Ebola News 1/5

[Buster's Uncle]

Liberia plans to reopen schools in February as Ebola spread ebbs
Reuters  2 hours ago



MONROVIA (Reuters) - Liberia plans to reopen schools in February, six months after the government ordered them closed because of the Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 3,400 people in the West African nation, an official said on Monday.

The rate of new Ebola cases has slowed in recent weeks in Liberia where the government and international organizations with support from the United States stepped up efforts to stop the spread of the disease.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf announced at the weekend that schools would reopen on Feb. 2 but did not specify whether the measure would apply to the entire education system.

George Wuo, a director at the Education Ministry, said authorities were assessing around 500 schools across the country for reopening.

"We are negotiating with our partners for the distribution of non-contact thermometers and buckets for hand washing to all schools in the Republic of Liberia," Wuo said.

The school year was due to start in September but the government decided in August to keep students at home in order to prevent further spread of the disease.

Liberia, like its neighbors Sierra Leone and Guinea, imposed strict measures including closing markets, quarantining infected areas and limiting travel to stop the spread of Ebola.

More than 20,000 cases of the virus, which is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, have been reported in the three countries, causing nearly 8,000 deaths.

(Reporting by James Harding Giahyue; Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Joe Bavier and Janet Lawrence)


http://news.yahoo.com/liberia-plans-reopen-schools-february-ebola-spread-ebbs-141656909.html

[Buster's Uncle]

British Ebola nurse 'stabilised': minister
AFP  6 hours ago



An ambulance pulls away from The Royal Free hospital in north London on Janurary 3, 2015, where British nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone, is in 'critical condition' (AFP Photo/Justin Tallis)



London (AFP) - A British nurse hospitalised with Ebola is in a critical but stable condition, a week after she was diagnosed with the deadly virus, Britain's health minister said Monday.

Nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who is being treated at London's Royal Free hospital, contracted the disease while working at a British-built Ebola treatment centre in Sierra Leone.

"As has been reported, Pauline's condition has deteriorated to a critical state although she stabilised yesterday and continues to receive the best possible care," Health Minister Jeremy Hunt told British lawmakers.

He commended the "exceptional bravery and compassion" of Cafferkey and her colleagues in the battle against Ebola in the west African country, where she had been working as a volunteer with the charity Save the Children.

Hunt said Ebola screening procedures at London's Heathrow airport -- described by a doctor travelling home with Cafferkey as "shambolic" -- were deemed to be working well.

Save the Children said Monday it had launched an investigation into how Cafferkey contracted the virus while working in Kerry Town, not far from Sierra Leone's capital Freetown.

The Scottish nurse was diagnosed in Glasgow on December 29, a day after flying home, and transferred to the Royal Free, which has the only isolation ward in Britain equipped for Ebola patients.

Doctors said she would be treated with blood plasma from an Ebola survivor containing virus-fighting antibodies as well as an experimental anti-viral drug.

"Because of this very serious event we have put in an extraordinary review to ensure that we do everything, leave no stone unturned to, as far as possible, identify the source of this infection," the charity's Sierra Leone director Rob MacGillivray told the BBC.

The review will look at training, safety protocols, how protective equipment is used, and working practices, the charity said.

The Ebola virus has killed 8,153 people and infected more than 20,000 in the past year, mainly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.


http://news.yahoo.com/british-ebola-nurse-stabilised-minister-192108266.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Charity to investigate how UK nurse contracted Ebola
Reuters  15 hours ago



LONDON (Reuters) - The charity Save the Children said on Monday it would leave no stone unturned to find out how a British nurse contracted Ebola at a facility in Sierra Leone.

Save the Children's Sierra Leone director Rob MacGillivray told BBC TV that the charity would investigate the circumstances surrounding the infection of Pauline Cafferkey who had worked for the charity at a treatment center in the country.

"We have put in an extraordinary review to ensure that we do everything, leave no stone unturned, to be able to as far as possible identify the source of this infection," MacGillivray told the BBC.

Cafferkey, 39, is in a critical condition at the Royal Free Hospital in London, having been diagnosed with the disease last week after she returned to Britain from the West African country.

The West African Ebola outbreak was first identified in Guinea's remote southeast in early 2014. Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have borne the brunt of the 20,000 infections and nearly 8,000 dead.

MacGillivray said the investigation would focus on how protective equipment was used and person-to-person contact.

The Royal Free, Britain's main center for Ebola cases, successfully treated British aid worker William Pooley with the experimental drug ZMapp after he was flown back to Britain in August.

Cafferkey is being treated with blood plasma from an Ebola survivor and an experimental anti-viral drug.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Michael Holden)


http://news.yahoo.com/charity-investigate-uk-nurse-contracted-ebola-102156629.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Ebola deaths top 8,000 in worst-hit West Africa: WHO
Reuters  8 hours ago



Health workers push a gurney with a dead body at a Red Cross facility in the town of Koidu, Kono district in Eastern Sierra Leone December 19, 2014. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

 

GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 8,000 people have died of Ebola in the three worst-affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

Reporting the latest figures in the year-long epidemic, the U.N. health agency said 8,153 people had died among 20,656 known cases of the hemorrhagic fever in the three countries.

Sierra Leone recorded the biggest rise in fatalities, with 88 since the previous figures were issued on Jan. 2.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Alison Williams)


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-deaths-top-8-000-worst-hit-west-172026528.html