Contagion

Scottish government confirms Ebola case in Glasgow

Mon, 2014-12-29 22:31 — 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.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Scottish government confirms Ebola case in Glasgow
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola Cases Reach Over 20,000

Mon, 2014-12-29 20:51 — mike kraft

TIME MAGAZINE by Alexandra Sifferlin Dec. 29, 2014

Cases of Ebola in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have reached over 20,000.

Health workers push a gurney with a dead body at a Red Cross facility in the town of Koidu, Kono district Eastern Sierra Leone on Dec. 19, 2014. Baz Ratner—Reuters

New numbers released from the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday show Ebola has infected 20,081 people and killed 7,842. That’s nearly 400 new cases of the disease in just four days....

Sierra Leone has passed Liberia in number of cases.

Read complete story.
http://time.com/3648629/ebola-cases-reach-over-20000/

Read complete WHO report and statistics.
http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.ebola-sitrep.ebola-summary-20141229?lang=en

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Ebola Cases Reach Over 20,000
Log in or register to post comments

FDA approves new Roche Ebola test for emergency use

Mon, 2014-12-29 16:14 — mike kraft

WASHINGTON POST by Rachel Feltman Dec. 29, 2014

Pharmaceutical company Roche announced Monday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had provided an Emergency Use Authorization -- a sort of pre-approval for use in particularly bad outbreaks -- for a new kind of Ebola test.

This isn't the first test to get this kind of approval during the 2014 outbreak of the Zaire strain of Ebola, which has killed more than 7,500 people to date and is still an ongoing crisis in parts of West Africa....

So it's no surprise that Swiss company Roche has put its version of a rapid test forward. The LightMix Ebola Zaire rRT-PCR Test works in about three hours, and is designed for Roche's testing consoles.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about FDA approves new Roche Ebola test for emergency use
Log in or register to post comments

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

Mon, 2014-12-29 15:49 — 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.

Alice Jallabah, head of a bushmeat seller group, holds dried bushmeat in Monrovia. (Zoom Dosso/AFP/Getty Images)

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Solutions

Read more about Ebola’s lessons, painfully learned at great cost in dollars and human lives
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola: How does it compare?

Mon, 2014-12-29 15:23 — mike kraft

Ebola death rate compared to other diseases

BBC by James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website Dec. 27, 2014

The world has witnessed the largest-ever epidemic of Ebola claim thousands of lives in West Africa in 2014....

Outbreaks such as Ebola have an ability to spread fear around the world, often through the prism of sensationalist media reporting.

So how does Ebola actually compare to previous outbreaks and other diseases? And while the world focuses on Ebola, are we guilty of ignoring much bigger killers?

Analysing the death rates from different viruses shows Ebola is certainly one of the most deadly infections ever encountered.
Read complete report
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29953765

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Ebola: How does it compare?
Log in or register to post comments

Liberia Reports Dozens of New Ebola Cases on Border

Mon, 2014-12-29 14:59 — mike kraft

ASSOCIATED PRESS by JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH Dec. 29, 2014

MONROVIA -- Dozens of new Ebola cases have erupted in Liberia, near the border with Sierra Leone, Liberian health officials warned Monday, marking a setback amid recent improvements.

The flare-up is due to a number of factors including people going in and out of Liberia and traditional practices such as the washing of bodies, said Liberia's Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah.

Forty-nine cases were reported in in western Grand Cape Mount County between December 1 and 25, Nyenswah told state radio.

"In a very small population, an increase in the number of (Ebola) cases raises high level of concerns that we need to take very seriously as people of Liberia and people of Grand Cape Mount in particular," he said.

Read complete story.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/liberia-reports-dozens-ebola-cases-border-27873523

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Liberia Reports Dozens of New Ebola Cases on Border
1 comment
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola in West Africa hampering fight against malaria

Mon, 2014-12-29 02:05 — 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.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Read more about Ebola in West Africa hampering fight against malaria
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola Czar Ron Klain: Virus Is Still A Global Threat

Sun, 2014-12-28 21:59 — mike kraft

HUFFINGTON POST by Jenifer Bendery

WASHINGTON -- White House Ebola czar Ron Klain warned Sunday that the virus is still a global threat and will continue to be until it is completely wiped out.

This won't be done until we get all the way to zero," Klain said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "It's like a forest fire. A few embers burning and the thing can re-ignite at any time."

He said the United States has made "significant strides" to prepare for the occasional case of Ebola, but West Africa is still struggling with its outbreak. While Liberia has reduced new cases of Ebola from 50 to 100 a day to five to 10 a day, Sierra Leone and Guinea aren't having the same success.

"We're nearing a pivot point in this," Klain said.

Read complete story.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/28/ebola-ron-klain_n_6387194.html

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Ebola Czar Ron Klain: Virus Is Still A Global Threat
Log in or register to post comments

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

Sun, 2014-12-28 15:56 — 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.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Year in Review: Efforts to stop Ebola are gaining ground, but the fight isn't won
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola Survivor: "You Feel Like ... Maybe ... A Ghost"

Fri, 2014-12-26 23:18 — mike kraft

Doctor who survived describes the misery of being an Ebola patient in Liberia

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO by Didrik Schanoh and Sami Yenigun Dec. 25, 2014

Dr. Senga Omeonga met us under a huge mango tree outside the St. Joseph's Catholic Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. Behind the main building, several dozens of disinfected rubber boots worn by health care workers were propped upside down on stakes planted on a patch of lawn.

Dr. Senga Omeonga pictured outside St. Joseph's Catholic Hospital in Monrovia. Dr. Omeonga moved to Liberia from DRC in 2011. He contracted Ebola but survived it. John W. Poole/NPR

This is the hospital where he works as general surgeon and the head of Infection Prevention Control. It's also where he came down with Ebola on August 2.

He says his days in treatment were "a living hell." And the experience has changed his view of the world — and the way he treats patients.

Read full interview.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Other