Ebola News 3/21

[Buster's Uncle]

Liberia reports first Ebola infection in a month
AFP
By Zoom Dosso  19 hours ago



A man walks past an Ebola campaign banner in Monrovia on February 23, 2015 (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)



Monrovia (AFP) - Liberia has confirmed its first new Ebola case in more than a month in a setback to hopes the country would soon be officially declared free of the deadly disease.

The country was the hardest hit at the peak of the epidemic in west Africa and has seen more than 4,000 deaths in all, but was at an advanced stage in its recovery and was expecting to be declared Ebola-free by mid-April before the latest case in the capital Monrovia.

"A woman has been confirmed as an Ebola patient... This is a new case after we have gone more than 27 days without a single case. It is a setback," government spokesman Lewis Brown told AFP late Friday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced earlier this month that no new case of the deadly virus had been registered in Liberia since February 19.

It was not immediately clear where the new patient became infected, as all contacts associated with the last known chain of transmission completed the 21-day observation period during which symptoms of Ebola are exhibited, according to the WHO.

A source close to the case, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the woman was the wife of a cured Ebola patient.

According to experts, a patient can still transmit the virus through sex days after being cured.



Workers at a crematorium load the remains of Ebola victims onto a vehicle to be taken to a safe burial site on March 7, 2015 in Monrovia (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)


Surveillance and early warning systems had detected 125 suspected cases in the week to March 15 but none tested positive for Ebola.

Since the outbreak began in December 2013, 24,753 people in nine countries have been infected with the virus, and 10,236 of them have died, according to the latest figures.

All but 15 of those deaths have occurred in Liberia and its neighbours, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

But the tide seemed to have turned in Liberia, which six months ago was reporting more than 300 new cases a week and which still counts the most deaths in the outbreak with 4,283.


- 'Tremendous progress' -

The country discharged its last confirmed Ebola patient, Beatrice Yordoldo, on March 5, two days after she tested negative for the virus for the second time.



Beatrice Yordoldo (Seated), the last confirmed Ebola patient, poses for photographs with medical staff as she prepares to leave the Ebola treatment unit (ETU) in the Paynesville suburb of the Liberian capital Monrovia on March 5, 2015 (AFP Photo/Zoom Dosso)


The country started its 42-day countdown towards being considered Ebola-free on March 4 and would have been clear by April 15 -- the much-touted "zero Ebola" deadline announced by the three countries.

While the new case will be a worry for the government, Liberia has nevertheless been leading the recovery.

The outlook has been mixed in Guinea and in Sierra Leone, the latter of which has announced a three-day lockdown of around 2.5 million people at the end of the month in a bid to stem the epidemic.

Sierra Leone counts the most cases of the virus at 11,794, but only 55 new confirmed infections were registered last week -- the lowest number since last June.

WHO chief Margaret Chan said on Wednesday the country had made "tremendous progress".

There were 95 new confirmed infections in Guinea, however -- the highest weekly total for the country this year.

Continued resistance within communities in Sierra Leone and Guinea to measures taken to rein in the outbreak is said to be threatening progress.

In both countries some Ebola patients are still not being isolated and treated, while some unsafe burials of the highly contagious bodies are still going on.

There is no licensed treatment or vaccine for Ebola, and the WHO has endorsed rushing candidates through trials in a bid to stem the epidemic.

The first large-scale trial of an Ebola vaccine began in Guinea two weeks ago, after a similar test kicked off in Liberia.

The phase III testing of the vaccine -- one of two that are in the most advanced stages of development -- aims to ensure it provides protection against the virus.

Researchers have said it remains unknown what level of immune response is needed to protect humans from Ebola, which causes often fatal haemorrhaging, organ failure and severe diarrhoea.


http://news.yahoo.com/liberia-reports-first-ebola-infection-month-government-232911712.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Sierra Leone orders three-day lockdown against Ebola
AFP  1 hour ago



A woman walks past signs warning of Ebola in Freetown on August 13, 2014 (AFP Photo/Carl de Souza)



Freetown (AFP) - Sierra Leone's President Ernest Koroma ordered the country's entire population Saturday to stay in their homes for three days in a bid to stem the spread of the deadly Ebola epidemic.

"All Sierra Leoneans must stay at home for three days," he announced, expanding a previous order for a lockdown in the capital Freetown and northern areas of the country nationwide.

"I have made my personal commitment to do whatever it takes to get to zero Ebola infections and I call on every Sierra Leonean in every community to pull together," he added.

People will be ordered to stay home from 0600 GMT March 27 to 1800 GMT March 29, with "no trading activities across the country".

Authorities in the Muslim-majority state will lift the lockdown for part of the day to allow church services on Palm Sunday.

Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- which have been the centres of the outbreak which has killed more than 10,000 people -- have set a goal of cutting off the disease's spread by April 16.



Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma seen arriving in Brussels to attend a conference on Ebola on March 3, 2015 (AFP Photo/Thierry Charlier)


Liberia had been on the point of declaring an end to the epidemic in the country when a new case appeared in its capital Monrovia on Friday.

The infected woman is the wife of a man already cured of the disease, an anonymous source close the case told AFP. "The situation is under control. We are investigating how she contracted the virus," government spokesman Lewis Brown said Saturday.

One of the deadliest viruses known to man, Ebola is spread only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of the recently deceased or an infected person showing symptoms, such as fever or vomiting.

The World Health Organization said Ebola can still be transmitted in sperm 82 days after a patient carrying the virus is cured.

The worst-ever outbreak of the virus has claimed almost 3,700 lives in Sierra Leone, one of three impoverished west African nations that have seen their economies and healthcare systems wrecked by the crisis.

"The economic development of our country and the lives of our people continue to be threatened by the ongoing presence of Ebola in Sierra Leone," President Koroma said. "The future of our country and the aspirations of our children are at stake."


http://news.yahoo.com/leone-president-orders-three-day-national-lockdown-against-150740552.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Liberia investigates how latest Ebola patient got infected
Associated Press
By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH  1 hour ago



MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberian officials were investigating Saturday how the country's latest Ebola patient became infected, after weeks with no cases of the disease in the country.

Liberia has seen the most deaths in the Ebola outbreak, with more than 4,200 of the more than 10,000 dead across West Africa. Since Liberia discharged its last case on March 5, it was counting down the 42 days that a country must wait in order to be declared Ebola-free.

But on Friday, officials said a new patient tested positive. In a worrying sign, she doesn't seem to be linked to any of the people on an Ebola contacts list and says she has not traveled recently to the neighboring infected countries of Sierra Leone and Guinea, said Dr. Francis Kateh, acting head of the Liberia Ebola Case Management Team.

He said authorities were considering the possibility that she had a visitor from outside Liberia who infected her or that she had sex with a survivor. The Ebola virus can be found in the semen of survivors for up to three months, and health authorities recommend that survivors abstain from sex during that period.

"The key thing is, if there is any transmission out there, how can we break this transmission?" he said.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is calling the investigation team every half-hour or so to check in, he said.

Authorities are still compiling a list of people who came into contact with the patient, said Elizabeth Hamann of the International Rescue Committee, which is helping to manage the hospital where the woman first sought care. Contacts of people who are sick with Ebola must be monitored for symptoms.

Although hopes were high that Liberia had beaten Ebola, officials know that until neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea also stamp out the disease, Liberia will remain at risk.


http://news.yahoo.com/liberia-investigates-latest-ebola-patient-got-infected-101455447.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Liberia officials: New patient tests positive for Ebola
Associated Press
By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH  19 hours ago


MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — A patient has tested positive for Ebola in Liberia's capital, officials said Friday, deflating hopes that the West African nation had beaten the disease after weeks with no new cases.

Liberia has seen the most deaths in the West African Ebola outbreak, which has killed more than 10,000 people. But since it discharged its last case on March 5, it was counting down the 42 days countries must wait before being declared Ebola-free.

Now, a new patient has tested positive, said Dr. Francis Kateh, the acting head of the country's Ebola Incident Management Team. Tolbert Nyenswah, who runs Liberia's Ebola response, also said he had been told the test result was positive.

The woman went to the emergency room of Monrovia's Redemption Hospital on Thursday night, according to Elizabeth Hamann of the International Rescue Committee, which is helping the hospital reopen amid the outbreak. She was identified as a suspected Ebola case and put in the hospital's isolation unit while awaiting test results. She is now at a treatment center.

In a worrying sign, it is not clear where the woman became infected. She doesn't seem to be linked to any of the people on an Ebola contacts list, and she has said that she did not travel to an infected country, Kateh said.

He said authorities were considering the possibility that she had a visitor from outside Liberia who infected her or that she had sex with a survivor. The Ebola virus can be found in the semen of survivors for up to three months, and health authorities recommend that survivors abstain from sex during that period.

An emergency meeting will be held Saturday to discuss the case.

Although hopes were high that Liberia had beaten Ebola, officials knew that until two neighboring countries — Sierra Leone and Guinea — also beat the disease, Liberia would remain at risk.

"We knew very well that we were not out of the woods yet," said Nyenswah.

___

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


http://news.yahoo.com/liberia-officials-patient-tests-positive-ebola-173220709.html

[Buster's Uncle]

5 key findings from AP's story on WHO and the Ebola outbreak
Associated Press
By MARIA CHENG and RAPHAEL SATTER  March 20, 2015 8:13 AM



In this Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014 file photo, people watch as a health worker, right, sprays a man suspected of dying from Ebola with disinfectant chemicals in Monrovia, Liberia. In a delay that some say may have cost lives, the World Health Organization resisted calling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a public health emergency until the summer of 2014, two months after staff raised the possibility and long after a senior manager called for a drastic change in strategy, The Associated Press has learned. (AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh, File)



GENEVA (AP) — In the aftermath of the world's biggest outbreak of Ebola, the World Health Organization acknowledged it was too slow to act, blaming factors including a lack of real-time information and the unprecedented nature of the epidemic.

But an investigation by The Associated Press has revealed the U.N. health agency knew from the start how unusual the outbreak was. Here are five key findings about WHO's response to Ebola in West Africa:

1. WHO officials privately floated the idea of declaring an international health emergency in early June, more than a month before the agency maintains it got its first sign the outbreak merited one — in late July — and two months before the declaration was finally made on August 8, 2014.

2. WHO blamed its slow response partly on a lack of real-time information and the surprising characteristics of the epidemic. In fact it had accurate field reports — including scientists asking for backup — and it identified the unprecedented features of the outbreak. The agency was also hobbled by a shortage of funds and a lack of clear leadership over its country and regional offices.

3. Politics appear to have clouded WHO's willingness to declare an international emergency. Internal emails and documents suggest the U.N. health agency was afraid of provoking conflict with the Ebola-stricken countries and wary that a declaration could interfere with the economy and the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

4. An Ebola-infected WHO consultant in Sierra Leone violated WHO health protocols, creating a rift with Doctors Without Borders that was only resolved when WHO was thrown out of a shared hotel.

5. Despite WHO's pledges to reform, many of the proposed changes are recycled suggestions from previous outbreaks that have never taken hold. Any meaningful reform to the organization would likely require countries to rewrite the constitution, a prospect many find unpalatable.


http://news.yahoo.com/5-key-findings-aps-story-ebola-outbreak-042500295.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Sierra Leone to lock down Ebola hotspots next week - officials
Reuters  March 20, 2015 2:39 AM



The broken windshield of an Ebola emergency team vehicle is seen after it had been pelted with stones in Lola February 9, 2015. REUTERS/Misha Hussain



FREETOWN (Reuters) - Residents in Sierra Leone's remaining Ebola hotspots will be confined to their houses for three days next week, officials said, as the government tries to snuff out an outbreak that has killed over 10,200 people across West Africa.

The number of Ebola cases in the region has fallen in recent months, though a spike in Guinea highlights the risk of complacency, over a year into the worst outbreak on record.

Sidi Yaya Tunis, an official at Sierra Leone's National Ebola Response Centre, said health officials would carry out house-to-house searches from March 27-29 to identify the sick in the north and west, where the virus is spreading fastest.

Elsewhere, where transmission is lower, officials will focus on education and prevention, he said.

Health officials said a previous lockdown in Sierra Leone in September was a success and helped identify more than 100 cases.

"If we don't get on top of this before the rains come, it will be a horror show," said a Sierra Leone health official who asked not to be named because the details of the lockdown have not been made public. "Many people are still not following the basic rules."

The rains are due to begin in May. The World Health Organization has said they could greatly complicate the fight against Ebola by washing away roads and making it harder for aid and healthcare workers to get to affected areas.

The official said that residents would be allowed out to attend church on Palm Sunday for a few hours.

The latest figures issued by the WHO showed that there had been 10,216 confirmed, probable and suspected deaths from Ebola in West Africa.

Regional leaders have set themselves a target to completely stamp out the disease by mid-April. Ebola outbreaks in Nigeria, Mali and Senegal have been contained.

Liberia has recorded the most deaths with 4,283 since the crisis began, according to the WHO. However, there are currently no confirmed cases in the country.

Sierra Leone has been the next worst affected country with 3,702 dead.

Guinea, where the outbreak was first identified, has recorded 2,231 confirmed and probable deaths from Ebola but has seen a recent spike, with the number of patients more than doubling since last month.


http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-lock-down-ebola-hotspots-next-week-063941743.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Spike in Ebola in Guinea could reflect access to hidden patients
Reuters
By Misha Hussain  March 20, 2015 10:21 AM



A woman cooks in Meliandou February 4, 2015. REUTERS/Misha Hussain



DAKAR, Mar 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The latest spike in Guinea's Ebola cases could be a sign that aid teams are at last gaining access to hidden patients, rather than a surge of new cases, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said.

The number of suspected cases in the West African country has more than doubled from last month, according to the health ministry, prompting fears the epidemic could mushroom as it did in Liberia and Sierra Leone in September.

However, Jean-Marie Dangou, the WHO's Guinea country representative, said the uptick in cases was explained by previously hostile communities opening up to Ebola teams, mainly lead by the Red Cross.

"Unfortunately this has led to the discovery, not unexpected, of a large number of hidden cases and community deaths," Dangou told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an email.

"It also explains why most new cases are not linked to contacts under follow-up."

The worst Ebola outbreak in history, which has killed more than 10,000 people in West Africa, appears to be on the wane, especially in Liberia where there are no current cases.

But there is still resistance to the anti-Ebola effort in Guinea, which is struggling to control the outbreak and has overtaken Sierra Leone as the main hub for transmission.

The Red Cross intensified its campaign to win over suspicious locals in Guinea last month after the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported their Ebola teams were coming under increasingly violent attacks on a regular basis.

Hostility toward Ebola aid workers has declined from 30 known areas of resistance in January to a handful of areas in the capital Conakry and the surrounding districts in March, according to incident mapping by the health ministry.

However, some health workers involved in the Ebola response pin the rise in cases to a lack of resources and poor training.

Earlier this year, labs in Guinea botched more than 20 Ebola blood tests which led to the release of at least four positive patients, two of whom later died, health officials told Reuters.

Stemming the spread of the virus in and around the crowded city of Conakry presents the biggest challenge, especially in the districts of Coyah and Forecariah that are the source of most chains of transmission, said Dangou.

David Heymann, of Public Health England, who dealt with the Ebola outbreak in what was then Zaire in 1976 as well as subsequent epidemics in Africa, said the proven way to stop Ebola transmission is through isolation and knowledge.

"It doesn't surprise me that in Liberia where there has been a much more intense Ebola information campaign, quarantine and a military intervention that the disease has been brought under control faster than in Guinea," Heymann said by phone from London.

In an election year, Guinea President Alpha Conde has pledged to reach zero Ebola cases by mid-April, but has so far avoided quarantine measures or the foreign-backed military interventions used in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

(Additional reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Ros Russell)


http://news.yahoo.com/spike-ebola-guinea-could-reflect-access-hidden-patients-142121890.html