Ebola news 9/6

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Sierra Leone to have lockdown amid Ebola crisis
Associated Press
By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY  28 minutes ago



FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Authorities are ordering people in Sierra Leone to stay inside their homes for three days later this month as part of an effort to stop the spread of Ebola, which has killed more than 2,000 people across West Africa, a government spokesman said Saturday.

Abdulai Bayraytay said the government is telling people to stay inside their homes on Sept. 19, 20 and 21. The dates were chosen to give people enough time to stock up on food and other provisions before the ban on movement goes into effect, he said.

Already though some are questioning whether the measure will help. Doctors Without Borders says it "will be extremely difficult for health workers to accurately identify cases through door-to-door screening."

Even if suspected cases are identified during the lockdown, the group says Sierra Leone doesn't have enough beds for them.

"Without a place to take suspected cases — to screen and treat them — the approach cannot work," the group said Saturday. "It has been our experience that lockdowns and quarantines do not help control Ebola as they end up driving people underground and jeopardizing the trust between people and health providers. This leads to the concealment of potential cases and ends up spreading the disease further."

Ebola has killed more than 2,000 people across West Africa, including more than 400 deaths in Sierra Leone.

A physician said Friday that health care in the capital city of Freetown has "crumbled" because many people were terrified to go to hospitals and some doctors are wary of treating those who do show up.

Speaking at the launch of a public education program in Freetown, Kwame O'Neil said patients suffering from all kinds of ailments are dying for lack of treatment because of these fears.

One young girl died of appendicitis when, after showing up at a hospital, a doctor there denied he was a doctor and refused to treat her, O'Neil said.


http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-lockdown-amid-ebola-crisis-162330741.html

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Sierra Leone orders three-day shutdown to stall Ebola
AFP
By Rod Mac Johnson  35 minutes ago



The Ebola virus has claimed 2,097 lives out of 3,944 people infected in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization (AFP Photo/Carl de Souza)



Freetown (AFP) - Sierra Leone said Saturday it will confine people to their homes in a nationwide three-day shutdown later this month aimed at containing the Ebola epidemic threatening west Africa.

Pedestrians and vehicles will be barred from the country's streets, except on essential business, for 72 hours starting from September 19.

"This will be strictly adhered to without exception," government spokesman Abdulai Bayratay told AFP by telephone as he announced the quarantine plan.

"We intend to ensure that the dreaded disease is checked."

The worst-ever outbreak of Ebola has claimed 491 lives in Sierra Leone, one of three countries at the epicentre of the epidemic which has so far killed more than 2,000.

Authorities in Freetown will use the three-day window to search out patients who have not come forward for treatment centres.



A medical worker feeds an Ebola child victim at an MSF facility in Kailahun, Sierra Leone, on August 15, 2014 (AFP Photo/Carl de Souza)


"Health workers as well as health-related NGO personnel will make house-to-house checks on homes for likely Ebola sufferers that relatives have hidden," he said.

Bayratay said several new ambulances and up to 30 military vehicles would be arriving to help enforce, and make use of the shutdown, which could be repeated if necessary.

A 7,000-strong patrol force including health workers, civil society activists and community members is to be set up to organise the shutdown, said a statement from the presidency in Freetown.

"Their mission will be to monitor and track contacts, as well as to identify people with Ebola symptoms in order to prevent its transmission," the statement said.

"The decision was made to mobilise the entire population from September 18 to prepare for the confinement."



A woman looks at the obituary notices for medical staff who have died from the Ebola virus at the Kenema government hospital, in Sierra Leone, on August 16, 2014 (AFP Photo/Carl de Souza)


- No vaccine or treatment -

The Sierra Leone quarantine plan was announced after the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday that the death toll from Ebola since the start of the year had topped 2,000.

The virus has so far claimed 2,097 lives out of 3,944 people infected in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the UN health body said.

Nigeria has recorded another eight deaths out of 22 cases. At least 30 more people have died in a separate outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The UN's children agency announced on Friday it had used funds from the World Bank to airlift 48 tonnes of medicine and medical supplies, including latex gloves and other protective equipment, intravenous fluids and antibiotics to treat patients in Sierra Leone.

No licenced vaccine or treatment exist for Ebola, a haemorrhagic fever caused by a virus transmitted through contact with infected body fluids.

The WHO has said it is hopeful a vaccine could be available for health workers to use by November.

Many governments have sought to isolate Sierra Leone as it battles the disease. Paris urged Air France last month to temporarily suspect direct flights to Freetown and British Airways has joined several African carriers in halting its services to the capital.

Saudi Arabia has also suspended providing work permits to nationals of Ebola-hit nations.

The outbreak has even affected sporting events, after Ivory Coast on Saturday refused entry to football players based in Sierra Leone hoping to play in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Abidjan.


http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-plans-three-day-shutdown-stall-ebola-144301026.html

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US doctor infected with Ebola in stable condition
Associated Press
By MARGERY A. BECK  9 hours ago


OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A doctor who became infected with Ebola while working in Liberia — the third American aid worker sickened with the virus — is sick but in stable condition and communicating with his caregivers at the Nebraska Medical Center.

Dr. Rick Sacra, 51, is being treated at a 10-bed special isolation unit, the largest of the United States' four, officials said Friday. It was built to handle patients with highly infectious and deadly diseases, according to Dr. Mark Rupp, chief of the infectious diseases division at the center.

Sacra arrived at 6:38 a.m. Friday at the Omaha hospital. Sacra was wheeled on a gurney off the plane at Offutt Air Force Base, transferred to an ambulance and then wheeled into the hospital, said Rosanna Morris, chief nursing officer for the medical center.

Sacra was conscious Friday and was able to communicate with medical staff, Morris said.

The first two American aid workers infected by Ebola — Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol — have recovered since being flown to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for treatment. Sacra came to Omaha instead of Atlanta because federal officials asked the medical center to treat him in order to prepare other isolation units to take more Ebola patients if needed.

Sacra, a doctor from Worcester, Massachusetts, who spent 15 years working at the Liberia hospital where he fell ill, said he felt compelled to return after hearing that two other missionaries with the North Carolina-based charity SIM with whom he'd worked were sick. He delivered babies at the hospital, and was not involved in the treatment of Ebola patients, so it's unclear how he became infected with the virus.

An estimated 2,100 people have died during the outbreak, but Ebola has not been confirmed as the cause for all of the deaths.

Dr. Phil Smith, medical director of the Omaha unit, has said a team of 35 doctors, nurses and other medical staffers will provide Sacra with basic care, including ensuring he is hydrated and keeping his vital signs stable.

The team is discussing experimental treatments, including using blood serum from a patient who has recovered from Ebola, Smith said. There are no licensed drugs or vaccines for the disease, but about half a dozen are in development.

Rupp said he's unaware whether Brantly and Writebol have been asked about donating blood serum for Sacra.

"These folks are friendly and know one another, and they would presumably be willing to help their compatriots," Rupp said, adding a battery of tests must first be performed, including one to ensure that any blood is compatible with Sacra's.

Doctors with the Omaha hospital have repeatedly said Sacra's transfer to Omaha posed no threat to the public, noting Ebola is transmitted through close contact with an infected person.

SIM president Bruce Johnson said Friday that Sacra's wife, Debbie, is making arrangements to care for their three sons and preparing to fly to Omaha this weekend.

"Rick would actually be somewhat embarrassed by all this attention," Johnson said, adding tearfully that Sacra apologized to SIM officials in an email after he was diagnosed earlier this week. Sacra told them he knew an evacuation would be difficult.

"So I don't expect one," Sacra's email said. "Jesus is right here with me in Liberia."


http://news.yahoo.com/us-doctor-infected-ebola-stable-condition-072450177.html

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BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Sinks; WHO Notes Ebola Safety Data Unavailable
Benzinga
By John Seward  September 5, 2014 1:18 PM



BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCRX) shares fell sharply after the World Health Organization posted a draft document suggesting it would not advise the company's Ebola therapy for use in humans until further safety data is available.

The drug development company said Thursday it's consulting the WHO at a meeting in Geneva this week.

BioCryst, which is developing its BCX4430 Ebola drug candidate -- the drug with $24.4 million from the National Institutes of Health -- said August 29 it will soon begin a study of the drug in non-human primates.

The WHO document covers various potential Ebola treatments and was prepared in advance of the Geneva meeting. The document cautions that it isn't a "formal publication" of WHO.

Recent media coverage of experimental treatments "is creating some unrealistic expectations," according to the document. "The public needs to understand that these medical products are under investigation."

BioCryst shares have gained 15 percent in the past three months. Shares traded recently at $12.27, down 3.8 percent.


http://news.yahoo.com/biocryst-pharmaceuticals-inc-sinks-notes-171859798.html

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U.S. missionary with Ebola arrives at Nebraska hospital
Reuters
By Julie Steenhuysen  23 hours ago



CHICAGO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The third U.S. medical missionary to become infected with the Ebola virus was wheeled on a gurney into the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha for treatment after being flown there from West Africa, a spokeswoman for the medical center said on Friday.

Dr. Rick Sacra, a 51-year-old Boston physician, contracted Ebola while working at a hospital in Liberia on behalf of the North Carolina-based Christian group SIM USA. Sacra had worked in the obstetrics ward at the ELWA Hospital of SIM in Monrovia.

Sacra's plane landed at the Offutt Air Force Base and he was transported to the medical center in an ambulance escorted by state highway patrol, said Jenny Nowatzke, media relations coordinator with the medical center.

"The transfer went very, very smoothly," Dr. Mark Rupp, an infectious disease specialist at the hospital, told a news conference on Friday. "Our patient is sick but stable."

According to the World Health Organization, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed more than 2,000 people and infected more than 4,000 since the outbreak began in Guinea in March.

The virus kills about half of those who contract it. In the Nebraska facility, Sacra will have the advantage supportive treatments, such as IV fluids, that may help him fight off the infection.

He is being cared for in the hospital's Biocontainment Patient Care Unit, a special isolation unit at the hospital that was designed to treat patients with highly infectious diseases.

The facility is similar to the one at Emory University in Atlanta where two other SIM USA missionaries, Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly, were treated and recovered.

Writebol and Brantly were given an experimental treatment made by Mapp Biopharmaceutical called ZMapp, but no more doses of that treatment are available, and doctors have said it is not clear whether it helped their recovery.

Rupp said the hospital would offer "aggressive supportive care," and it is considering other experimental therapies, including offering Sacra "passive immunity" in which antibodies derived from the blood of patients who have survived Ebola are infused into a patient.

WHO experts backed this treatment approach on Friday.

Other possibilities include experimental drugs in development by Vancouver-based Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp and privately held Profectus BioSciences of Tarrytown, New York.

During the news conference, Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA, tearfully recalled an email he received from Sacra on Monday in which the doctor apologized for contracting Ebola and said he did not want this "to detract or disrupt any of the care of the patients" at the group's hospital in Monrovia.

Johnson said the group had paid the cost of evacuating Sacra and that the cost of his care would be covered by the group's insurance company.

(Additional reporting by Fiona Ortiz in Chicago)


http://news.yahoo.com/u-missionary-ebola-arrives-nebraska-180423698.html

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Study finds 18 percent chance Ebola will arrive in the U.S. this month
The Week
Peter Weber  September 5



The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa has public health officials very alarmed. It is the world's largest and deadliest outbreak yet, and has infected about 3,600 people and killed at least 1,841 in three countries, according to the World Health Organization's tally. But there's a good chance the virus will spread outside of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

How good a chance? A study this week puts the odds that Ebola will arrive in the U.S. in late September as high as 18 percent. The study, published in PLOS Currents: Outbreaks, analyzed patterns of daily flights from the infected countries, keeping in mind how hard it will be to keep an infected person from boarding commercial airliners:





The 18 percent figure is the high end of the study's range for the U.S., but "what is happening in West Africa is going to get here," senior author Alessandro Vespignani tells NPR. "We can't escape that at this point." Vespignani isn't predicting a massive outbreak like in Africa, but "very small clusters of cases, between one and three." The odds of an Ebola panic are probably higher.

Still, the U.S. is fortunate in comparison. The chances of an Ebola carrier arriving elsewhere in Africa is much higher, and Britain's odds are as high as 25-28 percent by late September, the study found.


http://theweek.com/article/index/267603/speedreads-study-finds-18-percent-chance-ebola-will-arrive-in-the-us-this-month

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Latest American Infected With Ebola Virus Wasn't Deterred by Dangers
Rick Sacra's Brother Says He Went to Liberia 'When They Needed Him the Most'
Wall Street Journal
By Betsy McKay and Jon Kamp  Sept. 3, 2014 5:15 p.m. ET



This undated photo from the family shows Rick Sacra in Liberia. Associated Press



Ebola was tearing through Monrovia and had infected two of his good friends, physician Kent Brantly and aid worker Nancy Writebol . SIM USA, the Christian organization that he works for, was desperately short of medical staff at the hospital it runs. So Dr. Sacra, who has spent most of the past two decades working in Liberia, volunteered. He left the U.S. in the beginning of August to help at the hospital, treating non-Ebola patients, including women giving birth.

Now, the 51-year-old physician has Ebola himself—making him at least the fourth American to contract the disease in this outbreak. Even though he wasn't treating Ebola patients, he was surrounded by the disease; the hospital has been inundated with patients. It has strengthened its triage and infection-control procedures to handle them. Dr. Sacra is now being treated in an isolation unit at the hospital.

"We were absolutely concerned" that he was heading back into a dangerous situation, an older brother, Doug Sacra, said Wednesday. "On the other hand, Rick has spent his life serving people in Liberia. And he said this is no time to not go there. This is when they needed him the most."

SIM USA President Bruce Johnson said in a statement Wednesday that Dr. Sacra may have been infected by a patient whose "Ebola symptoms were masked and not presenting themselves." Doug Sacra said this may have been a woman whose immune system was compromised by HIV. Mr. Johnson said SIM USA is cooperating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on an investigation of the case.

Dr. Sacra, the youngest of four brothers from Wayland, Mass., moved his family to Liberia in 1995. The Sacras made periodic visits back to the U.S., then returned a few years ago and settled with their three sons in a town outside Worcester, Mass., to help with the boys' education, Doug Sacra said.

A Facebook page under Rick Sacra's name sent well-wishes to Dr. Brantly and Ms. Writebol, the two other American missionaries recently stricken with Ebola who both convalesced successfully at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

"These are some dear friends of mine in Liberia, now having to be treated for the Ebola virus in the same isolation unit where they were treating others," according to a July 28 post from Dr. Sacra. "Please join me in praying for Kent and Nancy. Lord, hear our prayers!"

Dr. Sacra also blogged about his work in Monrovia. In a post dated Aug. 30, he recalled how, when the hospital reopened to obstetric patients on Aug. 6, many were in desperate shape, having tried to get care at several other hospitals. "More than 35 caesarean sections were performed to save women and their babies in the first 20 days—sometimes two or three a day," he wrote.

He said the hospital held a training session last Thursday to review triage and infection-control techniques to prevent staff from being infected with Ebola. "The isolation and treatment wards on our property are packed and patients continue to come," he wrote. Dr. Sacra said the international community needs to mount a "vigorous" response to the epidemic.

A colleague described Dr. Sacra as a bright, dedicated physician who gives his all to his patients and has been shouldering a heavy load in Liberia over the past month.

"It came as a shock to hear Rick was sick," said Warren Ferguson, professor of family medicine and community health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where Dr. Sacra trained. Dr. Sacra is also on the medical staff at the UMass Memorial Medical Center. But, he added, "We're seeing better outcomes for individuals who are in good health as Rick was. We have a lot of faith and hope that Rick will come out of this and recover."

—Lisa Schwartz contributed to this article.


http://online.wsj.com/articles/latest-american-infected-with-ebola-virus-wasnt-deterred-by-dangers-1409778958?ru=yahoo?mod=yahoo_itp

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Amid Ebola crisis, is something worse coming?
CNBC
By Dhara Ranasinghe | Special to CNBC.com | September 4, 2014 6:38 PM



Larry Seruma, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Principal at Nile Capital Management, describes how the Ebola crisis has affected Western Africa and various sectors like aviation.



The worst outbreak of Ebola to date serves as a timely reminder of the threat deadly viruses pose to the world economy.

Border closures, the suspension of some international flights and slowed economic activity have already hit the west African countries worst affected by Ebola.

Analysts expect the economic damage from the virus, which has led to over 1,500 deaths in recent months, to be largely contained to Africa. Still, they warn that the risk of a pandemic that could have a devastating impact on world growth remains.

"On a regional scale, we have already seen geopolitical implications of the Ebola outbreak with flight cancellations and significantly impaired trade and human mobility," said Vikas Shah, CEO of Swiscot, a global textiles firm and a professor who's been following the Ebola crisis closely. 

"Should a novel or other virus emerge with high mortality and ease of transmission, it could lock-up our global economy quite fast," he said, adding that some studies suggest that the cost of a major flu-pandemic could be almost $200 billion in the U.S. alone.

At its worst, a severe flu pandemic could cost 4.8 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), or more than $3 trillion, sparking a global recession, Olga Jonas, economic adviser, health, nutrition and population at the World Bank wrote on the organization's website late last year.

"What we can say confidently is that there is a high chance of another case of pandemic. We travel more often, so viruses can spread more easily," said Dr Jonathan O'Keeffe, medical director at International SOS, a leading medical and travel security risk services company that employs over 10,000 people working in 70 countries. "We don't know which virus it will be and when, but sadly we do know it's coming."


Remember SARS?

The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, mostly in Asia, showed just how damaging a fast-spreading virus can be to the world economy.



Center for Disease Control | Getty Images


GDP in Hong Kong (one of the worst-hit countries) and Singapore tumbled more than 2 percent in the June quarter of 2003 as a result of the virus, which infected about 8,000 people.

"While the number infected was not that great, SARS had a big negative impact on the countries most affected as people stayed home for fear of catching it," Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy and chief economist at AMP Capital, wrote in a note last month looking at the implications of Ebola.

Consumers staying at home because they fear catching a virus means fewer retail sales and less travel, hurting an economy in addition to the damage suffered from the absence of sick workers and disrupted supply-chains.

"Not withstanding the terrible human impact of Ebola - the effect caused by an outbreak on regional air traffic can be significant," said James Stamp, head of transport at KPMG, speaking about the impact of the Ebola outbreak on the aviation industry.

"In 2003, the SARS virus caused an 8 percent reduction in traffic (worth $6 billion of revenues) in Asia-Pacific, the affected region. Outside of Asia, U.S. airlines attributed a $1 billion reduction in revenues to SARS," he added.

The World Health Organisation, which declared the Ebola outbreak an international public health emergency early last month, has not issued a general ban on international travel and trade.

Experts say catching Ebola requires direct contact with someone who has had the disease, so this means the risk of Ebola spreading through air travel is lower than air-born or respiratory diseases.

"Our base case scenario (with a 90 percent probability) is that Ebola remains essentially contained to Africa," said AMP Capital's Oliver. "This suggests that while there might be a bit of short-term volatility around Ebola scares, there is unlikely to be a major impact on share markets."


No to complacency

Still, the Ebola outbreak, the largest and longest on record, highlights the need not to be complacent about the risks posed by deadly viruses.

"Many of my friends who are in the medical-world are quite startled that there isn't more being done at international borders to check for 'warning flags' of potential illness for flights travelling from high-risk areas," said Swiscot's Shah. "My gut-feel is that there is a disconnect between the serious warnings given by global-health practitioners and a lack of will on governments to act."

That concern was also reflected by the World Bank's Jonas, who wrote last year that pandemic risk is "under-managed" by governments.

O'Keeffe at International SOS, which has been advising companies on Ebola response planning,said he tries to encourage companies to adopt preventative measures and ensure that they have a "tried and tested" pandemic response plan in place.

"For an organization to recover quickly from a pandemic it has to take swift action," he said. "For instance if there is a pandemic outbreak in South America, has a company put in a place an action plan on how this would impact its plant in China?"

Experts add that the Ebola crisis shows that early intervention, surveillance and treatment can help contain a deadly virus.

"Ebola is unlikely to have the same impact on the global economy as SARS, but there is still a need to not be complacent," said KPMG's Stamp.


http://news.yahoo.com/amid-ebola-crisis-something-worse-coming-223831972.html

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Blood From Ebola Survivors Eyed as Weapon Against Virus
ABC News
By KATIE MOISSE  22 hours ago






The mounting death toll from the worst-ever Ebola outbreak has health officials eyeing a radical remedy: blood from Ebola survivors.

The World Health Organization today announced that the use of blood therapies should be “considered as a matter of priority” amid the outbreak that has killed more than 2,100 people.

"There is a real opportunity that a blood derived product can be used now and this can be very effective in terms of treating patients,” Dr. Marie Paule Kieny, the agency’s assistant director general, said at a press briefing today.

The idea is not as bizarre as it might sound. A viral infection triggers an immune response – an attack by the body against its microscopic intruder in the form of antibodies. Those antibodies block the virus from infecting new cells, and they linger in the blood long after the infection.

Dr. Kent Brantly, an American aid worker infected while working with a missionary group in Liberia, reportedly received a blood transfusion from a child who survived the virus. He also received the experimental drug ZMapp, which is a cocktail of three synthetic antibodies designed to mimic an immune response. No one knows what role – if any – the treatments played in Brantly’s recovery.

There is evidence, however, that antibodies against Ebola linger in the blood of survivors. A 2009 study of blood samples collected during three Ebola outbreaks in Gabon found that levels peaked 30 days after exposure and “declined slowly over several years.” But not all antibodies are created equal, according to Thomas Geisbert, a virologist studying Ebola at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.

“It’s possible that some people have antibodies that are directed against more important parts of the virus in terms of slowing it down. It could vary from person to person,” he said, explaining how different antibodies hone in on different parts of the sly virus. “In an outbreak scenario, it may difficult to identify who the best donors would be. It would have to be studied in a lab.”

And that’s what WHO officials intend to do, explaining that such studies in West Africa “should be based on the aim to learn as much as we can as fast as we can without compromising patient care or health worker safety."


http://news.yahoo.com/blood-ebola-survivors-eyed-weapon-against-virus-194413015.html

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WHO suggests using survivors' blood to treat Ebola
The Week
Meghan DeMaria  September 5



Handout/CDC/Getty Images



The World Health Organization has issued new recommendations, which state that doctors should use the blood of Ebola survivors to treat Ebola patients.

At a press conference Friday, WHO expert Dr. Marie Paule Kieny said that the antibodies in survivors' blood could help treat Ebola, and doctors should use all possible methods to stop Ebola's largest-ever outbreak.

The blood of survivors was one of the experimental Ebola treatments tested at a meeting of more than 200 experts in Geneva this week. The doctors noted that using the survivors' blood is "fairly simple" to do in comparison to other experimental treatments. In addition to the blood proposal, the WHO also announced that it is testing a potential new Ebola vaccine in the U.S.

The WHO estimated that survivor blood may be available for Ebola treatment by the end of the year. Ebola has infected more than 2,100 people so far, with a nearly 50 percent death rate.


http://theweek.com/article/index/267647/speedreads-who-suggests-using-survivors-blood-to-treat-ebola

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WHO urges use of survivors' serum against Ebola, backs vaccine trials
Reuters
By Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles  10 hours ago



GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday blood-derived products and serum from survivors may be used to treat Ebola virus immediately and two vaccines could be available for health workers by year-end.

Existing supplies of all experimental medicines are limited and will not be sufficient for months to come, while the outlook for vaccine supplies looks "slightly better", the WHO said in a statement after two-day talks attended by nearly 200 experts.

But good clinical care, rigorous infection prevention and control measures, and the tracing of people who have been exposed remain crucial for ending an epidemic that has killed at least 2,097 in West Africa since March, the U.N. agency said.

"There is a real opportunity that blood-derived products can be used now. This can be very effective in terms of treating patients," WHO assistant director-general Marie-Paule Kieny told a news conference in Geneva.

"With the negative point that we have so many patients, one positive point is there are also many people now who are convalescent, who survived and are doing well, These people can provide blood, serum to treat," she told a news conference.

"What is available will be used in the field to treat real patients as soon as possible."

Studies suggest that blood transfusions from Ebola survivors might prevent or treat Ebola virus infection in others, but it is not known whether antibodies in the plasma of survivors are sufficient, according to the United Nations health agency.

Two "promising" Ebola vaccines have also been identified after showing promising results in animals, and safety results from human clinical trials may be available from November, paving the way for their use, Kieny said.

The two vaccines are made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc and NewLink Genetics, according to WHO documents.

"These must be prioritised in terms of clinical development," Kieny said.

Clinical trials of the GSK vaccine have begun in the United States, while trials for the NewLink vaccine will start by mid-September in Europe and Africa, she said.

Pending initial results on the vaccines' safety, expected in November, they will be given to health care workers in the field as a priority, with their informed consent, she said.

"If we have good safety data, if the results are positive, they will start to be used in health care workers in order to protect and also to evaluate if it protects them," Kieny said.

"We will have results of safety by November 2014 and after that these vaccines will start to be rolled out starting with health care workers and front line workers in the field."


ZMAPP DRUG "ENCOURAGING"

ZMapp, made by the U.S.-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., has been given to seven people infected with Ebola, including two American aid workers and a Briton who all recovered, but it remains unproven and supplies have run out. The U.S. government pledged up to $42.3 million this week to accelerate its testing.

"For the time being there's not enough experience to conclude whether this treatment works or not," Kieny said of the antibody drug ZMapp. "There seem to be encouraging signs."

"As soon as there are supplies available they will be tried."

Dr. Larry Zeitlin, president of the California-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical, told Reuters that Washington's support was vital to conducting early-stage safety studies of the drug as the jury is still out on both its safety and efficacy.

"The U.S. support will enable us to figure out what the appropriate dose is and scale up manufacturing. With a drug you have not only to make it, but make it consistently to the same quality. The award given us is for 18 months. We will probably be in human trials beginning in 2015," Zeitlin said in an interview on Friday on the sidelines of the WHO meeting.

"We don't have data indicating whether ZMapp is safe in humans, we don't have data that it works in humans. That is the whole point of performing clinical trials," he said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles; writing by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Andrew Roche)


http://news.yahoo.com/urges-survivors-serum-against-ebola-backs-vaccine-trials-080236285.html

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Drug and vaccine makers in race against Ebola
Reuters
By Stephanie Nebehay  September 5, 2014 11:47 AM


* Clinical trials to test safety, efficacy of treatments

* ZMapp president expects human trials to begin in 2015

* GSK vaccine clinical trials under way, data by year-end



GENEVA, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Drug and vaccine companies are racing to conduct clinical trials of potential treatments for Ebola but it will be 2015 before there are any initial results and much later before significant quantities could be available, executives said on Friday.

In interviews on the sidelines of a meeting hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), they said that efforts would focus on developing safe and efficient products for human use that could win fast-tracked regulatory approval.

ZMapp, by Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., has been given to seven infected people, including two American aid workers and a Briton who all recovered, but it remains unproven and supplies have run out. The U.S. government pledged up to $42.3 million this week to accelerate its testing.

Dr. Larry Zeitlin, president of the California-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical, said that Washington's support was vital to conduct early stage safety studies of the experimental drug as the jury is still out on both its safety and efficacy.

"The U.S. support will enable us to figure out what the appropriate dose is and scale up manufacturing. With a drug you have not only to make it, but make it consistently to the same quality. The award given us is for 18 months. We will probably be in human trials beginning in 2015," Zeitlin told Reuters.

"We don't have data indicating whether ZMapp is safe in humans, we don't have data that it works in humans. That is the whole point of performing clinical trials," he said.

At this point, Zeitlin said that he expected most of the production to go into clinical trials rather than so-called "compassionate care".

ZMapp is among eight experimental drugs and two candidate vaccines deemed by the WHO to have potential against the virus that has killed at least 1,900 people in West Africa since March. The WHO has warned that 20,000 people could be at risk.

The current strain of Ebola has an overall death rate of about 50 percent.

On Thursday, the U.N. agency called for pharmaceutical companies and regulatory agencies to work together to accelerate development of the most promising treatments.

The two-day talks, attended by nearly 200 experts, are due to end later on Friday with a WHO statement.


"RAMPING UP"

Drugs include AVI 7537, made by Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. , which was tested on animals and completed phase 1 human safety studies, but had to be put to the side in late 2011 due to U.S. budget cuts, said Dr. Michael Wong, senior medical director for infectious diseases at Sarepta.

"We still have drug substance that is still stable. We are ramping up another human trial," Wong told Reuters.

From 60 to 80 percent of rhesus monkeys given AVI 7537 survived, while all of those in the test group died, he said. A phase 1 human safety study under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found "no safety or tolerance issues at all".

"We are looking at ways we can support the WHO if they feel the best way of looking at some agents is through some form of a trial," Wong said.

"Because the epidemic is unprecedented and still rolling, they are looking at several different approaches. The theme is to try to do a thorough, careful and ethical job but to do it fast."

Human safety trials are due to begin this week on a vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline Plc and later this year on one from NewLink Genetics Corp

"We are working on a vaccine and have been asked by WHO to make it available as quickly as possible to help control this outbreak. Phase 1 studies started this week at NIH (the U.S. National Institutes of Health)," Dr. Ripley Ballou, of GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA, Rixensart, Belgium told Reuters.

"We hope to have at the end of the year a good sense if the vaccine is safe and well-tolerated in five trials, involving 120-150 people. We'll have the data that we need by the end of the year but actually the studies will go for one year.

"Most important is that we can select the dose for the next phase," Ballou said.

The WHO talks, marked by testimony from health officials from Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria, were "eye-opening," he said.

"For anybody who is contemplating product development it reinforces how challenging this is going to be, it is a real complex undertaking."

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Ralph Boulton)


http://news.yahoo.com/drug-vaccine-makers-race-against-154746220.html

[Buster's Uncle]

DR Congo Ebola death toll climbs to 32
AFP
7 minutes ago



The Democratic Republic of Congo upped its death toll from Ebola to 32 but insisted the outbreak, separate from an epidemic raging in west Africa, could be contained in its remote forest hotspot (AFP Photo/Dominique Faget)



Kinshasa (AFP) - The Democratic Republic of Congo upped its death toll from Ebola on Saturday to 32 but insisted the outbreak, separate from an epidemic raging in west Africa, could be contained in its remote forest hotspot.

"We have registered 32 deaths," one up from a toll issued on Tuesday, Health Minister Felix Kabange Numbi told a press conference.

Kabange tallied 59 likely or confirmed cases of the tropical fever, saying the "big challenge" was to survey suspicious cases in order to staunch the contagion.

Three hundred and thirty-six people have had contact with Ebola sufferers or the bodies of victims, up from 285 on Tuesday, he said.

The DRC has given itself 45 days to break the transmission train of the virus, which can spread by contact with bodily fluids and has killed more than 2,000 people in four West African nations this year.

But Kabange said the outbreak in DRC -- where Ebola was first discovered in 1976 near the river of the same name in what was then Zaire -- "remains contained".

He recently returned from a trip to the affected region, near the city of Boende some 800 kilometres (500 miles) northwest of Kinshasa in Equateur province.

Authorities have implemented "protected burials" for any funeral, irrespective of whether the victim died from Ebola, in the 23 villages affected by the outbreak, he said.

While the outbreak is located far from urban centres in the heart of dense equatorial forest, reducing the risk of contagion, its remoteness has made aid delivery a particular challenge.

Decades of neglect have devastated road and rail infrastructure, also hampering efforts to quarantine patients.

Kabange said aid groups had established "an air drop in order to deliver medical supplies".

Last week, the UN announced it had released $1.5 million (1.3 million euros) to help the government in Kinshasa combat the outbreak, with the prospect of doubling that sum.


http://news.yahoo.com/dr-congo-ebola-death-toll-climbs-32-185620221.html

[Buster's Uncle]

U.N. to Open Ebola Crisis Center, Hopes to Contain in Six to Nine Months
The Atlantic Wire
By Allen McDuffee  4 hours ago






The United Nations will set up a crisis center to coordinate the response to Ebola in West African countries in an effort to contain the deadly virus, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters Friday.

Following multiple sessions of the U.N.'s Ebola Coordination Meeting, Ban said he believed the spread of Ebola in the region could be contained in six to nine months with proper management and resources in excess of $600 million that he hoped governments, financial institutions, the private sector and non-governmental organizations would provide.

"The number of cases is rising exponentially," said Ban. "The disease is spreading far faster than the response. People are increasingly frustrated that it is not being controlled."

"[W]e agreed to establish an Ebola crisis centre to bring synergy and efficiency to the efforts of these many partners within and beyond the United Nations, " he said.

Ban urged shipping companies and airlines not to cancel travel to the affected countries, saying that it wouldn't prevent the spread of Ebola and that it creates another potential disaster when medical and food supplies can't make their way to the places that need it the most.

"Banning flights and shipping services will not keep Ebola from spreading, but it will keep medical teams from reaching people most in need," he said. "Stigma and rumor can do just as much damage as the virus itself. It is crucial to remember that Ebola can be avoided and controlled."

After #UN Ebola Coordination Meeting #UNSG says the #UN is mobilizing in every possible way http://t.co/JvhCfupoz0 pic.twitter.com/Lyl5zbT5fk
— UN Spokesperson (@UN_Spokesperson) September 5, 2014

According to the World Health Organization, more than 3,500 confirmed or suspected cases of Ebola have been reported and more than 1,900 people have died since March in West Africa, including Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Separately, the Democratic Republic of Congo has also suffered an outbreak.

This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/09/un-to-open-ebola-crisis-center-hopes-to-contain-in-six-to-nine-months/379740/

[Buster's Uncle]

Zeal, devotion guides volunteers to Ebola crisis
Associated Press
By MITCH WEISS & TRAVIS LOLLER  3 hours ago



Rendi Murphree, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who will soon be leaving for Monrovia, Liberia, packs for her trip at her home in Nashville, Tenn., Friday, Sept. 5, 2014. Murphree will be working at the airport in Monrovia, screening outbound passengers for the Ebola virus. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)



CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Working with Ebola patients in Liberia, American pediatrician Alan Jamison treated as many people as he could as the country slipped into chaos. Each day, more patients showed up at the hospital's doors. The deadly virus wasn't the only danger: Ebola was causing such fear that some Liberians were threatening to burn down the isolation unit with doctors and patients inside.

His medical missionary group pulled him out early as a precaution. Still, the 69-year-old retiree says he'd return.

"This is where the need is," Jamison explains. "This is my calling.

Jamison isn't alone — even after three American aid workers fell sick, many other doctors, nurses and other health care volunteers are on their way to West Africa, helping to staff hospitals and clinics and screen travelers to slow the epidemic's spread.

Why are so many willing to put themselves in harm's way?

"It's a call, a zeal, a devotion. It's an acceptance of a professional life outside the ordinary, with an element of adventure," said William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Hospital volunteer Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly were already in Liberia when the outbreak began, and decided to stay at the charity-run ELWA hospital in Monrovia to help. Richard Sacra, a 15-year ELWA veteran, immediately volunteered to leave his family in suburban Boston and return to the hospital when Writebol and Brantly got sick. Jamison also worked there.

All are committed to their cause. Like Jamison, Nancy Writebol and her husband, David, told The Associated Press that they'd consider going back. Brantly said he couldn't return just yet, but would keep campaigning to end Ebola. Sacra also had no regrets, his wife said as the doctor was evacuated to the isolation unit in a Nebraska hospital.

"Once you go and you see the Lord at work, I mean, there's nothing else that you want to do," Nancy Writebol said.

These volunteers are passionate, but there's also a cold logic to their commitment: This epidemic that has killed more than 2,000 people and sickened 3,900 in five West African nations won't end unless more experienced health care workers confront it directly.

Ebola is being spread by people, in hospitals, homes and funerals. People catch the virus when they have direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of those who are sick and dying, or already dead. At ELWA, Jamison trained workers how to protect themselves and the wider population.

The hospital in Monrovia is operated by Charlotte-based SIM USA, and includes more than 200 beds as well as the 50-bed isolation unit for Ebola patients.

Keeping those populations separate is essential, Jamison said, but is no simple matter. He trained workers to wear a mask and gloves and screen new patients from several feet away before they were allowed to enter. When patients showed signs of Ebola, a worker wearing a protective suit would be summoned to bring them to a holding area for evaluation and then to the isolation unit if necessary. But the screeners have to ask the right questions to suss out the truth in such a fearful environment, Jamison said.

And if anyone masking Ebola symptoms is allowed inside, they could expose many more people who don't routinely wear full-body protective suits.

"Sometimes I felt safer in the Ebola unit than in the hospital," Jamison said.

Most international aid organizations are quite familiar with the risks of sending health care workers into terrain plagued by war, political turmoil and disease. But this Ebola epidemic has posed serious and unique challenges.

"We're balancing tremendous need in a risky environment," said Joe DiCarlo, a vice-president at Jamison's sponsor, the Portland, Oregon-based Medical Teams International. It's a non-denominational Christian group that has been working in Liberia for 10 years, with 15 permanent medical staff in the country, including three Americans, supporting 240 clinics around the country.

"We are finding volunteers who want to go, even though they are fully aware of the situation," DiCarlo said. "We're getting the people we need, but I can't say we're overwhelmed with requests."

Liberia has the largest caseload and death toll, but many of its hospitals have been closed. There are just two large hospitals still operating in the country of four million people, said George Salloum, SIM's financial officer.



This November 2013 photo provided by American pediatrician Alan Jamison shows him in the Philippines. Working with Ebola patients in Liberia, Jamison treated as many people as he could as the country slipped into chaos. The deadly virus was causing such fear that some Liberians were threatening to burn down the isolation unit with doctors and patients inside. (AP Photo/Alan Jamison)


About 250 people work at ELWA - most of them Liberian. They usually have between three and seven American doctors who serve two to three years.

Right now, there's only one American doctor left on-site.

After some airlines stopped flying to countries affected by the outbreak, it's been much harder to get enough medical supplies to keep up with demand, including critical protective gear to keep its doctors and nurses safe. ELWA is no exception. Staffers go through thousands of disposable protective suits a week. Salloum said they recently received a shipment of protective gear, but they're running short of other supplies, including the intravenous fluids and electrolytes needed to keep Ebola victims alive long enough for their bodies' immune systems to fight the virus.

"We just take for granted how easy it is in America to get these things," he said.

The number of patients in the Ebola isolation unit fluctuates - but is usually close to capacity, he said.

With so much need, SIM has no plans to pull out, said Will Elphick, the group's director for Liberia.

"You have to weigh out the risk compared with what you feel you can do with a situation where there is so much need," Elphick said. "We still want to support our Liberian colleagues."

That will require more supplies, and volunteers.

People like Rendi Murphree, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who volunteered to leave Tuesday for Liberia, where she will screen passengers leaving the country at the Monrovia airport.

"This is the type of crisis situation that you prepare most of your career for, so it's exciting to help in a big response that has so much impact," said Murphree, who also served in Haiti after its 2010 earthquake. "I haven't had anyone try to dissuade me in earnest ... I've had a lot of feedback from people who say they're proud of me, they can't wait to hear how the deployment goes."

However, "my mother, grandmother and mother-in-law have put me on the prayer list at church, and notified the extended family to do the same," she said.


http://news.yahoo.com/zeal-devotion-guides-volunteers-ebola-crisis-141837245.html