Ebola news 3/9

[Buster's Uncle]

What Are the Long-Term Effects of Ebola?
LiveScience.com
By Rachael Rettner  2 hours ago



Texas nurse Nina Pham, who was infected with Ebola, says she has had ongoing health problems since being cured of the disease, and experts say this is not uncommon for Ebola survivors.

Pham said this week that she has experienced hair loss, body aches and insomnia in the months following her Ebola infection last fall, according to The Dallas Morning News. She was diagnosed with the disease in mid-October, after treating a patient from Liberia who had Ebola. Pham was declared Ebola-free a few weeks later.

The long-term effects of Ebola have not been well studied, and doctors will likely learn a lot more about the disease's aftermath from the most recent outbreak in West Africa, the largest in history, said Dr. Jesse Goodman, an infectious-disease expert and a professor of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

But it is clear that Ebola survivors can experience health problems that remain with them temporarily as a result of their battle with the disease, Goodman said.

These effects — which include body and joint aches, and fatigue — are "the kind of side effects you might expect from any very serious infection," Goodman said.

These symptoms may result, in part, from the body's release of certain immune-system chemicals called cytokines. These chemicals fight the disease but make people feel sick. Dehydration, low blood pressure and nutrition problems that people experience during an Ebola infection can also injure a person's muscles or other tissues, Goodman said.

Muscles and nerves also could be directly injured by the virus and take time to recover, Goodman said. Ebola survivor Nancy Writebol has said that she experienced nerve pain after her infection.

"It wouldn't be surprising, in a very severe infection that is spread all over the body, to have some long-term damage to sensitive tissues like nerves," Goodman said.

In addition, after a patient is cured, the virus may also persist in some parts of the body, including the eyes, and cause inflammation and vision problems, Goodman said.

After the 1995 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 15 percent of survivors developed eye problems, such as eye pain and vision loss. In the most recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa, there have also been reports of survivors with vision problems, according to the World Health Organization. These eye problems typically respond well to treatment, but if left untreated, they can lead to blindness, Goodman said.

Although it can take months, most patients who have survived the disease do fully recover, Goodman said.

In the wake of the outbreak in West Africa, there are now many more Ebola survivors than before, and studies of these patients should give doctors a better idea of how often lingering side effects occur and whether other problems can also occur, Goodman said.

Part of the Ebola response effort should include educating people about the complications of Ebola and ensuring that patients have access to care to prevent consequences such as blindness, Goodman said.

Attention should also be paid to the social and economic hardships that Ebola survivors face, Goodman said. Several organizations are working to help Ebola survivors make the transition back into their communities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


http://news.yahoo.com/long-term-effects-ebola-142909460.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Liberia removes Ebola crematorium as outbreak is contained
Associated Press
By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH  March 8, 2015 11:39 AM



Traditional leaders, right, walk as a choir follows before the start of a ceremony for people who died due to the Ebola virus and who got cremated at a crematorium on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia, Saturday, March 7, 2015. Traditional leaders from the fifteen counties in Liberia performed prayers at a crematorium that was used to burn the remains of people that passed away due to the Ebola virus. After the ceremony at the crematorium the remains were transported to a burial site were family members and traditional leaders gave their last blessing. The West African nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have been hardest hit in the yearlong Ebola outbreak, which is estimated to have left more than 9,800 people dead. (AP Photo / Abbas Dulleh)



MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Marking the progress in controlling its Ebola outbreak, the Liberian government dismantled a crematorium and removed drums containing the ashes of more than 3,000 Ebola victims cremated during the height of the epidemic, whose last patient was discharged last week.

Liberia resorted to cremating the bodies of Ebola victims when communities rejected burials in their areas for fear the disease could spread and contaminate their soil and affect them. The cremations were very controversial because they were against traditional burial practices. But those customs, including washing and touching the dead, spread the deadly Ebola which brought the government to impose cremations.

Religious leaders gathered Saturday at the former crematorium outside Monrovia and prayed for the victims who came from many different religious groups, Acting Information Minister Isaac Jackson told The Associated Press.

The 19 barrels of remains will be buried on a 25-acre plot bought by the government as a cemetery for Ebola victims.

"These activities — these prayers services — are taking place in an effort to accord these people the utmost respect considering the circumstances under which they were cremated and they parted with their families," Jackson said. "We think it is only but proper that we now accord them — the over 3,000 people cremated — respect in a more dignified way."

Liberia Thursday discharged from a Chinese-run treatment center, a 58-year-old English teacher, Beatrice Yardolo, the last confirmed Ebola case of the West African outbreak that killed more than 4,100 in Liberia. Sierra Leone and Guinea are still struggling to contain the outbreak that has killed nearly 10,000 people.

With its last Ebola case being declared cured on March 5, Liberia is now counting 42 days until April 16 when, if no new cases are reported within that period, the country can be declared Ebola-free.


http://news.yahoo.com/liberia-removes-ebola-crematorium-outbreak-contained-153947696.html