAzAfQtDMD
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