Ebola News 12/7

[Buster's Uncle]

10th Sierra Leonean doctor dies from Ebola
Associated Press
By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY  36 minutes ago



FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Another Sierra Leonean doctor has died from Ebola, the 10th to succumb to the disease, in what the country's chief medical officer on Sunday called a shocking trend.

Dr. Aiah Solomon Konoyeima died Saturday, according to Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brima Kargbo. His death came a day after two other doctors died from Ebola.

Konoyeima worked at a children's hospital in the capital and was treated at the Hastings Ebola Treatment Center.

Because Ebola is transmitted through the bodily fluids of the sick and dead, it is sometimes called the "caretakers' disease." Hundreds of health workers have been infected in this outbreak, which overall has sickened more than 17,500 people, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Of those, about 6,200 have died.

In all, 11 Sierra Leonean doctors have been infected; only one has survived. That's much higher than an overall fatality rate of 60 percent for hospitalized patients in the three most affected countries, according to the World Health Organization.

Trying to explain why so many doctors have died, Kargbo said doctors may initially try to manage their symptoms at home and seek treatment later than other patients.

He described as "shocking the continuing death rate among Sierra Leonean frontline medical doctors."

But the branch of the country's medical association that represents junior doctors has been pushing for better care for infected medical workers.

The group met Saturday with President Ernest Bai Koroma and asked him to make sure the necessary life-saving equipment was available to treat doctors, according to Dr. Jeredine George, the group's president.

Koroma, according Kargbo, promised that a new unit to treat doctors would open soon. British army medics are already staffing a clinic dedicated to treating health workers.

In recent days, including Sunday, the World Food Program and the British military dropped food by helicopter to residents of Sherbro Island and surrounding islands who typically live by selling their fishing catch, but are struggling with so many markets shut because of Ebola.

___

Associated Press photographer Michael Duff contributed to this report from Sherbro Island, Sierra Leone.


http://news.yahoo.com/10th-sierra-leonean-doctor-dies-ebola-135358285.html

[Buster's Uncle]

U.N. peacekeeper with Ebola arrives in Netherlands for treatment
Reuters  9 hours ago


AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A United Nations peacekeeper who contracted Ebola in Liberia arrived in the Netherlands on Saturday for treatment, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

The man, a Nigerian who was not identified, was to be treated at the UMC Hospital in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, after arriving on a medical flight to the capital, Amsterdam.

The UMC has set up a special Ebola ward and the man will be treated in an isolated wing, the statement said.

Since the worst outbreak of Ebola on record was detected in March, it has infected some 17,256 people and killed 6,113 in the three worst-affected countries - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea - according to the World Health Organization.

Liberia - the country with the highest number of cases - has succeeded in lowering infection rates, and the virus is now spreading fastest in Sierra Leone. The former British colony recorded 537 new cases in the week to Nov. 30.


http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-peacekeeper-ebola-arrives-netherlands-treatment-080311834.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Cuban doctor back home after being cured of Ebola
Associated Press  15 hours ago



Cuban doctor Felix Baez Sarria, who contracted Ebola while on an aid mission in Sierra Leona, second from right, smiles as he poses for photos with his wife Vania Ferre, son Alejandro Felix, left, and Dr. Jorge Perez upon arrival to Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014. Baez, 43, is among 165 Cuban medical personnel sent to Sierra Leone to fight the disease. He showed symptoms of Ebola on Nov. 16 and was brought to Switzerland for treatment with the experimental drug ZMapp. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, Pool)



HAVANA (AP) — A Cuban doctor successfully treated for Ebola at a Swiss hospital returned home Saturday and was greeted by his family.

Felix Baez Sarria contracted Ebola while working with a Cuban government medical team in Sierra Leone and was flown to Geneva for treatment Nov. 20.

In a brief meeting with journalists at Havana's international airport, Baez said that he and his colleagues in Africa are committed to fighting the Ebola outbreak.

"I will return there to finish what I started," said the doctor, who was welcomed home by his wife and two sons.

The Geneva University Hospital said Saturday that tests this week showed Baez was cured.

The chief medical officer of Geneva canton (state), Jacques-Andre Romand, said in a statement that "the total recovery of the patient, confirmed by thorough laboratory tests, now allows him to leave the country and travel with no risk of contagion."

Baez was infected when he rushed to help a patient who was falling over.

Cuba has sent more than 250 medical personnel to several countries in West Africa to join in efforts to contain the epidemic.


http://news.yahoo.com/cured-cuban-ebola-patient-leaves-swiss-hospital-104335313.html

[Buster's Uncle]

First US Ebola 'czar' set to depart post in March, return to private sector
CNBC.com
Javier E. David   | 3 Hours Ago




Ron Klain is shown in this Dec. 9, 2000 photo in Tallahassee, Fla. Getty Images



Ron Klain, the Democratic power broker and Washington attorney appointed by President Barack Obama in October to manage the U.S's response to its isolated Ebola outbreaks, is set to depart his post early next year.

Klain will leave his newly created job on March 1. The news was first reported by Fortune.com late Saturday and confirmed to CNBC by Steve Case, Klain's private sector boss at Case Holdings. Klain also serves as general counsel to Revolution, a venture capital founded by the former AOL chief.

As far as presidential appointments go, Klain's tenure as Ebola czar was relatively brief. The White House appointed him on October 17, as the Centers for Disease Control and other government agencies grappled to contain the public's jitters over several high-profile Ebola infection cases.

"Ron agreed to serve the country as Ebola coordinator for 130 days, and will return to Revolution on March 1," Case told CNBC via e-mail.

Klain is a political veteran who served as chief of staff under two sitting vice presidents. He took a sabbatical from his Revolution gig to coordinate the government's response to the Ebola scare, shortly after the first case appeared. At the time, critics chided Klain's appointment as political, and faulted his lack of public health or medical credentials.

In late September, a Liberian national who traveled to the U.S. became the country's very first patient zero, and died within weeks after his condition worsened.

In the chaotic days that followed, several health care workers were diagnosed with Ebola but were treated successfully and released. Meanwhile, New York and New Jersey found themselves at odds with the federal government over a mandatory quarantine policy.
After several weeks with no mass outbreak and only one recorded death from the virus, there have been no new domestic infections reported in about a month.


http://www.cnbc.com/id/102183396?__source=yahoo%7Cfinance%7Cheadline%7Cheadline%7Cstory&par=yahoo&doc=102183396#.

[Buster's Uncle]

At home and cured of Ebola, Cuban doctor vows return to Africa
Reuters  10 hours ago



Felix Baez (R), a member of the International Contingent Brigade "Henry Reeve", who was infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone, poses for a photo with his wife Vania Ferrer and his son Alejandro Baez during a news conference in Havana December 6, 2014. REUTERS/Yamil Lage/Pool



HAVANA/GENEVA (Reuters) - A Cuban doctor who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone and was cured after experimental treatment in a Swiss hospital vowed on Saturday to return to West Africa and continue treating patients.

"I will finish what I started. I am returning to Sierra Leone," Felix Baez, 43, told reporters at Havana's Jose Marti airport shortly after landing, the official website Cubadebate reported.

It was not immediately clear if Cuban health officials would allow Baez to go back to Africa.

Cuba has won international praise for its contribution to fight the worst outbreak of Ebola on record, which has killed more than 6,000 people. Some 200 doctors and nurses are on standby for an Ebola assignment in West Africa, in addition to the 256 already sent to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Health Minister Roberto Morales and other ministry officials were at the airport to greet Baez, who wore a blue T-shirt emblazoned with the logo of Geneva University Hospitals, where he spent 16 days being treated in isolation.

Baez was quickly reunited with his wife and eldest son, who is studying medicine.

"There was celebration and happiness, hugs and kisses," said Jorge Perez, the director of Havana's leading tropical diseases hospital, who traveled with Baez from Geneva.

Soon after arriving in Geneva on Nov. 20, Baez received the Canadian experimental treatment ZMab, a precursor to the Ebola drug ZMapp, which has been used to treat U.S. patients.

"Two days afterwards he was already much better," Geneva's chief medical officer, Jacques-André Romand, told Reuters, adding that the same drug had been sent to Rome to treat an Italian doctor battling the virus.

Romand added that at no time during Baez's treatment was there any risk of transmission to the local population.

A hospital spokeswoman said Baez received both ZMab and the untested flu drug favipiravir, made by Japan's Fujifilm, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has included on a list of potential Ebola treatments.

Out of 138 healthcare workers who have caught the disease in Sierra Leone, 106 have died, a much higher fatality rate than among health workers in neighboring Guinea and Liberia, WHO data published on Wednesday showed.

Two more doctors died in Sierra Leone on Friday, a government and hospital source said.


http://news.yahoo.com/home-cured-ebola-cuban-doctor-vows-return-africa-075724862.html

[Buster's Uncle]

UN peacekeeper in Liberia tests positive for Ebola
Associated Press
By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH and MIKE CORDER  December 5, 2014 1:10 PM



Ebola health care workers carry the body of a man suspected of dying from the Ebola virus in a small village Gbah on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia, Friday, Dec. 5, 2014. A U.N. peacekeeper who contracted Ebola in Liberia will be flown to the Netherlands for treatment, a Dutch Health Ministry spokeswoman said Friday. (AP Photo/ Abbas Dulleh)



MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — A U.N. peacekeeper who contracted Ebola in Liberia will be flown to the Netherlands for treatment, a Dutch Health Ministry spokeswoman said Friday.

The Nigerian soldier is expected to arrive in the Netherlands this weekend and will go into isolation at the University Medical Center Utrecht, according to Inge Freriksen.

This is the third infection for the mission, which comprises about 7,700 troops and police. The previous two died.

Sixteen people who came into contact with the Nigerian soldier have been quarantined, the mission said.

Ebola has sickened more than 17,500 people, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. About 6,200 have died.

Liberia has recorded the highest number of cases and deaths, but with infection rates stabilizing there, the government decided to go ahead with a Senate election this month and allowed campaign rallies. This week, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said those events are impeding efforts to contain Ebola and banned all public gatherings until 30 days after results of the Dec. 16 election are announced.



Ebola health care workers carry the body of a man suspected of dying from the Ebola virus in a small village Gbah on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia, Friday, Dec. 5, 2014. A U.N. peacekeeper who contracted Ebola in Liberia will be flown to the Netherlands for treatment, a Dutch Health Ministry spokeswoman said Friday. (AP Photo/ Abbas Dulleh)


There are concerns that the president may be using Ebola as an excuse after a large crowd rallied in support of former soccer star Geroge Weah, who is running against Sirleaf's son, Robert.

"There is a clear political motive, and that political motive is in the interest of her son," said Tiawan Gongloe, a human rights lawyer who was once a member of Sirleaf's Cabinet.

Meanwhile, in Sierra Leone, where the disease is spreading fastest, 100 Nigerian health workers arrived Friday. Another 25 British doctors and nurses are expected Saturday. Sierra Leone is desperately short of space in Ebola clinics and health workers in hot spots around the capital and in the north.

Ebola has symptoms that are similar to other more common diseases, like malaria, and many people who have shown up at Ebola treatment centers have turned out to be sick with something else. In an effort to keep at least some of those people away from treatment centers, Sierra Leone launched a massive campaign Friday to hand out malaria medication door-to-door to 2.4 million people. Liberia has undertaken a similar campaign.

___

Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writer Clarence Roy-Macaulay in Freetown, Sierra Leone, contributed.


http://news.yahoo.com/un-peacekeeper-liberia-tests-positive-ebola-083121651.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Taiwanese man faces fine over false Ebola report
AFP  11 hours ago



A Taiwanese man faces a fine after telling doctors he had travelled to Africa and had symptoms of Ebola, sparking emergency quarantine measures at a hospital, officials said Sunday.

The 19-year-old, who was not identified, could face a fine of up to Tw$150,000 ($4,800).

The man was hospitalised Friday at the Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital in the south. He told doctors he was suffering from fever and diarrhoea and had eaten bats during a recent trip to Nigeria.

The hospital immediately quarantined the man, meaning that other emergency cases had to be turned away, even though he did not have a fever at the time.

The event attracted widespread local media attention. The island's Centers for Disease Control even released a statement calling on the public not to travel to West Africa unless essential, and not to eat wild animals if they did so.

But tests for Ebola were found Saturday to be negative and authorities also discovered that the man had never travelled abroad.

Doctors at the hospital said they feared he was mentally ill.

Asia has so far remained free from the Ebola virus ravaging parts of West Africa that has caused more than 6,100 deaths in less than a year.


http://news.yahoo.com/taiwanese-man-faces-fine-over-false-ebola-report-065516393.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Doctors Try Survivors’ Blood to Treat Ebola
Clinical Trials Are Being Launched in Africa but Face Challenges in Designing Ethical Studies, Compensating Donors
The Wall Street Journal
By Betsy McKay in Atlanta, David Gauthier-Villars in Conakry, Guinea, and Patrick McGroarty in Monrovia, Liberia  Dec. 5, 2014 6:18 p.m. ET



Dr. Bakary Oularé in Conakry, Guinea, has founded an association to assist those who survived the virus.  TK



Achille Guémou was one of three health workers to survive Ebola after becoming infected in late August while performing a caesarean section on a woman who had the disease but hadn’t yet been diagnosed.

Now, the 44-year-old Guinean says he is considering donating his blood to help others conquer the virus as well. In return, though, he wants compensation such as food or medical care, along with help finding a job in an anti-Ebola campaign. The illness has ruined his status in the neighborhood, he said.

“Before Ebola, I was somebody. I was the local doctor, people used to knock at my door all day seeking advice,” he said. “Now, they avoid me in the street.”

Nearly a year after Ebola began spreading in West Africa, and with a proven drug or vaccine still far off, researchers are launching clinical trials on a product at hand: the blood of survivors.

They want to determine whether so-called convalescent plasma or serum, chock full of antibodies, can help fight off the disease. But they face a number of complexities in carrying out the trials, including persuading survivors to participate.

The number of dead in the West African outbreak is around 6,000—and the virus is spreading into new regions.

It took months for scientists and public-health experts to agree to study survivors’ blood as a possible treatment, and months more to work out how to attract participants, collect blood plasma, and design ethically sound trials among patients with a deadly disease. The World Health Organization issued guidance in September for collecting and transfusing survivors’ blood or blood plasma.

“This is not a simple intervention,” said Alan Magill, who steers Ebola research-and-development investments for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is spending $5.7 million on clinical trials of potential treatments, including blood plasma, in Guinea and other Ebola-affected countries. “It requires complex tools and very skilled people,” he said.

Belgium’s Institute of Tropical Medicine is also setting up trials in Guinea.



Residents in Macenta, Guinea, watch a French delegation inaugurate a treatment center in November.  Associated Press


Blood transfusions are commonly used for tetanus and have been tried on some Ebola patients in past outbreaks, as well as in the current epidemic. But few studies have been done on its effect on the virus, and the results are mixed.

“The data is just foggy,” said Luciana Borio, assistant commissioner for counterterrorism policy with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

In the Gates-funded trials in Conakry, donors who have been free of Ebola for at least 28 days will be recruited through survivors’ groups and donor lists maintained by hospitals, said David Hoover, senior scientific adviser for Clinical Research Management Inc. an Ohio-based company that is designing and helping manage the trials.

Participants will donate blood at a mobile laboratory in a blue school bus that is stationed in front of the national blood-transfusion center. The blood will be put through a device in the lab that extracts plasma, the liquid part of the blood that contains antibodies against Ebola. Another device will then kill other viruses or bacteria that may be in the blood, such as HIV, so that infections aren’t inadvertently transmitted.

The plasma will then be given in three doses of 200 milliliters each over four days to patients who agree to participate and whose blood type matches that of the donors. “We expect that demand for convalescent plasma will significantly exceed supply,” Dr. Hoover said.

Researchers will measure the effect of the plasma by tracking the level of virus in recipients’ blood, he said. They will compare it with patients in the trial who don’t receive plasma because they don’t match the blood type of donors, he said. Those participants will still receive a higher standard of care than is normally available, he said.

Some Guinean officials worry that a bidding war could emerge to attract survivors who are jobless or feel shunned by their communities, like Dr. Guémou. Guinea’s government has said that, with support from international donors, it would grant $10,000 to the families of the more than 40 health workers who have died from Ebola, but hasn’t announced any specific plan for survivors.

“We want to see cooperation, not competition,” said Mandy Kader Kondé, the head of Guinea’s Ebola Research Commission. “You can’t monetize blood draw; it must remain free.”

Donors in the Gates-funded trial won’t be paid for their plasma, but they will be compensated for their time and reimbursed for travel expenses, said Dr. Hoover.

The Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, has dispatched an anthropologist to Guinea to study what compensation would be appropriate, said Johan van Griensven, who coordinates its Ebola research program. Ebola survivors should receive support irrespective of the study, he said.

Some survivors are eager to help and to persuade others to join in. Bakary Oularé, a doctor who recovered from Ebola in the spring, founded an association in Guinea that counts more than 130 survivors. He said most of them stand ready to give blood provided they receive compensation. “I’ll be the first to do it,” he said. “I want to show the way.”

In Liberia, many of the more than 100 Ebola survivors who meet weekly in the capital of Monrovia say they are eager to donate plasma to transfusion programs getting under way at a state-run hospital and national blood bank.

But plans to expand the program have been slowed by some of the same challenges that allowed the epidemic to overwhelm Liberia’s primitive health-care system a few months ago.

The dank Monrovia Regional Blood Donation Center, one of Liberia’s two blood banks, has a leaky roof and no fuel to keep its diesel-powered electrical generator humming.

“We don’t have the money to do the work we need to,” said Aloysius Hanson, chair of laboratory medicine at Liberia’s sole medical school. Dr. Hanson is currently in the U.S. soliciting donations from medical schools and other institutions to refurbish the blood bank.


http://www.wsj.com/articles/ebola-survivors-in-africa-offer-new-treatment-hope-their-blood-1417821483?ru=yahoo?mod=yahoo_itp