Ebola news 9/22

[Buster's Uncle]

Spanish priest with Ebola in serious condition
Reuters
2 hours ago



MADRID (Reuters) - An elderly Spanish priest infected with the Ebola virus is in a serious condition and will not receive the experimental drug ZMapp because world supplies are exhausted, Madrid health authorities said on Monday.

Manuel Garcia Viejo, 69, was taken to Madrid's Carlos III hospital at about 0200 GMT (10 p.m. ET on Sunday) after he was repatriated from Sierra Leone.

"The patient is badly dehydrated and his kidneys and liver are affected," said Francisco Arnalich, who oversees internal medicine at the hospital. "His situation at the moment is serious."

The hemorrhagic fever Ebola has infected at least 5,357 people in west Africa since March, mainly in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, killing 2,630 of those, according to the World Health Organization.

Garcia, who was the medical director of the Hospital Order of San Juan de Dios, was diagnosed in Sierra Leone in the Western city of Lunsar, and flown home on Sunday, after a three-day lockdown in the African country ended.

Madrid authorities said the drug ZMapp, used to treat two American aid workers and a British nurse, who all recovered, was no longer available.

Medical staff are studying various other experimental treatments including one that gives sufferers a dose of serum from a recovered Ebola victim.

Garcia is the second Spanish priest to be diagnosed and repatriated with Ebola after Miguel Pajares, who received ZMapp but died last month days after being brought back to Spain from Liberia.

(Reporting By Raquel Castillo, writing by Sarah Morris; Editing by Paul Day and Dominic Evans)


http://news.yahoo.com/spanish-priest-ebola-serious-condition-114518880.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Streets bustling after Sierra Leone shutdown ends
Associated Press
By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY  15 minutes ago



A baby pig sleeps in front of an ambulance used at the Connaught Hospital as part of their Ebola virus fleet, during a three-day lockdown to prevent the spread on the Ebola virus in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. Volunteers going door to door during a three-day lockdown intended to combat Ebola in Sierra Leone say some residents are growing increasingly frustrated and complaining about food shortages. (AP Photo/ Michael Duff)



FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Streets in Sierra Leone's capital bustled again Monday after an unprecedented nationwide shutdown during which officials said more than 1 million households were checked for Ebola patients and given information on the deadly disease. But the government delayed an announcement on how many new cases had been discovered.

The national health system, already hit by the Ebola deaths of several leading doctors and many nurses, would be further strained if many additional patients were found. The Sierra Leone government has ordered tents for temporary treatment centers to make room for those cases, said Abdulai Bayraytay, a government spokesman.

Authorities planned to announce at a press conference Tuesday, originally scheduled for Monday, how many new suspected Ebola cases were discovered during the three-day lockdown.

Underscoring how stretched the resources of affected West African nations are, Liberia opened its largest Ebola clinic to date on Sunday and no sooner had the ceremony ended than ambulances rushed there with patients. The facility has 150 beds.

The disease that is transmitted through bodily fluids is blamed for the deaths of more than 2,600 people in West Africa. In Sierra Leone, at least 77 bodies were buried during the shutdown and half of them tested positive for Ebola, Bayraytay said. Laboratory tests are awaited for the other half to see whether they also died of Ebola. Some 600 people are believed to have died from the dreaded disease in Sierra Leone, a nation of 6 million people.

Joe Amon, director of health and human rights for Human Rights Watch, said there was little reason to believe the lockdown had been effective in ending transmission since such measures are so hard to enforce. Frustrated residents complained of food shortages in some neighborhoods.



A few people are seen during a three-day lockdown to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. Volunteers going door to door during a three-day lockdown intended to combat Ebola in Sierra Leone say some residents are growing increasingly frustrated and complaining about food shortages. (AP Photo/Michael Duff)


"You could argue that it's strictly necessary not because it's an effective way to break transmission but because it's necessary to reach people with communication messages," he said.

Teams carrying soap and information about Ebola reached about 75 percent of 1.5 million households in this nation, the Health Ministry said. Rumors that the soap being distributed had been poisoned showed the importance of education efforts. Residents have overwhelmingly complied by staying in their homes but in one incident health workers trying to bury five bodies 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Freetown were attacked on Saturday. After police reinforcements arrived, the health workers completed the burial.

Ebola has also spread in Liberia and Guinea and a limited number of cases have been reported in Nigeria and one in Senegal.

The hardest hit countries have resorted to extraordinary measures. Liberia has cordoned off entire towns or neighborhoods, and Sierra Leone's nationwide shutdown was believed to be the most sweeping lockdown against disease since the Middle Ages.

More than 300 health workers in West Africa have been infected, and about half of those have died. A Spanish priest who became infected while serving as a medical director for a hospital in Sierra Leone was flown back to Spain on Monday.

___

Associated Press journalist Jonathan Paye-Layleh and Wade Williams in Monrovia, Liberia, contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-shutdown-slowed-ebolas-spread-103317178.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Ebola outbreak 'pretty much contained' in Senegal and Nigeria
Reuters
3 hours ago



Empty streets are seen during a three-day lockdown to prevent the spread on the Ebola virus, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. Volunteers going door to door during a three-day lockdown intended to combat Ebola in Sierra Leone say some residents are growing increasingly frustrated and complaining about food shortages.(AP Photo/ Michael Duff)


 
GENEVA (Reuters) - Two of the five countries affected by the world's worst ever Ebola outbreak are managing to halt the spread of the disease, the World Health Organization said on Monday, although the overall death toll rose to 2,793 out of 5,762 cases.

"On the whole, the outbreaks in Senegal and Nigeria are pretty much contained," a WHO statement said. There were no new deaths in Guinea, four in Sierra Leone and 39 in Liberia.

A separate Ebola outbreak has killed 40 people in Democratic Republic of Congo, where there have been 71 cases, it said in a statement on the situation as of Sept. 18.

(Reporting by Tom Miles; editing by Stephanie Nebehay)


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-outbreak-pretty-much-contained-senegal-nigeria-115129751.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Ebola outbreak: Sierra Leone ends three-day lockdown
At least 5,000 people have been infected with the deadly disease in West African since March. Sierra Leone is the first country to impose a nationwide curfew.
Christian Science Monitor
By Whitney Eulich  18 minutes ago



After Sierra Leone’s three-day Ebola lockdown kept 6 million citizens indoors over the weekend, officials are hailing it a “huge success.”

During the curfew, 30,000 health workers, volunteers, and teachers went door-to-door to educate residents on the deadly disease. They documented 130 new cases of the virus, and identified an additional 39 suspected cases, reports Reuters.

Ebola has infected at least 5,000 people in West Africa since March. Some officials estimate the actual number of infections could be two or three times that number, however, as many people are suspicious of health officials and could be staying home instead of seeking medical care, as authorities have demanded.

Sierra Leone Health Minister Abubakarr Fofanah said volunteers were able to reach about 80 percent of the nation’s homes, reports Agence France-Presse. He said a similar lockdown could take place at “some other time,” and said a reduction of night burials – where families inter loved ones in secret – was one of the successes of the campaign. The swift burial of Ebola victims is considered key to containing its spread.

The end of the emergency lockdown was marked by singing and dancing in the streets of the capital of Freetown on Sunday night, reports The Independent.

Some international aid groups have questioned the effectiveness of mandatory home confinement. As the disease has spread, so has distrust for medical professionals and Western aid workers; some communities have been blocking medical access or attacking doctors. Some feared a lockdown would only exacerbate suspicion for medics.

The New York Times reported from Guinea earlier this summer that, “Health workers here say they are now battling two enemies: the unprecedented Ebola epidemic … and fear, which has produced growing hostility toward outside help.”

The challenges of educating populations about the disease and how it spreads – through direct contact with bodily fluids – are compounded by the shortage of trained volunteers and health professionals working in West Africa. The international community and local nations also face difficulty in agreeing on how to treat and curtail the spread of the virus.

Furthermore, the nations hardest hit – Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone – already had a shortage of health workers prior to the outbreak. The Christian Science Monitor reports:

Liberia, for instance, had fewer than 200 doctors in the entire country when the epidemic began, and Reuters estimates that fewer than 50 are still working – many stopped working out of fear, while others left the country. Only a few died as a result of working with Ebola patients.

Even more significant, however, is the lack of knowledge about Ebola specifically. Because the disease had never been seen before in West Africa, health-care workers there initially struggled to identify, treat, and, most important, quarantine patients. Patients, meanwhile, have been skeptical of health-care workers telling them to abandon deeply rooted cultural practices in caring for the sick and washing the bodies of the dead.

But the most crucial difference between present and past outbreaks is the transnational character of the disease’s spread. That Guinean village where the virus was first identified sits in a porous border zone with Liberia and Sierra Leone, allowing the disease to be transmitted easily between people in the three countries.

“If people are able to cross borders then it doesn’t matter how hard one country works if the others don’t, too,” Kim Yi Dionne, a professor of African politics at Smith College, told the Monitor. “That’s a disincentive for anyone to do anything.”

Sierra Leone isn’t the first country to attempt a lockdown, though its was the most extreme thus far. In August, neighboring Liberia quarantined the entire slum of West Point in the capital, Monrovia. The military-enforced barricade led to riots and was criticized for creating conditions ideal for the spread of Ebola. Food prices doubled and residents paid police bribes to sneak in and out of the impoverished community. The quarantine was lifted after 10 days amid international criticism. 


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-outbreak-sierra-leone-ends-three-day-lockdown-152627260.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Sierra Leone records 130 new Ebola cases during 3-day lockdown
Reuters
1 hour ago



An empty street is seen at the start of a three-day national lockdown in Freetown September 19, 2014. REUTERS/Umaru Fofana



FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leone recorded 130 new cases of the Ebola virus during a three-day lockdown and it is waiting for test results on a further 39 suspected cases, Stephen Gaojia, head of the Ebola Emergency Operations Centre, said on Monday.

The country had ordered its six million citizens to stay indoors until Sunday night in the most extreme strategy employed by a West African nation since the start of an epidemic that has infected 5,762 people since March and killed 2,793 of those.

"The exercise has been largely successful ... The outreach was just overwhelming. There was massive awareness of the disease," Gaojia said, noting that authorities reached more than 80 percent of the households they had intended to target.

Sierra Leone now needs to focus on treatment and case management and it urgently needs treatment centres in all its 14 districts as well as "foot soldiers" in clinics and hospitals, he said.

"We need clinicians, epidemiologists, lab technicians, infection-control practitioners and nurses," he said.

The hemorrhagic fever, which has struck mainly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, is the worst since Ebola was identified in 1976 in the forests of central Africa. At least 562 have died in Sierra Leone.

The lockdown was intended to allow 30,000 health workers, volunteers and teachers to visit every household. Some argued it might have a negative impact on Sierra Leone's poor.


http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-records-130-ebola-cases-during-3-133741368.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Spain: Ebola test drug out of supply worldwide
Associated Press
4 hours ago



In this photo provided by the Spanish Defense Ministry, aid workers and doctors transfer Manuel Garcia Viejo, a Spanish priest who was diagnosed with the Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone, from a military plane to an ambulance as he leaves the Torrejon de Ardoz military airbase, near Madrid, Spain, Monday, Sept. 22, 2014. The Spanish priest who was diagnosed with the Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone has been flown back to Spain and taken to a Madrid hospital. Garcia Viejo, a medical director of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in the city of Lunsar in Sierra Leone, arrived on a medically equipped military plane shortly after 3 a.m. Monday. (AP Photo/Spanish Defense Ministry)



MADRID (AP) — Doctors treating a Spanish priest who was repatriated from West Africa on Monday after being diagnosed with the Ebola virus said there were no samples of experimental drug ZMapp available in the world right now, and they were considering alternative treatments.

The priest, Manuel Garcia Viejo, 69, was in serious condition and was suffering from dehydration, with kidney and liver complications, said Javier Rodriguez, chief health officer for the Madrid region.

Garcia Viejo, a medical director of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Lunsar, Sierra Leone, was transferred to Madrid Carlos III hospital after being flown back from Sierra Leone in a medically-equipped military plane.

Mapp Biopharmaceutical, the company that makes ZMapp, says the drug's supplies are exhausted and that it takes months to make even a small batch.

With ZMapp unavailable, the hospital was looking into alternative medicines or the possibility of using blood serum from a cured patient, said Dr. Jose Ramon Arribas, of the Carlos III hospital.

Garcia Viejo is the second Spanish missionary to catch Ebola. Another priest, Miguel Pajares, 75, was flown back to Spain from Liberia on Aug. 7. Pajares began treatment with ZMapp, but died Aug. 12.

Ebola is blamed for the deaths of more than 2,600 people in West Africa.

The Health Ministry said Garcia Viejo asked to be transferred back to Spain after testing positive for the deadly virus.


http://news.yahoo.com/spanish-priest-ebola-flown-back-madrid-073319491.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Sierra Leone wraps up three-day Ebola lockdown
Reuters
By Umaru Fofana  9 hours ago



An empty street is seen at the start of a three-day national lockdown in Freetown, Sierra leone September 19, 2014. Sierra Leone began a three-day lockdown in an effort to halt the spread of the Ebola virus, as President Ernest Bai Koroma urged residents to comply with the emergency measures. REUTERS/Umaru Fofana



FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leoneans on Sunday celebrated the end of a three-day lockdown aimed at stemming the world's worst ever Ebola epidemic, as authorities claimed the controversial operation had identified dozens of new infections and located scores of bodies.

In the most extreme strategy employed by a nation since the epidemic began, Sierra Leone ordered its 6 million residents to stay indoors as volunteers circulated to educate households as well as isolate the sick and remove the dead.

In the early evening, even before the lockdown officially ended at midnight, residents in some parts of the capital Freetown emerged onto the streets to sing and dance. Police in the western part of the city said they had made a number of arrests in an attempt to enforce the measure in its final hours.

Earlier in the day, Stephen Gaojia, head of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) that leads the national Ebola response, said a few areas had still not been reached by the government's teams

"Even though the exercise has been a huge success so far, it has not been concluded in some metropolitan cities like Freetown and Kenema," he told Reuters.

Gaojia said 92 bodies had been recovered across the country by the end of Saturday, the second day of the lockdown.

Some 123 people had contacted authorities during the drive, believing they might be infected. Of these, 56 tested positive for Ebola, 31 tested negative and 36 were still awaiting their results, he said.

The EOC announced in the evening that it would not extend the campaign in order to reach the remaining households as it had earlier said might be required.

"It cannot be extended because its objectives have largely been met," Gaojia said.

Ebola has infected at least 5,357 people in West Africa since March, mainly in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, killing 2,630 of those, according to the World Health Organization. At least 562 have died in Sierra Leone.

The outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever is the worst since it was identified in 1976 in the forests of central Africa.

The lockdown was intended to allow 30,000 health workers, volunteers and teachers to visit every household in the country.

Some criticised the measure before it began on Friday as a rush to stock up on provisions caused a spike in prices, leaving many of Sierra Leone's poor unable to buy food.

The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres has also warned that the lockdown could lead people to conceal cases.

Residents have largely complied with the plan, and the streets of the capital have remained mostly deserted, except for ambulances and police vehicles.

A team burying Ebola victims was attacked in Freetown on Saturday, however, as a small group defied the lockdown.


"COMMITMENT TO CASH"

Spain on Sunday evacuated from Sierra Leone a Spanish Catholic priest, who had tested positive for the virus.

Spain's Health Ministry said that Manuel Garcia Viejo, a member of the Hospital Order of San Juan de Dios, had been working in the western city of Lunsar.

He is the second Spanish priest to be diagnosed with Ebola. Another member of the same order, Miguel Pajares, died last month after being brought back to Spain from Liberia.

The military plane carrying Garcia Viejo left Freetown on Sunday evening. Once in Madrid, he will be taken to the Carlos III hospital, where Pajares was treated, the ministry said.

Liberia, meanwhile, opened a new 150-bed Ebola treatment centre in the capital Monrovia on Sunday. The country is currently the worst hit by the epidemic, which was first identified in neighbouring Guinea in March.

The crisis has swamped the already struggling health sectors of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. In Monrovia, a lack of beds in treatment centres has forced health workers to turn away infected patients, raising the risk of the disease's further spread.

Around 50 patients were immediately transferred to the facility at the city's Island Clinic from another overflowing hospital, and the government has plans to build 17 new centres across the country.

After a slow initial response, international aid and supplies are now pouring into the affected West African countries. U.S. military personnel were expected in Monrovia over the weekend to set up the command centre for an operation that will see some 3,000 soldiers deployed to the region in support of efforts to stop the outbreak.

But while the international response is picking up steam, Liberia's Finance Minister Amara Konneh said the pace was still too slow.

"I know commitments have been made. We would just like to use every opportunity we get both privately and publicly to call on our international partners to move with speed from commitment to cash," he said.

(Additional reporting by James Giahyue in Monrovia, Julien Toyer and Rodrigo de Miguel in Madrid; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Marguerita Choy)


http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-wraps-three-day-ebola-lockdown-061246829.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Spain repatriates from Sierra Leone priest diagnosed with Ebola
Reuters
9 hours ago



MADRID (Reuters) - Spain on Sunday repatriated from Sierra Leone a Spanish Catholic priest working in the African country who has tested positive for the Ebola virus.

The Spanish military plane sent to repatriate Manuel Garcia Viejo, a member of the Hospital Order of San Juan de Dios who worked in the Western city of Lunsar, left the capital Freetown at around 1750 GMT, Spain's defence ministry said.

It was scheduled to land in Madrid at around 0100 GMT on Monday, it also said in a statement.

Garcia Viejo is the second Spanish priest to be diagnosed with Ebola after Miguel Pajares, also a member of San Juan de Dios, who died last month days after being brought back to Spain from Liberia.

Ebola, one of the deadliest diseases known to man, has killed more than 2,600 people, and infected more than 5,300, since the current outbreak was first detected in March, according to the World Health Organization.

The disease has spread to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia as well as Senegal and Nigeria.

Once in Madrid, Garcia Viejo will be taken to the Carlos III hospital, where Pajares was treated, the health ministry said.


http://news.yahoo.com/spain-repatriates-sierra-leone-priest-diagnosed-ebola-061905068.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Sierra Leone records 130 new Ebola cases during three-day lockdown
Reuters
2 hours ago



An empty street is seen at the start of a three-day national lockdown in Freetown September 19, 2014. REUTERS/Umaru Fofana



FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leone recorded 130 new cases of the Ebola virus during a three-day lockdown and it is waiting for test results on a further 39 suspected cases, Stephen Gaojia, head of the Ebola Emergency Operations Centre, said on Monday.

The country had ordered its six million citizens to stay indoors until Sunday night in the most extreme strategy employed by a West African nation since the start of an epidemic that has infected 5,762 people since March and killed 2,793 of those.

"The exercise has been largely successful ... The outreach was just overwhelming. There was massive awareness of the disease," Gaojia said, noting that authorities reached more than 80 percent of the households they had intended to target.

Sierra Leone now needs to focus on treatment and case management and it urgently needs treatment centers in all its 14 districts as well as "foot soldiers" in clinics and hospitals, he said.

"We need clinicians, epidemiologists, lab technicians, infection-control practitioners and nurses," he said.

The hemorrhagic fever, which has struck mainly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, is the worst since Ebola was identified in 1976 in the forests of central Africa. At least 562 have died in Sierra Leone.

The lockdown was intended to allow 30,000 health workers, volunteers and teachers to visit every household. Some argued it might have a negative impact on Sierra Leone's poor.

(Reporting by Umaru Fofana; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Louise Ireland)


http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-records-130-ebola-cases-during-three-113306287.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Ebola kills 2,793, 'pretty much contained' in Senegal, Nigeria: WHO
AFP
8 minutes ago



A health worker, wearing Personal Protective Equipment, stands inside the high-risk area at Elwa hospital in Monrovia on September 7, 2014 (AFP Photo/Dominique Faget)



Geneva (AFP) - The deadliest Ebola epidemic ever has now killed 2,793 in west Africa, the World Health Organization said Monday, adding though that in Senegal and Nigeria the outbreak had been basically contained.

The UN health agency, which also published the results of the latest meeting of its Ebola emergency committee, said a total of 5,762 people had been infected in five west African countries as of September 18.

Guinea, where the outbreak began at the start of the year, and neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone by far account for most of the cases and continue to see ballooning numbers.

Liberia has been especially hard-hit, with 3,022 cases and 1,578 deaths alone.

At the same time "the outbreaks in Senegal and Nigeria are pretty much contained," WHO said in a statement.

Senegal has not reported any new cases of the deadly virus since it registered its first and only case on August 29 -- a Guinean student who has since recovered.

And Nigeria, where 21 people have been infected, eight of whom have died, has not reported any new cases since September 8, WHO pointed out.

The incubation period for Ebola is 21 days, and double that time must pass without any new cases arising before a country can be deemed transmission-free.

The WHO meanwhile said that a meeting of its Ebola emergency committee last week had determined that the outbreak remained a "public health emergency of international concern".

The committee had reiterated its opposition to general bans on international travel or trade, although people infected with Ebola or who had had contact with Ebola patients should not be permitted to travel, WHO said.

Blocking flights to or from affected areas and other travel restrictions only serve to "isolate affected countries, resulting in detrimental economic consequences, and hinder relief and response efforts risking further international spread," it warned.

The emergency committee also stressed that in cases where measures like quarantines are deemed necessary, countries must ensure that "they are proportionate and evidence-based, and that accurate information, essential services and commodities, including food and water are provided to the affected populations."

It also insisted that "adequate security measures" should be put in place to ensure the safety and protection of healthcare workers, who face high infection rates and sometimes violence from frustrated and frightened populations.

Last week, eight members of an Ebola education team said to include local health officials and journalists, were found dead after they were attacked by angry locals in southern Guinea.

The emergency committee urged the affected countries to ramp up their response to the outbreak and called on all countries to strengthen their preparedness through simulations and personnel training.


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-kills-2-793-pretty-much-contained-senegal-160437606.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Sierra Leone wraps up three-day Ebola lockdown
Reuters
By Umaru Fofana  9 hours ago



FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leoneans on Sunday celebrated the end of a three-day lockdown aimed at stemming the world's worst ever Ebola epidemic, as authorities claimed the controversial operation had identified dozens of new infections and located scores of bodies.

In the most extreme strategy employed by a nation since the epidemic began, Sierra Leone ordered its 6 million residents to stay indoors as volunteers circulated to educate households as well as isolate the sick and remove the dead.

In the early evening, even before the lockdown officially ended at midnight, residents in some parts of the capital Freetown emerged onto the streets to sing and dance. Police in the western part of the city said they had made a number of arrests in an attempt to enforce the measure in its final hours.

Earlier in the day, Stephen Gaojia, head of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) that leads the national Ebola response, said a few areas had still not been reached by the government's teams

"Even though the exercise has been a huge success so far, it has not been concluded in some metropolitan cities like Freetown and Kenema," he told Reuters.

Gaojia said 92 bodies had been recovered across the country by the end of Saturday, the second day of the lockdown.

Some 123 people had contacted authorities during the drive, believing they might be infected. Of these, 56 tested positive for Ebola, 31 tested negative and 36 were still awaiting their results, he said.

The EOC announced in the evening that it would not extend the campaign in order to reach the remaining households as it had earlier said might be required.

"It cannot be extended because its objectives have largely been met," Gaojia said.



Empty streets are seen during a three-day lockdown to prevent the spread on the Ebola virus, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. Volunteers going door to door during a three-day lockdown intended to combat Ebola in Sierra Leone say some residents are growing increasingly frustrated and complaining about food shortages.(AP Photo/ Michael Duff)


Ebola has infected at least 5,357 people in West Africa since March, mainly in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, killing 2,630 of those, according to the World Health Organization. At least 562 have died in Sierra Leone.

The outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever is the worst since it was identified in 1976 in the forests of central Africa.

The lockdown was intended to allow 30,000 health workers, volunteers and teachers to visit every household in the country.

Some criticised the measure before it began on Friday as a rush to stock up on provisions caused a spike in prices, leaving many of Sierra Leone's poor unable to buy food.

The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres has also warned that the lockdown could lead people to conceal cases.

Residents have largely complied with the plan, and the streets of the capital have remained mostly deserted, except for ambulances and police vehicles.

A team burying Ebola victims was attacked in Freetown on Saturday, however, as a small group defied the lockdown.


"COMMITMENT TO CASH"

Spain on Sunday evacuated from Sierra Leone a Spanish Catholic priest, who had tested positive for the virus.

Spain's Health Ministry said that Manuel Garcia Viejo, a member of the Hospital Order of San Juan de Dios, had been working in the western city of Lunsar.

He is the second Spanish priest to be diagnosed with Ebola. Another member of the same order, Miguel Pajares, died last month after being brought back to Spain from Liberia.

The military plane carrying Garcia Viejo left Freetown on Sunday evening. Once in Madrid, he will be taken to the Carlos III hospital, where Pajares was treated, the ministry said.

Liberia, meanwhile, opened a new 150-bed Ebola treatment centre in the capital Monrovia on Sunday. The country is currently the worst hit by the epidemic, which was first identified in neighbouring Guinea in March.

The crisis has swamped the already struggling health sectors of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. In Monrovia, a lack of beds in treatment centres has forced health workers to turn away infected patients, raising the risk of the disease's further spread.

Around 50 patients were immediately transferred to the facility at the city's Island Clinic from another overflowing hospital, and the government has plans to build 17 new centres across the country.

After a slow initial response, international aid and supplies are now pouring into the affected West African countries. U.S. military personnel were expected in Monrovia over the weekend to set up the command centre for an operation that will see some 3,000 soldiers deployed to the region in support of efforts to stop the outbreak.

But while the international response is picking up steam, Liberia's Finance Minister Amara Konneh said the pace was still too slow.

"I know commitments have been made. We would just like to use every opportunity we get both privately and publicly to call on our international partners to move with speed from commitment to cash," he said.


http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-wraps-three-day-ebola-lockdown-061642553.html

[Buster's Uncle]

WHO experts advise against travel or trade bans on Ebola-hit Africa
Reuters
5 hours ago



A volunteer health worker practises using a personal protective equipment (PPE) suit at a newly-constructed Ebola virus treatment centre in Monrovia, Liberia, September 21, 2014. REUTERS/James Giahyue



GENEVA (Reuters) - Independent health advisers to the World Health Organization (WHO) have assessed that there should be no general ban on travel or trade with countries reeling from an Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the U.N. agency said on Monday.

Some airlines have stopped flights to affected areas and WHO and other agencies have said this has hampered aid efforts and the ability of experts to reach victims of the world's worst ever outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever.

In a statement issued after the Emergency Committee held its second meeting last week, the WHO said Ebola had now killed at least 2,793 people in five countries and remains a "public health emergency of international concern".

"Flight cancellations and other travel restrictions continue to isolate affected countries, resulting in detrimental economic consequences, and hinder relief and response efforts risking further international spread," the statement said.

"The Committee strongly reiterated that there should be no general ban on international travel or trade..."

The experts urged authorities in the affected countries - Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone - to work with the aviation and maritime sectors to resolve differences and "develop a coordinated response" to transport issues.

Quarantines may be deemed necessary in areas of intense and widespread transmission of the deadly Ebola virus, the committee statement went on.

"States should ensure that they are proportionate and evidence-based and that accurate information, essential services and commodities, including food and water, are provided to the affected populations."

WHO advisers earlier recommended the screening of travellers departing Ebola-affected countries from airports and ports.

The committee, composed of some 20 experts who advise WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, declared on Aug. 8 that the epidemic constituted a public health emergency of international concern. The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres has warned since late March that the outbreak, which began in the remote Gueckedou area of southeastern Guinea, is "unprecedented".

Sierra Leoneans on Sunday celebrated the end of a three-day lockdown meant to stem Ebola's reach, with authorities saying the move had identified dozens of new infections and located scores of bodies.

Separately on Monday, the WHO said two of the five affected countries - Nigeria and Senegal - were managing to halt the spread of the disease.


http://news.yahoo.com/experts-advise-against-travel-trade-bans-ebola-hit-122323725--finance.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Europe reviewing resources for fight against Ebola: Italy minister
Reuters
4 hours ago



MILAN (Reuters) - European countries are assessing what resources they have to help fight Ebola and are planning a coordinated response to the worst outbreak of the virus in history, Italy's health minister Beatrice Lorenzin said on the sidelines of a meeting on Monday.

The European Union has pledged 140 million euros ($180 million) to reinforce the fight against Ebola in West Africa, where the haemorrhagic fever has killed at least 2,793 people in five countries, according to the World Health Organization.

"Only four or five countries in Europe are equipped. We will work together to coordinate the aid effort," she said as EU health ministers met in Milan.

Lorenzin said no definitive decisions about how to proceed would be made on Monday, but Europe would formulate a plan of action to present at a forthcoming meeting in Washington.

There have been no cases of Ebola in Italy, but EU citizens who contracted the disease in West Africa have been repatriated to Britain, France and Spain.

(Reporting by Ilaria Polleschi Writing by Isla Binnie; Editing by Louise Ireland)


http://news.yahoo.com/europe-reviewing-resources-fight-against-ebola-italy-minister-131307556.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Congo's Ebola outbreak 'almost over', prime minister says
Reuters
1 hour ago



A man washes his hands as a preventive measure against the Ebola virus on a street in Monrovia, September 13, 2014. REUTERS/James Giahyue



KINSHASA (Reuters) - An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Democratic Republic of Congo, unrelated to the epidemic in West Africa, is "almost over" with no new cases detected for several days, Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo said.

The government body coordinating the response to Ebola released data on Monday showing Congo had recorded 68 cases in Equateur province since August. Four previously suspected cases had tested negative, but one new case was added.

Congo has registered 41 deaths from its outbreak.

"Ebola outbreak in DRC almost over," Matata Ponyo said on his official Twitter account. "No new case recorded for nearly 10 days."

Unlike West African states, Congo has experience fighting Ebola. However, aid workers are likely to be cautious about declaring victory over the disease after governments in West Africa appeared to downplay the threat of the virus there in the early stages of the outbreak.

A spokesman for French medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, which has some 40 aid workers helping Congo fight the illness, said it was not in a position to say whether the disease was under control.

The Ebola outbreak in Congo was first declared in the Djera area of the province of Equateur on Aug. 24. Unlike the crisis in West Africa, the disease is contained in distant, thickly forested regions with low population density.

West Africa's Ebola outbreak began in Guinea's southeast and the government said several times it was controlling the disease, however it gradually spread into the capital, Conakry, and then into neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Nigeria and Senegal recorded cases but appear to have contained the disease.

The World Health Organization says over 2,800 people have now been killed, about half of all those infected. Experts say the number of cases is likely to exceed 20,000 before the disease can be brought under control.

(Reporting by Aaron Ross; Editing by David Lewis and Crispian Balmer)


http://news.yahoo.com/congos-ebola-outbreak-almost-over-prime-minister-says-192447102.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Ebola toll passes 2,800 but "contained" in Senegal, Nigeria -WHO
Reuters
By Umaru Fofana  2 hours ago


     
* Ebola has killed 2,811 in West Africa -WHO

* Sierra Leone lauds "lockdown", needs "footsoldiers" in clinics

* Guinea arrests 20 over killings of health workers

* Tekmira authorized to use Ebola treatment



FREETOWN, Sept 22 (Reuters) - An outbreak of Ebola in West Africa has been largely contained in Senegal and Nigeria, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday, but the disease is still spreading elsewhere and has now killed over 2,811 people in the region.

Senegal and Nigeria, the most recent of five nations to record cases of Ebola, implemented strict measures to isolate the ill and track down further possible cases -- steps that Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have failed to impose, allowing the disease to take hold in cities and rural communities.

Sierra Leone said it had registered 130 new cases of Ebola during a three-day national lockdown that ended late on Sunday, the most radical move yet to try to contain a disease that has killed around half of those it infects and is crippling some of the weakest countries in West Africa.

The current outbreak was first identified in the forests of southeastern Guinea in March and then spread into neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, where it overwhelmed weak national health systems.

In Nigeria, 20 cases were recorded and eight people died. There have been no deaths from one confirmed case in Senegal.

"On the whole, the outbreaks in Senegal and Nigeria are pretty much contained," a WHO statement said.

However, the U.N. agency said the world's worst outbreak of the virus remains a "public health emergency of international concern", which will guarantee it the body's priority attention.

The international response has failed to match the spread of a disease that has exposed the fragility of the state in Guinea and threatened to undo progress made in rebuilding Liberia and Sierra Leone after their wars of the 1990s.

Donors have since pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and the U.S. government is scrambling 3,000 soldiers to the region to build an extra 17 treatment centres and train thousands of local medics.

The Pentagon said about 60 U.S. military personnel had arrived in the region so far and another 30-40 are scheduled to arrive in the next few days.

The U.S. plan has been welcomed but aid workers say other rich nations should follow Washington's lead with cash, supplies and personnel. The WHO has said the world must act quickly to keep the number of cases in the tens of thousands.

The European Union has pledged 140 million euros ($180 million) to fight the virus and Beatrice Lorenzin, Italy's health minister, said European countries are assessing their resources to plan a coordinated response.

"Only four or five countries in Europe are equipped. We will work together to coordinate the aid effort," she said as EU health ministers met in Milan on Monday.


"FOOT SOLDIERS" NEEDED

Ebola has prompted a range of policy measures from African governments, including border closures and travel bans, though none as severe as Sierra Leone, where residents emerged on Monday from a 72-hour lockdown.

Authorities say they reached more than 80 percent of households targeted in their sensitization campaign.

"The outreach was just overwhelming," Stephen Gaojia, head of the Ebola Emergency Operations Centre, said on Monday.

The country now needs to focus on treatment and case management and it urgently requires treatment centres in all its 14 districts as well as "foot soldiers" in clinics and hospitals, he said.

The government is still waiting for results from a further 39 suspected cases, Gaojia said. There were no new deaths in Guinea, four in Sierra Leone and 39 in Liberia, according to the latest figures from the WHO.

Authorities in Guinea said they have arrested 20 people as part of an investigation into the killing last week of nine members of a delegation attempting to educate people about Ebola in a remote part of the southeast of the country.

The killings underscored how much some rural populations in the affected countries mistrust authorities after years of instability and conflict.

A separate, unrelated, Ebola outbreak has killed 41 people in Democratic Republic of Congo, where there have been 68 cases, WHO said in a statement on the situation as of Sept 18.


PRIEST IN SERIOUS CONDITION

Independent health advisers to the WHO have assessed that there should be no general ban on travel or trade with countries where the virus has struck, but some airlines have maintained suspensions on flights to affected areas.

The WHO and other agencies this say this hampers aid efforts and the ability of experts to reach victims. "The (WHO Emergency) Committee strongly reiterated that there should be no general ban on international travel or trade," WHO said.

Canadian drugmaker Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp said on Monday that U.S. and Canadian regulators have authorized the use of its Ebola treatment in patients who have confirmed or suspected infections.

The Vancouver-based company said its treatment, TKM-Ebola, has been administered to patients on an emergency basis and the repeat infusions have been well-tolerated.

An elderly Spanish priest, in a serious condition after being infected in Sierra Leone, will not receive the experimental drug ZMapp because world supplies are exhausted, Madrid health authorities said on Monday.

ZMapp was used to treat several Ebola patients who recovered. Its use is part of a push by drug manufacturers to devise a cure or a vaccine for the disease, which has killed about 48 percent of those infected in the current epidemic.

Manuel Garcia Viejo, 69, was taken to Madrid's Carlos III hospital at about 0200 GMT after he was repatriated.

(Additional reporting by Saliou Samb in Conakry, Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Raquel Castillo in Madrid, Ilaria Polleschi in Milan, Amrutha Penumudi in Bangalore and Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Phillip Stewart in Washington; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by David Lewis and Sonya Hepinstall)


http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-toll-passes-2-800-182846172.html