Ebola news 9/3

[Buster's Uncle]

Obama addresses West Africans on facts about Ebola
Associated Press
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE  September 2, 2014 4:53 PM



This Aug. 18, 2014 file photo shows President Barack Obama speaking in the James Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama urged West Africans on Tuesday to wear gloves and masks when caring for Ebola patients or burying anyone who died of the disease. He also discouraged the traditional burial practice of directly touching the body of someone who died of Ebola, which is one way the disease has been spreading in the region. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)



WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama urged West Africans on Tuesday to wear gloves and masks when caring for Ebola patients or burying anyone who died of the disease. He also discouraged the traditional burial practice of directly touching the body of someone who died of Ebola, which is one way the disease has been spreading in the region.

"You can respect your traditions and honor your loved ones without risking the lives of the living," Obama said in a brief video message to residents of hard-hit Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria. The video was posted on the White House website. "Stopping this disease won't be easy but we know how to do it."

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed more than 1,500 people in the four countries.

In the video, Obama said the first step to slowing the disease is to know the facts, and then delivered a tutorial on how Ebola is and isn't spread.

Obama said the disease isn't spread through the air, like the flu, or through such casual contact as sitting next to someone on a bus. People also cannot get Ebola from another person until that individual shows symptoms of the disease, like fever, he said.

Obama said the most common method of infection is from touching the body fluids — sweat, saliva or blood — of someone who is ill or has died of the disease. Contact with a contaminated item, such as a needle, is another common infection method, he said.

He said anyone who feels sick should get help immediately, saying nearly half of patients can recover provided they seek prompt medical treatment.

Obama also was briefed Tuesday on the Ebola crisis by Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Frieden recently returned from a visit to West Africa.


http://news.yahoo.com/obama-addresses-west-africans-facts-ebola-184624848--politics.html

[Buster's Uncle]

British Ebola victim discharged from hospital
AFP
5 hours ago



The isolation unit where William Pooley was treated for Ebola is pictured at the Royal Free Hospital in north London on August 6, 2014 (AFP Photo/Leon Neal)



London (AFP) - A British nurse infected with Ebola while working in Sierra Leone was discharged from a London hospital on Wednesday after recovering from the disease following treatment with the experimental drug ZMapp.

"I was very lucky," said William Pooley, 29, who had been working as a volunteer in one of the worst-hit areas and was flown out of Africa on a specially-equipped British military plane.

"I had some unpleasant symptoms but nothing compared to some of the worst of the disease, especially when people end up dying," said Pooley, who has been the only Briton reportedly infected.

The Royal Free Hospital, the only facility in Britain with a high-level isolation unit that can host Ebola patients, said the treatment had been "successful".

Pooley, who spent 10 days in the hospital, was given the drug ZMapp, which was also used on two US missionaries who also recovered. At least two others also treated with ZMapp have died.

More than 1,900 people have died in the Ebola epidemic sweeping through West Africa -- all in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone -- according to a count released by the World Health Organization on Wednesday.



The isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital in north London is pictured on August 6, 2014, before the arrival of Ebola patient William Pooley (AFP Photo/Leon Neal)


Pooley, quoted by the hospital, admitted "I was worried I was going to die", but added that he had no regrets about flying out to Sierra Leone to help with the outbreak.

"I wish that the level of care I've received here could be provided there", he said.

"I have mixed memories, some great memories and some horrible memories - lots of people dying...

"But also some wonderful memories of people going home, people showing massive spirit and cheer, despite the horrible conditions, the truly heroic people that I worked with, people that went on to get sick, so it is a massive mix of memories."


- 'Like a fish tank' -


The Royal Free Hospital in London, pictured on August 24, 2014 (AFP Photo/Justin Tallis)


Pooley found out he had the disease from a World Health Organization (WHO) doctor, following a blood test.

"He was in personal protective equipment so I knew it was bad news," he said.

"It was a bit disturbing to get that diagnosis but I had been half expecting it because I had been feeling sick. I was worried about my family, I was scared."

Pooley described the isolation tent at The Royal Free Hospital as being "like a fish tank... with very little privacy", and said that being allowed out was a "special moment".

He added that his recovery will continue with the help of family and friends at his home in East Anglia, south east England, and that there were no plans to return to Africa any time soon.

"They incinerated my passport so my mum will be pleased to know I cannot go anywhere at the moment," he joked.

International medical agency Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday the world was "losing the battle" to contain Ebola as the United Nations warned of severe food shortages in the hardest-hit countries.

The organisation, also known by its French name Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), told a UN briefing in New York that world leaders were failing to address the epidemic and called for an urgent global biological disaster response to get aid and personnel to west Africa.


http://news.yahoo.com/british-ebola-victim-discharged-hospital-100224616.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Ebola death toll jumps to more than 1,900: WHO
AFP
3 hours ago



Health workers spray the body of a amputee suspected of dying from the Ebola virus with disinfectant, in a busy street in Monrovia, Liberia, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014. Food in countries hit by Ebola is getting more expensive and will become scarcer because many farmers won't be able to access fields, a U.N. food agency warned Tuesday. An Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed more than 1,500 people, and authorities have cordoned off entire towns in an effort to halt the virus' spread. (AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh)



Washington (AFP) - More than 1,900 people have now died of Ebola in west Africa, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, warning the world's worst-ever outbreak of the virus is still gathering pace.

Global health experts have stepped up their warnings in recent days that world leaders need to do more to address the epidemic, which is most prominent in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The outbreak of Ebola, transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids, has sparked alarm throughout the region but also further afield, with scientists scrambling to come up with treatment.

"As of this week, we are reporting 3,500 cases confirmed in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and more than 1,900 deaths -- and the outbreak is rising," WHO chief Margaret Chan told reporters in Washington.

The latest toll represents a significant increase from the 1,552 deaths and 3,069 cases reported by the Geneva-based organization just days ago.

The number of deaths also is higher than the total fatalities in all previous outbreaks combined.

Chan said she hoped that the global response to the health crisis would soon bear fruit, especially in the hardest-hit countries.

"With this international response, coordinated response, the money is coming, the technical experts are coming, so we hope to stop the transmission in six to nine months," Chan said.

Her agency has previously said at least $490 million (373 million euros) would be needed to bring the outbreak under control, by which time over 20,000 people could be affected.

But David Nabarro, the senior UN system coordinator on Ebola, said that total costs could rise even higher.

"It will cost at least 600 million dollars -- maybe a lot more -- to get the necessary support to the countries, to get the situation under control," Nabarro told reporters in Washington.


- Tight timeline -

Chan said that in countries with "very intense transmission" -- Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia -- "we would like to reverse the trend in three months."

She added for countries with "localized transmission" such as Senegal -- where an isolated case has been reported -- and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the WHO "would like to stop all transmission within eight weeks."

So far, more than 30 people have died in a separate outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nigeria reported a seventh death on Wednesday.

The outbreak in west Africa has sparked travel restrictions, which virologists say could make the situation worse, limiting medical and food supplies and keeping out much-needed doctors.

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) launched an emergency operation on Tuesday to get 65,000 tonnes of food to 1.3 million people in the worst-hit areas.


- 'Number one priority' -

For Nabarro, one of the main challenges is to get all those needed to help curb the spread of Ebola back to work in affected countries. In order for that to happen, equipment and money are needed.

"This is the number one priority and we hope to create the conditions within the next few weeks," he said.

On Tuesday, international medical agency Doctors Without Borders said the world was "losing the battle" to contain Ebola.

The head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tom Frieden, said urgent action was needed.

"We need action now to scale up the response. We know how to stop Ebola. The challenge is to scale it up to the massive levels needed to stop this outbreak," Frieden said.

"This is really the first epidemic of Ebola the world has ever known."


- 'Dark days' -

In the United States on Wednesday, Ebola survivor Nancy Writebol, who contracted the virus while working as a missionary in Liberia, thanked God for her recovery but admitted she had known "dark days."

"There were many mornings I woke up and thought I'm alive and there were many times when I thought I don't think I'm going to make it anymore," Writebol told a news conference in North Carolina.

Fellow missionary Dr Kent Brantly has been treated in the United States and released. Another US doctor working in Liberia, Rick Sacra, has been diagnosed with Ebola.

A British nurse infected while working in Sierra Leone was discharged from a London hospital on Wednesday following treatment with the experimental drug ZMapp.

"I was very lucky," said William Pooley, 29, who had been working as a volunteer in one of the worst-hit areas and was flown out of Africa on a specially-equipped British military plane.


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-death-toll-more-1-900-chief-181543673.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Chimerix says antiviral shows promise against Ebola
Reuters
11 hours ago



(Reuters) - Chimerix Inc said its lead experimental drug showed promise against the deadly Ebola virus in laboratory testing at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

The company joins a rapidly growing list of drug developers exploring the potential of their broad-spectrum antivirals to fight the virus for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment.

Chimerix's drug, brincidofovir, is being developed to prevent and treat significant infections caused by DNA viruses, including cytomegalovirus and adenovirus.

Additional assessments of the drug in animal model studies is being conducted through the U.S. agencies, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Governments across the world have accelerated funding to spur development of medical interventions to fight the Ebola virus, which has killed at least 1,500 since February.

U.S. agencies are supporting a number of efforts including GlaxoSmithKline Plc and NewLink Genetics vaccine, Immunovaccine Inc's technology, Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc's intramuscular injection and privately held Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc's treatment.

Durham, North Carolina-based Chimerix's stock were up 1 percent at $24.99 in early trading.

(Reporting by Natalie Grover in Bangalore; Editing by Kirti Pandey and Sriraj Kalluvila)


http://news.yahoo.com/chimerix-says-antiviral-shows-promise-against-ebola-123829021--finance.html