Africa

THE ECONOMIST                                                                                                      Dec. 4, 2014

THE first reported case in the Ebola outbreak ravaging west Africa dates back to December 2013, in Guéckédou, a forested area of Guinea near the border with Liberia and Sierra Leone. Travellers took it across the border: by late March, Liberia had reported eight suspected cases and Sierra Leone six. By the end of June 759 people had been infected and 467 people had died from the disease, making this the worst ever Ebola outbreak. The numbers keep climbing. As of November 30th, 17,145 cases and 6,070 deaths had been reported worldwide, the vast majority of them in these same three countries. Many suspect these estimates are badly undercooked.

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http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/12/ebola-graphics

Link to an interactive map of the virus's current global reach:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/12/interactive-ebola-map

ASSOCIATED PRESS by CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY         Dec. 6, 2014

FREETOWN --Two more Sierra Leonean doctors have died from Ebola, further depleting the West African country's ability to respond to the devastating outbreak, health officials said Saturday.

The deaths bring the number of Sierra Leonean doctors killed by Ebola to nine.

Dr. Thomas Rogers, who had worked at Connaught Hospital in the capital, died Friday, according to Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brima Kargbo. Dr. Dauda Koroma also died Friday, said Jonathan Abass Kamara, a spokesman for the Health Ministry.

In all, 11 Sierra Leonean doctors have been infected; one has been cured and another is still in treatment.

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http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/8th-sierra-leonean-doctor-dies-ebola-27410480

Additonal  Nigerian and British health workers arrive in Liberia and Sierra Leone to help counter Ebola

(Two stories, scroll down)

REUTERS  by James Harding Giahyue and Umaru Fofana   Dec. 5, 2014
MONROVIA/FREETOWN --More than 175 Nigerian medics arrived in Liberia and Sierra Leone on Friday to join the fight against Ebola, the first of 600 volunteers promised by the regional giant which contained its own outbreak earlier this year.

An army medic teaches NHS staff how to dispose of potentially contaminated waste last month, before their deployment to Sierra Leone. Photograph: Simon Davis/AFP/Getty Images

The medics will boost weak local health systems that are also struggling to contain other preventable diseases as Ebola discourages people from going to clinics for fear of contracting the fever.

"This is the African spirit you are showing, this is the Nigerian spirit,” Nigeria's ambassador to Liberia, Chigozie Obi-Nnadozie, told 76 Nigerian medics who landed there.

Another 100 volunteers landed in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Months into the Ebola response, experts say they are still short of medical personnel to staff treatment centers.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH and MIKE CORDER                                                Dec. 5, 2014

MONROVIA- A U.N. peacekeeper who contracted Ebola in Liberia will be flown to the Netherlands for treatment, a Dutch Health Ministry spokeswoman said Friday.

The Nigerian soldier is expected to arrive in the Netherlands this weekend and will go into isolation at the University Medical Center Utrecht, according to Inge Freriksen.

This is the third infection for the mission, which comprises about 7,700 troops and police. The previous two died.

Sixteen people who came into contact with the Nigerian soldier have been quarantined, the mission said.

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http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/peacekeeper-liberia-tests-positive-ebola-27383914