Ebola-stricken nations need $700 million to rebuild healthcare

Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone need a further $696 million (£446.13 million) in donor funding to rebuild their battered health services over the next two years in the wake of the deadly Ebola epidemic, senior World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Monday.

WHO Assistant Director General for Health Systems and Innovation Marie-Paule Kieny said that donors had pledged $1.4 billion of an estimated $2.1 billion required by the three countries before December 2017.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/07/06/uk-health-ebola-funding-idUKKCN0PG29Z20150706

I hope these flare-ups won't lead to another outbreak.

UN special envoy says Ebola flare-ups could continue for some time

The new Ebola outbreak in Liberia last week was not unexpected, and more like it may occur, according to the UN special envoy on Ebola, Dr David Nabarro.

The 17-year-old whose death signalled the outbreak in Liberia may have come into contact with an infected animal or picked up the virus from a person in whom it had lingered beyond the 21-day quarantine period, experts believe.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jul/06/ebola-un-special-envoy-liberia-flare-ups-david-nabarro

WHO 'unfit for health emergencies'

The Ebola crisis proves the World Health Organization (WHO) lacks the "capacity and culture" to deal with global health emergencies, says a damning independent report, commissioned by the WHO itself.

The review panel says WHO was too slow to act to get on top of the deadly virus which has now killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa.

And it calls for an urgent overhaul of the organisation.

WHO says it has plans for reform.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-33422635

Initial Ebola test on Liberia dog carcass negative - sources



* Liberia tries to resolve mystery of Ebola's reappearance

* Dog carcass was eaten by villagers who caught Ebola

* Health sources say test results not conclusive

By Emma Farge

DAKAR, July 7 (Reuters) - A dead dog suspected of being the possible source for the re-emergence of Ebola in Liberia has tested negative for the disease, two health officials said on Tuesday, quoting initial findings.

Residents say that Liberia's first victim of the virus since the country was declared Ebola-free in early May had shared a dog meat meal with residents shortly before he died on June 28.

Researchers have since retrieved the carcass of the dog from the village of Nedowein in Margibi County and tested the remains for Ebola, the sources said.

"I learned today the result was negative, but we have to be careful because the remains are in bad condition and the test is designed for humans," said a health official in Liberia who asked for anonymity since research is ongoing.

http://af.reuters.com/article/guineaNews/idAFL8N0ZN4E320150707

Ebola Vaccine Components Do Not Cause Ebola Disease!

Ebola never left Guinea and Sierra Leone, and already, is back in Liberia! And there is still no vaccine to protect the population from disease and death! In Ghana, our Parliamentarians have banned Ebola vaccine trials out of panic that trials amount to importing the disease. As is the practice when anyone makes critical comments of Ghanaian Parliamentarians, they have promptly summoned a professor of clinical pharmacology, Alex Dodoo, before their Privileges Committee for interrogating the scientific basis of their decision.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Ebola-Vaccine-Components-Do-Not-Cause-Ebola-Disease-367172

16 test positive to Ebola in Guinea

The Guinea National Ebola Coordination Centre has confirmed that 18 out of the 22 people hospitalised presently in the treatment centres have tested positive to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). According to Dr. Sakoba Kéïta, head of the Ebola Coordination Committee, who said the epicentres of the Ebola disease remained in Conakry, the activities in several localities and the involvement of youths in anti-Ebola committees, contributed largely to the reduction of new cases.

https://www.thecable.ng/16-test-positive-ebola-guinea

Ebola Outbreak Update: Sierra Leone Extends Curfews Indefinitely For Worst-Affected Communities

Sierra Leone announced Wednesday that it will extend curfews, placed last month on its worst-affected communities, until the virus is completely wiped out. The decision follows the recording of two new cases in the last week of June in the capital city, contradicting the assumption that the city was free of the virus.

http://www.ibtimes.com/ebola-outbreak-update-sierra-leone-extends-curfews-indefinitely-worst-affected-2000780

Tests Show Ebola in Liberia Linked to Virus Found Months Ago

Samples taken from the 17-year-old boy who died from Ebola in Liberia nearly two weeks ago show the virus is genetically similar to viruses that infected many people in the same area more than six months ago, the World Health Organization said Friday.

That finding by genetic sequencing suggests it is unlikely the virus was caught from travel to infected areas of Guinea or Sierra Leone, the group said. "It also makes it unlikely that this has been caused by a new emergence from a natural reservoir, such as a bat or other animal," it said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/tests-show-ebola-liberia-linked-virus-found-months-32363544

Donors Pledge Billions for Ebola Recovery

NEW YORK—

The United Nations said the international community has pledged more than $3.4 billion in additional funds to help three West African states recover from the Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people and devastated their economies.

The meeting convened by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at U.N. Headquarters in New York raised an additional $3.4 billion in pledges to help in the recovery efforts of the three countries affected by Ebola.

http://www.voanews.com/content/donors-pledge-billions-for-ebola-recovery/2857899.html

Donors Pledge Billions for Ebola Recovery
The United Nations said the international community has pledged more than $3.4 billion in additional funds to help three West African states recover from the Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people and devastated their economies.

"Liberia´s #1 EbolaDetective, Mosoka Fallah, wisely urge for local poverty reduction to prevent future Ebola outbreaks "
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)61233-8/fulltext

‘No Need to Panic’- Health Official Assures Amid New Ebola Cases

Monrovia - Liberian health officials have told citizens not to panic in the wake of the new Ebola cases. According to Dr. Francis Kateh Liberia’s Chief Medical Officer, unlike the past outbreak the country is prepare to battle the virus from spreading further.


Addressing a news conference at the weekend, the Chief Medical Officer said, the Country currently has all mechanisms required to monitor and isolate anyone showing signs and symptoms of the virus to prevent further transmission.

http://www.frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/health-sci/5759-no-need-to-panic-health-official-assures-amid-new-ebola-cases

Ebola outbreak: 30 new cases a week

The Ebola outbreak in Africa has not run its course and around 30 people are still getting infected each week, the United Nations' special envoy for the disease said on Monday.

The worst recorded outbreak of the 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.

http://www.health24.com/Medical/infectious-diseases/Ebola/Ebola-outbreak-Surpise-cases-a-big-concern-20150713

Africa's Ebola outbreak has not run its course: U.N. envoy



CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Africa's Ebola epidemic has not run its course and around 30 people are still getting infected each week, the United Nations' special envoy for the disease said on Monday.

The worst recorded outbreak of the 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.

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKCN0PN0SC20150713

Needle-free Ebola Vaccine Shows Promise

The first vaccine against Ebola that patients can inhale instead of inject has shown promise in tests on monkeys and should move into human trials soon, researchers said Monday.

The study in Journal of Clinical Investigation was led by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the US National Institutes of Health.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/biotechnology/needle-free-ebola-vaccine-shows-promise-150714.htm

Liberia confirms new Ebola case as outbreak spreads

A Liberian woman has died of Ebola in a hospital in Monrovia shortly after being admitted, becoming the sixth confirmed case of the virus since it resurfaced last month after a seven-week lull, a senior medical official said on Tuesday.

The victim from Montserrado County, which contains Monrovia, is thought to be linked to the other five cases from neighboring Margibi County, where the disease reemerged.

Her detection raised fears that the infection may be spreading in a new area of the country.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/14/us-health-ebola-idUSKCN0PO1EN20150714

Liberia confirms new Ebola case as outbreak spreads

The new Ebola outbreak in Liberia was not caused by a dog, and health authorities are now still grappling with the actual source of the re-emergence of the deadly disease in a country where it killed some 4,800 people.

Liberia’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Francis Kateh told a news conference in Monrovia that they could not find any scientific proof that the current outbreak was as a result of a dog meat eaten by the initial victim, the deceased 17-year-old Abraham Memaigar.

The source of the new outbreak is still a mystery and an investigation by the Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research and the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been ongoing.

http://www.micatliberia.com/index.php/blog/item/4122-dog-meat-ruled-out-as-source-of-new-ebola-outbreak-unknown.html

Ebola burial teams seek bribes in Sierra Leone: health official

Ebola burial teams in Sierra Leone are extorting money from families of the bereaved to give the dead safe burials, a senior health official said, leading to an increase in illegal funerals.

The introduction of anti-Ebola measures requiring bodies to be buried according to safety protocols was considered a key sign of progress in the fight against the disease last year.

Formerly, families were secretly burying bodies in unmarked graves, using traditional practices which can spread the virus via the highly infectious fluids of the deceased.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/16/us-health-ebola-leone-idUSKCN0PQ1L420150716

Re-emergence of Ebola in Liberia remains a mystery


MONROVIA, Liberia — Six cases of Ebola have surfaced in Liberia in the two months since the nation was declared free of the deadly virus, raising fears the disease lingers in the human body in ways not fully understood.

Three of those cases were in the past week, doubling the number of new infections since the virus re-emerged in late June, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/07/15/ebola-liberia-epidemic-sierra-leone-guinea/30183429/

Ebola update:

Ebola casts a shadow over maternal health in Sierra Leone

At the health post in Komrabai Station, a village in central Sierra Leone, a rickety birthing table stands in a dingy, damp room. The walls are covered in grime and blood. There’s barely any equipment or drugs to perform a safe delivery.

When Ebola struck the west African country last May, such places became amplifiers of the epidemic and were soon associated with the disease, pushing pregnant women back to traditional and more dangerous birthing practices.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jul/17/ebola-maternal-health-sierra-leone

Ebola update:

Liberia says 4 remaining Ebola patients have recovered

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — The four remaining patients infected during Liberia’s recent string of Ebola cases have recovered, meaning there are currently no confirmed cases in the country though more than 100 people are still under surveillance, a health official said Friday.

http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/liberia-says-4-remaining-ebola-patients-have-recovered/