Ebola news 10/9

[Buster's Uncle]

U.N. Liberia medic arrives in Germany for Ebola treatment
Reuters
7 hours ago



LEIPZIG Germany (Reuters) - A medical official with the U.N. Mission in Liberia who tested positive for Ebola arrived in the German city of Leipzig on Thursday to be treated at a local clinic with specialist facilities, authorities said.

The unidentified medic infected in Liberia is the second member of the U.N. mission, known as UNMIL, to contract the virus. The first died on Sept. 25. He is the third Ebola patient to arrive in Germany for treatment.

"The man will be treated on an isolation ward... with strict security measures," said Dr Iris Minde, head of Leipzig's St Georg clinic in a statement. "There is no danger of infection for other patients, relatives, visitors or the public."

The hospital stressed its doctors and carers were fully prepared and have regular training on how to work in an isolation ward with highly infectious patients. A Spanish nurse became the first person to contract Ebola outside of Africa, while caring for a priest who died of the disease. [L6N0S333Q]

The world's worst outbreak of Ebola on record has killed 3,879 people by Oct. 5, most of them in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

A WHO employee who arrived in Germany from Sierra Leone for treatment last month was released last weekend after successful treatment at a clinic in Hamburg. Another patient is being treated in Frankfurt.

(Reporting by Reuters television; Writing by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Tom Heneghan)


http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-liberia-medic-arrives-germany-ebola-treatment-085039858--business.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Ebola lab samples yield questions as well as answers
CBS News
By/Jessica Firger/October 9, 2014, 5:15 AM



"Contact with bodily fluids" is the short answer to the question of how the Ebola virus is transmitted. But what exactly do health officials mean by that, and what scientific research is their advice based on? As public concern about the virus grows, many people are seeking more details about how Ebola is spread and how long the virus typically lives in a person's body and in the environment.

"It's in there while the person has the infection," explains CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook. "Then your immune system comes in and it's either going to kill you or you're going to recover. And if you're going to recover, that virus is eventually going to leave your body. It leaves the blood more quickly than it leaves other areas."

The blood of a person who is sick with Ebola is known to carry a high viral load. Blood analysis is the primary way to detect and monitor an Ebola virus infection.

But only a small body of research exists on the questions of where else, exactly, the virus lurks in the body and how long after infection it can linger. One of the most frequently cited articles, published in 2007 in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, analyzed a variety of bodily fluids from Ebola patients during an outbreak in Uganda in 2000 to answer some of these questions.

The researchers tested a total of 54 clinical specimens -- including saliva, skin swabs, stool, mucous, nasal blood and tears -- from 26 patients who were confirmed through laboratory testing to have the Ebola virus. The researchers also collected 33 environmental specimens from patient wards. Twelve of the patients who provided specimens eventually died.

Sixteen specimens from the patients tested positive for Ebola. The virus was found in saliva samples (8 of 16 samples), a skin swab (1 of 11), stool (2 of 4), semen (1 of 2), breast milk (2 of 2), tears (1 of 1) and nasal blood (1 of 1). No virus was found in the samples tested of urine (0 of 11), vomit (0 of 2), phlegm (0 of 2) and sweat (0 of 1).

A patient's viral load is highest during the acute phase of the illness, and the corpses of those who die of Ebola remain infectious. The initial spread of the outbreak in West Africa was blamed in part on the practice of funeral rites that involved people washing and touching the deceased.

In patients who recover, the Ebola virus was found to remain in certain bodily fluids for varying amounts of time. The study noted that enzymes in saliva or other conditions in the mouth appeared to inhibit the virus from surviving long there. The virus could be found in saliva samples during a patient's acute phase of infection -- eight days -- but not longer.

However, the virus persisted in breast milk for 15 days after the patient recovered, and in semen for another 40 days, the study found. This finding, in particular, raises concern that Ebola could be transmitted from mother to baby through nursing and from a man to his partner during sexual intercourse -- even after the patient has recovered, no longer exhibits symptoms, and the virus is undetectable in their blood tests.

"It is possible that the mammary gland, like the gonads and chambers of the eye, is an immunologically protected site in which clearance of virus is delayed," the authors write in their study.

Other research backs up the assertion that the virus is shed at a much slower rate in semen than other bodily fluids. According to the World Health Organization, in one case a lab worker who contracted Ebola on the job and recovered was found to have traces of the virus in his semen 61 days after the initial infection.

Research published in the Journal of Microbiology in 2010 found the virus is capable of living in dried blood on various surfaces -- such as plastic and glass -- for as long as three weeks in low temperature environments. However, experiments also found no virus samples survived on plastic, metal or glass surfaces at room temperature.

The 2007 body fluids study found no evidence of the virus in phlegm from airways, which appears to provide evidence that Ebola is incapable of airborne transmission. However, some researchers are now questioning whether this has the possibility to change as outbreak in West Africa picks up steam; the virus could mutate as it infects a growing number of individuals.

A New York Times opinion piece from early September by Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, suggested that it would not surprise many virologists if Ebola were eventually to mutate and become airborne -- an alarming possibility that would put millions of lives at risk.

"Viruses like Ebola are notoriously sloppy in replicating, meaning the virus entering one person may be genetically different from the virus entering the next," Osterholm wrote. "The current Ebola virus's hyper-evolution is unprecedented; there has been more human-to-human transmission in the past four months than most likely occurred in the last 500 to 1,000 years. Each new infection represents trillions of throws of the genetic dice."

© 2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebola-lab-samples-yield-questions-as-well-as-answers/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17

[Buster's Uncle]

Liberian leader sees signs Ebola in decline but aid too slow
Reuters
By Daniel Flynn  10 hours ago



Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf speaks to villagers about Ebola virus precautions outside Ganta, Liberia, October 7, 2014. REUTERS/Daniel Flynn



GBARNGA Liberia (Reuters) - International aid to battle the Ebola epidemic in Liberia is arriving too slowly, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said on Wednesday, though she said there were early signs that the outbreak in her West African country might be "in decline".

On a tour of the villages of remote northern Liberia, Johnson Sirleaf told Reuters that she wanted to give her people hope that the virus could be beaten, though the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday there was no evidence yet the epidemic was being brought under control.

The hemorrhagic fever, which has no proven cure, has killed nearly 3,900 people in four West African countries, from a total of more than 8,000 people infected. More than half the dead were in Liberia, where the healthcare system was still reeling from a devastating 1989-2003 civil war.

Johnson Sirleaf dismissed warnings from the WHO that as many as 20,000 people could be infected with Ebola by next month, saying that an education campaign was curbing traditional practices in Liberia that had helped to spread the highly contagious virus, such as washing the dead by hand.

"We make a judgment by the number of people who are called to be carried to Ebola treatment centres, by the empty beds in the treatment centres, by the number of dead who have been buried, and all of those seem to be a bit in decline," she said in an interview.

Johnson Sirleaf offered no firm figures and acknowledged that some victims may not be coming forward, but said: "We still believe it looks good. We are cautiously optimistic."

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said admissions at its Ebola treatment centre in Monrovia had remained steady at around 120-130, despite capacity rising to 250 beds. However, it voiced concerns that infected people may be staying at home rather than seeking treatment and families may be burying their own dead.

In its latest update, the WHO said the death toll in Liberia had reached 2,210 and warned that a fall in the reported number of cases nationally was likely due to misreporting, with overwhelmed medical staff failing to record accurate data.

Johnson Sirleaf said Ebola had exposed a lack of investment by donors in Liberia's hospitals and clinics, which had only around 50 trained doctors for the country's 4 million people. About 95 medical staff have so far died of Ebola and more than 180 were being monitored for signs of the disease.

"We have to rebuild the whole healthcare system," the 75-year-old president said. "Ebola has brought us to a shock awareness so it is a huge awakening call that I hope ourselves and our partners can try to respond to."

Liberia, founded by freed American slaves, has strong cultural ties with the United States and President Barack Obama has announced a 3,000-strong military mission to build treatment centres and train staff, which is gradually deploying.

Aid organisations from USAID to Save the Children are also providing funds for clinics, medical equipment and supplies.

Yet, in Liberia's dilapidated ocean-front capital Monrovia, named after 19th century U.S. President James Monroe, there remains a shortage of ambulances and medical workers.

Johnson Sirleaf, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on women's rights, said international efforts were "appreciated" but promised aid was slow to arrive.

"The commitment is strong. We just need to see a little bit faster action, that's all," said Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first elected female president, wearing her trademark blue turban. "We would like to speed it up."

During a tour of the northern Nimba county, Johnson Sirleaf met doctors, nurses and local leaders, distributing food and money to hard-hit communities. In some villages, people lined the street clapping, singing and waving branches as her convoy passed.

Yet many local people also voiced frustration at the pace of the government response. "We are tired of Ebola," shouted one girl at the passing convoy as she hung from the side of a bus.


"DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO"

The worst Ebola outbreak on record has been marked by several false dawns, particularly in April and May when international health officials were hopeful the epidemic had been contained in the forests of southern Guinea.

The virus, which is spread by contact with bodily fluids, had never before struck in West Africa and caught local communities and health officials unprepared. Johnson Sirleaf acknowledged that her government was slow to react.

"Our own response was slow because we just didn't know what to do. We did not know how to deal with it and we did not have the capacity to deal with it," she said. "So many people died simply because we're dealing with an unknown disease."

With many doctors and nurses abandoning their posts due to fear of Ebola, Johnson Sirleaf said her government was preparing a package of "hazard pay" incentives to get them back to work.

International fears about the spread of the virus soared after Liberian Thomas Duncan took the infection to the United States this month. Duncan, who died in a hospital in Dallas on Wednesday, was the second Liberian to carry Ebola overseas after Patrick Sawyer took it to Nigeria in July, killing eight people.

    Johnson Sirleaf said she had ordered officials at Monrovia airport to step up health checks and to keep a list of people under surveillance for Ebola to prevent them travelling.

The president said Duncan's actions had derailed talks with Kenya and Ivory Coast to resume flights to Liberia. The suspension of most international flights to the nation has harmed its economy and hampered aid efforts.

Johnson Sirleaf acknowledged Ebola had dealt a heavy blow to her efforts to get Liberia back on its feet after the civil war in which 250,000 people died, often at the hands of drug-crazed child soldiers.

    With many major investors in mining and agriculture fleeing because of Ebola, she said economic growth would almost halt.

"We were expecting a rate of growth well over 7 percent, as we have done in the last few years. It was reduced to 5.2 percent, now it's one," she said, adding that talks had begun on a recovery stimulus package with the IMF and the World Bank.

    Johnson Sirleaf, whose second term ends in 2017, said she was confident she would have laid to rest the Ebola outbreak by then and returned the country to growth.

    "Will I achieve all of my development goals? Probably not," she said. "We're going to restore all that was lost by Ebola and maybe have a bit more gain before we come to the end."


http://news.yahoo.com/liberian-leader-sees-signs-ebola-decline-aid-too-072231774--business.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Liberian leader brings money and hygiene message to Ebola's 'hot zone'
Reuters
By Daniel Flynn  1 hour ago



Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf speaks to villagers about Ebola virus precautions outside Ganta, Liberia, October 7, 2014. REUTERS/Daniel Flynn



GANTA Liberia (Reuters) - Normally bustling with trucks carrying rubber, timber and other goods to and from Guinea, the streets of Ganta in Liberia's Ebola "hot zone" have fallen quiet since the bridge spanning the border was shut in August to try to halt the spread of the disease.

Now, fear of the deadly hemorrhagic fever - which has killed more than 3,800 people in three small West African states, 2,200 of them in Liberia - stalks the town, with many locals saying they are afraid to seek medical treatment.

"Even if you have a runny stomach or headache and you go to the hospital, you'll just be considered as an Ebola person," said Musu Kardamie, head of a local women's association. "We're dying on a daily basis in this country, especially in Ganta."

When President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf visited the remote corner of the northerly Nimba county this week, she found that Ebola was not the only emergency affecting communities that have been quarantined over the disease.

Hunger is also biting, and when Johnson Sirleaf's presidential cortege distributed rice and money at several stops and then moved on, fights broke out among desperate young men over the bags of rice, worth about $40 each.

The president also brought money to pay the nurses of the United Methodist Hospital, who had not received any salaries in over a month, despite caring for more than 100 Ebola patients.

"I have come to say 'thank-you' for the service that you continue to render, not only to the people of Nimba but the people of Liberia," Johnson Sirleaf said, before a stocky assistant distributed wads of cash from a rucksack to nurses in crisp white uniforms who danced and clapped in gratitude.

But the president's mission went beyond handouts.



Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma (top L) and Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (top R) appear via video conference at a meeting to address the Ebola crisis, during the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Washington October 9, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst


WALKING THE WALK

When an elderly chieftain in the village of Belah approached for a traditional greeting carrying a gift of kola nuts on a plastic plate, the president refused it, saying: "I don't want to receive this because of Ebola. You must stay safe!"

At the village health checkpoint, she washed her hands in chlorine solution and had her temperature taken.

And in every village she visited, she asked community leaders if they were following the rules for fighting Ebola, a disease passed on by contact with the bodily fluids of victims, who can suffer fever, vomiting and diarrhea.

That meant shunning traditional greetings that involve touching, and practices such as washing dead bodies by hand.

"It took us a while to say this," she told Reuters. "The only way you can prevent transmission is to break people's cultural habits."

She admits that at first her government focused only on isolating victims, but since then it has launched a communications offensive.

In the capital Monrovia, named after 19th century U.S. president James Monroe, containers of chlorinated water with taps sit outside every building. In churches, celebrants wear gloves as they distribute communion wafers.



Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf washes her hands in a village outside Ganta, Liberia, October 7, 2014. REUTERS/Daniel Flynn


Public information placards by the roadside exhort passers-by: "Don't Be The Next Victim. Stop Washing Dead Body. Stop Touching Sick Persons. Stop Traveling With The Ebola Virus. Report All Suspected Cases."

But it is harder to get the message out to the countryside, not least with transport and the economy breaking down.

Work on a tarmac highway to connect Monrovia to Nimba county - some eight hours' drive away - was suspended by two Chinese contractors when Ebola struck. For long stretches, the route remains little more than a muddy track, though the government hopes work will resume within months.


OUTBREAK IN DECLINE?

Johnson Sirleaf said in an interview that there were early signs the outbreak in her country might be "in decline". [ID:nL6N0S34K7]

In Nimba County, medical officer Collins Saa Bowah agreed: "We are beginning to see a decrease in the cases."

But medical NGOs in the frontline of the battle against Ebola are much more cautious, wondering whether a fall in the number of registered cases may be the result of sick people in remote areas staying at home, or simply afraid to go for treatment.

"We don't have the means of getting to where the cases are. Sometimes it takes four or five days before we can get to the affected areas," said Randall Boyer, a local youth officer.

The hospital in Ganta lies near the center of the outbreak, which was detected six months ago just over the border in Guinea and spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Liberia, founded by freed American slaves, has strong ties with the United States, and President Barack Obama is sending 3,000 military personnel to build treatment centers there and train staff.

But for now, there are still only six specialized Ebola Treatment Units (ETUs) for all of Liberia's 4 million people, and hospitals like Ganta's have been forced to step into the breach.

Director Victor Taryor said nurses were currently treating four confirmed Ebola cases and, with more aid arriving as the international community steps up its response, the hospital's eye and fistula departments were being converted into an ETU.

As night falls, Nimba County's commercial hub of Gbarnga empties. Schools there remain shut under an emergency government order, and after 7 p.m. shops, restaurants and bars must also close. Ebola has crippled the local economy.

"The town is not moving like before," said Christian Karr, whose hotel has been deserted since foreign NGOs pulled out of the region. "The government needs to do more."

(Reporting by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Kevin Liffey)


http://news.yahoo.com/liberian-leader-brings-money-hygiene-message-ebolas-hot-171131704--business.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Britain says to start screening passengers for Ebola
Reuters
1 hour ago



LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday it would start screening passengers entering the country through London's two main airports and the Eurostar rail link with Europe for possible cases of the Ebola virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates Ebola has killed over 3,800 people in Western Africa, and earlier this week a Spanish nurse became the first person known to have caught the virus outside Africa.

That, combined with London's status as a global transport hub, has raised the level of public concern about the risk of the disease spreading to Britain, leading to calls from some politicians for the government to step up its border defenses.

"Enhanced screening will initially be implemented at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports and Eurostar terminals," a statement from Prime Minister David Cameron's office said.

"(It) will involve assessing passengers’ recent travel history, who they have been in contact with and onward travel arrangements as well as a possible medical assessment, conducted by trained medical personnel."

The government said the overall risk to the Britain remained low but that the additional screening had been recommended by the country's chief medical officer as a way to improve detection and isolation of Ebola cases.

Ebola can take as long as three weeks before victims show symptoms, at which point the disease becomes contagious and can be spread through contact with bodily fluids such as blood or saliva.

On Wednesday, the U.S. government ordered five airports to start screening passengers from West Africa for fever. Canada said it was taking similar measures.

Public Health England (PHE), the government body that deals with protection against infectious disease, had earlier warned that screening is not fully effective at catching cases because symptoms take time to develop and are not unique to Ebola.

"Screening at borders sets up a security that is sometimes dangerous because then people think the solution is there," David Heymann, chairman of Public Health Englandc told Sky TV.

Earlier this week, PHE said there were no plans to introduce any form of entry screening, citing advice from the WHO.

(Reporting by William James; Editing by Mark Heinrich)


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