Ebola News 3/15

[Buster's Uncle]

10 US charity staff to leave Sierra Leone amid Ebola scare
Associated Press
By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY AND ROBBIE COREY-BOULET  48 minutes ago



The main building of the National Institutes of Health is seen in Bethesda, Md., in this Aug. 17, 2009 file photo. Ten clinicians with a Boston-based nonprofit organization responding to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone are to be transported to the United States after one of their colleagues was infected with the deadly disease. The clinician who became infected has already been evacuated and is receiving treatment at the National Institutes of Health. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)



FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Ten health care workers with a Boston-based nonprofit organization responding to Sierra Leone's Ebola outbreak are to be evacuated to the United States after one of their colleagues was infected with the deadly disease.

Partners in Health said in a statement Saturday that the 10, the largest group to be evacuated to the United States over possible Ebola exposure, would travel on non-commercial aircraft and be isolated in Ebola treatment facilities.

Four of the 10 health care workers arrived at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, spokesman Taylor Wilson said Sunday. None of them were sick, but if they do develop Ebola they will be treated in the hospital's specialized biocontainment unit.

The others will be monitored at U.S. hospitals with experience treating the disease in Atlanta and in Bethesda, Maryland.

On March 11, a Partners in Health medical worker in Sierra Leone tested positive for Ebola, and the 10 fellow workers "came to the aid of their ailing colleague," the organization's statement said. The 10 have not shown signs of Ebola and Partners in Health said the evacuations were ordered "out of an abundance of caution."

"They will remain in isolation near designated U.S. Ebola treatment facilities to ensure access to rapid testing and treatment in the unlikely instance that any become symptomatic," the group's statement said.



In this file photo taken on Sept. 25, 2015, Chinese Ambassador Zhao Yanbo, left, stand next to Sierra Leone's president Ernest Bai Koroma, center, and Sierra Leone's Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana, right, during the opening ceremony of the China Friendship Hospital catering for Ebola virus patience in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone’s vice president sought asylum on the United States on Saturday, March 14, 2015, saying he no longer felt safe in the country after soldiers disarmed the security team at his residence. “I don’t feel safe this morning as vice president,” Samuel Sam-Sumana told The Associated Press by phone. (AP Photo/ Michael Duff,File)


The Partners in Health staffer who became infected has already been evacuated and is receiving treatment at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Partners in Health did not specify a timeline for the remaining evacuations and a representative of the U.S. Embassy in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, referred questions to Partners in Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Partners in Health began treating Ebola patients in Liberia and Sierra Leone last November, and the health care worker who tested positive for Ebola on March 11 is the first staff member to fall ill "as a result of a confirmed occupational exposure," the group said. It has more than 2,000 employees working in West Africa, including foreigners and locals and 600 Ebola survivors.

The World Health Organization estimated last week that the ongoing Ebola outbreak has killed more than 10,000 people, mostly in the West African nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The outbreak is the largest ever for the disease. The rate of deaths has slowed dramatically in recent months but the virus appears stubbornly entrenched in parts of Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Both countries are still reporting dozens of new cases every week and the number of Ebola deaths taking place outside of hospitals remains high, suggesting that people are wary of seeking help or are hiding cases. In both countries there are still regular attacks against Western aid workers and officials are unable to track where the Ebola virus is spreading.

Ebola has also figured in Sierra Leone's recent political drama involving Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana, who requested asylum from the United States on Saturday after soldiers came to his residence and disarmed his security team.

On Feb. 28, state media reported that Sam-Sumana had placed himself under voluntary quarantine for 21 days after one of his security personnel died of Ebola. Less than a week later, the ruling All People's Congress party expelled him, accusing him of "orchestrating political violence" and trying to form a new party in his home district.

Sam-Sumana's quarantine is not yet finished, but he went into hiding following Saturday's incident at his residence and his whereabouts are unknown. The U.S. embassy in Freetown on Sunday urged Sam-Sumana and the government to resolve their differences through the rule of law.

___

Corey-Boulet reported from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.


http://news.yahoo.com/10-us-charity-staff-leave-sierra-leone-amid-103314278.html

[Buster's Uncle]

At least 10 Americans being flown to U.S. after possible Ebola exposure
Reuters  10 hours ago



A general view of the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Texas September 30, 2014. REUTERS/Brandon Wade



(Reuters) - At least 10 Americans possibly exposed to the deadly Ebola virus were being flown to the United States from Sierra Leone for observation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday.

They will be transported by non-commercial air transport and will be housed near the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, or Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, the CDC said.

All of the individuals who are being flown back to the United States are free of symptoms, the CDC said.

A U.S. healthcare worker who tested positive for Ebola while in Sierra Leone arrived at the NIH on Friday and was in serious condition, the NIH said.

It is not clear how the person became infected with Ebola, CDC said.

While the virus has killed about 10,000 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, only a handful of cases have been seen in the United States, Spain and Britain.

CDC spokesman Thomas Skinner said 10 people who may have been exposed to the unidentified Ebola patient or who had a similar exposure to the virus as the patient were being flown to the United States. But he said the investigation was continuing and there may be more Americans evacuated from Africa.

A CDC statement said the 10 individuals will follow the center's recommended monitoring and movement guidelines during the 21-day incubation period.

If someone shows symptoms, they will be transported to an Ebola treatment center for evaluation and care, the CDC said.

On Friday, CDC sent a team to Sierra Leone to investigate how the healthcare worker became exposed, and determine who might have been in contact with the infected person.

CDC spokesman Benjamin Haynes did not know where all of the patients would be sent, but he said the CDC is working out a plan with the U.S. State Department to determine who is coming back and where they will be sent.

The CDC said one patient was being sent to Emory University Hospital's special isolation unit, where several Ebola patients have already been treated.

Four others are being sent to Nebraska Medical Center to be near their special isolation unit in case they develop Ebola symptoms.


http://news.yahoo.com/least-10-americans-being-flown-u-possible-ebola-074958303.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Sierra Leone vice president says requested asylum at U.S. embassy
Reuters
By Umaru Fofana  10 hours ago



FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leone's Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana said he had requested asylum at the U.S. embassy in Freetown after soldiers surrounded his residence on Saturday following his expulsion from the ruling party last week.

Sam-Sumana was expelled from President Ernest Bai Koroma's All People's Congress (APC) party after an investigation accused him of creating his own rival political movement and fomenting violence in his home region of Kono, in diamond-rich eastern Sierra Leone.

He has denied the allegations - which also included charges of lying about his academic credentials and his Muslim faith - and rejected calls for him to resign.

His expulsion from the party has stirred confusion as Sierra Leone's 1991 constitution only allows the dismissal of the vice president with the vote of two-thirds of parliament, but it does require the office holder to belong to a political party.

Sources in the security forces confirmed that troops were sent to the vice president's home on Saturday to withdraw his security detail but they declined to say who had ordered it.

"I have fled my house and am with my wife in a place I cannot disclose, waiting to hear from the U.S. ambassador, whom I have asked for asylum," Sam-Sumana told Reuters.

As night fell on Freetown, he said he would remain in hiding and not return to his residence because he did not feel safe there.

An embassy spokesperson said they were aware of the situation and were monitoring it, but declined to make any further comment.

Government spokesman Abdulai Bayraytay, who said he was travelling with Koroma in northern Sierra Leone, declined to comment.

Koroma, who is serving his second five-year term, is obliged to step down at elections due in 2017. Sam-Sumana has been his vice president since 2007.

A spokesman for the opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) expressed grave concern at the situation and said the state was obliged to protect Sam-Sumana, as he remained vice president.

In late February, Sam-Sumana said that he was placing himself in a 21-day quarantine after one of his bodyguards died of Ebola amid a surge in new infections in the West African country.

More that 3,600 people have died from Ebola in Sierra Leone, one of the three countries hardest hit by the worst recorded outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic fever - along with Guinea and Liberia. The outbreak has killed more than 10,000 people.


http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-vice-president-says-requested-asylum-u-075241247.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Ten Americans evacuated from SLeone over Ebola fears
AFP  15 hours ago



Health workers put on protective equipment at an Ebola treatment centre on November 15, 2014 in Kenema, Sierra Leone (AFP Photo/Francisco Leong)



Washington (AFP) - A group of 10 American health care workers who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone are being flown home for monitoring, officials said.

The move comes after a US clinician with the charity Partners in Health tested positive for the deadly virus and was transferred to a hospital near Washington for treatment.

The 10 volunteers may have come into contact with the Ebola patient, and are being flown via non-commercial aircraft, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.

"CDC can confirm that 10 American health care workers who've been volunteering in Sierra Leone are returning to the US to undergo monitoring according to CDC recommendations," spokeswoman Kathy Harben told AFP.

The CDC said it was working with the State Department to facilitate their safe return.

None of the workers have currently been identified as having the disease, the CDC noted.

The workers will remain near the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the National Institutes of Health or Emory University Hospital, all of which are equipped to treat Ebola patients, it added.

"Individuals will follow CDC's recommended monitoring and movement guidelines, including direct active monitoring and, as appropriate, voluntary self isolation during the 21-day incubation period," the agency said.

Any of the workers showing Ebola symptoms will be taken to a specialized treatment center for evaluation and care.

The patient being treated at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center near the US capital was listed in serious condition on Friday.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization announced that the death toll from the world's largest Ebola outbreak had topped 10,000.

Most of the deaths in the outbreak, which began in late 2013, have been in the West African nations of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.


http://news.yahoo.com/ten-americans-evacuated-sleone-over-ebola-fears-025549761.html

[Buster's Uncle]

American who contracted Ebola arrives at Maryland hospital
Associated Press  March 13, 2015 4:34 PM



In this photo taken on Monday, March 2, 2015, a health care worker prepares a colleague's virus protective gear before entering a high risk zone at an Ebola virus clinic operated by the International Medical Corps in Makeni, Sierra Leone. According to the head of the national Ebola response Centre, complacent behavior in Sierra Leone has led to a worrying spike in confirmed Ebola cases over the past week in four districts, Alfred Palo Conteh said Thursday, March 12, 2015. (AP Photo/ Michael Duff)



BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — An American health care worker who contracted Ebola while volunteering in a Sierra Leone treatment unit is in serious condition after arriving at the National Institutes of Health's hospital near Washington, officials said Friday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was checking on people in Sierra Leone, including other Americans, who had contact with the health care worker and may have been exposed to the virus.

One of those people was traveling Friday on a chartered airplane to the Atlanta area to be near Emory University Hospital, where several patients have been treated for the disease, according to a CDC statement. That person has shown no symptoms, is not diagnosed with Ebola and is expected to "voluntarily self-isolate" for a 21-day incubation period.

The NIH patient was flown in isolation from Sierra Leone on a chartered plane and admitted at 4:44 a.m., NIH officials said in a statement.

The patient's name, age and gender were not released.

The person is a clinician working with Partners in Health, a Boston-based nonprofit organization, according to a statement on the group's website.

"Our colleague remains in good spirits," the group said.

Partners in Health declined to release more information, citing a need for privacy for the patient and his or her relatives.

The group has been treating patients in Liberia and Sierra Leone since November.

The patient is the 11th person with Ebola to be treated in the U.S. and the second admitted to the NIH Clinical Center. Like Emory, NIH has one of the few specialized isolation units nationwide set up to treat Ebola patients. Previously, an American nurse was treated there after she contracted Ebola while caring for a patient in a Dallas hospital. The nurse, Nina Pham, survived and is Ebola-free.

None of the volunteers in Sierra Leone who had contact with the NIH patient have tested positive for Ebola. The CDC and the U.S. State Department have developed contingency plans for flying home other Americans in that group, who would also be expected to isolate themselves for 21 days.

The World Health Organization estimated Thursday that the virus has killed more than 10,000 people, mostly in the West African nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The current outbreak is the largest ever for the disease. While deaths have slowed dramatically in recent months, the virus appears stubbornly entrenched in parts of Guinea and Sierra Leone.


http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sierra-leone-on-ebola-lockdown-slideshow/photo-taken-monday-march-2-2015-health-care-photo-144359033.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Four Americans arrive in Nebraska to be monitored for Ebola virus
Reuters
By Brendan O'Brien  12 minutes ago



(Reuters) - Four Americans who may have been exposed to the deadly Ebola virus in Sierra Leone have arrived in the United States and are being observed at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the hospital said on Sunday.

The individuals arrived on Saturday and are being housed on the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus in Omaha, where medical personnel will monitor them for 21 days for any Ebola symptoms, hospital spokesman Taylor Wilson said.

"They're not sick and not contagious," Wilson said.

A U.S. healthcare worker who tested positive for Ebola while in Sierra Leone arrived at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland on Friday and was in serious condition, the NIH said.

The people under observation in Nebraska are among at least 10 Americans flown to the United States by non-commercial air transport who may have been exposed to the unidentified Ebola patient in Sierra Leone or had a similar exposure to the virus as the patient.

While the virus has killed about 10,000 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, only a handful of cases have been seen in the United States, Spain and Britain, almost all of them contracted in West Africa.

A debate in the United States arose last fall on how mandatory quarantines in a number of states for health workers returning from Ebola-ravaged West African countries could potentially discourage potential medical volunteers.

Wilson said he could not provide the genders of any of the patients in Nebraska or any other details about them.

The other individuals are expected to be monitored at the NIH or at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, the CDC said.

CDC officials and officials in Maryland and Atlanta were not immediately available for comment on Sunday.

The CDC had said all the individuals who were being flown back to the United States were free of symptoms.

On Friday, CDC sent a team to Sierra Leone to investigate how the healthcare worker had become infected, and determine who might have been in contact with the worker.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Eric Walsh)


http://news.yahoo.com/four-americans-arrive-nebraska-monitored-ebola-virus-000043583.html