Solutions

Problem

http://www.defense.gov/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=16986

Read more about The Bigger Picture: Ebola - Dr. Michael D. McDonald
Log in or register to post comments

Pentagon building rapid-response Ebola team

Sun, 2014-10-19 18:41 — mike kraft

USA TODAY Oct. 19, 2014

BY Gregg Zoroya and John Bacon

The Pentagon will build a 30-person, rapid-response Ebola medical support team to aid civilian health care workers should additional cases of the virus be diagnosed in the U.S., officials said Sunday.

The effort was requested by the Department of Health and Human Services "as an added prudent measure to ensure our nation is ready to respond quickly, effectively and safely in the event of additional Ebola cases," a Pentagon statement said.

The Pentagon said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered his Northern Command Commander, Gen. Chuck Jacoby, to prepare and train the team. It will include 20 critical-care nurses, five doctors trained in infectious disease and five trainers in infectious-disease protocols...

Team members will remain in a "prepare to deploy" status for 30 days after training. They will not be sent to West Africa or elsewhere overseas and "will be called upon domestically only if deemed prudent by our public health professionals," the statement said.

Read full story

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Disease

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Read more about Pentagon building rapid-response Ebola team
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola: What Should We Do Now?

Sun, 2014-10-19 17:52 — mike kraft

Four suggestions on what we need to successfully counter Ebola

A healthcare worker mixes chlorine with water at an Ebola treatment center in Hastings, Freetown, Sierra Leone, Oct. 15. Associated Press

WALL STREET JOURNAL

By Larry Brilliant
Former Chairman of the National Biosurveillance Advisory Sub-Committee created by President George W. Bush.

Suggestions include:

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Disease

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Read more about Ebola: What Should We Do Now?
Log in or register to post comments

Canada to start shipping experimental Ebola vaccine on Monday

Sat, 2014-10-18 17:53 — mike kraft

CANADIAN PRESS Oct. 18, 2014

OTTAWA—The federal government says Canada will start shipping its experimental Ebola vaccine to the World Health Organization on Monday.

A lab worker at the JC Wilt Infectious Diseases Research centre at Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba. An experimental Ebola vaccine developed in Canada will be shipped to the World Health Organization in Geneva starting Monday.

The government says in a release the Public Health Agency of Canada is supplying the vaccine to the UN body in Geneva in its role as the international co-ordinating body for the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. It says Canada will ship 800 vials of its experimental vaccine in three separate shipments, as a precautionary measure.

The WHO will consult with its partners, including the health authorities from the affected countries, to determine how best to distribute and use the vaccine. For instance, it must take into account concerns about using an experimental vaccine in people.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Read more about Canada to start shipping experimental Ebola vaccine on Monday
Log in or register to post comments

IAEA to provide nuclear detection technology to help diagnose Ebola in West Africa

Fri, 2014-10-17 21:01 — mike kraft

HOMELAND SECURITY TODAY Oct. 17, 2014

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it would provide specialized diagnostic equipment to help Sierra Leone in its efforts to combat the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak. Later, the support is planned to be extended to Liberia and Guinea. The support is in line with a UN Security Council appeal and responds to a request from Sierra Leone. The IAEA assistance will supplement the country’s ability to diagnose EVD quickly using a diagnostic technology known as Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). RT-PCR is a nuclear-derived technology which allows EVD to be detected within a few hours, while other methods require growing on a cell culture for several days before a diagnosis is determined.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it would provide specialized diagnostic equipment to help Sierra Leone in its efforts to combat the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak, IAEA director General Yukiya Amano announced Tuesday. Later, the support is planned to be extended to Liberia and Guinea.

Read Full Story.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Technology

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Read more about IAEA to provide nuclear detection technology to help diagnose Ebola in West Africa
Log in or register to post comments

Lax U.S. Guidelines on Ebola Led to Poor Hospital Training, Experts Say

Thu, 2014-10-16 13:35 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES Oct 15, 2014
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

Many American hospitals have improperly trained their staffs to deal with Ebola patients because they were following federal guidelines that were too lax, infection control experts said on Wednesday.

A dummy depicting an Ebola patient was part of a C.D.C. training session for health care workers Wednesday in Anniston, Ala. Credit Erik S. Lesser/European Pressphoto Agency

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Disease

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Read more about Lax U.S. Guidelines on Ebola Led to Poor Hospital Training, Experts Say
1 comment
Log in or register to post comments

Obama Urges ‘Aggressive’ Monitoring of Ebola Threat in U.S.

Wed, 2014-10-15 23:20 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES OCT. 15, 2014
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

President Obamaon Wednesday directed his aides to monitor the spread of Ebola in the United States “in a much more aggressive way,” but said the American people should remain confident in the government’s ability to prevent a widespread outbreak of the deadly disease.

After a two-hour meeting of cabinet-level officials who are in charge of the government’s response to the virus, Mr. Obama promised that a review of the recent Ebola cases in Dallas would determine what went wrong that allowed two nurses to be infected.

With a video link to Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the head of the Centers for Disease Control, the president said he had ordered health officials to determine, “How we are going to make sure that something like this isn’t repeated.”

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Read more about Obama Urges ‘Aggressive’ Monitoring of Ebola Threat in U.S.
Log in or register to post comments

" 10 drugs that could stop Ebola "

Tue, 2014-10-14 19:33 — mike kraft

FIERCE BOIOTECH RESEARCH Oct. 14, 2014
By Emily Mullin

Before the current Ebola outbreak, the virus had only appeared in Africa in fits and starts since its discovery in 1976, receding back into the jungle almost as quickly as it arrived. This relative rarity and the swiftness with which the disease kills its victims has, up until now, made Ebola an unattractive--not to mention daunting--prospect for drug developers. As a result, no approved drugs or vaccines against Ebola exist.

...the current situation in West Africa... has prompted the World Health Organization to call on international government agencies and the pharmaceutical industry to work together to speed up the development of promising therapies for experimental use for those most at risk of contracting the disease, which causes severe hemorrhagic fever.

Now, a handful of players are racing to get a treatment or vaccine to patients as quickly as possible, even though these drugs remain largely untested in humans....

Here is a list of organizations that are in the global spotlight right now with their investigational Ebola program

See full story and list

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Read more about " 10 drugs that could stop Ebola "
Log in or register to post comments

Head of World Bank Makes Ebola His Mission

Tue, 2014-10-14 18:30 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES OCT. 14, 2014

By SABRINA TAVERNISE

WASHINGTON — Some of the world’s most influential health officials gathered on the 12th floor of the World Bank’s glass-sheathed headquarters here last month to talk about Ebola. The failure of the international effort to contain its spread hung heavy.

During a tense discussion, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank president, spoke sharply to Dr. Margaret Chan, the head of the World Health Organization, the agency in charge. You have the authority to act in this emergency, he told her, according to people familiar with the meeting, “so why aren’t you doing it?”

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: