Ebola Toll Exceeds 11,250 in West Africa: WHO

GENEVA: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the number of people killed by Ebola in West Africa has exceeded 11,250.

A total of 27,643 cases of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) have been reported since the outbreak of the disease, TASS reported on Friday.

The maximum number of Ebola-related deaths has been registered in Liberia (4,806 deaths and 10,666 total cases) in the country while the average death rate is 50 percent.

Liberia is followed by Sierra Leone (3,947 deaths) and Guinea (2,506 deaths) respectively.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/world/Ebola-Toll-Exceeds-11250-in-West-Africa-WHO/2015/07/18/article2927211.ece

Ebola Study Gains Momentum, Say Investigators in Liberia.
The study is enrolling approximately 7,500 people, including 1,500 people of any age who survived the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and 6,000 of their close contacts.
http://www.liberianobserver.com/news/ebola-study-gains-momentum-say-investigators

updates:



Last four Liberian Ebola patients discharged
AFP | Monrovia July 21, 2015 Last Updated at 01:32 IST

Liberia discharged its last four Ebola patients today, leaving the west African nation with no known cases of the deadly tropical fever.

The two men and two boys -- part of a cluster of six new confirmed cases -- were released from the ELWA II clinic in Monrovia after making a full recovery.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/last-four-liberian-ebola-patients-discharged-115072100042_1.html

Africa's Ebola outbreak has not run its course - UN envoy

The worst recorded outbreak of the Ebola virus has killed more than 11 000 people across West Africa since late 2013, but had abated in recent months. A new flare-up in Liberia is seen as a setback in the fight against it.

“The battle can be won, but it requires sustained effort, very careful negotiation with communities and perfection in follow-up of everybody who has been a contact,” David Nabarro, a medical doctor who is organising the United Nations’ response to Ebola, told a media briefing in Cape Town.

He said under normal circumstances an infection rate of 30 people a week would be considered “a major, major outbreak”.

http://mg.co.za/article/2015-07-20-africas-ebola-outbreak-has-not-run-its-course-un-envoy

Tekmira to suspend Ebola drug development, focus on hepatitis B

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp., based in Burnaby, B.C., announced on Monday that their TKM-Ebola drug will no longer be produced.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/tekmira-to-suspend-ebola-drug-development-focus-on-hepatitis-b-1.3159858

Ebola threat not over yet, survivor Kent Brantly says

While the initial panic or hysteria may have dissipated, the threat of Ebola remains imminent, survivor and missionary Dr. Kent Brantly said Tuesday.

"The public is not always aware of what's happening in West Africa, but we're still seeing 20 to 30 new cases of the disease in Sierra Leone and Guinea every week," Brantly said in a CNBC "Squawk on the Street" interview.

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/21/ebola-threat-not-over-yet-survivor-kent-brantly-says.html

Armadillos blamed for rise in leprosy cases in Florida

Health officials in Florida are warning people to avoid contact with armadillos after a recent rise in leprosy cases linked to the armoured creatures.

Florida officials have reported nine cases of leprosy already this year - double the normal rate.

Armadillos are the only animal to carry leprosy, a bacterial disease that affects the skin and nerves.

The disease can be spread through saliva. The animals sometimes spit when cornered or caged.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33628312

Ebola: Not yet over

Liberia- Liberia is surrounded by three countries, two of which are fighting to get zero infection from the Ebola virus disease.

Guinea, Sierra Leone are said to be reporting cases on a daily basis while Liberia was declared free on May 9 of this year.

Whilst the Ebola outbreak continues in neighboring countries, there is a risk the disease could be imported into Liberia and re-start the outbreak. However, a large-scale outbreak is unlikely due to the current preparedness measures.

Liberia was one of the worst affected countries in the West African Ebola outbreak. Transmission declined in early 2015, and the response scaled back proportionally in some areas.

http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/46611-ebola-not-yet-over.html

Vaccinating and registering the children born during Ebola
Sierra Leone conducts immunization and birth registration campaigns for children under five

In Sierra Leone, the Ebola outbreak has affected all aspects of health care. Exact numbers are yet to be confirmed but it is clear that many children have missed out on routine vaccination services and birth registration during the outbreak. To counter this, mass immunization campaigns are being held to enable children to ‘catch-up’. In June this year, an integrated measles and polio campaign was conducted reaching 97% of children under the age of 5.

http://who.int/features/2015/birth-registration-during-ebola/en/

Ebola: Not yet over

Ebola’s Not Done With West Africa

Officially, it’s called the Ebola Outbreak of 2014. But it’s 2015 now, and the disease is still infecting people. For the past two months, that rate was about 15 people a week. But in the past two weeks, the rate has doubled.

This is bad. Not last summer-bad—when weekly infection rates were in the hundreds—but bad enough that relief agencies have begun to worry about a resurgence. And even a trickle of infections is a wear on the aid workers, government authorities, and most of all, communities living in months of fear. “I was here in 2014. If you would have told me in 2014 I would see 30 cases of Ebola every week I would not have believed it,” says Marc Forget, Doctors Without Borders’ relief coordinator for Guinea.


This map, dated July 15, shows the number of days since active cases were discovered in the three countries where ebola is still a threat.

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/ebolas-not-done-west-africa/

Manchester Royal Infirmary A&E unit closed over virus outbreak

Manchester Royal Infirmary has shut its A&E unit after a suspected outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.

The hospital said the emergency department was closed temporarily while two patients are investigated for the condition.

A spokesman said the patients had been isolated for treatment and there was "no significant risk to public health".

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-33675356

Amidst fear and exhaustion Ebola is still not completely under control

Some 16 months since the epidemic outbreak, Ebola is still not under control.

New cases of Ebola reported in Liberia and Guinea are spreading anxiety. Agenzia Fides quotes Medecins sans frontiers (MSF) which is Doctors without borders as saying that in spite of remarkable progress to reduce infections, Ebola is still present in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/07/27/amidst_fear_and_exhaustion_ebola_is_still_not_under_control/1161070

South Korea declares 'de facto end' to Mers virus

South Korea's Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn has declared a "de facto end" to the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Virus (Mers).

Mr Hwang said that as there had been no new infections for 23 days, the public "can now be free from worry".

He also apologised for the government's much-criticised response to the virus, which has killed 36 people in South Korea, Yonhap news agency reports.

But the WHO said it was not yet declaring Mers officially over.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33684981

Ebola: 'Isn't that over yet?'

The short answer is no, but there is a lot more to it than that.

The outbreak has been "nearly over" for months. So while "Ebola fatigue" is understandable, it's also potentially extremely dangerous.

There are still around 20-30 new cases a week in the three worst-affected countries.

Before this outbreak, those numbers would have constituted a major epidemic, but we live in very changed times.

At the height of the outbreak, West Africa was seeing hundreds of new infections a week.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-33622471

While public health officials are confident that the worst of the epidemic is past, it is not yet over, and questions raised by the previous work still await answers to what it was that happened — and could happen again.
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/06/sequencing-ebolas-secrets/
“One insight we gained from this high-resolution sequence data is that later in the outbreak, there was very little cross-border exchange of the virus,” said lead author Daniel Park of the Broad Institute. “That’s important, because the three main affected countries — Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea — are often described as having ‘porous borders,’ which allowed people to travel back and forth.”

Ebola vaccine is 'potential game-changer'

A vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus has led to 100% protection and could transform the way Ebola is tackled, preliminary results suggest.

There were no proven drugs or vaccines against the virus at the start of the largest outbreak of Ebola in history, which began in Guinea in December 2013.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the findings, being published in the Lancet, could be a "game-changer".

Experts said the results were "remarkable".

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-33733711

Ebola death in Sierra Leone leads to mass quarantine

Earlier this week the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the fewest weekly Ebola infections for over a year in West Africa. However the WHO also said it was bracing for a significant new outbreak in Sierra Leone, which alongside Guinea and Liberia, is one of the worst affected countries.

In the week up to Sunday 26 July, there were four confirmed cases in Guinea and three in Sierra Leone. Those three included a patient who died after travelling from the capital Freetown to the northern district of Tonkolili. He was described by the WHO as posing "a substantial risk of further transmission." The patient had only been confirmed Ebola-positive after post-mortem testing.

http://www.dw.com/en/ebola-death-in-sierra-leone-leads-to-mass-quarantine/a-18620558

Ebola Situation Report - 29 July 2015.
http://apps.who.int/ebola/current-situation/ebola-situation-report-29-july-2015

Ebola vaccine is 'potential game-changer'

A vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus has led to 100% protection and could transform the way Ebola is tackled, preliminary results suggest.

There were no proven drugs or vaccines against the virus at the start of the largest outbreak of Ebola in history, which began in Guinea in December 2013.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the findings, being published in the Lancet, could be a "game-changer".

Experts said the results were "remarkable".

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-33733711

Good news!


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/31/ebola-vaccine-trial-proves-100-successful-in-guinea

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A new Ebola vaccine shows promise. But there's good reason for caution.

Exactly a year ago, West Africa was battling the most devastating Ebola outbreak in human history.

Now, after nearly 30,000 cases and 12,000 deaths, there's finally some good news: researchers think they might have a vaccine that can protect people from the deadly virus.

http://www.vox.com/2015/8/3/9090061/ebola-vaccine