EBOLA MAIN EBOLA DISCUSSION THREAD May 2015

BREWER

Veteran Member
MAIN EBOLA DISCUSSION THREAD May 2015


MAIN EBOLA DISCUSSION THREAD April 2015
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?466239-MAIN-EBOLA-DISCUSSION-THREAD-April-2015

MAIN EBOLA DISCUSSION THREAD March 2015
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showt...ighlight=ebola

MAIN EBOLA DISCUSSION THREAD February 2015
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showt...-February-2015

MAIN EBOLA DISCUSSION THREAD 1/15/2015 to 1/31/2015
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showt...5-to-1-31-2015

MAIN EBOLA DISCUSSION THREAD 1/1/2015 to 1/15/2015
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showt...5-to-1-15-2015

MAIN EBOLA DISCUSSION THREAD 12/17/14 to 12/31/14
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showt...14-to-12-31-14

Greetings, Everyone: Due to the intermittent reports on Ebola which are surfacing on a delayed basis Dennis recommended this should be a monthly thread.

If you post a stand alone thread on Main please double post it here so there is an archive that we can all research to find specific articles. Thank you. BREWER
 

BREWER

Veteran Member
Per Housecarl:

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/2015...1aa2327b1.html

Report: 5 months after infection, man spreads Ebola via sex

May 1, 3:24 PM (ET)
By MIKE STOBBE

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials now think Ebola survivors can spread the disease through unprotected sex nearly twice as long as previously believed.

Scientists thought the Ebola virus could remain in semen for about three months. But a recent case in West Africa suggests infection through sex can happen more than five months later.

Based on the case, officials are now telling male Ebola survivors to avoid unprotected sex indefinitely. They had previously advised using condoms for at least three months.

A report released Friday detailed the case of a 44-year-old Liberian woman whose infection likely came from a 46-year-old man who had Ebola symptoms last September. She fell ill in March, a week after sex with him, and died. Another woman he had sex with around the same time tested negative.

The Ebola virus spreads through direct contact with an Ebola patient's blood or other bodily fluids like urine, saliva, semen and sweat. Once patients recover, health officials say they aren't contagious except there's a chance it could still be in semen.

Investigations of other recent Ebola cases in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have pointed to sexual transmission from survivors, but those have not been confirmed, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

There have been fewer than 10 such cases, said CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund. It's been difficult to pinpoint that sex was the only way they may have been infected, she added.

In Guinea, Dr. Sakoba Keita, the national coordinator for Ebola response, said a woman in the southeastern town of Macenta contracted Ebola after having unprotected sex with her husband. For the past month, officials have recommended all survivors use condoms until more is known.

"We give a kit containing a condom," to all survivors leaving the treatment center, he said.

---

AP reporter Boubacar Diallo in Conakry, Guinea contributed to this report.

---

Online:

Report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr
 

BREWER

Veteran Member
Per Housecarl:

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/2015...6d5eee1cf.html

US shuts down Ebola treatment center in Liberia

Apr 30, 12:52 PM (ET)

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — American officials are shutting down a special treatment unit they set up in Liberia at the height of the Ebola crisis last year.

It's the latest sign that life is returning to normal in the West African country where more than 4,600 people have died from Ebola.

On Thursday, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy praised the "response and resilience" of Liberians.

Liberia has gone 32 days now without a new Ebola case. If it stays that way until May 9, the World Health Organization could declare the country Ebola-free.

The United States government last year deployed more than 2,000 troops to fight Ebola in Liberia, setting up about 15 treatment centers.

Six of them are still being actively used by local health workers for various purposes.
 

BREWER

Veteran Member
Posted for fair use and discussion.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/guinea-11-accused-ebola-worker-deaths-life-sentences-30510905

Guinea: 11 Accused in Ebola Worker Deaths Get Life Sentences
CONAKRY, Guinea — Apr 22, 2015, 5:17 PM ET
By BOUBACAR DIALLO Associated Press
Associated Press

A Guinea court sentenced 11 people accused of killing eight Ebola health workers and journalists last year to life in prison on Tuesday.

Judge Mamadou Diop released 15 other suspects at the conclusion of the trial, according to state TV. The trial in the remote town of N'Nzerekore, about 900 kilometers (560 miles) from the capital Conakry, opened about a month ago.

The killings happened when a delegation of health care workers, including top health officials from the nearby town, visited the village of Womey in September to raise awareness about how to combat Ebola. They were attacked by a mob armed with knives and stones.

"They deserve the gallows," Cece Monemou, a parent of one of the victims, said on state TV after the sentence was announced on Tuesday. Prosecutor William Fernandez had requested the death penalty for the 11 suspects.

Defense lawyers told private Radio Lynx on Wednesday that they would seek an appeal with the Supreme Court.

The more than yearlong Ebola crisis is estimated to have infected more than 25,500 people and killed 10,500, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The killings highlighted the dangers faced by health care workers in the region. Residents in remote regions sometimes reacted with fear and suspicion to the unfamiliar, frightening disease ripping through their communities, believing that the virus had been brought in by outsiders.
 

BREWER

Veteran Member
Posted for fair use and discussion.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/chief-names-head-ebola-mission-outbreak-calms-30583823

UN Chief Names New Head of Ebola Mission as Outbreak Calms
MONROVIA, Liberia — Apr 25, 2015, 3:54 PM ET
By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH Associated Press
Associated Press

The U.N. chief on Saturday appointed a new head of the emergency mission responding to West Africa's Ebola crisis amid hopes that the world's deadliest outbreak of the virus will soon come to an end.

A statement from Ban Ki-moon's office said Peter Jan Graaff of the Netherlands will work closely with David Nabarro, the U.N.'s special Ebola envoy, in addressing an epidemic that has claimed more than 10,000 lives in the three hardest-hit countries: Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The Ghana-based U.N. Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, or UNMEER, was established last September, near the height of the outbreak as an extraordinary response to a public health crisis.

Outgoing head Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was appointed as special envoy to Yemen on Saturday. Ban thanked Ahmed "for his exceptional work and leadership of UNMEER, and for his commitment to ensuring the affected countries are on the road to recovery from the unprecedented Ebola outbreak," according to the statement.

Graaff had been serving since October as the U.N.'s Ebola crisis manager in Liberia, which has recorded more Ebola deaths than any other country.

Liberia's last known Ebola patient died on March 27. A country must go 42 days, or twice the maximum incubation period of 21 days, to be declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization. If no more cases are recorded, Liberia will hit that milestone on May 9.

In its latest situation report, WHO said Guinea and Sierra Leone combined had 33 new cases in the previous week. It said initiatives including community engagement and case identification would need to be improved to eradicate the disease.
 

BREWER

Veteran Member
Posted for fair use and discussion.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/identify-ebola-cases-june-30639766

UN Says It Will Try to Identify All Ebola Cases by June
LONDON — Apr 28, 2015, 9:38 AM ET
By MARIA CHENG AP Medical Writer
WHO Ebola

FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2014 file photo, nine-year-old Nowa Paye is taken to an ambulance after showing signs of the Ebola virus disease in the village of Freeman Reserve, about 48 kilometers (30 miles) north of Monrovia, Liberia. The World Health... View Full Caption The Associated Press
Associated Press

The World Health Organization says it aims to identify and isolate all new Ebola cases in West Africa by the end of May to stop the spread of the lethal virus before the rainy season.

In a new Ebola plan released on Tuesday, the U.N. health agency said it hopes to limit transmission of the virus to the coastal areas of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone before the rainy season begins, normally in April or May.

WHO said the decline in Ebola's spread has "plateaued," partly due to "persistently high transmission" in Guinea and Sierra Leone. Officials say the rainy season will make it more difficult for responders to reach remote areas.

Although cases have dropped from the peaks of more than 800 cases per week in October, there is still a steady trickle of several dozen cases every week. Experts don't know where most new cases are coming from in Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The last confirmed patient in Liberia died on March 27; if no new cases are identified there by May 9, the country could be declared Ebola-free, though some experts warn no country will be safe until the entire region wipes out Ebola.

"How can we really be sure when Ebola has been eliminated in this region?" asked Peter Piot, co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, pointing out serious problems in surveillance systems. Piot said officials are struggling to deal with questions about whether the virus might be spread via sexual transmission or other ways that could complicate declaring the epidemic over. WHO says there is no evidence the virus can be spread via sex and that studies are ongoing.

WHO said it was determined to reach "zero cases" and to ensure "a positive legacy remains after this crisis." To date, Ebola is estimated to have killed more than 10,800 people in the biggest-ever outbreak of the disease.

The U.N. had previously predicted Ebola would be contained by June but has missed numerous targets it set to stop the virus.
 

BREWER

Veteran Member
Posted for fair use and discussion. Take this with a grain of salt or two...
http://www.thebigwobble.org/2015/05/...wing-down.html

Ebola finally slowing down

Ebola is definitely slowing down April saw 1.077 new cases and 430 deaths, the death figure was the lowest since July last year.

"In line with statistics, the maximum number of Ebola-related deaths and cases has been registered in Liberia – 4,608 cumulative deaths and 10,322 cumulative cases.
Liberia is followed by Sierra Leone (3,901 deaths and 12,387 cases) and Guinea (2,381 deaths and 3,581 cases)."

In all 26,290 cases have been confirmed, world wide with 10,890 deaths.

Gary Walton

Healthcaremap
 

Krayola

Veteran Member
Ebola is found in doctor's eye months after virus left blood
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
May. 7, 2015 4:07 PM EDT

For the first time, Ebola has been discovered inside the eyes of a patient months after the virus was gone from his blood.

Ebola has infected more than 26,000 people since December 2013 in West Africa. Some survivors have reported eye problems but how often they occur isn't known. The virus also is thought to be able to persist in semen for several months.

The new report concerns Dr. Ian Crozier, a 43-year-old American physician diagnosed with Ebola in September while working with the World Health Organization in Sierra Leone.

He was treated at Emory University Hospital's special Ebola unit in Atlanta and released in October when Ebola was no longer detected in his blood. Two months later, he developed an inflammation and very high blood pressure in one eye, which causes swelling and potentially serious vision problems.

He returned to Emory, where ophthalmologist Dr. Steven Yeh drained some of the fluid and had it tested for Ebola. It contained the virus but tears and tissue around the outside of his eye did not.

That suggests that casual contact with an Ebola survivor poses no public health risk, but shows that survivors need to be monitored for the eye problem, Yeh said.

Crozier has not fully recovered his vision but continues to improve, Yeh said.

Dr. Jay Varkey, an Emory infectious disease specialist, said those involved in Crozier's care wore recommended protective gear and monitored themselves for Ebola symptoms for several weeks afterward as a precaution.

Doctors discussed the case at an Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology conference in Denver on Thursday, and the New England Journal of Medicine published their account online.

Earlier Thursday, the World Health Organization said that the number of Ebola cases reported in Guinea and Sierra Leone last week dropped to its lowest total this year. And Liberia, which has had the most deaths in the outbreak — more than 4,700 — plans on Saturday to declare the outbreak over in that country unless new cases are discovered.

link: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d98b...und-doctors-eye-months-after-virus-left-blood

I find this worrisome.
 

JohnGaltfla

#NeverTrump
Guinea Ebola cases climb due to transmissions at funerals

Reuters
4 hours ago
MAY 15, 2015

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea has seen a spate of new Ebola cases due to transmissions at funerals, a worrying sign for the African nation as it seeks to stamp out a year-long epidemic that has killed over 11,000 people across the region, a health official said on Friday.

According to figures released on Tuesday by the special government department set up to fight the disease, treatment clinics were handling just eight confirmed Ebola cases.

"Today we have 27 sick in our treatment centers, including 18 confirmed cases," the department's spokesman Fode Tass Sylla told Reuters. "Yesterday alone we recorded five sick."

Sylla said all the new patients had contracted the disease at funeral ceremonies.

Ebola is transmitted through contact with the bodily fluids of those infected or the bodies of those who have died of the disease.

Health officials in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have carried out wide-reaching information campaigns to warn of the risks of improperly burying victims. However, they have often met with resistance from those who believe the restrictions infringe upon traditional practices.

Liberia last week became the first of the three hardest hit countries to be declared free of the disease, having completed a 42-day period without a new case of Ebola.
 

Housecarl

On TB every waking moment
For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150522/af--guinea-ebola-a2530bed8b.html

Guinea families transport bodies in public taxis

May 22, 12:37 PM (ET)
By BOUBACAR DIALLO

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Relatives of Ebola victims are transporting their bodies on public transportation in Guinea, seating the corpses upright between other passengers to skirt health controls and contributing to the spread of the deadly disease here, authorities said.

The Ebola epidemic began in Guinea and, instead of being snuffed out as officials had hoped, at least 27 new cases have occurred in a week's time, marking a significant spike.

Bodies of Ebola victims are highly contagious, yet the health recommendations to not touch bodies at funerals go against hundreds of years of tradition here. Family members still want to give their loved ones traditional burials to prepare their souls for the afterlife, and some even try to transport the bodies to their home villages if they died elsewhere.

"It is regrettable that some families with the help of transport providers are dressing up cadavers and seating them upright between other passengers in a taxi as though the person is still living when in fact it's sometimes the body of someone who has died from Ebola," said police Capt. Claude Onivogui. "Every day we are finding bodies in these conditions, and that's what is spreading the contagion."

The latest Ebola figures from the World Health Organization are the highest in Guinea in more than a month and come just as the country hoped the outbreak was finally coming under control. Neighboring Liberia has been declared Ebola-free and Sierra Leone registered only eight cases during the same time period.

It is against the law to transport bodies of Ebola victims from one community to another. However, Rabiatou Serah, a member of an anti-Ebola committee, said that the relatives who are concealing bodies are managing to get past inspection agents.

Eleven of the 27 new cases were reported in Dubreka, and authorities believe the people who fell sick had come in contact with those who attended the funeral of an Ebola victim in mid-April. Suspicion of outsiders has complicated the efforts of teams trying to investigate.

"Difficulty engaging local communities has made case investigation and contact tracing in the area challenging," WHO said in its update.

More than 11,000 people have died since the Ebola epidemic first emerged in the forests of southeastern Guinea in December 2013, including more than 2,400 in Guinea.

Liberia, which lost more lives than any other country, has now been declared Ebola-free. Guinea and Sierra Leone are now the only West African countries still reporting new cases.

Several of the new cases were reported along Guinea's northern border with Guinea-Bissau. Authorities are stepping up surveillance efforts in that area. The prospect of the disease crossing into Guinea-Bissau is alarming because the deeply impoverished country destabilized by decades of coups and military rule has few health care facilities.
 

BREWER

Veteran Member
Posted for fair use and discussion. ETA: Was it Lassa fever or Ebola?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3096842/Man-diagnosed-Lassa-fever-dies-US-Liberia-trip.html

New York businessman who complained of 'sore throat, fever and fatigue' DIES of rare tropical virus he caught in Liberia

Unnamed man flew from Liberia to Morocco, then to JFK Airport on May 17
He had no symptoms on flight, but visited hospital following day with fever
Was admitted three days later after confessing he had been to West Africa
Officials are now trying to trace fellow plane passengers

By Chris Pleasance for MailOnline

Published: 21:54 EST, 25 May 2015 | Updated: 09:06 EST, 26 May 2015

A businessman from New Jersey has died in hospital after being diagnosed with Lassa fever - a disease from West Africa which is similar to Ebola.

The man, who has not been named, had traveled from Liberia to Morocco in recent weeks before getting on a flight to the U.S., landing at JFK Airport in New York on May 17.

Health officials are now trying to trace anyone who may have sat next to the man on his flight from Liberia, and two health workers who helped to treat him at New Jersey hospitals.
The patient, who has not been named, died on Monday from Lassa fever while in isolation in hospital. Medics are now trying to trace two people who treated him, and passengers on his flight from Morocco to JFK
+2


Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said the man did not have any symptoms during his flights, or when he arrived in New York.

Dr Frieden added that the patient first went to hospital on May 18 complaining of fever and lethargy.

He was quizzed by doctors about his travel history, but failed to mention that he had recently been to West Africa despite regularly going there as part of his job in the mining industry, medics said.
WHAT IS LASSA FEVER?

Lassa fever is a condition caused by the Lassa virus, an infection with similar symptoms to Ebola which is common in West Africa.

Carried by rats, it is usually passed on through contact with their urine or feces, but can also be passed on through contact with bodily fluids of infected people, though this is less common.

Symptoms include fever, lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea, and bleeding from the eyes or gums.

The disease was first diagnosed in Benin, West Africa, in 1969 and is named after the village the patient came from.

The World Health Organisation says the disease is endemic there, and is also present in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and parts of Nigeria.

While its symptoms are similar to Ebola, only around 1 per cent of those who contract the virus die, compared with 80 per cent who contract Ebola.

As a result he was sent home, but returned three days later, on Thursday, after his symptoms had worsened and was admitted.

He was then transferred to a second hospital on Saturday where he was placed in isolation while doctors carried out blood tests to determine which illness he had contracted.

Medics were also trying to get hold of ribavirin, an antiviral medication given through IV drip, when the man passed away on Monday while still in isolation. Test results confirmed he had been suffering from Lassa fever.

Lassa fever, which is caused by the Lassa virus, is a relatively common disease in West Africa, with between 100,000 and 300,000 cases are diagnosed every year.

The infection is carried by rodents and passed on through contact with their feces and urine. Symptoms include vomiting, fever, diarrhea, and bleeding from the eyes and gums.

But while 80 per cent of Ebola cases are fatal, only around 1 per cent of Lassa cases end in death, and transmission between people is rare.

A case of person-to-person infection of the Lassa virus has never been recorded in the U.S., but officials say they want to track anyone who has been in contact with the recent patient as a matter of caution, and will place them under observation for 21 days.

The disease can spread via contact with the bodily fluids of the infected, but the risk is low, especially in U.S. hospitals with proper hygiene controls.
Health workers said the man flew from Liberia to Morocco, then on to JFK (pictured). He first went to hospital a day after landing, but was not admitted until three days later when his symptoms worsened
+2

Health workers said the man flew from Liberia to Morocco, then on to JFK (pictured). He first went to hospital a day after landing, but was not admitted until three days later when his symptoms worsened

This last confirmed case of Lassa fever seen in a traveler returning to the United States was in Minnesota last year. The one before that was in Pennsylvania in 2010.

CDC officials on Monday declined to name the New Jersey hospital where the man first went for care, or to a second New Jersey hospital where he was transferred.

The CDC plans to send a special response team including a Lassa fever expert and specialists in occupational safety and waste management to the second hospital Tuesday.

'We expect to see Lassa fever and other infections like this. Because of Ebola, we're now better prepared to deal with it,' Frieden said.

Lassa fever was named after a Nigerian town where Western-trained doctors first noted it in 1969.

Around 5,000 people die of the disease, and in some areas of Sierra Leone and Liberia, 10 to 15 percent of people admitted to hospitals every year have Lassa fever.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...fever-dies-US-Liberia-trip.html#ixzz3bGd7jdSa
 
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