Ebola News 12/25

[Buster's Uncle]

Death toll in Ebola outbreak rises to 7,588 - WHO
Reuters  5 hours ago



A man walks by a mural that reads "Symptoms of Ebola" in Monrovia, Liberia, October 12, 2014. REUTERS/James Giahyue



GENEVA (Reuters) - The global death toll from Ebola has risen to 7,588 out of 19,497 confirmed cases recorded in the year-old epidemic raging in West Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

The virus is still spreading intensely in Sierra Leone, especially in the north and west, with 315 new confirmed cases reported in the former British colony in the week to December 21, it said. These included 115 cases in the capital Freetown.

"The neighbouring district of Port Loko experienced a surge in new cases, reporting 92 confirmed cases compared with 56 the previous week," the WHO said.

In Sierra Leone, information about how to prevent and treat Ebola was provided to more than 5,000 households between 10 and 17 December as part of a major awareness campaign, it said.

In Guinea, 156 confirmed cases were recorded during the same period, "the highest weekly case incidence reported by the country in this outbreak", the WHO said.

"This largely due to a surge in cases in the south-eastern district of Kissidougou, which reported 58 confirmed cases – one-third of cases reported in the country in the past week."

Noting the district had previously reported no more than five cases per week, it said the surge showed the need for continuing vigilance even where the virus was not widespread.

In Liberia, where case incidence has been declining for the past month, 21 cases were reported in the week to December 21.

Montserrado county, including the capital Monrovia, still has the highest rates of the disease nationwide, while along the Côte d'Ivoire border to the east, Nimba county reported 3 confirmed cases, its first in 9 weeks, the WHO said.

Five additional countries - Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Spain and the United States - have had imported cases and are included in the global toll.

The Ebola crisis, which claimed its first victim in Guinea exactly a year ago, is likely to last until the end of 2015, according to Peter Piot, a scientist who helped to discover the virus in 1976.

Medical detective work will be the next phase in the fight against Ebola. The United Nations will deploy hundreds of health workers to identify chains of infection as the virus passes from person to person, WHO director-general Margaret Chan said in Accra, Ghana earlier on Wednesday.


http://news.yahoo.com/death-toll-ebola-outbreak-rises-7-588-081101894.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Sierra Leone district declares three-day Ebola lockdown
Reuters  6 hours ago



A burial team wearing protective clothes, remove a body from an isolated holding centre, for people waiting for laboratory results, at the Port Loko District Hospital, September 27, 2014. REUTERS/Christopher Black/WHO



FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leone's northern district of Port Loko, the area with the highest rate of Ebola transmission, plans a three-day lockdown over Christmas as it seeks to contain the disease's spread.

Sierra Leone is the worst-hit country in West Africa with over 9,000 cases. The rate of infection is fastest in the capital Freetown and the neighbouring province of Port Loko, where 44 out of a total 58 new cases were reported on Wednesday.

"Port Loko will do a lockdown and a house-to-house campaign to find the sick," said OB Sisay, an official in the National Ebola Response Centre. He said the new measures would start at midnight on Wednesday and could be extended into the new year.

Sierra Leone has also banned Christmas parties and other festivities nationwide in an effort to stop the epidemic.


http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-district-declares-three-day-ebola-lockdown-082918715.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Somber Christmas, gatherings banned in Ebola-hit Sierra Leone
Reuters
By Emma Farge  3 hours ago



A girl walks past a a sign in Freetown December 21, 2014. REUTERS/Baz Ratner



FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leoneans observed a somber Christmas in their homes on Thursday, after the government banned traditionally boisterous holiday celebrations to prevent the spread of deadly Ebola in the worst-hit country.

Small groups of Christians in formal attire were permitted to attend church services, but the family gatherings, beach parties, concerts and dancing that usually accompany the holiday were banned to help slow the deadly virus.

Police patrolled the capital's twisting streets and manned temperature check points to watch for symptoms of the haemorrhagic fever. On the radio, musicians who would normally be performing at live concerts played Ebola awareness jingles.

"We want to avoid contact because of this deadly disease. It's necessary but I am not really happy. Normally we have a lot of fun with family and friends, but we just have to stay home," said Kadija Kargbo, a cleaner in the capital Freetown.

She planned to stay indoors and watch films with her children instead of celebrating at the beach this year.

At a Red Cross treatment center in the eastern city of Kenema, a small group of patients gathered around a cassette player listening to Christmas carols, said Jestina Boyle, a psychosocial assistant with the Red Cross.

"Some are sitting and listening and those who are too weak can hear it from their beds," said Boyle by telephone before doing her morning round to visit the sick. "I will sing gospel for them. I will give them encouraging words and tell them not to lose hope."

The center held a small concert for patients earlier this week. A nurse in full personal protective equipment entered the patient area and danced, holding the hands of two children. One patient stood and danced while others watched from their beds.

With more than 9,000 cases, Sierra Leone now accounts for nearly half of the known cases of Ebola in this year's West African outbreak, the worst ever. Neighboring Liberia and Guinea have also been badly hit.

President Ernest Bai Koroma has announced a new operation to identify the sick in an effort to slow the disease's spread. Further north in the district of Port Loko, officials have declared a three-day lockdown and asked residents to stay indoors.

Sierra Leoneans have a reputation for partying in the face of hardship and bars were often heaving during successive rebel incursions into the capital during more than a decade of civil war that ended in 2002.

"People know about Ebola but we are worried that we've had it so long that they normalize the situation and party," said OB Sisay, director of the situation room at the National Ebola Response Centre, explaining the measures.

He said police had received instructions to break up gatherings and arrest the organizers.

(Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Peter Graff)


http://news.yahoo.com/somber-christmas-gatherings-banned-ebola-hit-sierra-leone-111648752.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Medical detective work is next phase in Ebola fight
Reuters
By Matthew Mpoke Bigg  December 24, 2014 8:37 AM



Health workers take blood samples for Ebola virus testing at a screening tent in the local government hospital in Kenema, Sierra Leone, June 30, 2014. REUTERS/Tommy Trenchard/Files



ACCRA (Reuters) - Medical detective work will be the next big phase in the fight against Ebola when the United Nations deploys hundreds of health workers to identify chains of infection as the virus passes from person to person, top U.N. health workers said.

The health teams will travel to each district and region of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the three countries at the centre of the epidemic, to trace who each infected person has potentially contacted.

The effort will run in parallel with measures to minimise the spread of infection, such as treating all Ebola patients in specialised centres and burying all victims safely.

But Phase Two of the plan is to contain the virus by understanding its lines of transmission, said World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan.

"You chase the virus. You hunt the virus. The virus lives in an infected person so you chase every case, isolate them and then all the people who come into contact with the infected person," Chan told Reuters on a visit to West Africa.

She was accompanying U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on a four-country tour to encourage health workers and focus global attention on the fight against the epidemic.

The world's worst Ebola outbreak has killed 7,518 of 19,340 confirmed cases, according to WHO figures on Monday, though the number of new cases is slowing in most places.

The disease spreads through contact with an infected person or corpse, so family members who care for patients or people who prepare victims for burial are at risk.

As a result, people often know how they fell ill. Patients who say they do not know are a concern because their cases can signify chains of transmission yet to be identified, Chan said.

"You don't have control of Ebola until you know where all your transmission chains are and until your cases are coming from known contact lists," said Bruce Aylward, WHO's head of Ebola response.

"You always hear about disease detective work and that is what Ebola is about now," he said. Contact-tracing involves visiting households to pick up signs of illness, and requires cooperation from local authorities and community leaders.

Illustrating the scale of the challenge, 25 percent of new cases in Liberia are coming from new sources, Aylward said. By contrast, officials in Guinea said in November all the cases in the capital stemmed from just four chains of transmission.

The overall cost of the Ebola response could rise to around $4.1 billion, said U.N. Special Envoy on Ebola David Nabarro.

To accomplish Phase Two, the U.N. health agency will mobilise 900 epidemiologists, triple the number currently available, he said. Around half will be foreigners.

The aim is to get teams in place by the end of January, following a separate plan to get all patients treated and all victims safely buried by the end of this month.


http://news.yahoo.com/medical-detective-next-phase-ebola-fight-133700725.html