Ebola news 11/26

[Buster's Uncle]

Ebola discoverer Piot sees long, bumpy road to ending epidemic
Reuters
By Kate Kelland  3 hours ago



Ebola virus discoverer Peter Piot addresses a news conference at the United Nations after an informal consultation at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva October 7, 2014. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse



LONDON (Reuters) - West Africa's Ebola epidemic could worsen further before abating but new infections should start to decline in all affected countries by the end of this year, a leading specialist on the disease said on Wednesday.

Peter Piot, one of the scientists who first identified the Ebola virus almost 40 years ago, said the outbreak was far from over, but said that "thanks to now massive efforts at all levels" what had been an exponential growth in numbers should soon begin to recede.

The death toll in the worst Ebola epidemic on record has risen to 5,459 out of 15,351 cases identified in eight countries by November 18, latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO) showed. Almost all those cases are in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

"By the end of the year we should start seeing a real decline everywhere," Piot, who is now director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told a meeting of public health experts, non-governmental organizations and officials.

But bringing the outbreak to a complete end will be a long and "bumpy" road, he added.

"It will be controlled in one county or one district, but then pop up again in another," Piot said.

"Let's not forget that this whole epidemic started with one person -- in other words, it will not be over until the last person with Ebola is dead or has recovered without infecting other people. That is the daunting task we face."

Piot noted that both Nigeria and Senegal, which had cases of Ebola imported from the West Africa outbreak, had been able to swiftly contain its spread within their borders.

He said these examples showed that beating Ebola was possible "if you act early and if you have the will to do it".

The epidemic in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, he said, had been allowed to get out of control due to mistakes by local and national health officials but also to failures at the global level by United Nations bodies such as the WHO to recognize the scale of the threat and to respond accordingly

"We must make sure that we can draw lessons from this for the future," Piot said.

(Editing by Gareth Jones)


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-discoverer-piot-sees-long-bumpy-road-ending-140036864.html

[Buster's Uncle]

West African artists urge French-speaking nations to act on Ebola
Reuters
By Misha Hussain  2 hours ago



Health workers put on protective gear outside a mosque before disinfecting it, in Bamako November 14, 2014. REUTERS/Joe Penney



DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - West African artists have urged heads of state holding a French-speaking nations' summit in Dakar this weekend to take action to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in the region.

The rare tropical disease has infected more than 15,000 people in West Africa since it was first recorded in Guinea in March. More than 5,000 people have died from the virus, which causes severe vomiting, diarrhoea and internal bleeding.

The theme of this year's biannual summit of "francophonie", a 77-strong group whose role includes promoting peace, democracy and human rights, is women and youth.

The artists wrote in an open letter to the leaders that women had been disproportionately affected by the Ebola outbreak as they are often the carers – around 55 percent of the victims have been women, according to the World Health Organization.

They also wrote that, despite United Nations pressure to keep borders open, some states in the region were closing their borders and people living in the affected areas were being stigmatized, leading to isolation and serious economic impacts.

Summit host Senegal has closed its border with Guinea twice since the start of the outbreak, causing a spike in food prices and disrupting the flow of humanitarian aid and workers, according to the World Food Programme.

Senegal does not share a land border with Liberia or Sierra Leone, the other countries battling Ebola.

A ruling by regional economic bloc ECOWAS forced Senegal to reopen its air and sea links to allow the free flow of aid and workers, but its land border with Guinea remains shut.

The francophone group of nations has not yet spoken out on the health and humanitarian crisis caused by the outbreak, which is affecting the second biggest French-speaking region in the world, the letter said.

The more than 20 artists who signed the letter included pop duo Amadou and Mariam, guitarist Vieux Farka Toure, film director Alain Gomis, and singers Baba Maal and Ismael Lo – household names in the region.

"We expect you to translate high-level political will into concrete actions to help stop Ebola spread and reduce the suffering of your people," the artists wrote. "The challenge now is how to secure logistic, financial and human resources to stop this spread before it is too late."

Well-known African musicians, including some of those who signed the open letter, have joined forces to record the song "Africa Stop Ebola", sung in French and local languages, to raise awareness of Ebola and help people avoid catching it.


http://news.yahoo.com/west-african-artists-urge-french-speaking-nations-act-131541427.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Benin says Lassa fever kills 9, no Ebola found
Associated Press  6 hours ago



COTONOU, Benin (AP) — Nine people have died in Benin from Lassa fever, a viral disease common in West Africa with symptoms similar to Ebola, the country's health minister said.

An outbreak of Ebola is pummeling the three West African countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, and some cases have turned up elsewhere. But so far no Ebola cases have been confirmed in Benin, Health Minister Dorothee Kinde Gazard told reporters late Tuesday.

Authorities will double-check those results with more tests, said Youssouf Gamatie, the representative for the World Health Organization in the country.

The Lassa fever deaths happened in Tanguieta, 370 miles (600 kilometers) north of the capital, said Gazard. In all, 15 cases of Lassa have been detected, and Gazard said she thought the outbreak would be quickly contained. Authorities are monitoring 170 people who had contact with the sick for signs of Lassa.

In West Africa, there are about 100,000 to 300,000 cases of Lassa fever each year and about 5,000 deaths. The Lassa virus is carried by rodents and is transmitted to humans through contact with their urine or droppings. It can also be transmitted from person to person through direct contact with a sick person's bodily fluids, though that is more rare.

Lassa fever is in the same virus family as Ebola, which has killed 5,400 people in the current outbreak, the first to hit West Africa.


http://news.yahoo.com/benin-says-lassa-fever-kills-9-no-ebola-081638470.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Sierra Leone Ebola burial workers dump bodies in pay protest
Reuters
By Umaru Fofana  18 hours ago



Health workers remove the body a woman who died from the Ebola virus in the Aberdeen district of Freetown, Sierra Leone, October 14, 2014. REUTERS/Josephus Olu-Mammah



FREETOWN (Reuters) - Burial workers in Sierra Leone have dumped bodies in the street outside a hospital in protest at authorities' failure to pay bonuses for handling Ebola victims.

Residents said up to 15 corpses had been abandoned in the eastern town of Kenema, three of them at a hospital entrance to stop people entering. The head of the district Ebola Response Team, Abdul Wahab Wan, said the bodies included those of two babies.

A spokesman for the striking workers, who asked not to be identified, said they had not been paid their weekly hazard allowance for seven weeks.

Authorities acknowledged the money had not been paid but said that all the striking members of the Ebola Burial Team would be dismissed.

"Displaying corpses in a very, very inhumane manner is completely unacceptable," said the spokesman for the National Ebola Response Centre, Sidi Yahya Tunis.

He added that the central government had paid the money to the district health management team. "Somebody somewhere needs to be investigated (to find out) where these monies have been going," he told Reuters.

Healthcare workers have repeatedly gone on strike in Liberia and Sierra Leone over pay and dangerous working conditions. Two weeks ago, workers walked off the job at a clinic in Bo in Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone has become the biggest hotspot in the West African Ebola epidemic, which has killed nearly 5,500 people since March.

Underscoring the gravity, a medical source said on Tuesday that another Sierra Leonean doctor, Aiah Solomon Konoyeima, had tested positive for the disease. All seven Sierra Leonean doctors who have previously caught Ebola have died of it.

The outbreak appears to be coming under control in neighbouring Liberia and Guinea, but infection rates have accelerated in Sierra Leone. The head of a special U.N. mission on Ebola acknowledged on Monday it would not meet the target of containing the outbreak by early December.

China said on Tuesday it would step up its Ebola response.

"More then 600 medical staff and public health experts have been sent to the affected countries in western Africa and the number is estimated to grow to 1,000 in the coming months," said Cui Li, Chinese vice minister for national health, at the opening of an Ebola Treatment Unit in Monrovia.

Despite pledges of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, and the deployment of U.S. and British troops, the weakness of healthcare systems and infrastructure in the affected countries has hampered the fight against the worst outbreak of the Ebola virus on record.

(Additional reporting by James Harding Giahyue and Derick Snyder in Monrovia; Editing by Jonathan Oatis; Writing by Daniel Flynn and Emma Farge; Editing by Andrew Roche)


http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-ebola-burial-workers-dump-bodies-pay-155838800.html

[Buster's Uncle]

U.S. quarantine moves hurting Ebola response in Africa: Harvard
Reuters  20 hours ago



Barbara Smith, a registered nurse with Mount Sinai Medical Health Systems, St. Luke's and Roosevelt Hospitals in New York, demonstrates putting on personal protective equipment (PPE) during an Ebola educational session for healthcare workers at the Jacob Javits Convention center in New York, October 21, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Segar



BOSTON (Reuters) - Moves by some U.S. states to isolate medical workers returning from fighting Ebola in West Africa could worsen the global health crisis by discouraging badly needed new volunteers, according to health experts at Harvard University.

Ebola has killed more than 5,450 people in West Africa since March in the disease's worst outbreak on record, striking hardest in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, which are among the world's least developed countries.

"By far and away what is needed most in West Africa are care providers who can help," Paul Biddinger, director of the Harvard School of Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program, said during a panel discussion about the disease on Tuesday.

But "because of a fear of stigma, of being involuntarily quarantined ... people don’t want to necessarily subject themselves to this, and that is tragic."

The United States Agency for International Development last week said that applications from medical personnel volunteering to work in West Africa had fallen by about 17 percent since the end of October, when mandatory quarantine rules were put into effect in New York and New Jersey.

In one of the highest-profile cases, a nurse from Maine who treated Ebola patients in West Africa was isolated in a plastic tent at a hospital in New Jersey for four days in October despite showing no symptoms.

Michael VanRooyen, director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, said U.S. public officials needed to do better communicating clearly about the disease, and implementing precautions based on medical evidence and not fear.

"It directly impacts our ability to recruit volunteers," he said.

Ebola rates have accelerated in Sierra Leone while easing in neighboring Guinea and Liberia, prompting the head of a special U.N. mission on Ebola to admit on Monday that it would not meet targets for containing the outbreak by early December.

The United States has seen several Ebola cases and two deaths, all but two of the cases contracted in West Africa. Harvard's Biddinger said America's vast medical resources make a West Africa-style outbreak in the United States unlikely.

Despite pledges of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and the deployment of troops by the United States and Britain, the weakness of healthcare systems and infrastructure in the worst-affected countries has hampered the fight.

(Reporting by Richard Valdmanis)


http://news.yahoo.com/u-quarantine-moves-hurting-ebola-response-africa-harvard-203631486.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Nurse who had Ebola asks bridal shop for refunds
Associated Press  November 25, 2014 11:51 AM



Amber Vinson, 29, the Dallas nurse who was being treated for Ebola, speaks at a news conference after being discharged from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Vinson is requesting refunds from the Ohio bridal shop she visited, but the store says the reimbursements aren’t feasible because it had to temporarily close and lost significant business. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)



AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A Dallas nurse who was diagnosed with Ebola is requesting refunds from the Ohio bridal shop she visited, but the store says the reimbursements aren't feasible because it had to temporarily close and lost significant business.

Amber Vinson's Dallas attorney asked that Coming Attractions Bridal & Formal refund $480 in dress payments by several of Vinson's bridesmaids, the Akron Beacon Journal (http://bit.ly/1xS8jiX ) reported.

Attorney Stephen Malouf said Vinson, who has recovered, saw the publicity of her case harm the store and decided to get bridesmaids' dresses elsewhere to avoid further scrutiny for the business.

Owner Anna Younker said Vinson's change of heart and the refund request feel like a slap in the face after the shop lost tens of thousands of dollars because of its connection to her.

Malouf said that wasn't Vinson's intention.

"I'm sorry that the shop is upset," he said. "This was an effort to help the shop and Amber. ... This was a purely innocent request and I'm sorry it wasn't received in the spirit in which it was sent."

Younker said she occasionally makes exceptions to her store's usual policy against refunds, but that it's not feasible in this case.

"It doesn't make sense," Younker said. "I'm out a lot of money."

The blow to the business was among the ripple effects of Vinson's diagnosis, which also led to several weeks of health monitoring for more than 160 people in Ohio, including a few who were quarantined. None showed symptoms.

___
Information from: Akron Beacon Journal, http://www.ohio.com
___


http://news.yahoo.com/nurse-had-ebola-asks-bridal-shop-refunds-144657290.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Soldiers to spend Thanksgiving in Ebola isolation
Associated Press  22 hours ago



Medical workers wearing personal protective equipment surround a simulated patient as another works on maintaining records, left, and a nurse stands just outside a red line during a demonstration for media members on their training for working with possible Ebola patients, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, at Madigan Army Medical Center on Joint Base Lewis McChord, near Tacoma, Wash. Madigan providers and nurses have been training to perform clinical skills, including inserting IVs, obtaining blood samples for testing and conducting ultrasounds while dressed in powered air purifying respirators, impermeable suits and multiple layers of gloves. The clinically-focused exercises use realistic patient simulators that speak through microphones and can express simulated bodily fluids. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)



JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. (AP) — A group of military service members returning to Joint Base Lewis-McChord from Africa will spend Thanksgiving in isolation while the Army monitors their health for signs of Ebola.

The group arriving Tuesday evening includes 15 service members and one Defense Department civilian who built facilities in Liberia to fight the fatal disease, the Army said.

They were not exposed to Ebola-infected patients and the risk that they picked up the fatal disease is very minimal, said I Corps Maj. Mary Ricks. Because they have no symptoms, the isolation is called controlled monitoring rather than quarantine, Ricks said Tuesday.

They'll have their temperature taken twice a day during their stay, which won't be a full 21 days because they've already spent some time in Germany.

Lewis-McChord is not their home base. They come from all over the country and one is stationed overseas, Ricks said.

The base near Tacoma is one of five around the country set up for Ebola monitoring. The first troops returning from the Ebola mission in Africa went to Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia earlier this month, Ricks said.

This is the first group for Lewis-McChord, which has room for two groups of 50 for a total of 100. That could go up to 1,000 if necessary, Ricks said.

The isolation area has computers and exercise equipment. Also a dining facility will make Thanksgiving dinner for the group, she said.

"We're trying to make this experience as much like home as we can, realizing they won't be home for Thanksgiving," Ricks said.

They shouldn't miss another holiday, she said. "They'll be home for Christmas."

___

Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com


http://news.yahoo.com/soldiers-spend-thanksgiving-ebola-isolation-185929739.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Chinese-built Ebola center dedicated in Liberia
Associated Press
By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH and CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY  23 hours ago



Chinese soldiers stand parade during the opening of a new Ebola virus clinic sponsored by China, in Monrovia, Liberia, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014, Liberia got another 100 treatment beds in the fight against Ebola on Tuesday, as yet another Sierra Leonean doctor became infected with the disease sweeping West Africa. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf toured the Ebola treatment center built by China, calling it “first-class.”(AP Photo/ Abbas Dulleh)



MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — China, one of the first countries to send aid to battle Ebola in West Africa, ramped up the assistance significantly Tuesday by opening a 100-bed treatment center in Liberia as rows of uniformed Chinese army medics stood at attention.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf toured the Ebola treatment center built by China, calling it "first-class."

"We want to commend China for this exceptional response," Sirleaf said.

The facility, which is air-conditioned and has digital document-keeping, will start accepting patients next week, Chinese Embassy officials said. The giant white building with a blue roof and red signs with Chinese characters on them was built in the parking lot of a stadium outside Monrovia, Liberia's capital.

China is Africa's largest trading partner and has especially close ties with Liberia, where many Chinese firms won contracts for post-war reconstruction projects. It has pledged $81 million in aid to West Africa to stem the Ebola outbreak and has also sent at least 200 medical staff and promised more.

While infection rates in Liberia appear to be stabilizing, they continue to rise in Sierra Leone. International Medical Corps said it will start accepting patients on Wednesday at a treatment center in one of the hardest-hit areas of that country.



An American soldier, left, washes his hands as a Chinese soldier, right, assists at the opening of a new Ebola virus clinic sponsored by China, in Monrovia, Liberia, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014, Liberia got another 100 treatment beds in the fight against Ebola on Tuesday, as yet another Sierra Leonean doctor became infected with the disease sweeping West Africa. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf toured the Ebola treatment center built by China, calling it “first-class.”(AP Photo/ Abbas Dulleh)


"The crisis in Port Loko District is dire and getting worse," said Hussein Ibrahim, who directs the group's emergency response team in Sierra Leone.

Ebola has infected more than 15,000 people, the majority of them in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and has taken an especially high toll on health workers. That has depleted the ranks of doctors and nurses in countries that had too few to begin with just when they needed them most.

Another Sierra Leonean doctor has contracted the disease, Abass Kamara, a Health Ministry spokesman, said Tuesday. Dr. Aiah Solomon Konoyeima, who works at a children's hospital in the capital, tested positive on Monday.

Because they are at such a high risk of infection — and have often worked without sufficient protective gear — health workers have frequently protested during the outbreak. On Monday, ambulance drivers and burial teams lined up Ebola corpses in body bags outside a hospital in Sierra Leone to protest delayed payment. The bodies have since been brought back into the morgue, and Health Ministry spokesman Sidie Yahya Tunis said the workers have been paid but fired.

___

Roy-Macaulay reported from Freetown, Sierra Leone.


http://news.yahoo.com/another-sierra-leonean-doctor-infected-ebola-134525532.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Guinea, hit by Ebola, reports only 1 cholera case
Associated Press
By MICHELLE FAUL  3 hours ago



A woman carries buckets at the fishing port of Conakry, Guinea, Tuesday Nov. 25, 2014. In March 2014, the World Health Organization with support from UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders vaccinated some 200,000 fishermen on islands north of Conakry, the capital, where they gather from Guinea and neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia during the fishing season. The area had been identified as a major transmission source for cholera since the fishermen set up temporary shelters and have no toilets or clean water. Guinea has recorded only one cholera case this year, down from thousands, in a rare success that experts cautiously attribute to the vaccinations against the water-borne disease, and hand-washing in the campaign against Ebola. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)


CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — The health workers rode on canoes and rickety boats to deliver cholera vaccines to remote islands in Guinea. Months later, the country has recorded only one confirmed cholera case this year, down from thousands.

The rare success, overshadowed by the Ebola outbreak that has ravaged Guinea and two other West African countries, is being cautiously attributed to the vaccinations and to hand-washing in the campaign against Ebola.

Helen Matzger of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said Guinea's experience is encouraging other countries to accept the cholera vaccine and has led the GAVI Alliance — which works to deliver vaccines to the world's poor — to invest in a global stockpile and the U.N. World Health Organization to increase that stockpile to about 2 million doses.

Matzger, the foundation's senior program officer for vaccine delivery, said she was amazed at the ease and efficiency with which the vaccine was delivered to very remote islands.

She said she was on a wobbly boat that made the first delivery, along with Dr. Sakoba Keita, a Cuban-trained Guinean physician who was responsible for Guinea's epidemics surveillance before being appointed the West African nation's Ebola czar.

"In many instances in global health, you see one brave individual who is willing to do something that's different because they think it will have an impact, and Dr. Sakoba was that person," Matzger said in a telephone interview from her Seattle office.



A man makes repairs to his fishing nets in Conakry, Guinea, Tuesday Nov. 25, 2014. In March 2014, the World Health Organization with support from UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders vaccinated some 200,000 fishermen on islands north of Conakry, the capital, where they gather from Guinea and neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia during the fishing season. The area had been identified as a major transmission source for cholera since the fishermen set up temporary shelters and have no toilets or clean water. Guinea has recorded only one cholera case this year, down from thousands, in a rare success that experts cautiously attribute to the vaccinations against the water-borne disease, and hand-washing in the campaign against Ebola. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)


In March, the World Health Organization, with support from UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders, vaccinated some 200,000 fishermen on islands north of Conakry, the capital, where they gather from Guinea and neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia during the fishing season, said Julien Labas, in charge of UNICEF's campaign for clean water, sanitation and hygiene. The area had been identified as a major transmission source for cholera since the fishermen set up temporary shelters and have no toilets or clean water.

In 2012, amid a cholera outbreak that sickened 7,350 people and killed 133 of them in Guinea, the World Health Organization carried out a study using the Indian-made vaccine Shanchol on 40 patients. The vaccine is delivered by drops into the mouth and requires two doses two weeks apart. One dose costs $1.85, according to Matzger.

A report published in The New England Journal of Medicine earlier this year said that study found the vaccination provided "significant protection against cholera." Matzger said some studies show that if vaccination is provided for 70 percent of a target population, that effectively protects about 98 percent of the people. The vaccine is effective for about three years.

Advocates say the vaccine should be used in tandem with campaigns for clean water and sanitation.

In Guinea, UNICEF works with a local organization to produce chlorine, has a project to manually drill boreholes at half or a third the cost of commercial drilling, and has developed a smartphone app to map the state of all water points.



Fishermen work on their boats in the fishing port of Conakry, Guinea, Tuesday Nov. 25, 2014. In March 2014, the World Health Organization with support from UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders vaccinated some 200,000 fishermen on islands north of Conakry, the capital, where they gather from Guinea and neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia during the fishing season. The area had been identified as a major transmission source for cholera since the fishermen set up temporary shelters and have no toilets or clean water. Guinea has recorded only one cholera case this year, down from thousands, in a rare success that experts cautiously attribute to the vaccinations against the water-borne disease, and hand-washing in the campaign against Ebola. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)


WHO estimates there are 3 million to 5 million cholera cases a year worldwide, and 100,000 to 120,000 deaths.

Experts in Guinea are cautious in explaining why Guinea has had only one confirmed case.

"It could be related to the vaccination campaign, and I also think the Ebola outbreak might have an indirect impact," Labas said. He also noted that cholera epidemics come and go.

Guineans have taken to stringently washing their hands in chlorinated water to help halt the transmission of Ebola, which has killed more than 1,100 people in the country where the latest outbreak started nearly a year ago. Ebola is contracted by direct contact with an infected person's bodily fluids. Hotels, shops and restaurants oblige patrons to wash their hands in chlorinated water before they can enter.

Idris Sakalo, vice president of the fishermen's association, said that both in Conakry and further north at Forecariah, "For years we were talking about cholera problems, but today, we don't speak about it anymore." He attributed the transformation to awareness of hygiene and suggested that "through Ebola, we could defeat other diseases."



Workers build boats at the fishing port of Conakry, Guinea, Tuesday Nov. 25, 2014. In March 2014, the World Health Organization with support from UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders vaccinated some 200,000 fishermen on islands north of Conakry, the capital, where they gather from Guinea and neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia during the fishing season. The area had been identified as a major transmission source for cholera since the fishermen set up temporary shelters and have no toilets or clean water. Guinea has recorded only one cholera case this year, down from thousands, in a rare success that experts cautiously attribute to the vaccinations against the water-borne disease, and hand-washing in the campaign against Ebola. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)


UNICEF says 40 percent of disease transmission could be halted by rigorous hand-washing.

Matzger said no one expects any country to start mass vaccinations for cholera. After the use in Guinea, the idea is to have a stockpile available to respond to an outbreak but also to strike pre-emptively at high risk populations. The vaccine was administered this year to some refugees in camps in South Sudan.

The vaccine also was used in 2012 in Haiti to help fight an ongoing epidemic that broke out after the Caribbean country's catastrophic earthquake.

---

Associated Press photographer Jerome Delay contributed to this report from Conakry.


http://news.yahoo.com/guinea-hit-ebola-reports-only-1-cholera-case-181548922.html

[Buster's Uncle]

At 1 month, US Ebola monitors finding no cases
Associated Press
By MIKE STOBBE  3 hours ago



In this Nov. 20, 2014 photo, Dr. John Fankhauser, left, shows his temperature reading to Carmel Clements, right, a supervising nurse with the Mecklenburg County Health Department, outside his temporary home at the SIM headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. Fankhauser is one of the more than 2,600 people who have undergone the 21-day ritual ordered by the federal government to guard against cases of Ebola from slipping into the country from West Africa. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)



NEW YORK (AP) — For three weeks, Dr. John Fankhauser and his family lived in two RVs in a meadow in North Carolina, watching movies, playing cards and huddling around a fire pit — with no other campers around.

But their isolation was interrupted each morning by a visit from a public health nurse, who came to ask Fankhauser how he was feeling and to watch him take his temperature.

The doctor is one of the more than 2,600 people who have undergone the 21-day ritual ordered by the federal government to guard against cases of Ebola from entering the country from West Africa. Now, anyone who has traveled from four West African nations is monitored for three weeks for fever and other signs of the disease.

The program reaches the one-month mark on Thursday, and so far, it hasn't found any cases of Ebola.

It's up to local officials to decide how to keep track of the travelers who end up in their states, and determine what — if any — restrictions to impose. Most checking is done through daily phone calls, often with the person calling in to report their temperature and any symptoms.

And by all accounts, most travelers have been cooperative. Last week during a Congressional hearing, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden said health officials lost track of only a tiny proportion of travelers — "less than 1 percent."



In this Nov. 20, 2014 photo, Dr. John Fankhauser, right, is questioned by Carmel Clements, left, a supervising nurse with the Mecklenburg County Health Department, outside his temporary home at the SIM headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. Fankhauser is one of the more than 2,600 people who have undergone the 21-day ritual ordered by the federal government to guard against cases of Ebola from slipping into the country from West Africa. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)


Success varies from place to place, but overall more than 95 percent of travelers from the countries are promptly contacted and monitored daily, according to CDC officials.

"State and local health departments have really stepped up to the challenge," said Randolph Daley, a CDC epidemiologist helping to coordinate the effort.

But there have been headaches. In the beginning, local health officials frequently complained they were getting bad contact information, or that travelers were getting or using the wrong phone numbers to dial in. Officials had to send their disease detectives out to track down the travelers.

"The first week was really bad. I went out to eight homes because no one was calling," said Jeanette Oliveras, a nurse for Trenton, New Jersey's health department.

She and health officials say the quality of the contact information has improved, but the extra work has been a burden. On an average day, 90 to 100 passengers arrive in the U.S. from the West African countries struggling with the worst Ebola epidemic in world history — Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and — more recently — Mali.



In this Nov. 20, 2014 photo, Dr. John Fankhauser, takes his temperature under supervision of a nurse from the Mecklenburg County Health Department outside his temporary home at the SIM headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. Fankhauser is one of the more than 2,600 people who have undergone the 21-day ritual ordered by the federal government to guard against cases of Ebola from slipping into the country from West Africa. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)


Those passengers are added to the lists, as others drop off.

"As it continues, it has become a strain," said Dr. Marcus Plescia, head of the Mecklenburg County Health Department, who was sending a nurse out to see Fankhauser, a 25-minute drive outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, until this week.

The U.S. didn't start checking passengers from West Africa until a Liberian man visiting Dallas came down with Ebola in September. At first, travelers were only checked upon arrival for a fever. But as Ebola anxiety spread across America and some in Congress pushed for a travel ban, the Obama administration began to ratchet up its measures.

Today, anyone who is traveling to the U.S. from West African countries with Ebola is funneled through one of five major airports. They are given thermometers and told to check their temperature twice daily. They are also required to provide contact information for themselves as well as a friend or relative, which is relayed to state health officials.

The program also tracks workers at U.S. hospitals where Ebola patients were treated.



In this Nov. 20, 2014 photo, Dr. John Fankhauser stands outside his temporary home at the SIM headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. Fankhauser is one of the more than 2,600 people who have undergone the 21-day ritual ordered by the federal government to guard against cases of Ebola from slipping into the country from West Africa. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)


It was created more for political than medical reasons, said Stephen Morse, a Columbia University infectious disease expert.

"Everyone in office wants to be seen as doing something," he said.

Monitoring is not the best way to control Ebola in this country, said Dr. Jay Varma, deputy commissioner for disease control at New York City's health department. Better approaches would be sending medical help to West Africa to stop the epidemic and preparing U.S. hospitals to handle Ebola cases here, he said.

In Trenton, Oliveras said many travelers have gone beyond what health officials ask of them. None has been required to stay in quarantine, but roughly half have isolated themselves in homes or hotels. Most are Liberians aware of Americans anxiety about Ebola, and they did it to prevent people in the community "from getting upset," she said.

Fankhauser was a different story. He had worked at an Ebola hospital in Liberia, and local officials restricted where he could go and required in-person symptom checks.

When he returned from Liberia earlier this month, he agreed to stay at a campground on the campus of SIM, a North Carolina-based medical aid organization. His recent work for the group in Liberia was administrative, and he said he was in full personal protective equipment during his one encounter with an Ebola patient.

Still, he had to ask permission to visit a friend's home or visit a coffee shop. The county denied his request to go to dinner with family and friends at a restaurant.

Local media had reported on Fankhauser, and the idea of him being seen at a crowded restaurant seemed problematic, the health department's Plescia said.

Fankhauser said he had no problem being monitored, but some restrictions were about "appeasing people's irrational fears."


http://news.yahoo.com/1-month-us-ebola-monitors-finding-no-cases-181513819.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Number of Ebola cases nears 16,000 as Sierra Leone loses ground: WHO
Reuters  3 hours ago



GENEVA (Reuters) - The death toll in the world's worst Ebola epidemic has risen to 5,689 out of 15,935 cases reported in eight countries by the end of Nov. 23, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

Almost all cases and all but 15 deaths have been in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia - the three hardest-hit countries, which reported 600 new cases in the past week, the WHO said in its latest update.

"The total number of cases reported in Sierra Leone since the outbreak began will soon eclipse the number reported from Liberia," it said. The former British colony has reported 6,599 cases against 7,168 in Liberia.

Transmission of the virus remains intense in Sierra Leone, apart from the southeast, with the capital Freetown still the worst affected area, it said.

"Liberia and Sierra Leone report that fewer than 70 percent of patients are isolated, though there is wide variation among districts," the WHO said.

Peter Piot, a leading specialist on the disease, said on Wednesday that West Africa's Ebola epidemic could worsen further before abating, but that but new infections should start to decline in all affected countries by the end of the year.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Kevin Liffey)


http://news.yahoo.com/nearly-16-000-ebola-cases-worldwide-sierra-leone-183213042.html