Sierra Leone

Ebola spreads in Sierra Leone as global cases top 20,000 - WHO

Thu, 2015-01-01 21:30 — mike kraft

REUTERS Dec. 31, 2014

GENEVA - The Ebola virus is still spreading in West Africa, especially in Sierra Leone, and the number of known cases globally has now exceeded 20,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

The death toll from the outbreak, which has been mostly confined to West Africa, has risen to 7,905, the WHO said, following 317 fatalities recorded since it last issued figures on Dec. 24.

The number of known cases, including fatalities, totalled 20,206 at year-end, it said.

However, the number of cases in Sierra Leone over a three-week period has fallen below 1,000 for the first time since Sept. 28, suggesting the spread of the disease is slowing. In neighbouring Guinea, the three-week total rose for a second week to 346, suggesting the epidemic is growing there.

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http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-spreads-sierra-leone-global-cases-top-20-085657794.html;_ylt=AwrBJSA9_qVUoU0AoXTQtDMD

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Ebola Ravages Economies in West Africa

Wed, 2014-12-31 10:25 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES by JEFFREY GETTLEMAN Dec. 21, 2014
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone--The "personal hospitality business" may be the most obvious sector of Sierra Leone’s economy that has been decimated by Ebola. After all, the main slogan in Freetown, the capital, these days is A.B.C. — avoid body contact.Residents in Freetown, Sierra Leone, break rocks in a road project that was halted because of concern about Ebola. In Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, Ebola continues to lay waste not just to immune systems but also to balance sheets. Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

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Fight against Ebola requires district-by-district approach – head of UN response mission

Wed, 2014-12-31 10:07 — mike kraft

UNITED NATIONS NEWS CENTRE Dec. 30, 2014

MONROVIA, Liberia --The outgoing head of the head of the United Nations Emergency Ebola Response Mission (UNMEER) said today that communities are going to play a big role in defeating the “nasty disease” in West Africa by stamping out outbreaks while they are small and not allowing them to become bigger.

The body of a suspected Ebola case in Sierra Leone is taken by an International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) team on 24 December to the cemetery where it was buried in a dignified way. UN Photo/Martine Perret

“Ebola is a very nasty disease, and it’s going to present us with some very unpleasant surprises I fear going forward,” Anthony Banbury told UN Radio in Monrovia, Liberia. “And that’s why we really need to strengthen our capabilities.....”

...While acknowledging the difficulty in getting Ebola response workers to some of the remote areas, he emphasized the importance of a district by district strategy and said: “We really need to be present out in the districts....”

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Scientists trace Ebola outbreak to a tree where children play

Tue, 2014-12-30 14:18 — mike kraft

WASHINGTON POST by Rachel Feltman Dec. 14, 2014

According to research published Tuesday by the Robert Koch-Institute, fruit bats are almost certainly to blame for the current Ebola outbreak, which has claimed 7,800 lives so far. But while most outbreaks caused by a fruit bat would have someone who hunted or handled the mammal for meat to blame for the contagion, the researchers believe that this case of bat-to-human transmission was sparked by children at play.

A child under observation for signs of Ebola. (Michel du Cille/The Washington Post)

Ebola is a zoonotic disease -- one that's spread between species. The first human cases of Ebola can indeed be traced roughly to the hunting, selling, and eating of bushmeat, or wild mammals like bats and non-human primates...

But the first case of 2014's outbreak has been traced to someone who shouldn't have had much contact with bushmeat. In October, researchers reported that patient zero of the outbreak was likely a 2-year-old boy named Emile Ouamouno who lived in the Guinea village of Meliandou.

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Automated mobile phone service hopes to stop spread of Ebola in west Africa

Tue, 2014-12-30 12:18 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Mark Anderson Dec. 30, 2014

People in rural areas of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea battling Ebola could be helped by an automated phone service that offers advice about how to avoid contracting the virus.

By getting influential people to record the calls in local languages and dialects, Halt!Ebola believes it could help to stop the spread of the disease, said Michael Chu’no Ike, the firm’s co-founder. Photograph: Francisco Leong/AFP/Getty Images

Startup company Halt!Ebola is using “robocalling” to reach people where information hotlines are not being used.

The company is trying to acquire mobile phone numbers from the networks operating in these regions to enable them to make the calls. When people answer, an audio message with information and advice about the virus is played back.

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Is Ebola Here to Stay?

Tue, 2014-12-30 09:44 — mike kraft

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN by Dina Fine Maron Dec. 29, 2014
Kisses are at a premium in the capital of Liberia. Even a hug or a handshake between friends is often out of the question. That’s the new normal ever since Ebola began ravaging communities throughout Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. For much of the past year, residents of these west African countries have wondered if daily life will ever be able to return to the way things once were.

Monrovia, Liberia - November 2014: Ebola survivor Korlia Bonarwolo leads a training of health workers at a mock Ebola Treatment Unit in Liberia. "I think with the knowledge we have now, the treatment is going to be much greater," he says.

Photo: Morgana Wingard/Sarah Grile, 2014

And at the heart of the matter is a scientific question: has Ebola now found a permanent foothold among humans?

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After Slow Ebola Response, WHO Seeks to Avoid Repeat

Tue, 2014-12-30 07:13 — mike kraft

Health Body to Consider Rapid-Response Teams, Other Changes

WALL STREET JOURNAL by Betsy McKay in Atlanta and Peter Wonacott in Freetown, Sierra Leone Dec. 30, 2014

The tepid initial response to West Africa’s Ebola outbreak exposed holes in the global health system so gaping it has prompted the World Health Organization to consider steps to prevent a repeat, including emergency-response teams and a fund for public-health crises.

In a special session next month in Geneva, the WHO’s executive board is expected to consider those and other recommendations by its member countries—including a proposal that it commission an outside review of its Ebola response—according to a document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The plan comes as global health officials are struggling with a knotty question: how the WHO could have moved at a slow pace initially despite lessons learned more than a decade ago from another deadly outbreak, of SARS.

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http://www.wsj.com/articles/after-slow-ebola-response-who-seeks-to-avoid-repeat-1419892712

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How Ebola Roared Back

Mon, 2014-12-29 18:51 — mike kraft

In-depth report and analysis of the evolution of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa

By KEVIN SACK, SHERI FINK, PAM BELLUCK and ADAM NOSSITER DEC. 29, 2014

For a fleeting moment last spring, the epidemic sweeping West Africa might have been stopped. But the opportunity to control the virus, which has now caused more than 7,800 deaths, was lost....

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Scottish government confirms Ebola case in Glasgow

Mon, 2014-12-29 17:31 — mike kraft

UPDATE: Ebola Patient Is Moved to London, and 2 Others Are Tested in Britain

NEW YORK TIMES by Alan Cowell Dec. 30, 2014

LONDON — A health worker who returned from West Africa and was found to have Ebola when she arrived home in Scotland was transferred on Tuesday to Britain’s designated treatment center for the disease in London. The authorities also reported that two more people were being tested for the virus.

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Ebola’s lessons, painfully learned at great cost in dollars and human lives

Mon, 2014-12-29 10:49 — mike kraft

In-Depth report on lessons to be learned from the Ebola crisis

THE WASHINGTON POST by By Lena H. Sun, Brady Dennis and Joel Achenbach Dec. 29, 2014

A year after it began, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa continues to be unpredictable, forcing governments and aid groups to improvise strategies as they chase a virus that is unencumbered by borders or bureaucracy.

The people fighting Ebola are coming up with lists of lessons learned — not only for the current battle, which has killed more than 7,500 people and is far from over, but also for future outbreaks of deadly contagions.