Situation Report

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/230613.htm

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U.S. Orders Departure of Eligible Family Members from Sierra Leone

Fri, 2014-08-15 11:25 — Norea

Department of State Seal Press Statement

Marie Harf
Deputy Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

August 14, 2014

At the recommendation of the U.S. Embassy in Sierra Leone, the State Department today ordered the departure from Freetown of all eligible family members (EFMs) not employed by post. The Embassy recommended this step out of an abundance of caution, following the determination by the Department’s Medical Office that there is a lack of options for routine health care services at major medical facilities due to the Ebola outbreak.

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http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48478#.U-3pimPQr6c

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Ebola: UN health agency says more than 1 million people affected by outbreak

Fri, 2014-08-15 11:19 — Norea

Ebola in West Africa poses a great threat to development. Photo: UNDP UN News Center - un.org - 13 August 2014

13 August 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today convened a United Nations system-wide coordination meeting in response to the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which is now affecting more than 1 million people in the so-called “hot zone of disease transmission” on the borders of the three countries most impacted by the disease.

According to the latest update issued today by the World Health Organization (WHO), between 10 and 11 August, 128 new cases of Ebola virus disease, as well as 56 deaths, were reported from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, bringing the total number of cases to 1,975 and deaths to 1,069.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/14/health/ebola-vaccine-drugs-faq/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

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Only the facts: Ebola experimental drugs

Fri, 2014-08-15 11:05 — Norea

By Caleb Hellerman, CNN

August 14, 2014 -- Updated 1122 GMT (1922 HKT)

(CNN) -- The race to develop an effective treatment or vaccine against Ebola is on as the largest outbreak in history continues to spread in West Africa. Meanwhile, questions about whether unproven treatments are appropriate to use, and who should get them, are inspiring passion and resentment.

On Wednesday, an Iowa-based company called NewLink said it has enough doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine to begin clinical trials in the next few weeks, if such trials are approved. Meanwhile, a shipment of 800 to 1,000 doses of the vaccine, known as VSV-EBOV, were delivered to health officials in Liberia, as a donation from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

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http://www.euronews.com/2014/08/13/canada-to-donate-untested-ebola-vaccine-to-help-battle-disease-in-africa/

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Canada to donate untested Ebola vaccine to help battle disease in Africa

Wed, 2014-08-13 12:17 — Norea

By Euronews - euronews.com - 13/08 08:41 CET

The move comes after the World Health Organization decided it was ethical in the circumstances to offer untested drugs to people infected by the virus.

The Canadian government has only around 1,500 doses of the vaccine, which it invented a few years ago. It has been effective in animals but has never been tested on humans.

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At Heart of Ebola Outbreak, a Village Frozen by Fear and Death

Tue, 2014-08-12 19:08 — Kathy Gilbeaux

At the center of the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone, the villagers in Njala Ngiema are afraid to return to homes where so many died. Video Credit By Ben C. Solomon on Publish Date August 11, 2014. Image CreditTommy Trenchard for The New York Times

nytimes.com - by Adam Nossiter - August 11, 2014

NJALA NGIEMA, Sierra Leone — The signs of a deadly struggle remain: Scattered around the houses of the Ebola dead lie empty pill packages, their plastic casings punched through. Nearby in the mud are used packets of oral rehydration salts. The pills did not work, and the hurried trip to the hospital, if there was one, came too late.

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WHO grants ethics approval for use of experimental Ebola drug - Zmapp

Tue, 2014-08-12 11:50 — JSole

The World Health Organization declared Tuesday that it's ethical to use unproven Ebola drugs and vaccines in the outbreak in West Africa provided the right conditions are met.

"In the particular circumstances of this outbreak and provided certain conditions are met, the panel reached consensus that it is ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet unknown efficacy and adverse effects, as potential treatment or prevention," the agency said in a statement.

The panel said "more detailed analysis and discussion" are needed to decide how to achieve fair distribution in communities and among countries, since there is an extremely limited supply of the experimental drugs and vaccines.

The statement from the UN health agency came amid a worldwide debate over the medical ethics surrounding the Ebola outbreak. However the agency sidestepped the key questions of who should get the limited drugs and how that should be decided.

WHO says 1,013 people have died so far in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and authorities have recorded 1,848 suspected or confirmed cases.

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The Deadly History of Ebola Outbreaks

Tue, 2014-08-12 04:36 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Volunteers prepare to remove the bodies of people who were suspected of contracting Ebola and died in the community in the village of Pendebu, Sierra Leone, on August 2, 2014. REUTERS/WHO/Tarik Jasarevic

cbsnews.com - By Agata Blaszczak-Boxe - August 11, 2014

The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa has rapidly grown into the largest and deadliest in history, claiming more than 960 lives so far in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. The death toll is already more than three times higher than any previous Ebola outbreak. Experts say a number of factors have contributed to making this outbreak so much worse than those that came before.

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Experimental Ebola Drug On Its Way to Liberia

Tue, 2014-08-12 03:32 — Kathy Gilbeaux

cnn.com - by Susannah Cullinane - August 11, 2014

(CNN) -- The government of Liberia says that sample doses of the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp will be sent there to treat doctors who have contracted the deadly virus.

The White House and Food and Drug Administration approved the Liberian request for the drug to be made available to them.

Liberia identified itself as the recipient of the drug after the company that makes ZMapp said earlier that its supply was exhausted after fulfilling the request of a West African country, which it did not name.

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Liberia Health System Collapsing as Ebola Spreads

Tue, 2014-08-12 03:05 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Health workers, wearing head-to-toe protective gear, prepare for work, outside an isolation unit in Foya District, Lofa County, Liberia in this July 2014 UNICEF handout photo. REUTERS/Ahmed Jallanzo/UNICEF/Handout via Reuters

reuters.com - by Stella Dawson - August 7, 2014

WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The health care system in Liberia is collapsing, hospitals closing down and medical workers fleeing from the Ebola epidemic, which is poised to worsen, Liberia’s foreign minister said on Thursday.

“People are dying from common diseases because the health care system is collapsing,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan said in an interview with Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“It is going to have a long-term impact, even after this crisis is behind us.”