Ebola News 1/16

[Buster's Uncle]

Two volunteers with potential Ebola exposure flown to Britain
Reuters  1 hour ago



LONDON (Reuters) - Two volunteers with potential exposure to the deadly Ebola virus are being transported to Britain for precautionary monitoring, health officials said on Friday.

The volunteers, who had been working with victims of the vast Ebola epidemic in West Africa, would arrive on Friday for assessment, and then be monitored for the rest of a 21-day incubation period, Public Health England (PHE) said.

"The individuals have not been diagnosed with Ebola, do not currently have any symptoms, and their risk of developing the infection remains low," it said in a statement.

The first volunteer was potentially exposed in Sierra Leone because of damage to personal protective equipment, PHE said, but had no contact with the blood or bodily fluids of any Ebola patient during this time.

It did not say where the second had been working, but said this volunteer was being brought to Britain by their employer, a non-governmental organization, in a private aircraft.

"The risk to the public posed by these and indeed any of the returning workers is extremely low," said Jenny Harries, PHE's regional director.

A British nurse diagnosed with Ebola last month is being treated in hospital in London, where doctors said on Monday she was no longer in a critical condition.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)


http://news.yahoo.com/two-volunteers-potential-ebola-exposure-flown-britain-133430775.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Ebola outbreak in West Africa appears to be slowing down: U.N
Reuters
By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols  12 hours ago



Le Fonds monétaire international (FMI) se prépare à verser une aide supplémentaire de 150 millions de dollars (127,3 millions d'euros) au Liberia, à la Sierra Leone et à la Guinée, les trois pays les plus touchés par l'épidémie de fièvre hémorragique Ebola /Photo prise le 16 décembre 2014/REUTERS/Baz Ratner



UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An outbreak of Ebola that has claimed more than 8,400 lives in West Africa appears to be slowing down, though the battle to contain the disease is not over, the U.N. special envoy on Ebola said on Thursday.

"The change in behavior that we've been hoping for, working for, anticipating, is now happening everywhere," Dr. David Nabarro told Reuters in an interview.

"The facilities to treat people are available everywhere," he said. "Safe burial teams are providing safe and dignified burial services everywhere and the result is that we're seeing the beginnings of the outbreak slowing down."

Nabarro declined to predict when the outbreak of the virus could be definitively over.

The hemorrhagic fever is spread through contact with bodily fluids of infected people or the highly contagious body of someone who has died of the virus. Nabarro said burial practices that involved people touching and cleaning bodies of Ebola victims had helped fuel the outbreak.

The worst Ebola outbreak on record infected about 21,200 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea since it was detected in March, according to the World Health Organization.

The government of Liberia said earlier on Thursday that it could be free of the virus by the end of next month after success in curbing transmission. It said the country had only 10 confirmed Ebola cases as of Jan. 12.

"It's an incredible drop," Nabarro said, adding that he believed the Liberian figures were "absolutely correct." Nabarro described "a remarkable collective change in patterns of behavior" and said Liberia had "come to terms with the reality that the outbreak of Ebola is being driven by the way in which people behave."

More than 3,500 of the 8,400 dead were from Liberia.

Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea now have capacity to quickly set up mobile centers to handle localized outbreaks.

"Those who are involved in the response have worked out that they can organize rapid mobile responses in case there's a flare up anywhere, so they can set up small temporary treatment facilities wherever they are needed," Nabarro said.

He said the U.S., British and French military, which built treatment centers, had played a crucial role.

"This external help was absolutely vital in bolstering and supporting the capacity of the people in the country to make the changes," Nabarro said, adding that "much of the external help came from within Africa."

Asked about lessons to be taken and suggestions that the WHO had been slow in sounding an alarm about Ebola, Nabarro said: "I hope that the result of this epidemic and the investigations done ... will better enable us to work out the way in which to predict" an outbreak.


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-outbreak-west-africa-appears-slowing-down-u-064455990.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Schools in Guinea closed amid Ebola to reopen Monday
Associated Press
By FRANCIS KOKUTSE  12 hours ago



In this Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014 file photo, a child stands near a sign advising of a quarantined home in an effort to combat the spread of the Ebola virus in Port Loko, Sierra Leone. On Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015, the U.N.'s Ebola chief, Dr. David Nabarro, said at least 50 Ebola hotspots remain in the three hardest-hit West African countries but new cases are declining and the deadly disease will be defeated. In the week ending Jan. 11, WHO said new cases in Sierra Leone declined for a second week to the lowest level since the end of August. (AP Photo/Michael Duff, File)



ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — All schools in Guinea will reopen on Monday after being closed amid the deadly Ebola outbreak, Guinea's health minister said Friday.

Health minister Remy Lamah told The Associated Press in Accra, Ghana during a summit by the Economic Community of West African States that the action is being taken "because the situation has improved." In Liberia, the schools are reopening "next month," said the Liberian Embassy's Charges d'Affaires in Ghana, Musu Ruhle.

The developments mirror how Ebola is affecting the three hardest-hit nations. There have been gains against the virus, which is spread through contact with bodily fluids of a person showing symptoms, or of a corpse, in Guinea and Liberia, but the disease continues to spread in Sierra Leone.

Schools will remain closed in Sierra Leone, that country's health minister said.

"We are monitoring the situation and would take a decision after that," said Sierra Leone Health Minister Foday Sawi Lahai. "We have imported thermometers to be used for surveillance in the schools. Once that is done and the number of cases keep falling, we would consider (reopening schools)."

In the most recent 24-hour monitoring period, 16 new Ebola cases were discovered in Sierra Leone, according to government figures.

In the week ending Jan. 11, WHO said Guinea reported its lowest weekly total of new Ebola cases since mid-August. Liberia had its lowest total since the first week of June and no confirmed new cases for the final two days of the week.

At the summit in Ghana, member states were asked to set up Rapid Response Teams at national, district and regional levels as part of the preparedness and containment mechanisms against Ebola, ECOWAS said. Also attending are the World Health Organization, the African Union, the U.N. Mission for Ebola Emergency Response as well as EU and U.S. representatives, the statement said.

Ebola has claimed over 8,400 lives, WHO reported on Wednesday. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon previously said the epidemic could be over by mid-2015 but WHO is now declining to set a specific timeline.

U.N.'s Ebola chief, Dr. David Nabarro, cautioned Thursday that despite the gains "there are still numbers of new cases that are alarming, and there are hotspots that are emerging in new places that make me believe there is still quite a lot of the disease that we're not seeing."

WHO says there are now enough beds to isolate and treat Ebola patients, but not all are in the hotspots where the disease is spreading fastest. The U.N. estimates that the number of scientists needed to track the outbreak must be tripled.

Nabarro told The Associated Press the national and international campaign for safe healing and burial practices, isolation of suspected cases, and quick treatment for Ebola victims is working. But he appealed for greater global support including "virus detectives" who can identify where there are cases, "anthropologists who can tell us how the communities are reacting," and managers to make sure treatment centers are adequately equipped.

United States Ambassador in Ghana, Gene Cretz, told a high level coordinating meeting at the summit that the U.S. Congress has recently approved President Barack Obama's request for significant additional funding for the Ebola crisis.

The U.S. has so far contributed almost $900 million in resources and personnel to support the fight against the Ebola disease in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, he said.

___

Clarence Roy Macaulay in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/health-minister-schools-guinea-were-closed-amid-ebola-111518594.html

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Red Cross nurse dies from Ebola in Sierra Leone
AFP  23 hours ago



Health workers wearing personal protective equipment dance for Ebola patients in the Kenama treatment centre run by the Red Cross Society on November 15, 2014 (AFP Photo/Francisco Leong)



Freetown (AFP) - A nurse working for the Red Cross in Sierra Leone has died of Ebola in the eastern district of Kenema, where no new cases had been reported for 37 days, the organisation said.

The man, who was working at the IFRC Ebola treatment centre in Kenema, "passed away on 13 January 2015 and was confirmed positive for Ebola virus disease later that day", the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said in a statement.

The Red Cross said it was carrying out an investigation to determine how and where he became infected, and 29 people who had contact with him were being monitored for symptoms of the disease.

District medical officer Mohamed Vandy said "the family and co-workers of the deceased are now quarantined for 21 days", the maximum incubation period for the virus.

Prior to the nurse's death, Kenema district had been free of new cases of Ebola for 37 days, health ministry spokesman Abass Mamara told AFP.

"There were no cases reported from December 6, 2014 until Monday, January 12," he said.

In the neighbouring district of Kailahun, no new cases had been reported for at least 34 days, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which is leading the fight against Ebola in West Africa.

Kenema and Kailahun have been under quarantine since August. The Eastern Province, which includes both districts, was the first epicentre of the epidemic in the country.

Sierra Leone and neighbouring Liberia and Guinea are the three west African countries most affected by the epidemic.

They account for 99 percent of the estimated 8,500 Ebola deaths from more than 21,000 cases reported since December 2013, according to the latest World Health Organization report.


http://news.yahoo.com/red-cross-nurse-dies-ebola-sierra-leone-035638119.html