Liberia

WHO Director-General Addresses G7 Health Ministers on Ebola

Mon, 2015-10-12 01:54 — Kathy Gilbeaux

who.int - October 9, 2015

Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General of the World Health Organization

Remarks at the G7 Health Ministers Meeting. Session on Ebola: lessons learned and the International Health Regulations. Berlin, Germany

Honourable ministers, ladies and gentlemen,

I will focus my remarks on lessons learned and the IHR.

Managing the global regime for controlling the international spread of disease is a central and historical responsibility of WHO. In a given year, WHO manages around 100 outbreaks of familiar diseases, like cholera, dengue, meningitis, and many others. This Ebola outbreak was different. It was complex in size and context, present in three countries which were unfamiliar with the disease and ill-prepared.

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Ebola Nurse Pauline Cafferkey 'In Serious Condition'

Fri, 2015-10-09 14:37 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Pauline Cafferkey previously spent a month in the specialist isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London

bbc.com - October 9, 2015

A Scottish nurse who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone last year is in a "serious condition" after being readmitted to an isolation unit in London.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed that the virus is still present in Pauline Cafferkey's body after being left over from the original infection.

She is not thought to be contagious.

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Ebola countries record first week with no new cases

Thu, 2015-10-08 14:05 — mike kraft

BBC Oct. 8, 2015
(Scroll down for WHO Report.)

The three West African countries at the heart of the Ebola epidemic recorded their first week with no new cases since the outbreak began in March 2014.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed more than 11,000 people

The outbreak has so far killed more than 11,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

New cases have fallen sharply in 2015, but the WHO has warned that the disease could break out again.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34471234?utm_source=Copy+of+October+7%2C+2015+EN&utm_campaign=10%2F8%2F2015+fr&utm_medium=email

WHO SITUATION REPORT 7 Oct. 2015

http://apps.who.int/ebola/current-situation/ebola-situation-report-7-october-2015

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UN Ebola response now planned to continue into 2016 after initial hopes it would end by 2015

Thu, 2015-09-24 14:11 — mike kraft

ASSOCIATED PRESS Sept. 23, 2015

(Scroll down for links to WHO reports.)

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The United Nations says it's now planning for Ebola response activities to last into 2016, suggesting the battle against the virus won't be over by year-end after all.

In a report released Wednesday by the World Health Organization and its humanitarian partners, health officials said that there are plans for the Ebola response to continue until midyear 2016.

Those so-called Phase 3 efforts include stopping transmission, indicating cases are still anticipated.

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http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/09/23/un-ebola-response-now-planned-to-continue-into-2016

WHO SITUATION REPORT Sept. 23, 2015
http://apps.who.int/ebola/current-situation/ebola-situation-report-23-september-2015

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Ebola Virus Mutations May Help It Evade Drug Treatment

Mon, 2015-09-21 00:57 — Kathy Gilbeaux

CLICK HERE - Ebola Virus Mutations May Help It Evade Drug Treatment (2 page .PDF file)

CLICK HERE - Cell Reports - Emergence of Ebola Virus Escape Variants in Infected Nonhuman Primates Treated with the MB-003 Antibody Cocktail

CLICK HERE - Emergence of Ebola Virus Escape Variants in Infected Nonhuman Primates Treated with the MB-003 Antibody Cocktail (11 page .PDF file)

usamriid.army.mil - September 11, 2015

Genetic mutations called “escape variants” in the deadly Ebola virus appear to block the ability of antibody-based treatments to ward off infection, according to a team of U.S. Army scientists and collaborators. Their findings, published online this week in the journal Cell Reports, have implications for the continued development of therapeutics to treat Ebola virus disease, which has claimed the lives of over 11,000 people in West Africa since last year.

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Ebola Assay Card | Elisa-Based Diagnostic - Google Science Fair

Sun, 2015-09-20 21:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Gavin Macgregor-Skinner

Temperature-Independent, Portable, and Rapid Field Detection of Ebola via a Silk-Derived Lateral-Flow System

googlesciencefair.com - 2015

I developed a “stable and stored at room temperature” Ebola Assay Card, applicable as an ELISA-based diagnostic for diseases such as HIV, Lyme and certain cancers, that will allow for water-activated, timed-release detection of Ebola antigens, with detection limits that are analogous to current sandwich ELISA techniques. Reagents become chemically “stabilized” when mixed into silk, which enables them to remain “chemically active” without refrigeration. This Ebola Assay Card will allow for shipment and storage without refrigeration, and provide detection of the Ebola viral antigens based on color change in as little as 30 minutes.

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Fighting Ebola With a Palm-Sized DNA Sequencer

Sun, 2015-09-20 19:38 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by George Hurlburt

Raymond Koundouno using a MinION - Sophie Duraffour

The MinION, a pocket-sized, USB-powered sequencing machine, lets scientists track the spread of deadly diseases in real-time.

theatlantic.com - by Ed Yong - September 16, 2015

. . . Unlike rival sequencers, which are as big as microwaves or fridges, the MinION is the size of a chocolate bar. . . . These devices quite literally bring the power of modern genomics to the palm of your hand. And at a cost of just $1,000, they herald a new era where sequencing moves away from well-equipped institutions and into places where it is most needed, from hospitals to epidemic-afflicted hot zones.

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(CLICK HERE - MinION - Oxford Nanopore Technologies)

(CLICK HERE - YouTube - MinION - Oxford Nanopore Technologies)

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Feds to end Ebola screening for air travelers from Liberia

Sat, 2015-09-19 21:38 — mike kraft

USA TODAY by Bart Jansen Sept. 19, 2015

WASHINGTON – Federal authorities will end mandatory Ebola screening Monday for travelers from Liberia to five U.S. airports, but will continue to scrutinize travelers from Sierra Leone and Guinea, federal officials announced Friday.

The Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection had provided extra screening for more than 30,000 travelers during the past year, after an outbreak of the often fatal disease in West Africa.....

Customs and Border Protection and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed to remove Liberia from the list of countries subject to enhanced visa and port-of-entry screening, effective Monday....

The U.S. will maintain extra screening for travelers from Sierra Leone and Guinea, which still see a handful of new cases each week, and for people who traveled through those countries during the previous three weeks.

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/09/18/ebola-travel-airport-screening-liberia-sierra-leone-guinea-customs-border-protection/72398942/

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Peste des Petits Ruminants Kills Livestock in Lofa - Liberia

Wed, 2015-09-16 23:01 — Kathy Gilbeaux

bushchicken.com - by Zeze Ballah - August 20, 2015

VOINJAMA, Lofa – An investigation conducted by The Bush Chicken has established that scores of livestock in Lofa died from Peste des Petit Ruminants, or Ovine Rinderpest. . . .

. . . Over 1,000 farmers in Zorzor and Kolahun districts, including the towns Tenebu and Samodu, lost livestock to Peste des Petit Ruminants. . . .

. . . When contacted for comments, Lofa’s Agriculture Coordinator Theophilus Baah confirmed The Bush Chicken investigation and said the ministry has not been providing vaccines to animals prior to the recent outbreak.

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Social Vulnerability and Ebola Virus Disease in Rural Liberia

Wed, 2015-09-16 22:24 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Clusters of social vulnerability in rural Liberia, by district. Social vulnerability of each cluster of districts can be loosely ranked from most to least vulnerable as: Cluster 1, food quality, displaced persons, disabled, dependent populations; Cluster 3, food quantity, food quality, lack of access to land/free medical care; Cluster 4, food quantity, disabled dependent populations and Cluster 5, water quality/proximity to medical care; and finally, Cluster 2, no strong vulnerability scores.

CLICK HERE - Social Vulnerability and Ebola Virus Disease in Rural Liberia

CLICK HERE - Social Vulnerability and Ebola Virus Disease in Rural Liberia (14 page .PDF file)

srs.fs.usda.gov - by Zoe Hoyle - September 15, 2015

A newly published research study by U.S. Forest Service researchers demonstrates that the social vulnerability indices used in climate change and natural hazards research can also be used in other contexts such as disease outbreaks.

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