Ebola New 1/12/14

[Buster's Uncle]

WHO says Liberia wrongly added 1,000 deaths to Ebola toll
Reuters  35 minutes ago



GENEVA (Reuters) - A surge in Ebola deaths reported by the World Health Organization at the weekend was due to about 1,000 Liberian deaths wrongly ascribed to the disease that would be removed, WHO assistant director general Bruce Aylward said on Monday.

"Liberia's figures came in but they've since said these were actually non-Ebola deaths that were reported as part of our Ebola deaths and we will be taking them off. So the whole world went up and the whole world will come down again," he told reporters.

Data published at the weekend put Liberia's death toll at 4,181, up from 3,016 two days earlier.

(Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Janet Lawrence)


http://news.yahoo.com/says-liberia-wrongly-added-1-000-deaths-ebola-155109722.html

[Buster's Uncle]

WHO says Liberia, Guinea meeting Ebola targets
Associated Press
By JOHN HEILPRIN  26 minutes ago



In this photo taken on Friday, Nov. 28, 2014, health workers wearing Ebola protective gear remove the body of a man they suspect died from the Ebola virus, at a USAID, American aid Ebola treatment center at Tubmanburg on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia. Two months ago, the World Health Organization launched an ambitious plan to stop the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa, by isolating 70 percent of Ebola sick by December 1, 2014, but on Sunday Nov. 30, 2014, it seems that WHO will miss their own target by a wide margin and without any indication of when they may reach that goal. Head of the U.N.’s Ebola response Anthony Banbury, says “There are still going to be many people who catch the disease and many people who die from it”. (AP Photo/ Abbas Dulleh)



GENEVA (AP) — Liberia and Guinea have met a Dec. 1 target for isolating 70 percent of people infected with Ebola and safely burying 70 percent of those who die but Sierra Leone has not, the World Health Organization said Monday.

Only last week, the U.N. health agency said only Guinea was on track to meet the targets for getting the Ebola outbreak under control in the three hardest-hit West African countries.

But at a news conference in Geneva, WHO's Dr. Bruce Aylward said the organization had revised its conclusion based on more analysis of its data. Sierra Leone also probably met the targets in the west of the country, he said, and likely will improve to the 70 percent target nationwide "in the coming weeks."

Aylward also told reporters that WHO's ambitious plan to stop the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa has shown it is possible to quickly reduce the "yawning gap" between disease levels and the capacity to respond.

"You can catch up with Ebola even on this scale," he said.

WHO launched its Ebola its 70 percent plan two months ago.



In this photo taken on Friday, Nov. 28, 2014, health workers wearing Ebola protective gear spray the shrouded body of a man with disinfectant as they suspect he died from the Ebola virus, at a USAID, American aid Ebola treatment center at Tubmanburg on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia. Two months ago, the World Health Organization launched an ambitious plan to stop the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa, by isolating 70 percent of Ebola sick by December 1, 2014, but on Sunday Nov. 30, 2014, it seems that WHO will miss their own target by a wide margin and without any indication of when they may reach that goal. Head of the U.N.’s Ebola response Anthony Banbury, says “There are still going to be many people who catch the disease and many people who die from it”. (AP Photo/ Abbas Dulleh)


In Freetown, Sierra Leone, on Monday, the chief executive of the National Ebola Response Centre, retired Maj. Alfred Palo Conteh, acknowledged that "as far as meeting the 70 percent isolation target, we did not do well and could have done better."

He said authorities there need more beds for isolation, adding that 400 beds are expected in the next two weeks.

U.N. Ebola chief David Nabarro, speaking to reporters in Freetown, said, "the intensity of the Ebola transmission in some parts of Sierra Leone is very high and the situation is getting serious each day, and could worsen."

Over the last two months, "tremendous progress" has been made in containing the spread of the disease, he said, and the next 60 days will be crucial — "it is left with the Sierra Leoneans themselves to make the difference."

___

AP writer Clarence Roy-Macaulay contributed from Freetown, Sierra Leone.


http://news.yahoo.com/says-liberia-guinea-meeting-ebola-targets-145318860.html

[Buster's Uncle]

WHO says Sierra Leone's Ebola prognosis is 'very good'
Reuters
By Tom Miles  1 hour ago



World Health Organization (WHO) Assistant Director General Bruce Aylward gestures during a news conference on the WHO response and challenges to control the Ebola outbreak at the United Nations in Geneva December 1, 2014. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse



GENEVA (Reuters) - Sierra Leone does not yet have enough beds in treatment centers to isolate Ebola patients in the west of the country but the opening of many new facilities in the next few weeks makes its prognosis "very good", the World Health Organization's assistant director general said on Monday.

Unlike the other worst-hit countries, Guinea and Liberia, Sierra Leone has failed to slow or stabilize the spread of the epidemic, raising concern that it may be a weak link in the defense against the virus.

But Bruce Aylward said Sierra Leone, too, was on track to contain the outbreak.

"I would never have used the phrase 'Where things went wrong', actually, with respect to Sierra Leone," Aywlard said. "What I'm most impressed about is how much is being done right ...

"Capacity at the district level is strong and getting stronger in Sierra Leone, and that's why I think the prognosis is actually very good'"

Two months ago, the United Nations set a target of having 70 percent of Ebola victims buried safely and 70 percent of Ebola patients treated in isolation beds within 60 days. Those two goals are seen as the key to halting the spread of the epidemic.

Guinea and Liberia have met both targets, but some areas in the west of Sierra Leone have still not done so, which Aylward said accounted for the continued spread of the disease.

But he said new bed capacity in Sierra Leone meant the target would be hit in the next few weeks, and the geographic targeting of Ebola beds was "right on the mark".

"The virus is telling you that. The problem is, you would have wished it had come on line a month earlier," he said.

"The virus got a leg-up and took advantage of it. Ideally the build-out would have been faster, but remember, they were planning this build-out and working on it well before the cases caught up with them."

(Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Kevin Liffey)


http://news.yahoo.com/says-sierra-leone-prognosis-very-good-against-ebola-152926151.html