Ebola news 11/28

[Buster's Uncle]

Ebola cases near 16,000, Sierra Leone to overtake Liberia soon with most cases - WHO
Reuters
By Stephanie Nebehay  10 hours ago



Health workers remove the body a woman who died from the Ebola virus in the Aberdeen district of Freetown, Sierra Leone, October 14, 2014. REUTERS/Josephus Olu-Mammah



GENEVA (Reuters) - The death toll in the world's worst Ebola epidemic has risen to 5,689 out of 15,935 cases reported in eight countries by Nov. 23, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

Almost all cases and all but 15 deaths have been in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia - the three hardest-hit countries, which reported 600 new cases in the past week, the WHO said in its latest update.

"The total number of cases reported in Sierra Leone since the outbreak began will soon eclipse the number reported from Liberia," it said. The former British colony has reported 6,599 cases against 7,168 in Liberia.

Transmission of the virus remains intense in Sierra Leone, especially in the west and north, with the capital Freetown still the worst affected area, it said.

Sierra Leone appealed to the United States on Wednesday to send military aid to help it battle Ebola as it falls behind its West African neighbours Guinea and Liberia in the fight against the virus.

"Liberia and Sierra Leone report that fewer than 70 percent of patients are isolated, though there is wide variation among districts," the WHO said, referring to an international target set for Dec. 1. However, some data is out of date, it said.

Isolation is required to halt further spread of the viral hemorrhagic disease, and the aim is to isolate 100 percent of patients by Jan. 1, it added.

Contacts of people known to be infected should be monitored for symptoms including fever, but relatively low numbers being reported "suggest that in districts with high case incidence fewer contacts are currently registered in connection with each new case than is necessary to accurately monitor chains of transmission", the WHO warned.

Mali has reported 8 Ebola cases, six of them fatal, and 285 contacts exposed to the virus there are being checked, it said.

WHO teams are evaluating the preparedness of neighbouring countries to combat Ebola, and visits are planned to the Central African Republic, Niger, and Ethiopia next week, it said.

Peter Piot, a leading specialist on the disease, said on Wednesday that West Africa's Ebola epidemic could worsen further before abating, but that but new infections should start to decline in all affected countries by the end of the year.

The first Cuban doctor infected with Ebola, evacuated from Sierra Leone to Geneva last week, is improving and responding to treatment, the University Hospital of Geneva said in a statement late on Tuesday. His medical team is "reasonably optimistic".


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-cases-near-16-000-sierra-leone-overtake-070953046.html

[Buster's Uncle]

U.S. Ebola survivors say thankful for 'second chance'
Reuters
By Susan Heavey  November 26, 2014 1:37 PM



Amber Vinson hugs caregivers before her release from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia October 28, 2014. REUTERS/Tami Chappell



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Six of the nine Ebola patients treated in the United States in recent months met for the first time on Wednesday, saying their ordeals fighting the virus have not dampened their desire to help others and that they are grateful to be alive.

Speaking together in an interview on NBC's "Today" show, they said while they have experienced some stigma following their treatments, they also have seen many acts of kindness.

"There's been a mix, there's been a lot of scrutiny," said Dr. Rick Sacra, who was infected while working with a Christian missionary group in Liberia. "Some of it's positive, but there's a lot of criticism on social media and the stuff that you see."

All six said their experiences in facing Ebola would not stop them from treating other patients with the disease or even returning to West Africa, where more than 5,400 people have died at the center of the outbreak.

"I'd still do it," Dallas nurse Amber Vinson said.



Amber Vinson speaks before her release from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia October 28, 2014. REUTERS/Tami Chappell


Sacra and Vinson spoke alongside four others who contracted the virus and were treated in the United States: missionaries Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol; another Dallas nurse, Nina Pham; and NBC freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo.

"I'm thankful for my health, for a second chance at life," Pham said in the interview, a day before the Thanksgiving holiday.

"It's also important to recognize how lucky we are for getting the kind of treatment that we got," Mukpo said, adding that many victims in West Africa "didn't have the benefit of what we had."

The circumstances under which the survivors contracted Ebola varied. Some were working in West Africa and were flown back to U.S. hospitals. The two nurses helped treat Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, who was diagnosed after flying to Texas and died there in October.

The other U.S. death was Dr. Martin Salia, a Sierra Leone native and a permanent U.S. resident who was gravely ill when he was flown from his home country to Omaha, Nebraska, for treatment.

Dr. Craig Spencer of New York, who recovered after being infected in West Africa, did not attend the gathering.

The meeting also gave four of the survivors a chance to thank Brantly in person for donating his plasma to help treat them when they were sick, although it is unknown if the donation or other interventions were behind their recoveries.

Writebol also donated plasma to Spencer, according to NBC.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Bill Trott)


http://news.yahoo.com/u-ebola-survivors-thankful-second-chance-183723914.html

[Buster's Uncle]

China drafts policy on emergency Ebola diagnosis, approves products
Reuters  6 hours ago



A health inspection and quarantine researcher (L) demonstrates to customs policemen the symptoms of Ebola, at a laboratory at an airport in Qingdao, Shandong province August 11, 2014. REUTERS/China Daily



SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has drafted a policy on the emergency use of diagnostic products for the Ebola virus disease and clinical trials, the country's drug regulator said on Friday, as the number of people affected globally by the epidemic nears 16,000.

In a brief statement, the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) said it had also approved three companies to produce Ebola diagnosis products for emergency reserve use.

"These (products) provide key technological safeguards for China to diagnose the Ebola virus and defend against any epidemic situation," it said.

It did not add any further detail about the draft policy or say what the clinical trials relating to Ebola would involve.

No cases of Ebola have been reported in China, but there are millions of Chinese nationals living in Africa, with around 10,000 in the worst affected countries - Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

This has prompted concerns that Ebola could spread to China, which has previously faced severe outbreaks of infectious diseases such as SARS and bird flu.

The three companies named in the statement regarding diagnosis products are Da An Gene Co Ltd, Shenzhen Pu Rui Kang and Shanghai ZJ Bio-Tech Co Ltd.

Chinese drugmaker Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd is separately developing a treatment for Ebola with the country's military, and hopes to get fast-track approval for the drug.

(Reporting by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Pravin Char)


http://news.yahoo.com/china-drafts-policy-emergency-ebola-diagnosis-trials-101521747.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Canada to deploy military health staff to Sierra Leone in Ebola fight
Reuters
By David Ljunggren  10 hours ago



OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will send up to 40 military staff to Sierra Leone to help battle Ebola, the government said on Thursday as it also launched a campaign to recruit healthcare workers to help operate treatment centers in three West African countries.

The death toll in the world's worst Ebola epidemic had risen to 5,689 out of 15,935 cases reported in eight countries as of Nov. 23, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

Almost all cases, and all but 15 deaths, have been in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the three West African countries that have been hardest hit.

"Up to 40 Canadian armed forces health care and support staff will deploy to Sierra Leone for up to six months to support efforts on the ground in West Africa," the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement.

Defence Minister Rob Nicholson told a news conference that the specialists would arrive by the end of December.

Canadian military doctors, nurses and support staff will work with British counterparts at a unit just outside Freetown that treats local and international healthcare workers who have been exposed to the virus, he said.

The deployment represents a shift in position for Canada, which had said it would not send more experts to the affected region unless there was a guarantee they could be medically evacuated if necessary. Health Minister Rona Ambrose said Canada now has the guarantees it needed.

Sierra Leone appealed to the United States on Wednesday to send military aid to help it battle Ebola.

As well as announcing the dispatch of the medical specialists, Canada launched an appeal for healthcare workers to go to the worst affected areas. Those accepted will have a week's training, spend four weeks in West Africa and then rest for three weeks.

Earlier this month, Canada said it had launched a clinical trial of an experimental Ebola vaccine developed at its national microbiology laboratory and expects to have the results in early 2015. No cases of Ebola have been reported in Canada.

Canada has also donated around 1,000 doses of the vaccine to the World Health Organization. Gregory Taylor, Canada's chief public health officer, said most of the doses have been used for clinical trials.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Peter Galloway)


http://news.yahoo.com/canada-deploy-military-health-staff-sierra-leone-ebola-071025419--finance.html

[Buster's Uncle]

French president cheered in Ebola-stricken Guinea
Associated Press
By MICHELLE FAUL  2 hours ago



French President Francois Hollande gets his temperature taken as he arrives at the Donka hospital Conakry, Guinea, Friday Nov 28, 2014. His reading was 36.3 celsius. Hollande is visiting the Ebola stricken country during a seven-hour stop on his way to Dakar, Senegal, Friday Nov. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)



CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — French President Francois Hollande brought a message of hope to Guinea on Friday, where thousands of residents lined the roads while clapping, drumming and dancing to catch a glimpse of the first Western leader to visit a country hard hit by Ebola.

Guinea's president greeted his French counterpart at the airport and said that if Hollande could visit the country, then anybody could.

"There is hope: The hope of those who have been cured. The hope that we can control this epidemic ... The very fact that hope exists," said Hollande, who during his roughly eight-hour visit was to tour an Ebola treatment center at the capital's main hospital and meet with French health workers.

At a meeting attended by Guinean President Alpha Conde, Hollande heard updates from aid groups. The room burst out in applause when an Ebola survivor was introduced.

"Ebola is something else. When you do not have Ebola you have a life, you have dreams. When you have Ebola, you are treated like a dead person, even after you are cured," the survivor, Fanta Camara, told The Associated Press. Ebola survivors have been driven from their villages and fired from their jobs as they carry a huge social stigma.

Ebola has ravaged three West African countries — Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — and sickened nearly 16,000 people, making it by far the largest Ebola outbreak in history. This epidemic has presented challenges never seen before, including infecting thousands in cities, where it has whipped around populations faster than doctors have been able to keep up, while also hitting remote areas, where it has been difficult to send help.



People cheer towards the motorcade carrying French President Francois Hollande and his Guinean counterpart Alpha Conde in Conakry, Guinea, Friday Nov 28, 2014. Hollande is visiting the Ebola stricken country during a seven-hour stop on his way to Dakar, Senegal. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)


This has forced a new kind of response: larger treatment centers than ever before seen but also an increasing need for smaller, stripped-down care centers and rapid-response teams that can be flown into remote areas. The response has been stymied by the task of transporting potentially infectious blood samples long distances on poor roads.

The U.N.'s World Health Organization last week declared the outbreak in Guinea had "stabilized." It has reported 1,260 deaths from 2,134 cases. Oxfam-France on Thursday, though, said there is little or no reliable information about the epidemic in rural areas.

Nearly a year since the first patient died in a southeastern village of Guinea, at least 25 villages in the country's forested and mountainous southeast still refuse to allow entry by health workers who are trying to trace potential cases, according to human rights groups at a seminar this week on the response to Ebola.

The largest caseload in Guinea is currently centered around the southeast town of Macenta, where France helped open a new treatment center this month. French Red Cross official Thomas Mauget said the first cured patient left the center Thursday, but that the child's mother is still being treated.

Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Liberia said in a telephone interview Friday that a contract will soon be signed to allow Ebola test samples and perhaps even patients to be flown by helicopter out of remote areas. The U.S. military has already airlifted rapid-response teams of epidemiologists and health officials into hard-to-reach regions areas, but it will not be transporting the blood samples, said Ambassador Deborah Malac.



French President Francois Hollande, left and his Guinean counterpart Alpha Conde review the honour guard, in Conakry, Guinea, Friday Nov 28, 2014. Hollande is visiting the Ebola stricken country during a seven-hour stop on his way to Dakar, Senegal. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)


Infection rates are slowing in Liberia, and the country's government has said it hopes for no new cases by Christmas. Malac cautioned that the disease is unpredictable.

"We're still getting new cases every day," she said. "None of us know for sure what will happen. All we can to do is continue to drive toward zero."

Oxfam said France should ensure coordination and allocation of resources for treatment, prevention and training. But Dr. Sakoba Keita, the national coordinator for Guinea's Ebola response, was adamant that France has been working with Guinea from the inception of the crisis.

"The first thermometers that we had to use in this country's (crisis) were given by France," he told AP.

The two countries for decades had a combative relationship since Guinea declared independence in 1958. Military dictators turned to Russia and China and snubbed the privileged relationship France cultivated with other former colonies. Diplomatic relations were restored in 1979 but only warmed after the democratic election in 2010 of Conde, who lived half his life in France in exile.

"Long live friendship and solidarity between France and Guinea," said a banner posted near Conakry's airport.

___

Associated Press writer Sarah DiLorenzo in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/french-president-visits-ebola-stricken-guinea-125416895.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Ebola scare boosts business for Ala company
Associated Press
By JAY REEVES  2 hours ago



BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Ebola scare has subsided in the United States, at least temporarily, but an Alabama manufacturer is still trying to catch up with a glut of orders for gear to protect against the disease.

Located in north Alabama, the family-owned Kappler Inc. of Guntersville typically gets only a few orders annually for the type of suit needed by health workers who are in contact with Ebola patients.

That changed once the disease showed up in Texas, Kappler vice president of marketing Dennis Sanders said. Quickly, orders were flooding in for thousands of the company's Provent 10,000 coverall.

"It happened, literally, overnight," he said. "We took orders in a couple of days that exceeded the orders we've had on that particular product in two or three years."

While the company has about 75,000 of the suits on back order, Sanders said, it has yet to need to add to its workforce of 150 employees or extend working hours.

"We'll probably be filling orders through April 2015," he said.

Other U.S. manufacturers also have reported seeing spikes in orders for protective gear, including surgical face mask manufacturer Kimberly-Clark. In China, Weifang Lakeland Safety Products has said it is doubling capacity to meet the demand for coveralls.

Kappler is the only company making protective suit entirely in the United States, Sanders said. Its product works because of a special method for sealing seams and APTRA, a plastic film that protects against blood and body fluids that could carry the Ebola virus, he said.

Kappler sells its suits to distributors that, in turn, sell to hospitals and health agencies. The Provent 10,000 suit costs about $25 retail.

While the company is now working through old orders, Sanders said he expects another round of new orders if Ebola again becomes a lead topic for news in the United States.

"Anytime there is an event in the world we get the inquiries about things like, 'How long would it take for a 1 million orders?" he said. "This time those calls turned in to orders."

The World Health Organization says more than 5,400 people have died in the current outbreak, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in western Africa.

Ten people have been treated for Ebola in the United States, and one has died.


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-scare-boosts-business-ala-company-164756689.html

[Buster's Uncle]

British-led scientists trial 15-minute Ebola test in Guinea
AFP
By Sabine Wibaux  3 hours ago



A girl suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus has her temperature checked at the government hospital in Kenema, Sierra Leone (AFP Photo/Carl de Souza)



Conakry (AFP) - British scientists announced trials on a 15-minute Ebola test in Guinea as France's Francois Hollande arrived in Conakry on Friday, becoming the first Western leader to visit one of the countries devastated by the epidemic.

The prototype is six times faster than current tests and aims to speed up diagnosis, the London-based global research charity Wellcome Trust and Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) said in a statement.

"A reliable, 15-minute test that can confirm cases of Ebola would be a key tool for effective management of the Ebola outbreak, allowing patients to be identified, isolated and cared for as soon as possible," said Val Snewin of the Wellcome Trust.

She said the test was designed to be suitable for remote field hospitals where electricity and cold storage are often scarce.

The trials, to be led by researchers from Dakar's Pasteur Institute at an Ebola treatment centre in Conakry in the coming weeks, will come as a welcome boon in Guinea which has lost 1,200 people to Ebola.

The biggest Ebola epidemic on record has claimed around 5,700 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since the beginning of the year, according to the World Health Organization.



Health workers wearing protective suits assist a patient suspected of having Ebola on their way to an Ebola treatment centre near Macenta in Guinea on November 21, 2014 (AFP Photo/Kenzo Tribouillard)


President Hollande pledged his support for Guinea after arriving in France's west African former colony on Friday.

"We have a duty to support you," he told his hosts, adding that "we are together with you in the struggle, in this battle" and thanking Guinea for containing the epidemic.


- Solidarity -

The visit, the first by a French president since 1999, has been touted as a bid to deliver "a message of solidarity" to Guinea as it battles the worst outbreak of Ebola since the virus was discovered in 1976.

France has pledged 100 million euros ($125 million) as a contribution in the fight against the epidemic, focusing its efforts on Guinea.



Pauline Mbole holds up a picture of her daughter who died from Ebola as people gather for the inauguration of a new Doctors Without Borders (MSF) centre financed by France to treat Ebola patients in Macenta, Guinea on November 14, 2014 (AFP Photo/Patrick Fort)


The money will help finance several care centres as well as 200 beds, some of which are reserved for health workers caring for the sick.

France has also pledged to set up two training centres for health workers, one in France and one in Guinea. In addition, French biotechnology companies will set up rapid diagnostic tests in Africa.

Hollande visited healthcare workers at Conakry's Donka hospital, which hosts the city's Doctors Without Borders Ebola treatment unit, alongside his Guinean counterpart Alpha Conde.

Before entering, both men followed the protocol of washing their hands and having their temperatures taken.

The French leader is also due to sign a cooperation agreement with Guinean authorities for the creation of a Pasteur Institute in Conakry by the end of 2016, the global medical research organisation said on Thursday.



Red Cross volunteers get trained on November 19, 2014 in Paris before intervening in zones affected by the virus (AFP Photo/Patrick Kovarik)


- Heightened tensions -

"For the people of Guinea, the arrival of President Hollande is a very, very important sign," Conde said.

"If the president of a country as important as France can come to Guinea, that means anyone can come to Guinea."

The visit comes amid heightened tensions in Guinea over the government's handling of the Ebola crisis and criticism over curbs to free speech.

Conde said on Wednesday the use of force was entirely justified in battling the deadly Ebola outbreak.

"There are still people who think Ebola is fiction," Conde told a news conference in a country where an eight-member Ebola education team was murdered by angry villagers in September.

"We have an agenda which is to finish with Ebola as soon as possible and in Guinea this is possible," he added.

"If people don't want to be treated we will use force because we won't allow the illness to spread despite all our efforts."

Press advocacy organisation Reporters Without Borders has voiced concern about the attacks on press freedom under the pretext of the fight against Ebola.

Meanwhile the Guinean opposition coalition this week denounced the lack of consultation by the government over its strategy for fighting Ebola.

Hollande is due to travel to the Senegalese capital Dakar later Friday to take part in a summit of French-speaking leaders that is likely to be dominated by the Ebola crisis as well as the recent unrest in Burkina Faso.

"Tomorrow at the Francophonie Summit, I will launch a new appeal for international mobilisation. But France must lead by example," he told a cheering crowd in Conakry.


http://news.yahoo.com/british-scientists-trial-15-minute-ebola-test-guinea-102527202.html

[Buster's Uncle]

France's Hollande brings message of hope to Ebola-stricken Guinea
Reuters  3 hours ago



CONAKRY (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande pledged on Friday that France would set an example by providing aid to Ebola stricken countries in West Africa, in the first visit by a Western leader to the affected region since the outbreak began.

Hollande was greeted on his arrival in Guinea by President Alpha Conde, ahead of a visit to an Ebola hospital and a roundtable discussion on the response to the disease. Hollande will travel to neighboring Senegal later on Friday for a summit of French-speaking nations.

Guinea's former colonial master France has agreed to set up a military hospital in West Africa to help fight the outbreak and is sending 100 million euros (124.84 million US dollars) in financial assistance for the Ebola effort.

Other Western nations are also ramping up their support. The United States is deploying up to 3,000 troops, mostly in neighboring Liberia, while Britain has sent military staff to build treatments centers in Sierra Leone.

"France wants to set an example. Beyond material help, it is human help which is the most important," Hollande, dressed in a somber suit, told journalists at Conakry airport, saying he had come to "deliver a message of hope."

The worst-known Ebola outbreak in history has killed more than 5,600 people in West Africa since it first emerged from deep in the forests of Guinea last December. More than 1,200 have died in Guinea alone.

Conde's government has made some progress in bringing the outbreak under control, although aid workers say that local resistance to help is hampering efforts to curb the spread in rural areas.

(Reporting by Saliou Samb; Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Daniel Flynn)


http://news.yahoo.com/frances-hollande-brings-message-hope-ebola-stricken-guinea-154619055.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Ebola shows WHO needs revamp, says UN reformer Rudd
Reuters
By Tom Miles  November 27, 2014 9:34 AM



Health workers in protective equipment handle a sample taken from the body of someone who is suspected to have died from Ebola virus, near Rokupa Hospital, Freetown October 6, 2014. REUTERS/Christopher Black/WHO/Handout via Reuters



GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) needs reform to prevent a recurrence of crises such as West Africa's Ebola outbreak, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd said on Thursday.

Rudd is leading a two-year study to suggest ways to improve the effectiveness of the United Nations system and other global bodies, which are often deadlocked by disagreements between states or hamstrung by their internal bureaucracy.

The WHO's Africa office has been widely criticised for its slow response to the Ebola epidemic, which has now killed at least 5,689 people. The WHO has promised to investigate its handling of the outbreak once the epidemic is over.

Rudd said he was seeking practical recommendations to improve the system's effectiveness, adding he thought the WHO suffered from a "systemic problem" in the way power was shared between its central organisation and regional branches.

"If you do not want this sort of thing to repeat itself then a substantive reform would lie in sufficiently empowering WHO globally to act globally on threats to global public health," Rudd told reporters in Geneva after briefing diplomats.

That is the kind of "too-difficult-to-handle" issue that diplomats are now avoiding, Rudd added.

His commission plans to publish its ideas as it goes along, winding up as the United Nations names a replacement for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, whose term ends on Dec. 31, 2016.

Rudd, 57, said global institutions were coming under unprecedented pressure due to rapid shifts in world power relations, demographics, technology, the emergence of non-state actors and a shrinking funding base.

People are increasingly finding ways to work around international organisations, threatening the U.N. system with "death by a thousand cuts", he said.

"None of us wants to see that happen."


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-shows-needs-revamp-says-un-reformer-rudd-143411060.html