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Community => Recreation Commons => Our researchers have made a breakthrough! => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on October 19, 2014, 05:08:33 pm

Title: Ebola news 10/19
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 19, 2014, 05:08:33 pm

Fauci: Ebola protocols to call for no skin showing
Associated Press  1 hour ago


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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, as the House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing to examine the response to the Ebola outbreak and whether America's hospitals and health care workers are adequately prepared for Ebola patients. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)



WASHINGTON (AP) — Revised guidance for health care workers treating Ebola patients will include using protective gear "with no skin showing," a top federal health official said Sunday.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said those caring for an Ebola patient in Dallas were left vulnerable because some of their skin was exposed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working on revisions to safety protocols.

Ebola's incubation period is 21 days, and Fauci noted that mark was being reached Sunday for Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital workers who first treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who later died of the disease.

"The ones now today that are going to be 'off the hook' are the ones that saw him initially in the emergency room," Fauci said.

Duncan was seen at the hospital on Sept. 26 and sent home with antibiotics. He returned by ambulance on Sept. 28, was admitted and died of Ebola on Oct. 8.

Judge Clay Jenkins, the chief executive in Dallas County, said that the protective order that has kept Duncan's family isolated expires Sunday at midnight.

"That's going to be a good thing for those families. They've been through so much, and we're very happy about that," Jenkins said.

But, Jenkins continued, "At the same time, we're extremely concerned about these health care workers and we continue to make contingency in the event that there are more cases."

Jenkins called the 75 health workers who cared for Duncan "hometown health care heroes," and said they had signed agreements with the state's public health commissioner to stay off public transportation.

He said if any other health workers test positive for Ebola, a plan is in place that includes:

—all intake will be done at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.

—ambulances have been instructed to bring anyone with a history of West Africa travel and a fever to that hospital.

—those found to be infected will be transferred by air ambulance to one of three national health centers set up to handle very risky germs, or by ground ambulance to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, which has the capability of disposing of the "copious waste" that Ebola cases generate.

—If a large number of cases surface, a triage unit at another, undisclosed location will be set up in the next 24 hours, with isolation units. The location was to be announced later Sunday.

Fauci appeared on ABC's "This Week," NBC's "Meet the Press," ''Fox News Sunday" and CNN's "State of the Union." Jenkins was on ABC.


http://news.yahoo.com/fauci-protocols-call-now-skin-showing-134441808--politics.html (http://news.yahoo.com/fauci-protocols-call-now-skin-showing-134441808--politics.html)

Title: Cruise ship docks with Ebola-watched health worker
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 19, 2014, 05:45:16 pm

Cruise ship docks with Ebola-watched health worker
Associated Press  2 hours ago


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GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — A cruise ship carrying a Dallas health care worker who was being monitored for Ebola returned to port Sunday after an eventful seven-day trip in which passengers had their vacations briefly disrupted with an infectious disease scare.

A lab supervisor who handled a specimen from a Liberian man who died from Ebola in Dallas showed no symptoms during the cruise but self-quarantined out of caution. Carnival Cruise Lines told passengers the unidentified woman was tested for Ebola but the results were negative.

Vicky Rey, vice president of guest care for Carnival Cruise Lines, said the woman and her husband drove themselves home after arriving in Galveston early Sunday, but offered no further details.

The Ebola scare added some drama to the trip for the hundreds of passengers on the ship.

They learned through a public address system announcement that one of the passengers was being monitored for Ebola. They watched developments about the Ebola outbreak and their ship on the news. The boat was not allowed to dock in Cozumel, depriving passengers of one of the top port destinations. Travelers snapped pictures of a Coast Guard helicopter as it landed to get a blood sample from the passenger.

"We weren't worried. We ended up just hanging out and enjoying the rest of the trip," said Meredith Brooks, a Houston banker who was on her honeymoon during the cruise.


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The cruise ship Carnival Magic passes near Cozumel , Mexico, in this Friday, Oct. 17, 2014 file photo. The Coast Guard said it has retrieved a blood sample from a Dallas health care worker who is aboard a cruise ship and being monitored for signs of Ebola. Petty Officer Andy Kendrick says the crew flew in a helicopter Saturday Oct. 18, 2014 to meet the Carnival Magic and lowered a basket of supplies. The woman provided a sample. (AP Photo/Angel Castellanos, File)


State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that when the woman left the U.S. on the cruise ship from Galveston, Texas, on Oct. 12 health officials were requiring only self-monitoring. Officials stepped up their response while the cruise was underway and two nurses were diagnosed with Ebola.

Carnival Cruise Lines said in a statement that the woman was "not deemed to be a risk to any guests or crew."

"We are in close contact with the CDC, and at this time it has been determined that the appropriate course of action is to simply keep the guest in isolation on board," the statement said, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Petty Officer Andy Kendrick told The Associated Press that a Coast Guard crew flew in a helicopter Saturday to meet the Carnival Magic and retrieved a blood sample from the woman. He said the blood sample was taken to a state lab in Austin for processing.

The ship was refused clearance to dock in Cozumel, Mexico on Friday, a day after Belize refused to let the passenger leave the vessel. There were no restrictions placed on other passengers aboard the ship, officials said.

Passenger James Dinkley of Thelma, Texas, took the cruise to celebrate his one-year wedding anniversary with his wife. He said there was some initial confusion and agitation after they learned of the situation, were delayed in Belize for several hours and had the Cozumel visit cancelled. But he said the cruise line kept everyone informed with regular updates after that.

"There was a lot of confusion, especially when they canceled our Cozumel day," he said.

Carnival gave passengers credit for the missed Cozumel leg.

___

Associated Press Writer Josh Hoffner contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/coast-guard-picks-blood-sample-cruise-ship-051916602.html (http://news.yahoo.com/coast-guard-picks-blood-sample-cruise-ship-051916602.html)

Title: Nigeria expected to be declared Ebola-free
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 19, 2014, 05:57:50 pm

Nigeria expected to be declared Ebola-free
AFP
By Cecile De Comarmond  5 hours ago


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A man has his temperature taken using an infrared digital laser thermometer at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, August 11, 2014. (REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde)



Lagos (AFP) - Nigeria is expected to be declared Ebola-free on Monday, just three months after fears that the virus could spread like wildfire through Africa's most populous nation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is preparing to announce that Nigeria has not had a confirmed case of Ebola for 42 days -- or two incubation periods of 21 days -- just as it did for Senegal on Friday.

The achievement is being welcomed, with no end in sight to the disease that has claimed more than 4,500 lives this year, most of them in west Africa, and mounting fears about cases around the world.

Close attention is being paid to how Nigeria, with an under-funded and ill-equipped health system, managed to contain the virus, as specialists look for a more effective response to control its spread.

But there were warnings against any premature celebration, with complacency still a risk and luck considered to have played a part in containing the outbreak.

 

- Monitoring, awareness -

Eight people died out of 20 confirmed Ebola cases in Nigeria, with all infections traced back to a single source -- Liberian finance ministry official Patrick Sawyer, who arrived in Lagos on July 20.


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Nigerian health officials takes the body temperature of an Ukrainian worker on the MV Pintail cargo ship, as they check for signs of the Ebola virus at the Apapa Sea Port, in Lagos on September 29, 2014 (AFP Photo/Pius Utomi Ekpei)


Many feared the worst when Sawyer died on July 25 in a private hospital in Nigeria's biggest city, which is home to more than 20 million people, with poor sanitation and inadequate health facilities.

Doctors were on strike at the time over pay and conditions in the public health sector, where many state hospitals lack running water, let alone soap and other basic equipment.

Yet the doomsday scenario of rapid spread among a 170-million-strong population, devastating Africa's leading economy and oil producer, did not materialise.

"Nigeria acted quickly and early and on a large scale," John Vertefeuille, from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told AFP.

"They acted aggressively, especially in terms of contact-tracing."

Key to the response was an existing plan for a mass outbreak of polio, which was adapted to Ebola, as well as a rapid appeal for foreign help.

The Ebola Emergency Operations Centre (EEOC) prioritised contact-tracing and twice-daily monitoring of those at risk, with experts aware that every Ebola case is in contact with about 50 people.

In all, nearly 900 people were monitored in Lagos and the oil city of Port Harcourt, where one contact of Sawyer travelled after slipping surveillance, going on to infect another doctor.

Some 1,800 people were trained to trace and monitor those at risk, as well as decontaminate infected places and care for the sick, said the head of the EEOC, Faisal Shuaib.


- Luck, concerns -

Luck cannot be discounted in Nigeria's first brush with Ebola. Sawyer was taken straight to hospital after arriving from Monrovia visibly ill, keeping him off Lagos' teeming streets.

Doctors also prevented him from discharging himself into an area of the city frequented by tens of thousands of people with a bus station that serves the entire country.

The EEOC in the early days of the outbreak highlighted concerns such as a lack of personal protective equipment for medics, which could have had serious implications in any rapid spread.

Public health campaigns, including a giant electronic billboard warning about Ebola just outside the hospital where Sawyer died, have helped raise awareness.

Airports and seaports have introduced compulsory screening on arrival and departure; temperature checks and hand sanitiser use for the public are now the norm.

Greater knowledge about Ebola is likely to help in reporting any new cases, said epidemiologist Chukwe Ihekweazu, who runs the Nigeria Health Watch website.

But he warned Nigeria against celebrating its Ebola-free status.

"It's premature when you see the situation in west Africa right now. There's still a lot to do. It's not the right time to celebrate," he said.

Vertefeuille admitted that there was "no equal level of preparedness everywhere in the country" but still said Nigeria was better equipped to deal with any future Ebola cases.

Isolation centres have now been identified in most Nigerian states, while six laboratories have been accredited by the WHO to conduct Ebola tests, said Shuaib.

But concerns remained, not least about funding.

Vertefeuille said the federal authorities had been slow to match state government funding for the outbreak, which would be vital for tackling any new cases.


http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-expected-declared-ebola-free-105726358.html (http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-expected-declared-ebola-free-105726358.html)

Title: For many journalists Ebola's invisible threat scarier than war
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 19, 2014, 07:17:07 pm

For many journalists Ebola's invisible threat scarier than war
AFP
By Laurence Benhamou  2 hours ago


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Liberian health workers wear protective gear at an Ebola treatment centre in Monrovia, on October 18, 2014 (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)



Paris (AFP) - You can't see shells falling, guns pointed or identify the bad guys: for many journalists the invisible threat of Ebola is more unnerving than covering a war.

Along with health workers and aid workers, journalists have to get right up close to the epidemic to do their job, donning gloves, masks and rubber boots and washing hands with chlorine countless times a day.

"We have less difficulty finding journalists to go to Iraq or Central African Republic" than Ebola-hit countries, said Claire Hedon of Radio France Internationale (RFI) who just returned from Guinea.

Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, have borne the brunt of the epidemic which has killed over 4,500 people out of a total of 9,216 cases registered in seven countries, according to the World Health Organization.

At least five local journalists have succumbed to Ebola, according to media unions. Three were in Liberia and two in Sierra Leone, including the radio journalist Victor Kassim who died along with his wife, two children and mother.

Three media workers were also among an eight-member Ebola education team murdered last month by panicked villagers in a remote area near the epicentre of the outbreak in Guinea.

So far only one of the dozens of Western journalists covering the epidemic in west Africa has caught Ebola -- Ashoka Mukpo, an American freelancer for NBC who is recovering well.

But for those on the ground stalked by an unseen enemy, every interview poses a risk.

"Some journalists used to covering war zones have not volunteered for family reasons," explains Sofia Bouderbala, deputy editor-in-chief for Agence France Presse's Europe and Africa region.


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A cameraman films the entrance of an Ebola treatment centre on October 3, 2014 in Liberia (AFP Photo/Pascal Guyot)


"It is an invisible threat. In war zones you can see the shells falling."

Associated Press international editor-in-chief John Daniszewski said that the subject was "very stressful" to cover, as you can't see the enemy.


- Interviewing at a distance -

On top of all the safety precautions, one of the main rules on the ground for reporters is to keep your distance.

"The basic rule is don't touch anything or anyone. And two weeks without touching anyone is weird," said AFP's Marc Bastian who recently returned from Monrovia.

"We left with litres of disinfectant. We sprayed our shoes with bleach, we washed our hands 40, 50 times a day," he said.

"Photographers use telephoto lenses to photograph the sick and I once shouted out an interview with someone eight metres away."

For radio reporters who need sound, the process is equally tricky.


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A Liberian health worker holds a baby infected with Ebola on October 18, 2014 at an Ebola treatment centre in Monrovia (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)


Yves Rocle, deputy director for the Africa region with RFI explains that their journalists use a boom to get sound. "We avoid contact," he said.

"I have interviewed the sick from two metres away, where it is considered you won't be hit by spittle," said the Hedon, who admits that sometimes one's attention can slip and possibly fatal errors be made.

"To be honest, you let your guard down. Yes in the end I shook a few hands."


- Shunned upon return -

The assignment doesn't end at the airport.

For many coming home to face fearful colleagues and family members, while still anxiously counting down the incubation period themselves, it can be a scary and lonely time.

"When coming back you take your own temperature for 21 days, the incubation period, and you worry at the slightest alert," said Guillaume Lhotellier, who went to Guinea for the Elephant production company.

"And your social life isn't great, there are people who refuse to shake your hand or see you, even though you are not contagious if you don't have a fever."

Even if a person is infected, only direct contact with their bodily fluids -- mucus, semen, saliva, vomit, stool or blood -- after they begin to show symptoms carries any risk of contagion.

But fear over the disease has led to extreme precautions.

Faced with a panicked wife, Johannes Dieterich, the South Africa correspondent for Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger, said that he slept in the guest room on his return and decided not to touch anyone for three weeks until the incubation period was over.

The BBC's Fiona Bruce, quoted by The Telegraph, said make-up artists were scared of taking care of guests coming from Ebola-hit countries.

Media organisations are divided over the idea of a systematic quarantine during the incubation period for reporters returning from the field.

The BBC and AFP allow journalists to come straight back to work.

"Our journalists respect our very strict guidelines on location. They are not a risk to their colleagues because they have no symptoms of the disease. We don't want to give in to hysteria," said Michele Leridon, AFP's news director.

However AP asks its journalists to stay at home for three weeks to "avoid any risk", said Daniszewski.


http://news.yahoo.com/many-journalists-ebolas-invisible-threat-scarier-war-150341446.html (http://news.yahoo.com/many-journalists-ebolas-invisible-threat-scarier-war-150341446.html)

Title: Ebola: Africa's image takes (another) hit
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 19, 2014, 07:24:41 pm

Ebola: Africa's image takes a hit
Associated Press
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA  1 hour ago


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In this Saturday, Oct. 18, file photo a burial team in protective gear bury the body of a woman suspected to have died from Ebola virus in Monrovia, Liberia. The disease has ravaged a small part of Africa, but the international image of the whole continent is increasingly under siege, reinforcing some old stereotypes. (AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh, File)



JOHANNESBURG (AP) — In the United States, some parents fearful of deadly Ebola pulled children out of a school after the principal returned from Zambia, an African nation far from the area hit by the disease. In Geneva, a top U.N. official warned against anti-African discrimination fueled by fears of Ebola. The disease has ravaged a small part of Africa, but the international image of the whole continent is increasingly under siege, reinforcing some old stereotypes.

Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — the African countries afflicted by the Ebola outbreak — have a combined population of about 22 million on a continent with more than 1 billion people. Their corner of West Africa encompasses an area the size of California, or almost as big as Morocco. Yet the epidemic feeds into a narrative of disaster on a continent of 54 countries that has seen some progress in past years, and false perceptions of Ebola's reach are hurting African business distant from the affected areas.

"It speaks to a whole discourse about the danger of Africa," said Michael Jennings, a senior lecturer in international development at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

He cited the recent decision of a British school to postpone a visit by a teacher from the West African country of Ghana after parents expressed concern about the Ebola virus. Ghana does not border the hard-hit nations and has not reported any cases of the disease.

Jennings said fearful people don't necessarily react in a rational way and the message of some comments on social media in Britain is: "Why don't we just stop everyone in West Africa from coming?"

Africa has had a troubled image. Famine in Ethiopia, chaos in Somalia and genocide in Rwanda drove the idea of a continent in perpetual crisis. In recent years, though, an end to a number of wars and ensuing stability and growth pointed to a turnaround that some enthusiasts dubbed "Africa Rising."

Now the economic impact of Ebola fears is being felt in many parts of Africa. Hotels, tourism operators and conference organizers are recording increasing cancellations.

Thirty international buyers pulled out of an annual tourism expo that began Thursday in Zimbabwe's resort town of Victoria Falls, said Karikoga Kaseke, the national tourism agency chief. He said business travelers from China and Malaysia were among those who recently canceled trips, and Jamaican musicians have also skipped Zimbabwean shows.

The southern African country is more than 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) from Ebola-hit Liberia, or about twice the distance between London and Moscow.

In the U.S. state of Mississippi, a middle school principal has taken a week of vacation in an attempt to allay parents' fears about Ebola after he returned from a trip to Zambia, another southern African nation without any reported Ebola cases. In Pennsylvania, two high school soccer coaches resigned last week after their players hurled Ebola taunts at an opponent from West Africa.

Soccer players on Sierra Leone's national team have been treated as Ebola risks in African Cup qualifying games even though none of the squad lives in Sierra Leone because they play for clubs in Europe and elsewhere. Opponents have sometimes refused to shake the hands of the Sierra Leoneans or swap shirts — a soccer tradition after a game — because of fears of catching the deadly virus.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has warned against "a mentality that locks people into rigid identity groups and reduces all Africans — or all West Africans, or some smaller, national or local group — to a stereotype."

Jens David Ohlin, a professor at Cornell Law School in the United States, said discrimination was a concern as states seek to prevent the Ebola virus from entering their borders, but he warned against "oversensitivity to discrimination that will prevent governments from appropriately dealing with the situation."

The early international response to Ebola's spread, described by some as slow, is linked to its location, according to Ohlin.

He said: "Because it was in Africa, people just sort of threw their hands up."


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-africas-image-takes-hit-164234302.html (http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-africas-image-takes-hit-164234302.html)

---

Nonsense headline - nobody's gotten maimed with a machete during this.

Title: Ebola watch lists in U.S. to shrink, cruise passenger cleared
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 19, 2014, 07:32:40 pm

Ebola watch lists in U.S. to shrink, cruise passenger cleared
Reuters
By Erwin Seba  57 minutes ago


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The Carnival Magic cruise ship is seen after reaching port in Galveston, Texas October 19, 2014. REUTERS/Daniel Kramer



GALVESTON Texas (Reuters) - Some of the dozens of people who are being watched for possible exposure to Ebola in the United States are expected to be cleared on Sunday and Monday, potentially easing concerns about the spread of the disease after two nurses were infected.

A Dallas lab worker who spent much of a Caribbean holiday cruise in isolation tested negative for the deadly virus and left the Carnival Magic liner with other passengers after it docked at Galveston, Texas, early on Sunday morning.

The precautions taken for the cruise passenger reflected widespread anxiety over Ebola in the United States, including calls from some lawmakers for a travel ban on West Africa.

The worst outbreak on record of the virus, which is spread by contact with bodily fluids of sick people, has killed more than 4,500 people, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf urged on Sunday stronger international action to bring the epidemic under control, saying the disease was unleashing an economic catastrophe that will leave a "lost generation" of young West Africans..


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A passenger disembarks from the Carnival Magic cruise ship after it reached port in Galveston, Texas October 19, 2014. REUTERS/Daniel Kramer


In the United States, the first person to be diagnosed with the disease was Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian who fell ill while visiting Dallas last month. He died on Oct. 8, and two nurses who treated him were infected. This triggered a lengthy watch list of people who had had possible contact with them.

At midnight, some 48 people who might have been in contact with Duncan will no longer require monitoring for signs of the virus, health officials say.

On Monday, more were expected to end 21 days of monitoring -- the incubation period for the virus.

They would include Duncan's fiancee, Louise Troh, her 13-year-old son and two other people who have been in mandatory quarantine at an undisclosed location in Dallas.

"They will be free to go ... It will expire for them at midnight tonight and that’s going to be a good thing for those families who’ve been through so much and we’re very happy about that," Clay Jenkins, Dallas County's top official, said in an interview on ABC's "This Week."


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Registered nurses from the University of Texas Medical Branch are on hand to greet passengers and answer questions as the Carnival Magic cruise ship docks in Galveston, Texas October 19, 2014. REUTERS/Daniel Kramer


There are still 75 health workers in Dallas who have isolated themselves and are being monitored.


"SCARY"

The lab worker who was being monitored aboard the Carnival Magic worked at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where Duncan was treated. The ship arrived at Galveston after a weeklong cruise that included being denied docking by Belize and Mexico because of the presence of the woman on board.

"It was scary. It was really very worrying," said passenger Regina Sargent of Dallas.

The lab worker, who has not been named, did not have contact with Duncan, but was under observation as she might have come into contact with test samples from him.


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The Carnival Magic cruise ship is seen after reaching port in Galveston, Texas October 19, 2014. REUTERS/Daniel Kramer


She voluntarily isolated herself in her cabin and her blood sample was flown by helicopter for testing. "The lab testing done was negative," said Coast Guard Lieutenant Sam Danus. 

Officials in Dallas, where nurses Nina Pham and Amber Vinson were infected, have urged residents to stay calm. "This is a critical weekend," said Jenkins. If there are no new patients, he said, Dallas is "going to be statistically less likely" to see new cases.

A series of Ebola scares has rattled the United States since Duncan was diagnosed. Americans' faith in the medical system and in its disease prevention ability was jolted by early missteps in his case.

In a public letter on Saturday night, Texas Health Resources Chief Executive Barclay Berdan acknowledged that Texas Health Presbyterian, where Duncan first went, made mistakes, including initially not diagnosing Ebola.

Berdan said aggressive actions since then ensured that the hospital was a safe place, and that outside experts would be consulted to determine how the two nurses became infected.


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Passengers disembark from the Carnival Magic cruise ship after it reached port in Galveston, Texas October 19, 2014. REUTERS/Daniel Kramer


Nurse Amber Vinson is being treated at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital, while her colleague Nina Pham is being treated at the National Institutes of Health outside Washington.

Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he had a long conversation Saturday night with Pham.

“She's in good spirits,” Fauci told "Fox News Sunday." Asked whether she would recover, he said, "I'm feeling good about the fact that she's progressing very well."

Some 800 passengers who flew with Vinson on a trip she made to Ohio before being diagnosed, as well as those on subsequent flights on the same planes, have been contacted by Frontier Airlines, the company said on Saturday.

The Ohio Department of Health has strengthened its recommended Ebola quarantine protocols to limit travel by those required to have their health condition monitored locally or report it to officials.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Sarah N. Lynch and Marina Lopes in Washington, Anna Driver and Jon Herskovitz in Texas; Writing by Frances Kerry and Jim Loney; Editing by Crispian Balmer)


http://news.yahoo.com/americans-cant-hysteria-fear-over-ebola-obama-020101507--finance.html (http://news.yahoo.com/americans-cant-hysteria-fear-over-ebola-obama-020101507--finance.html)

Title: Pentagon to create medical support team for U.S. Ebola response
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 19, 2014, 07:59:31 pm

Pentagon to create medical support team for U.S. Ebola response
Reuters  21 minutes ago

     
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U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivers the keynote address to the Association of U.S. Army annual meeting in Washington October 15, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the creation of a 30-member expeditionary medical support team to be able to provide emergency help in the event of an Ebola crisis in the United States, a Pentagon spokesman said on Sunday.

The team of five doctors, 20 nurses and five trainers could respond on short notice to help civilian medical professionals, a statement from Rear Admiral John Kirby said.

Three cases of Ebola have been diagnosed in the United States, prompting widespread concern about the potential spread of the virus. A Liberian man fell ill while on a trip to Dallas, Texas, and died on Oct. 8. Two nurses who treated him contracted the disease.

Kirby called the team "an added, prudent measure to ensure our nation is ready to respond quickly, effectively and safely in the event of additional Ebola cases." He said it would consist of critical care nurses, doctors trained in infectious diseases and trainers in infectious disease protocols.

"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.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Jim Loney and Frances Kerry)


http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-create-medical-support-team-u-ebola-response-174913860.html (http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-create-medical-support-team-u-ebola-response-174913860.html)

Title: As Ebola relief ramps up, other aid efforts stumble in West Africa
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 19, 2014, 08:02:08 pm

As Ebola relief ramps up, other aid efforts stumble in West Africa
Aid organizations working in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea have had to evacuate staff and suspend wide-ranging projects, while also pitching in for the emergency effort. But not all aid initiatives are on hold.
Christian Science Monitor
By Ariel Zirulnick  5 hours ago



Back in May, when the Ebola virus first crossed over from Guinea into Sierra Leone, among the first to know were staffers working for a US-based charity on a child malnutrition project in the country’s east.

Catholic Relief Services staffers began switching from malnutrition to Ebola prevention when the first cases were confirmed in neighboring Guinea. But with limited resources and knowledge of how to combat the disease, they were outgunned when it came to Sierra Leone.   

“It moved from one town to a slightly more major town. Then it was in the next district, where our office is. [We were] watching it creep along,” says CRS country health program manager Meredith Dyson.

“I don’t think that anyone at that point saw where it was going to go or understood the measures that were going to be needed to contain it.”

Now some of the community members that worked on the malnutrition project are dead. CRS’s child nutrition program has been suspended, along with scores of other non-Ebola aid and development projects in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia – their staff and funds frozen or diverted to the emergency response.

Nearly 4,500 people have died of the Ebola outbreak, virtually of all of them in just three West African countries. At the same time, people are dying of malaria, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, birth complications, and countless other health problems. Countries are also grappling with low literacy rates, environmental degradation, and hunger.

Still, before the epidemic, generally things were improving, say aid workers. In Liberia, life expectancy rose from 55 years at birth in 2005 to 60.6 in 2013, according to the United Nations Development Fund. Guinea and Sierra Leone also saw improvements in life expectancy over the same period.

Now, if and when Ebola is finally brought under control, that modest progress may have been thrown aside in poor countries that depend almost entirely on foreign aid.

“It’s a big blow,” says Asmare Ayele, country director in Sierra Leone for CARE International, an international aid organization. “Sierra Leone just came out from a 10-year war. It was declared a stable nation at the UN in March.”


FIGURING OUT WHAT IS 'ESSENTIAL'

Aid organizations in the region are struggling to balance their desire to keep their projects going with the risk posed to staff and recipients by Ebola.

One major hurdle: Many aid programs depend on gathering people together in one place, which has been banned in the worst affected areas. That means organizations have to think hard about which meetings or events are truly “essential,” says Trevor Hughes, director of risk management and global security for International Relief and Development in Arlington, Va.

He says he would define essential as “everything that you need to have in a society that is somewhat functioning and not going backwards.”

That backward slide has already begun, with warnings of food shortages in some countries.  The crops CARE helped support in Sierra Leone have either withered in the fields or in the homes, with no market to bring them to. A CRS malaria program in Sierra Leone is on hold because it’s no longer safe for the community workers to draw blood in the village.

Many existing health programs in West Africa have been retooled to target Ebola directly. HIV/AIDS messaging is now Ebola messaging. Immunization efforts might now be Ebola detection efforts.

But the epidemic has ravaged already weak healthcare systems. According to USAID, only 40 percent of Sierra Leone's public health facilities are operating.


RADIO PLUGS EDUCATION GAP

Still, not all foreign-funded programs have been put on ice. Lisa Hartenberger Toby, an international development specialist with Education Development Center, says their work has expanded. The Massachusetts-based charity does education and health projects around the world, including in Liberia.

Their radio program-based education program, allowing non-traditional students to learn from home, is now being expanded to include primary school age students whose schools have been indefinitely closed.

“It’s always a struggle to make sure [education] is considered as part of the emergency response strategy, not a secondary one,” she says.

Some aid organizations are pushing to restart programs that were suspended, arguing that the epidemic shouldn’t preclude other health interventions. In Sierra Leone, CRS is lobbying the government for the resumption of routine services like immunizations and prenatal care, Ms. Dyson says.

“We really don’t want to lose the gains we’ve made. There’s a lot of [activity] right now to put more focus on those issues.”

Organizations with non-health workers say that they too, are essential, even if they can't help with Ebola treatment. Newly arrived organizations have struggled to penetrate the tight-knit and distrustful communities to teach proper prevention and containment, but those who have been in the country for years have networks and the trust of locals.

While some staff have been evacuated from Ebola-affected countries, others have stayed. Many are in out in the communities getting the word out on prevention, distributing protective equipment, and delivering food and water.

One of the biggest challenges for organizations is getting workers to admit when it's become too much and they need a break, Mr. Hughes says.

"This is going to be a long-term thing and there is always too much work to do," he says. “It’s extraordinarily demoralizing to reach the end of your tether and get on an airplane and fly home… You see what you left behind and it’s not going to end anytime soon.”


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-relief-ramps-other-aid-efforts-stumble-west-130005487.html (http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-relief-ramps-other-aid-efforts-stumble-west-130005487.html)

Title: Friends, family of Ebola patient reach milestone
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 19, 2014, 08:04:27 pm

Friends, family of Ebola patient reach milestone
Associated Press
By EMILY SCHMALL  1 hour ago



FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — As her boyfriend Thomas Eric Duncan lay dying of Ebola in a Dallas hospital bed, Louise Troh battled loneliness and fear that she too had contracted the disease while confined to a stranger's home under armed guard.

Troh's confinement was ending Sunday night, along with several friends, family and others who had contact with Duncan after he first became infectious. Ebola has a maximum 21-day incubation period, and the people who interacted with Duncan after he first arrived in Dallas from Liberia will be in the clear.

It's an important milestone in the nation's efforts to contain the outbreak and a cause for celebration for Troh. After three long weeks, she will able to have a clean bill of health, leave the house and be done with twice-daily temperature readings by government health care workers. She likened the period to being a prisoner.

"I want to breathe, I want to really grieve, I want privacy with my family," Troh told The Associated Press on Friday, lamenting that she was missing Duncan's memorial service at his mother's church in North Carolina because of the quarantine. Troh says she and Duncan planned to get married later in the week.

Duncan arrived in Dallas from Liberia in late September and went to the hospital complaining of headache and stomach pain. He was sent home with a prescription for antibiotics to treat a misdiagnosed sinus infection. He returned two days later, was diagnosed with Ebola and died Oct. 8.

The day Duncan tested positive for Ebola, Troh, her 13-year-old son, Duncan's nephew and a family friend were ordered by a Dallas court to stay inside the apartment among Duncan's used linens and any lingering virus. The unusual confinement order was imposed after the family failed to comply with a request not to leave the apartment, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said. The four were later taken to an undisclosed gated community.

Jenkins and Troh's pastor George Mason delivered the news of Duncan's death to her during the confinement period.

The other people who will have their quarantine period end at midnight include Youngor Jallah, Troh's daughter, a nurse's assistant who checked Duncan's vital signs before calling for an ambulance.

For nearly three weeks, Jallah has not left the cramped, second-story apartment she shares with her partner, Aaron Yah, their three children, ages 2, 4 and 6, and Yah's 10-year-old son.

Unlike Troh, Jallah is not prevented from leaving by an armed guard, but Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials have come by daily to check everyone's temperature.

"I'm telling you, just to step outside will be so great. To hug my mom and grieve for Eric, not over the phone like we've been doing but in the flesh," Jallah said.

Mason said he is coordinating efforts with the city, county and philanthropic community to help Troh and the family recover. Because of the Ebola infection risk, crews stripped Troh's apartment down to the carpeting, saving only a few personal documents, photographs and a Bible.

"They were left with nothing. They are completely devastated by this, so there's need to have their lives rebuilt," Mason said.

Troh plans to partially recover financially with a book written about her life, from growing up in Liberia, meeting Duncan in a refugee camp in Ivory Coast, Duncan's years-long quest to come to America to be reunited with his girlfriend and their 19-year-old son, and his death in an isolation ward.

"It will be a love story," she said.

At Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas on Sunday, associate pastor Mark Wingfield said the congregation was eager to welcome Troh back.

"We look forward to welcoming Louise and her family members back to church after the quarantine is lifted and we want you to know that when that happens we will be glad to receive each one of them," he said.


http://news.yahoo.com/friends-family-ebola-patient-reach-milestone-170521749.html (http://news.yahoo.com/friends-family-ebola-patient-reach-milestone-170521749.html)

Title: GSK says Ebola vaccine development progressing at 'unprecedented rate'
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 19, 2014, 09:31:43 pm

GSK says Ebola vaccine development progressing at 'unprecedented rate'
Reuters
October 18, 2014 2:53 PM


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The GlaxoSmithKline building is pictured in Hounslow, west London June 18, 2013. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor



LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said on Saturday work to develop a vaccine to combat Ebola, which has killed thousands in West Africa, was moving at a rapid pace.

"Development of the vaccine candidate is progressing at an unprecedented rate, with first phase 1 safety trials with the vaccine candidate underway in the USA, UK and Mali, and further trials due to start in the coming weeks," the firm said in a statement posted on its website.

The company said preliminary data from the trials was expected by the end of 2014 and that, if successful, the next phase, involving the vaccination of frontline healthcare workers in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, would begin in early 2015.

The worst Ebola outbreak on record has killed more than 4,500 people so far, most in the trio of West African countries.

In August, GSK said the experimental vaccine was being fast-tracked into human studies and it planned to build a stockpile of up to 10,000 doses for emergency deployment, if results were good.

The GSK vaccine consists of a common cold virus, called an adenovirus, engineered to carry two genes of the Ebola virus.

Animal testing has shown that when the adenovirus infects cells the Ebola genes produce harmless proteins that stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies to Ebola.

GSK acquired the vaccine after buying Swiss-based biotech company Okairos for 250 million euros ($319 million) last year.

Responding to public fears after three diagnosed cases in the United States, President Barack Obama urged Americans on Saturday not to give in to "hysteria" about the hemorrhagic fever, which is spread through the blood, sweat or vomit of those infected.

There is no cure or approved vaccine yet for Ebola but several pharmaceutical companies have been working on experimental drugs.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Andrew Roche)


http://news.yahoo.com/gsk-says-ebola-vaccine-development-progressing-unprecedented-rate-185302598--finance.html (http://news.yahoo.com/gsk-says-ebola-vaccine-development-progressing-unprecedented-rate-185302598--finance.html)