Ebola outbreak in West Africa
Source: Yahoo News The world breathed a sigh of relief on Jan. 14, 2016, as a two-year Ebola epidemic that killed 11,000 and triggered a global health alert was declared […]
Ebola outbreak: Liberia opens new cemetery
BBC News: Liberia has opened a new national cemetery to provide safe burial sites for victims of the Ebola outbreak. A Liberian official said the 50-acre site in Monrovia, half of which is ready to use, will enable “dignified” burials instead of cremations. READ MORE…
IMF policies blamed for Ebola spread in West Africa
BBC News: Spending cuts imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may have contributed to the rapid spread of Ebola in three West African states, UK-based researchers say. It had led to “under-funded, insufficiently staffed, and poorly prepared health systems” in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, they said. READ MORE… […]
Ebola vaccine trial ‘interrupted’ due to joint pains
BBC News: The clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine in Switzerland has been interrupted after some patients complained of joint pains in their hands and feet. READ MORE…
Ebola crisis: Sierra Leone bodies found piled up in Kono
BBC News: Health officials in Sierra Leone have discovered scores of bodies in a remote diamond-mining area, raising fears that the scale of the Ebola outbreak may have been underreported. The World Health Organization said they uncovered a “grim scene” in the eastern district of Kono. A WHO response team […]
Homeopaths offer services ‘to help fight’ Ebola epidemic in west Africa
Source: The Guardian from 2014 By Sarah Boseley, who is the health editor of the Guardian. She has won a number of awards for her work on HIV/Aids in Africa, including the One World Media award (twice) and the European section of the Lorenzo Natali prize, awarded by the European […]
Ebola outbreak: Abbott urged to send Australian health workers
The Australian government is facing more criticism for not sending health workers to Africa to help fight Ebola. A 25-bed US field hospital that will treat international health workers who contract the virus is due to open soon. READ MORE…
Ebola outbreak: World Bank chief appeals for volunteers
The president of the World Bank has appealed for thousands of medical workers to volunteer and help contain the growing Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Jim Yong Kim said at least 5,000 medics and support staff were needed to beat the disease. Many potential recruits were too scared to travel […]
Ebola crisis: Dozens monitored after first Mali case
Dozens of people are being monitored in Mali after the country confirmed its first case of Ebola. The patient is a two-year-old girl who recently arrived from Guinea, which along with Liberia and Sierra Leone has seen most of the 4,800 deaths. However, the Malian health ministry says her condition […]
Ebola: WHO emergency team holds talks on travel curbs
The World Health Organization’s emergency committee is holding talks to discuss the Ebola epidemic. The meeting in Geneva will examine screening measures at borders and consider whether stricter travel regulations should be put in place. New rules in the US require travellers from the worst affected countries to arrive at […]
Ebola crisis: Nigeria set to be declared free of virus
Nigeria is expected to be declared officially free of Ebola on Monday, after six weeks with no new cases. Africa’s most populous country won praise for its swift response after an infected Liberian diplomat brought the disease there in July. READ MORE…
UN: Ebola outbreak could be controlled in three months
The UN special envoy on Ebola says he hopes that the outbreak can be brought under control within three months. David Nabarro told the BBC the number of Ebola cases was currently increasing exponentially, but greater community awareness would help contain the virus. People were becoming aware that isolating those infected was […]
Ebola is ‘entrenched and accelerating’ in West Africa
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Ebola is now entrenched in the capital cities of all three worst-affected countries and is accelerating in almost all settings. WHO deputy head Bruce Aylward warned that the world’s response was not keeping up with the disease in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra […]
Ebola outbreak: Spain investigates new case
Investigations are under way at a hospital in Madrid after a Spanish nurse became the first person known to have contracted the deadly Ebola virus outside West Africa. The nurse had treated two Spanish missionaries who died of the disease after being flown home from the region. Three other people, […]
Ebola outbreak: Eid celebrations subdued in West Africa
Celebrations in West Africa for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha have been badly affected by the Ebola outbreak. Reports from Guinea say public places used for prayers are deserted while religious leaders in Sierra Leone told Muslims not to shake hands or embrace. Meanwhile, a French nurse who got […]
Ebola contained in Nigeria, Senegal – US health officials
The Ebola virus may have been contained in Nigeria and Senegal, US health authorities say, after no new cases were reported there for almost a month. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say the outbreak could be declared over in Nigeria next month. It continues, however, in other parts […]
Sierra Leone widens Ebola quarantine to three more districts
Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma has widened a quarantine to include another one million people in an attempt to curb the spread of Ebola. The northern districts of Port Loko and Bombali, and Moyamba in the south, will in effect be sealed off immediately. Nearly 600 people have died […]
Ebola death rates 70% – WHO study
New figures suggest 70% of those infected with Ebola in West Africa have died, higher than previously reported, says the World Health Organization. Ebola infections will treble to 20,000 by November if efforts to tackle the outbreak are not stepped up, the UN agency has warned. In the worst case […]
Ebola outbreak: Sierra Leone lockdown declared ‘success’
A three-day curfew aimed at containing the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone has been declared a success by authorities. They say more than a million households were surveyed and 130 new cases discovered. Sierra Leone is one of the countries worst affected by the outbreak, with nearly 600 of the […]
Ebola outbreak: Sierra Leone lockdown declared 'success'
A three-day curfew aimed at containing the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone has been declared a success by authorities. They say more than a million households were surveyed and 130 new cases discovered. Sierra Leone is one of the countries worst affected by the outbreak, with nearly 600 of the […]