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Community => Recreation Commons => Our researchers have made a breakthrough! => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on January 06, 2015, 04:41:12 pm

Title: Ebola News 1/6
Post by: Buster's Uncle on January 06, 2015, 04:41:12 pm

WHO says reports of suspected Ebola cases in Iraq are untrue
Reuters  3 hours ago



LONDON (Reuters) - No suspected cases of Ebola have been found in Iraq, despite reports to the contrary in Iraqi media in the past week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Describing reports of suspect cases of the deadly viral infection in Mosul as "rumor", the Geneva-based United Nations health agency said it and the Iraqi health ministry had conducted a full investigation.

"All sources contacted have negated the existence of any suspected cases of Ebola," the WHO said in a statement.

"The (Iraqi) Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization further confirmed that the laboratory facilities in Mosul do not have the necessary capabilities to diagnose and confirm the Ebola virus."

Reports of suspected Ebola cases appeared on Dec. 31 in Iraq's Al-Sabah newspaper, Rudaw online newspaper and on the Shafaq news agency and were relayed through other media in and outside Iraq, prompting the WHO and Iraqi authorities to investigate.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Louise Ireland)


http://news.yahoo.com/says-reports-suspected-ebola-cases-iraq-untrue-133339703.html (http://news.yahoo.com/says-reports-suspected-ebola-cases-iraq-untrue-133339703.html)

Title: Ebola 'challenge' will promote unity in west Africa: AU chief
Post by: Buster's Uncle on January 06, 2015, 06:19:19 pm

Ebola 'challenge' will promote unity in west Africa: AU chief
AFP  3 hours ago


(http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/8PE9dmYDf_lH5ylmKwingA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTYzNTtpbD1wbGFuZTtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz05NjA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/Part-PAR-Par8066316-1-1-0.jpg)
West Africa's experience in fighting the deadly virus "should consolidate our solidarity and our mutual support," AU chief Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the president of Mauritania, told journalists in the Liberian capital Monrovia (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)



Monrovia (AFP) - West Africa's Ebola epidemic could have a positive side by uniting the region's countries in their response to the "serious challenge," the acting head of the African Union said.

Regional experience in fighting the deadly virus "should consolidate our solidarity and our mutual support," AU chief Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the president of Mauritania,told journalists late Monday in the Liberian capital Monrovia.

The "serious challenge... will help countries in the region (to) come out more determined to unite through our bilateral relations which have been very strong," he added on the second leg of a tour of the three worst-hit countries.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf thanked the chairman of the pan-African body for help with funds, supplies and personnel, announcing that "30 African health workers (are) working with Liberia against the Ebola disease."

Abdel Aziz was in Monrovia after a swift visit to Guinea and he was awaited in neighbouring Sierra Leone on Tuesday.

Together, the three nations account for almost all of the 7,900 victims of the most virulent outbreak of the Ebola virus to date, also the first to hit west Africa.

The highly contagious disease, first identified in 1976 in what is today the Democratic Republic of Congo, was declared present in southern Guinea in December 2013. The virus is fatal, but victims can be helped to recovery by swift treatment of early symptoms in quarantine.

In his capacity as head of state, Abdel Aziz signed an agreement with Johnson Sirleaf for Mauritania to donate 37 million Liberian dollars (336,000 euros, $400,000) to Liberia to help combat the virus.


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-challenge-promote-unity-west-africa-au-chief-142652585.html (http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-challenge-promote-unity-west-africa-au-chief-142652585.html)

Title: Ebola survivors in West Africa share stories via mobile app, help fight stigma
Post by: Buster's Uncle on January 06, 2015, 06:21:15 pm

Ebola survivors in West Africa to share stories via mobile app, to help fight stigma
Reuters  January 5, 2015 1:09 AM



DAKAR (Reuters) - Ebola survivors in the three West African countries worst hit by the epidemic will share their stories through a mobile application to be launched on Monday, in a UNICEF-backed campaign to inform and fight stigma around the disease.

The Ebola outbreak, the worst on record of the highly infectious haemorrhagic fever, has killed over 7,900 people with more than 20,000 cases recorded mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Although many people have survived the disease, they still face rejection and stigma from their communities, while the virus continues to spread due to lack of information and denial, according to the WHO and other health organisations.

The campaign called #ISurvivedEbola, is funded by U.S philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft Paul G. Allen's foundation which has committed $100 million to fight the disease. UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency is collaborating in the project.

Survivors in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia will be given smartphones and will document their stories and exchange tips on how to cope with it for a mobile app, which will be available to the public, the backers said in a statement.

"While treatment of Ebola patients is critical, the best way to end the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is to cut the chain of transmission and prevent further infections," Rafael Obregon of UNICEF said in the statement.

"#ISurvivedEbola is reinforcing our efforts by providing this information in multiple, highly entertaining forms, including through the testimonies of actual survivors,” Obregon said.

Survivors who have agreed to contribute include Camara "Fanta" Fantaoulen in Guinea who lost six members of her family to Ebola, and Decontee Davis, a 23-year-old from Liberia who overcame Ebola but lost her fiancé.


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-survivors-west-africa-share-stories-via-mobile-060908386.html (http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-survivors-west-africa-share-stories-via-mobile-060908386.html)

Title: Ebola volunteers should be praised, not stigmatized: UK charities
Post by: Buster's Uncle on January 06, 2015, 08:26:08 pm

Ebola volunteers should be praised, not stigmatized: UK charities
Reuters
By Liisa Tuhkanen  1 hour ago


(http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/JzYBOPDl8CHdfyIn60vylA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTI5NDtpbD1wbGFuZTtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz00NTA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2015-01-06T184242Z_1_LYNXMPEB050PW_RTROPTP_2_BELGIUM-EBOLA-TRAINING.JPG)
A volunteer for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, receives training on how to handle personal protective equipment during courses in Brussels October 15, 2014, which is aimed to help deal with the Ebola disease in West Africa. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir



LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Volunteer medics returning to Britain after fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa face unfounded stigma that can be made worse by official safety guidelines, charities said on Tuesday.

"These people are putting their lives at risk and instead of being appreciated many of them are facing unfounded stigma on their return," said Sarah Wilson, communication manager for Ebola response at World Vision.

"They should be lauded when they come back home… not discouraged from volunteering."

The guidelines, issued by Public Health England, include restrictions on the activities of returning medics, such as using public transport and returning to work.

"We are concerned that adding additional protocols for health workers to follow on their return to the UK could ... contribute to the stigmatization they face," said John English, Ebola Response Programme Manager at the British Red Cross.

Professor Paul Cosford, director for health protection and medical director at PHE, said the restrictions were designed to reduce the possibility of returning volunteers developing Ebola symptoms in a situation where they cannot quickly get medical help.

"The principles behind this guidance are to ensure that returning workers have a reasonable degree of freedom for normal activities balanced against the need for them to be able to rapidly seek medical help should they develop any symptoms," he said.

Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have borne the brunt of the 20,000 infections and nearly 8,000 deaths since the current Ebola outbreak was first identified in remote southeast Guinea in early 2014.

British volunteers are among hundreds of foreign medics who have gone to the three countries to help local medical staff overwhelmed by the outbreak, the worst ever recorded.

Last week, British nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who had been working in Sierra Leone with Save the Children, became the first person to be diagnosed with the disease in Britain, shortly after her return from West Africa.

Travel restrictions were not relevant to Cafferkey's case, Wilson said. "People are not contagious until they are too sick with the disease to get out of bed, let alone use public transportation," she said.

Cafferkey, 39, is in a stable but critical condition at the Royal Free Hospital in London. She is being treated with blood plasma from an anonymous Ebola survivor and an experimental anti-viral drug.

Last year the hospital, Britain's main center for Ebola cases, successfully treated British nurse William Pooley with the experimental drug ZMapp after he became infected with the Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone.

(Reporting by Liisa Tuhkanen; Editing by Tim Pearce)


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-volunteers-praised-not-stigmatized-uk-charities-184242054.html (http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-volunteers-praised-not-stigmatized-uk-charities-184242054.html)

Title: J&J, Bavarian Nordic start clinical tests in Ebola vaccine race
Post by: Buster's Uncle on January 07, 2015, 12:08:03 am

J&J, Bavarian Nordic start clinical tests in Ebola vaccine race
Reuters
By Ben Hirschler  11 hours ago



LONDON (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson has started clinical trials of its experimental Ebola vaccine, which uses a booster from Denmark's Bavarian Nordic, making it the third such shot to enter human testing.

The initiation of the Phase I study in Britain, which had been expected about now, marks further progress in the race to develop a vaccine against a disease that has killed more than 8,000 people in West Africa since last year.

Two other experimental vaccines, one from GlaxoSmithKline and a rival from NewLink and Merck, are already in clinical development. However, the J&J vaccine offers a different approach, since it involves two separate injections.

U.S.-based J&J said on Tuesday it had produced enough vaccine to treat more than 400,000 people, which could be used in large-scale clinical trials by April, and a total of 2 million courses would be available in 2015. Previously, J&J expected more than 1 million courses this year.

It also now predicts it can make enough vaccine for 5 million treatments, if required, over a 12- to 18-month period.

Just how much Ebola vaccine will be needed depends on how quickly the epidemic in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea is brought under control and declines. Currently, experts project demand at anywhere between 100,000 and 12 million doses.

"As long as there are still Ebola patients, there is the risk that it will continue to go around the region," Paul Stoffels, J&J's chief scientific officer, told reporters.

"Does it come too late? That's going to be answered when we are there. I don't think so."


'PRIME-BOOST'

The first volunteers have received initial injections in Oxford, where 72 healthy subjects will get different regimens involving various combinations of the vaccine components or a placebo.

Additional clinical studies are planned in the United States later this month and soon after in Africa, where volunteers will receive the vaccine in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Phase I trials are designed primarily to test safety but may also indicate whether vaccines produce a good immune response.

In all, some 300 subjects will be involved in Phase I testing, after which J&J hopes to move rapidly into larger studies, with final-stage Phase III trials planned for the second quarter of 2015.

The J&J and Bavarian vaccine uses a so-called "prime-boost" approach of giving a first shot to stimulate the immune system, followed by a second booster a few weeks later.

The GSK and NewLink vaccines have been tested initially as single shots, although there is growing debate as to whether two-stage vaccination might be a more strategic option, since it is likely to provide better protection. The downside is that it would make mass immunisation more complicated.

"What we are doing with prime-boost is going for maximal protection, as well as long-term protection," Stoffels said.

Importantly, tests have shown the J&J vaccine can be stored in a normal fridge for several months, rather than needing special freezing, which is difficult in rural Africa.

Shares in Bavarian Nordic, which received investment from J&J last year to accelerate production, rose 3.9 percent to their highest level in four years.

Although it is too early to say how much a vaccine might cost, the GAVI global vaccines alliance announced last month it was committing up to $300 million to buy Ebola shots.

(Editing by Louise Heavens and Pravin Char)


http://news.yahoo.com/j-j-bavarian-nordic-start-clinical-tests-ebola-072855446--finance.html (http://news.yahoo.com/j-j-bavarian-nordic-start-clinical-tests-ebola-072855446--finance.html)

Title: Clinical trial starts at Ebola center for anti-viral drug
Post by: Buster's Uncle on January 07, 2015, 01:45:55 am

Clinical trial starts at Ebola center for anti-viral drug
Associated Press
By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH  8 hours ago



MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — A clinical drug trial is now under way at a major health center in Liberia's capital to determine if a medication already used to treat other viruses could help those suffering from Ebola.

The drug called brincidofovir is being tested in patients at the ELWA 3 center operated by Doctors Without Borders, the group said. Ebola, which has no licensed treatment or cure, has killed more than 8,000 people in West Africa over the past year.

"It must be stressed that it is not a miracle cure and it is still not known whether it will help patients survive the virus," the medical charity said in announcing the start of the drug trial this week.

Brincidofovir is an antiviral drug being developed to treat several types of viruses, including one that infects patients undergoing bone marrow transplants.

All new patients confirmed to be Ebola positive by blood test at the charity's ELWA 3 center will be informed about the trial and can decide whether they would like to participate, the group said. Those who opt out will receive the usual supportive care.

Brincidofovir is not the only drug being considered for use in treating Ebola. Another drug — ZMapp — healed all 18 monkeys infected with the deadly virus in one recent study. Experimental doses of ZMapp also were given to several humans who suffered from Ebola before the manufacturer's supply ran out months ago. It was not known whether the doses of ZMapp helped the patients who recovered.

A third drug — The TKM-Ebola injection, by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals of Canada — works by blocking genes that help the Ebola virus reproduce and spread. It has been used in at least one patient and is said to be in limited supply.

Other patients have received blood donations from Ebola survivors who had developed antibodies to the virus.


http://news.yahoo.com/clinical-trial-starts-ebola-center-anti-viral-drug-111042366.html (http://news.yahoo.com/clinical-trial-starts-ebola-center-anti-viral-drug-111042366.html)