Ebola crisis in Guinea 'has set back malaria fight'

The continuing Ebola epidemic in Guinea has set back the country's fight against malaria, say experts.

They estimate 74,000 cases of malaria went untreated in 2014 because clinics were either closed or patients were too scared to seek help.

They warn that malaria deaths since the Ebola outbreak began will far exceed the number of Ebola deaths in the country - which now stand at 2,444.

Their report is in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-33236292

The Ebola disease is not abating.

Ebola Crisis: 3 Different Strains Identified In Guinea


A team of scientists has sequenced the genome of Ebola virus strains circulating in Guinea to trace the spread of the disease and monitor its progress. Their findings, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, have revealed three distinct variants of the virus that are co-circulating in the West African country, especially in its urban regions and neighboring towns.

http://www.ibtimes.com/ebola-crisis-3-different-strains-identified-guinea-1983057

Ebola-hit Sierra Leone quarantines 31 health workers


Freetown (AFP) - Authorities in Sierra Leone quarantined three doctors and 28 nurses in the capital Freetown when a mother tested positive for Ebola after giving birth, the health ministry said on Thursday.


Doctors were unable to stem the woman's bleeding and she was transferred to an emergency ward at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital, where it was confirmed she was infected by the deadly virus on Saturday.

http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-hit-sierra-leone-quarantines-31-health-workers-140310911.html

Ebola: Sierra Leone, Guinea quarantine people, villages again



Authorities in Sierra Leone have quarantined three doctors and 28 nurses after a woman who recently gave birth tested positive for Ebola.

The woman was transferred to an emergency ward in a hospital in the capital Free Town after doctors were unable to stop her bleeding.

It was confirmed she was infected with the deadly virus last Saturday.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/ebola-sierra-leone-guinea-quarantine-people-villages-again-20150626-ghytgy.html

Guinea Quarantines Coastal Towns to End Ebola

FORECARIAH, GUINEA—

Guinea authorities have implemented a quarantine this week aimed at finally ending the spread of Ebola in the country's coastal region, the one area where the virus continues to claim lives.

Three towns were quarantined in the Forecariah district, where the Ebola outbreak has persisted for more than a year.

Mohamed Camara, who's coordinating Forecariah's fight against Ebola, said the quarantine was implemented after residents of Dixinn Bouramaya, Kolota and Tamaranci voluntarily agreed to stay at home for 21 days.

http://www.voanews.com/content/guinea-quarantines-coastal-towns-to-end-ebola/2839717.html

Sierra Leone will jail Ebola law violators

Freetown (AFP) - One of the three districts of Sierra Leone where new cases of Ebola have been recorded will jail those who break a new emergency by-law designed to prevent the spread of the disease, an official said Sunday.

http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-jail-ebola-law-violators-172931252.html

New antibody treatment may protect against Marburg and Ebola viruses


New immune molecules have been identified that offer protection against Marburg virus - a deadly relative of Ebola virus.


Identified in 1967 among laboratory workers in Uganda who had handled infected animals, Marburg virus was the first of the class of viruses known as filoviruses - which also includes Ebola - to be identified.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/296034.php

Ebola crisis: Liberia quarantine after death


Liberia's authorities have quarantined the area where a 17-year-old boy died of Ebola.

This is the first reported case of Ebola in Liberia since it was declared free of the disease seven weeks ago.

Deputy health minister Tolbert Nyenswah said tests confirmed that the teenager from Nedowein village, near the international airport, had died of the disease on 28 June.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33323664

Ebola crisis: Liberia quarantine after death
Liberia's authorities have quarantined the area where a 17-year-old boy died of Ebola.
This is the first reported case of Ebola in Liberia since it was declared free of the disease seven weeks ago.
Deputy health minister Tolbert Nyenswah said tests confirmed that the teenager from Nedowein village, near the international airport, had died of the disease on 28 June.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33323664

Professor Global Health Hans Rosling.

Liberian Ebola response lead by Bernice Dahn, Tolbert Nyenswah, Miatta Gbanya,& Luke Bawo stayed alert and timely found new case! Respect!

Ebola crisis: Liberia's new outbreak spreads

Two more cases of Ebola have been confirmed in Liberia following the death of a teenager from the virus on Sunday, officials say.

The country had been declared Ebola-free more than seven weeks ago.

Both of the new cases were in Nedowein, the same village where the boy died, the ministry of information says.

Liberia's authorities quarantined the area after the teenager's death and said his funeral was carried out safely.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33350158

South Korea reports new Mers case after four-day pause

South Korea has reported a new case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers), the first after a four-day break in infections.

A total of 183 people have now contracted Mers in South Korea since it was first detected there in May - 33 of those people have died.

The latest patient is a female nurse at a Seoul hospital where 88 people are known to have caught the virus.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33358602

Liberia investigating animal link after Ebola re-emerges


Liberia confirmed a third Ebola case on Thursday, nearly two months after it was declared Ebola free, and officials said they were investigating whether the disease had managed to lurk in animals before resurfacing.

Dr Moses Massaquoi, case management team leader for Liberia's Ebola task force, said the three villagers who had tested positive for the disease had shared a meal of dog meat, which is commonly eaten in Liberia.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/02/us-health-ebola-liberia-idUSKCN0PC0WJ20150702

Liberia investigating animal link after Ebola re-emerges
Liberia confirmed a third Ebola case on Thursday, nearly two months after it was declared Ebola free, and officials said they were investigating whether the disease had managed to lurk in animals before resurfacing.
Dr Moses Massaquoi, case management team leader for Liberia's Ebola task force, said the three villagers who had tested positive for the disease had shared a meal of dog meat, which is commonly eaten in Liberia.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/02/us-health-ebola-liberia-idUSKCN0PC0WJ20150702

Some locals said Memaigar and others in the village had recently dug up and eaten a dead dog.

Hmmm. Doesn't seem right to me.
However. They do eat Megabats. A known carrier of Ebola virus.

U.S. Confirms First Measles Death Since 2003

SEATTLE (AP) — A Washington woman died from measles in the spring — the first measles death in the U.S. since 2003 and the first in the state since 1990, health officials said Thursday.

The woman lacked some of the measles' common symptoms, such as a rash, so the infection was not discovered until an autopsy, Washington State Department of Health spokesman Donn Moyer said.

This is the 11th case of measles in Washington — and the sixth in Clallam County — this year, Moyer said.

Measles is highly contagious and spreads when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. However, dying from it is extremely rare, Moyer said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/02/us-measles-death_n_7716896.html

U.S. Confirms First Measles Death Since 2003
SEATTLE (AP) — A Washington woman died from measles in the spring — the first measles death in the U.S. since 2003 and the first in the state since 1990, health officials said Thursday.
Measles is highly contagious and spreads when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. However, dying from it is extremely rare, Moyer said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/02/us-measles-death_n_7716896.html

How about Measles Vaccination in the US?
Parents Stand Firm Against Vaccination Amid Measles Outbreak
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/01/14/parents-stand-firm-against-vaccination-amid-measles-outbreak/
http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2013/12/Is-Measles-Vaccination-the-Biggest-Unrecognized-Success-in-Global-Health#.VZW4rrsw-JY

10,000 people in U.S. monitored during Ebola scare


More than 10,000 people in the United States were monitored for symptoms of Ebola this past fall and winter, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In late October, the CDC recommended that everyone in the United States who had possibly been exposed to Ebola -- including people returning from an Ebola-affected country, as well as those who cared for Ebola patients here -- be monitored for 21 days after their last exposure for symptoms of the disease.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/10000-people-in-u-s-monitored-during-ebola-scare/

UNICEF teams, supplies arrive in areas affected by new Ebola cases in Liberia

MONROVIA/DAKAR/GENEVA, 3 July 2015 – Responding to Liberia’s first confirmed cases of Ebola in more than three months, UNICEF has begun distributing emergency supplies in the affected communities including tents for isolating those under quarantine, hygiene kits and chlorine and buckets for handwashing stations.

In Margibi County, where the body of a child tested positive for the virus on 29 June, UNICEF social mobilization teams are already on the ground conducting door-to-door awareness campaigns on Ebola prevention, to minimize the risk of further infections and to protect and assist those affected.

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_82467.html

Suspected Congo Ebola victims test negative for the virus


Six hunters in the Democratic Republic of Congo who fell sick and were suspected to have Ebola have tested negative for the virus, the health minister said on Saturday.

The government and World Health Organization investigated a possible outbreak about 270 km (170 miles) northeast of the capital when the hunters developed Ebola-like symptoms after eating an antelope that appeared to be sick when they killed it.

The symptoms included diarrhea, vomiting and bloody urine. Four of the hunters have died.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/04/us-health-ebola-congodemocratic-idUSKCN0PE0SJ20150704

in the news.

MERS Outbreak Update: Infections Rise, Death Toll Stays at 33

The number of people who have contracted Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in South Korea rose to 185 Sunday, the South Korean government told Yonhap news agency. The number of people added to the infected list was not disclosed immediately, however, a doctor was among those confirmed to be carrying the virus.

http://www.ibtimes.com/mers-outbreak-update-infections-rise-death-toll-stays-33-1995987

Doubts over integrity of Ebola trials

Though the public outcry over attempts by health authorities in Ghana to try out an Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) vaccine trial in the Volta Region appears to have subsided, Ghanaians are yet to receive official responses to some of the critical questions raised in the midst of those anxious moments.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Doubts-over-integrity-of-Ebola-trials-366573