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ebola outbreak
Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has declared a state of emergency over the Ebola outbreak.
Speaking on national television Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said some civil liberties might have to be suspended.
The Ebola outbreak has also hit Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, killing more than 930 people.
World Health Organization (WHO) experts are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss a response to the outbreak.
The two-day meeting will decide whether to declare a global health emergency.
Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has declared a state of emergency over the Ebola outbreak
Ebola, a viral hemorrhagic fever, is one of the deadliest diseases known to humans, with a fatality rate of between 55% and 90%. It is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of Ebola patients showing symptoms.
A WHO statement on Wednesday said 932 patients had died of the disease in West Africa so far, with most of the latest fatalities reported in Liberia, where at least 282 have died of the virus,
Announcing a state of emergency for 90 days, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said in a statement that the government and people of Liberia required “extraordinary measures for the very survival of our state and for the protection of the lives of our people”.
She said that “ignorance and poverty, as well as entrenched religious and cultural practices, continue to exacerbate the spread of the disease”.
Observers say the Ebola crisis in Liberia has got worse because many people are keeping sick relatives at home instead of taking them to isolation centers.
In a surprise move, the WHO said on Wednesday it would convene a meeting of medical ethics specialists next week to decide whether to approve experimental treatment for Ebola.
Some leading infectious disease experts have been calling for experimental treatments to be offered more widely to treat the disease.
The aim of the WHO’s emergency committee meeting is to focus solely on how to respond to the Ebola outbreak.
If a public health emergency is declared, it could involve detailed plans to identify, isolate and treat cases, as well as impose travel restrictions on affected areas.
A Saudi man who was suspected of contracting Ebola disease in Sierra Leone has died at a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s health ministry says.
If confirmed, this would be the first Ebola-related death outside Africa in an outbreak that has killed more than 900 people this year.
The man recently visited Sierra Leone, one of four countries in the outbreak.
World Health Organization (WHO) experts are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss a response to the outbreak.
The two-day meeting will decide whether to declare a global health emergency.
Ebola, a viral hemorrhagic fever, is one of the deadliest diseases known to humans, with a fatality rate of up to 90%.
The Ebola virus spreads by contact with infected blood and bodily fluids
A WHO statement on Wednesday said 932 patients had died of the disease in West Africa so far, with most of the latest fatalities reported in Liberia.
Concern has also been growing over a number of new cases in Nigeria, the region’s most populous nation. On Wednesday, a nurse who treated an Ebola patient became the second person to die of the disease there.
Nigeria’s Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu described the outbreak as a national emergency, adding that “everyone in the world is at risk” because of air travel.
The Saudi man who was suspected of contracting the disease died of cardiac arrest, according to the website of the country’s health ministry.
The 40-year-old is said to have returned from a recent business trip to Sierra Leone.
The ministry’s website said he was being tested for Ebola, but did not say if the tests had concluded that he had the disease.
The website said the man had been treated for Ebola-like symptoms in an isolation ward and would be buried according to Islamic tradition, while following precautions set out by world health authorities.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia stopped issuing visas to Muslims from several West African countries, amid concerns that visiting pilgrims could spread the disease.
Meanwhile, two US aid workers – Dr. Kent Brantly and Nurse Nancy Writebol – who contracted Ebola in Liberia appear to be improving after receiving an unapproved medicine ahead of their evacuation back to the US.
t is not clear if the ZMapp drug, which has only been tested on monkeys, can be credited with their improvement.
Leading infectious disease experts have called for experimental treatments to be offered more widely.
The meeting of the WHO’s emergency committee is focusing solely on how to respond to the Ebola outbreak.
If a public health emergency is declared, it could involve detailed plans to identify, isolate and treat cases, as well as impose travel restrictions on affected areas.
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The Ebola infected US aid workers, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nurse Nancy Writebol, appear to be improving after receiving an experimental drug, officials have said.
It is not clear if the ZMapp drug, which has only been tested on monkeys, can be credited with their improvement.
Dr. Kent Brantly was flown from Liberia to Atlanta for treatment on Saturday. His colleague Nancy Writebol arrived back in the city of Atlanta on Tuesday.
Since February, 887 people have died of Ebola in four West African countries.
The World Bank is allocating $200 million in emergency assistance for countries battling to contain the Ebola outbreak.
Dr. Kent Brantly and Nurse Nancy Writebol’s condition appear to be improving after receiving Ebola experimental serum ZMapp
It is the world’s deadliest outbreak to date and has centered on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. There have also been two cases in the Nigerian city of Lagos, where eight people are currently in quarantine.
British Airways has temporarily suspended flights to and from Liberia and Sierra Leone until August 31, 2014, because of the health crisis, the airline said in a statement. It follows a similar suspension by two regional air carriers last week.
The Ebola virus spreads by contact with infected blood and bodily fluids. The current outbreak is killing between 50% and 60% of people infected.
There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola – but patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says clinical trials are to start in September on an Ebola vaccine that has shown promising results during tests on animals.
Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol were treated with the ZMapp serum before their evacuation from Liberia.
According to a CNN report, quoting a doctor in Liberia, Dr. Kent Brantly’s condition improved dramatically within an hour of receiving the drug.
Service in Mission (SIM), the Christian aid group that employs Nancy Writebol, says she has had two doses of the drug and did not respond as well as Dr. Kent Brantly but she is showing “improvement”.
“She is walking with assistance… strength is better… has an appetite,” SIM spokesman Palmer Holt told the Washington Post newspaper in an email on Monday.
Nancy Writebol is on her way to a special isolation ward at Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital, where Dr. Kent Brantly is being treated by infectious disease specialists.
The World Bank is to allocate $200 million in emergency assistance for West African countries battling to contain the Ebola outbreak.
The money will be distributed to the governments of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea as well as to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The number of people killed in the outbreak has reached 887, the WHO says.
The World Bank’s announcement came as African leaders including 35 presidents discuss the crisis in Washington.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim – an expert on infectious diseases – said that he was “deeply saddened” by the spread of the virus and how it was contributing to the breakdown of “already weak health systems in the three countries”.
“I am very worried that many more lives are at risk unless we can stop this Ebola epidemic in its tracks,” he said.
The World Bank will allocate $200 million in emergency assistance for West African countries battling to contain the Ebola outbreak
In the short term, the money will be used to pay health workers, dispel rumors about the disease in local communities and address the immediate needs of getting sick people into health facilities.
Over the long term, the funds will be used to help countries deal with the economic impact of the outbreak and to monitor the spread of the disease.
The package is now awaiting approval by the World Bank’s Board of Directors, though officials say the confirmation could come as early as this week.
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) say preliminary research suggests the epidemic is likely to shave one percentage point from Guinea’s economic output this year.
In other developments:
- Nigeria has recorded its second Ebola case – one of the doctors who treated a man who died from the virus after his arrival from Liberia
- Liberia has ordered that the bodies of people killed by the Ebola virus must be cremated following the refusal of some communities to allow the burial of victims on their land.
The Ebola virus spreads by contact with infected blood and bodily fluids.
Touching the body of someone who has died of Ebola is particularly dangerous.
The evacuation of the second US health worker to become infected in Liberia, nurse Nancy Writebol, is expected later.
Nancy Writebol will be flown to Atlanta in the US to a special isolation ward at Emory University Hospital, where Dr. Kent Brantly, who arrived from Liberia on Saturday, is being treated by infectious disease specialists.
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Nurse Nancy Writebol, the second American missionary stricken with Ebola, is expected to fly Tuesday to the US for treatment, following her colleague, Dr. Kent Brnatly, who was admitted over the weekend to Emory University Hospital’s infectious disease unit in Atlanta.
A Liberian official confirmed to the Associated Press plans for Nancy Writebol to depart with a medical evacuation team. The evacuation flight was scheduled to leave West Africa between 1 a.m. and 1.30 a.m. local time on Tuesday.
Nancy Writebol is in good spirits despite her diagnosis, said the pastor of her hometown church in Charlotte, North Carolina, who has spoken with her husband, David.
“She is holding her own,” the Rev. John Munro said.
John Munro’s Calvary Church is a nondenominational evangelical congregation that sponsors the Writebols as missionaries in Liberia, one of the West African nations grappling with the worst outbreak of Ebola ever recorded there.
Nnacy Writebol’s mission team partner, Dr. Kent Brantly, was improving Sunday after he was admitted to Emory’s quarantine unit a day earlier, according to a statement from his wife.
Nurse Nancy Writebol is expected to fly Tuesday to the US for treatment
“Our family is rejoicing over Kent’s safe arrival, and we are confident that he is receiving the very best care,” Amber Brantly said, adding that she was able to see her husband Sunday.
Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol served on the same mission team treating Ebola victims when they contracted the virus themselves. Kent Brantly was serving as a physician in the hospital compound near Monrovia, Liberia, when he became infected. They said Nancy Writebol worked as a hygienist whose role included decontaminating those entering or leaving the Ebola treatment area at that hospital.
There is no cure for Ebola, which causes hemorrhagic fever that kills at least 60% of the people it infects in Africa. Ebola spreads through close contact with bodily fluids and blood, meaning it is not spread as easily as airborne influenza or the common cold. Africa’s under-developed health care system and inadequate infection controls make it easier for the Ebola virus to spread and harder to treat.
Any modern hospital using standard infection-control measures should be able to handle it, according to medical experts, and Emory’s infectious disease unit is one of about four in the US that is specially equipped to test and treat people exposed to the most dangerous viruses.
Patients are quarantined, sealed off from anyone who is not in protective gear. Lab tests are conducted inside the unit, ensuring that viruses don’t leave the quarantined area. Family members can see and communicate with patients only through barriers.
Dr. Kent Brantly arrived Saturday under stringent protocols, flying from West Africa to Dobbins Air Reserve base outside Atlanta in a small plane equipped to contain infectious diseases. A small police escort followed his ambulance to Emory, where he emerged dressed head to toe in white protective clothing and walked into the hospital on his own power.
The US public health officials continue to emphasize that treating Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol in the US poses no risks to the public here.
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The US will send at least 50 public health experts to West Africa to help fight the worst-ever outbreak of Ebola.
A senior US health official said the Ebola outbreak was out of control but insisted it could be stopped.
Ebola has claimed 728 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone this year. The current mortality rate is about 55%.
Meanwhile, an American doctor infected with the virus is improving in hospital after returning to the US from Liberia.
Dr. Kent Brantly arrived at a military base in Georgia on Saturday before being driven to Emory University Hospital.
Another infected American, aid worker Nancy Writebol, is expected to arrive in the US soon.
The US will send at least 50 public health experts to West Africa to help fight the worst-ever outbreak of Ebola
The virus spreads through human contact with a sufferer’s bodily fluids.
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external hemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced the new US measures in an interview with ABC’s This Week.
“We do know how to stop Ebola. It’s old-fashioned plain and simple public health: find the patients, make sure they get treated, find their contacts, track them, educate people, do infection control in hospitals.”
The experts would arrive in West Africa within 30 days to fight what he called the “scary” disease.
He rejected fears that this would put more US citizens in harms way.
“The single most important thing we can do to protect Americans is to stop this disease at the source in Africa” he said.
The plane carrying Dr. Kent Brantly was outfitted with a special portable tent designed for transporting patients with highly infectious diseases.
The same aircraft is due to bring missionary Nancy Writebol from West Africa.
The hospital facility which will treat both patients is one of four in the US able to handle Ebola patients.
US officials say they are confident the patients can be treated without putting the public in any danger.
The National Institutes of Health in the US has said it will begin testing a possible Ebola vaccine in September.
Dr. Kent Brantly, who was infected with the deadly Ebola virus in Liberia, has arrived in the US for treatment at a specialized unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.
The US doctor arrived in a specially equipped private plane at a military base before being whisked away to Emory University Hospital.
Fellow infected US aid worker Nancy Writebol is expected to follow shortly.
Ebola has claimed 728 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone this year, killing up to 90% of sufferers.
The virus spreads through human contact with a sufferer’s bodily fluids.
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external hemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.
Ebola infected Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol will be treated at a specialized unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta
The US health authorities have warned against travelling to the African states affected and 50 extra American specialists are being sent to affected areas.
The plane carrying Dr. Kent Brantly was outfitted with a special portable tent designed for transporting patients with highly infectious diseases.
After it touched down at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, the patient was collected by an ambulance which drove him to Emory, 15 miles away.
At the hospital a person in protective clothing could be seen climbing down from the back of the ambulance and a second person in protective clothing appeared to take his gloved hands and guide him toward a building, the Associated Press report.
US officials say they are confident the patients can be treated without putting the public in any danger.
The specialized unit at Emory University Hospital was opened 12 years ago to care for federal health workers exposed to some of the world’s most dangerous germs.
While it has an isolation unit, health experts say it is not needed for treating a patient with Ebola, as the virus does not spread through the air.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is unaware of any Ebola patient ever being treated in the US before.
Dr. Kent Brantly’s employer, the aid group Samaritan’s Purse, said in a statement that it was evacuating 60 non-essential staff who were healthy back to the US.
An earlier statement said that Dr. Kent Brantly had been offered experimental serum – using blood from a child whose life he saved – but he had insisted that Nancy Writebol should receive it instead.
Dr. Kent Brantly’s wife, Amber, said in a statement she remained “hopeful and believing that Kent” would be “healed from this dreadful disease”.
The National Institutes of Health in the US has said it will begin testing a possible Ebola vaccine in September.
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World Health Organization head Margaret Chan has said the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is spreading faster than efforts to control it.
The WHO director general told a summit of regional leaders that failure to contain Ebola could be “catastrophic” in terms of lives lost.
She said the virus, which has claimed 729 lives in four West African countries since February, could be stopped if well managed.
Ebola kills up to 90% of those infected.
It spreads by contact with infected blood, bodily fluids, organs – or contaminated environments. Patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external hemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.
Dr. Margaret Chan was meeting the leaders of the worst-affected countries – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – to launch a new $100 million Ebola response plan.
Ebola virus has claimed 729 lives in four West African countries since February
The plan includes funding the deployment of hundreds more health care workers to affected countries.
“This meeting must mark a turning point in the outbreak response,” Margaret Chan said at the summit in Guinea’s capital, Conakry.
“Cases are occurring in rural areas which are difficult to access, but also in densely populated capital cities,” she said, explaining that the outbreak was the world’s deadliest and largest in terms of geographical areas.
“It is taking place in areas with fluid population movements over porous borders, and it has demonstrated its ability to spread via air travel, contrary to what has been seen in past outbreaks,” she said.
In her comments – also published on the WHO website – Dr. Margaret Chan said the virus was affecting a large number of doctors, nurses and other health care workers who have an essential role in curtailing the outbreak.
“To date, more than 60 health care workers have lost their lives in helping others. Some international staff are infected. These tragic infections and deaths significantly erode response capacity,” she said.
Dr. Margaret Chan said that while the situation in West Africa “must receive urgent priority for decisive action at national and international levels, experiences in Africa over nearly four decades tell us clearly that, when well managed, an Ebola outbreak can be stopped”.
She pointed out that medics are not fighting an airborne virus – transmission requires close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.
“Apart from this specific situation, the general public is not at high risk of infection by the Ebola virus,” Margaret Chan said.
“At the same time, it would be extremely unwise for national authorities and the international community to allow an Ebola virus to circulate widely and over a long period of time in human populations.”
Emory University Hospital in Atlanta is preparing to receive a US aid worker infected with the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa.
The unnamed patient will be flown to the US in the next few days for treatment at a high-security ward at Emory University Hospital, medics said.
The worst Ebola outbreak in history has swept through the region, killing 729 people.
A spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said her agency was working on the transfer with the US State Department.
Barbara Reynolds said she was not aware of any Ebola patient ever being treated in the US before.
The worst Ebola outbreak in history has swept through West Africa, killing 729 people
In a statement, the Atlanta hospital said it has an isolation unit which is specially equipped to deal with this kind of infection.
On Friday, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) and leaders of West African nations affected by the Ebola outbreak are expected to announce a joint $100 million response plan.
Sierra Leone’s president has declared a public health emergency over the outbreak after 233 people died there.
Ebola spreads through human contact with a sufferer’s bodily fluids.
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external hemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure. It kills up to 90% of those infected.
The US health authorities have warned against travelling to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone as they strive to tackle the Ebola outbreak, and 50 extra American specialists are being sent to affected areas.
American Dr. Kent Brantly with Ebola in Liberia has taken a “slight turn for the worse”, the Samaritan’s Purse aid agency said on Thursday.
Kent Brantly and another American worker, Nancy Writebol, “are in a stable but grave condition”, the agency said in a statement.
The statement said that Dr. Kent Brantly had been offered experimental serum – using blood from a child whose life he saved – but he had insisted that Nancy Writebol should receive it instead.
Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health in the US has said it will begin testing a possible vaccine in September.
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Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma has declared a public health emergency to curb the deadly Ebola outbreak.
Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma has declared a public health emergency to curb the deadly Ebola outbreak
Ernest Bai Koroma said the epicentres of the outbreak in the east would be quarantined and asked the security forces to enforce the measures.
More than 670 people in West Africa have died of Ebola since February – 224 of them in Sierra Leone, according to the most recent UN figures.
Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, who led Sierra Leone’s fight against Ebola, has died of the virus.
Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, described by government officials as a “national hero”, is to be buried on Thursday.
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Liberia is closing down all schools across the country to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.
Some communities would be placed under quarantine as well, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said.
Non-essential government workers will be sent home for 20 days and the army deployed to enforce the measures.
The number of people killed by the virus in West Africa has now reached 672, according to new UN figures.
Liberia is closing down all schools across the country to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus (photo AFP)
Treatment facilities have reportedly been overwhelmed in the Liberian capital Monrovia.
Some wards have already filled up, forcing health workers to treat some patients at their homes.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said that Friday, August 1, would be a non-working day in Liberia to allow for the disinfection of all public facilities.
“All non-essential staff – to be determined by the heads of ministries and agencies – are to be placed on 30 days’ compulsory leave” she added.
The US humanitarian organization Peace Corps said it was withdrawing 340 volunteers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea because of the spread of the virus.
Ebola kills up to 90% of those infected, but patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.
The virus spreads through contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids.
The Ebola outbreak – the world’s deadliest to date – was first reported in Guinea in February. It then spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
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West African airline ASKY has stopped flying to Liberia and Sierra Leone amid growing concern about the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.
ASKY Airlines said it took the decision to keep “its passengers and staff safe during this unsettling time”.
The number of people killed by the virus in West Africa has now reached 672, according to new UN figures.
In Sierra Leone, the doctor who led the fight against Ebola, Sheik Umar Khan, has died of the disease.
Government officials hailed Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, 39, as a “national hero”.
ASKY has stopped flying to Liberia and Sierra Leone amid growing concern about the spread of the deadly Ebola virus (photo Flickr)
The government disclosed last week that he was being treated for Ebola and had been quarantined.
His death follows that of prominent Liberian doctor Samuel Brisbane at the weekend.
Ebola kills up to 90% of those infected, but patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.
It spreads through contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids.
The outbreak – the world’s deadliest to date – was first reported in Guinea in February. It then spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
ASKY is the second airline, after Nigeria’s largest airline, Arik Air, to ban flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
It had not halted flights to Guinea, but passengers departing from there would be “screened for signs of the virus”, ASKY said.
Last week, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, reported its first case – that of Liberian finance ministry official Patrick Sawyer who flew to the main city, Lagos, in an ASKY flight.
Liberia has deployed police officers at the international airport in the capital, Monrovia, to ensure passengers are screened for symptoms of Ebola.
“We have a presence of the police at the airport to enforce what we’re doing,” said Binyah Kesselly, chairman of the Liberia Airport Authority.
“So if you have a flight and you are not complying with the rules, we will not allow you to board.”
Most border crossings in Liberia have been closed to contain the outbreak and affected communities are being quarantined.
Liberia has also suspended all football activities in an effort to control the spread of Ebola.
In a statement, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that 1,201 Ebola cases had been reported in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Of the 672 deaths, the highest number was in Guinea with 319, followed by Liberia with 249 and Sierra Leone with 224, it said.
US doctor Kent Brantly, who has been working with Ebola patients in Liberia, has tested positive for the deadly virus, an aid organization said Saturday.
North Carolina-based Samaritan’s Purse issued a news release saying that Dr. Kent Brantly tested positive for the Ebola disease and was being treated at a hospital in Monrovia, Liberia.
He is the medical director for the aid organization’s case management center in Monrovia.
Dr. Kent Brantly has been working with Samaritan’s Purse in Liberia since October 2013 (photo Samaritan’s Purse)
Dr. Kent Brantly, 33, has been working with Samaritan’s Purse in Liberia since October 2013 as part of the charity’s post-residency program for doctors, said the group’s spokeswoman Melissa Strickland. The organization’s website says he had worked as a family practice physician in Fort Worth, Texas.
The highly contagious virus is one of the most deadly diseases in the world. Photos of Dr. Kent Brantly working in Liberia show him in white coveralls made of a synthetic material that he wore for hours a day while treating Ebola patients.
Kent Brantly was quoted in a posting on the organization’s website earlier this year about efforts to maintain an isolation ward for patients.
Strickland says that Kent Brantly’s wife and children had been living with him in Africa, but they are currently in the US.
Ebola virus has killed 672 in several African countries since the outbreak began earlier this year.
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Saudatu Koroma, a Sierra Leone woman who fled hospital after testing positive for the Ebola virus, has died after turning herself in.
Her family had forcibly removed her from a public hospital on Thursday.
Saudatu Koroma’s is the first case of Ebola to be confirmed in the country’s capital Freetown, where there are no facilities to treat the virus.
Since February, more than 660 people have died of Ebola in West Africa – the world’s deadliest outbreak to date.
Nigeria has put all its entry points on red alert after confirming the death there of a Liberian man who was carrying the highly contagious virus.
The man died after arriving at Lagos airport on Tuesday, in the first Ebola case in Africa’s most populous country.
The outbreak began in southern Guinea and spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Since February, more than 660 people have died of Ebola in West Africa (photo AP)
Reports on Saturday said that a prominent Liberian doctor, Samuel Brisbane, had died after a three-week battle with the virus.
And later it emerged that a US doctor working with Ebola patients, Kent Brantly, was being treated for the virus in a hospital in the capital Monrovia.
The virus, which kills up to 90% of those infected, spreads through contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids.
Patients have a better chance of survival if they receive treatment early.
Saudatu Koroma was the first registered Ebola case in the capital Freetown.
Both she and her parents – who are suspected of having the virus – had been taken to Ebola treatment centers in the east of the country..
Saudatu Koroma had been one of dozens of people who tested positive but were unaccounted for.
The Ebola cases in Sierra Leone are centered in the country’s eastern districts of Kenema and Kailahun, just over the border from the Guekedou region of Guinea where the outbreak started.
Police said thousands of people joined a street protest in Kenema on Friday over the government’s handling of the outbreak.
Earlier this week, it was announced that the doctor leading Sierra Leone’s fight against Ebola was being treated for the virus.
On Thursday, the World Health Organization said that 219 people had died of Ebola in Sierra Leone.
Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said that all other passengers on board the flight with the infected man had been traced and were being monitored.
Nigeria has put all entries into the country on red alert after confirming the death of a Liberian man who was carrying the Ebola virus.
The man died after arriving at Lagos airport on Tuesday, in the first Ebola case in Africa’s most populous country.
Surveillance has been stepped up at all “airports, seaports and land borders”, says Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu.
Since February, more than 660 people have died of Ebola in West Africa – the world’s deadliest outbreak to date.
Nigeria has put all entries into the country on red alert after confirming the death of a Liberian man who was carrying the Ebola virus
It began in southern Guinea and spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The Liberian man collapsed on arrival in Lagos last Sunday. He was taken from the airport to hospital, where he was put in quarantine.
Officials have identified the 40-year-old man as an employee of the Liberian government.
Onyebuchi Chukwu confirmed that the other passengers on board the flight had been traced and were being monitored.
The patient had “avoided contact with the general public” between the airport and the hospital, he said.
Health specialists have been deployed at all entry points into the country, he added.
Ebola, which kills up to 90% of those infected, spreads through contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids.
Patients have a better chance of survival if they receive treatment early.
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Twenty five more people have died from Ebola in West Africa since July 3, taking the total number of deaths to 518, health officials say.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said 50 new cases of the deadly disease had also been reported.
A WHO spokesman said health workers were struggling to contain the outbreak in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
On Monday, a doctor in Ghana said preliminary tests on a US citizen showed he did not have the disease.
But further tests are now being carried out.
Twenty five more people have died from Ebola in West Africa since July 3
The man had recently visited Sierra Leone and Guinea and was quarantined after showing signs of the virus.
In a statement on Tuesday, the WHO said the latest figures from health ministries in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea showed a total of 844 cases since the epidemic began in February.
Guinea’s ministry reported two deaths since 3 July but no new cases in the past week, the WHO said, calling the situation in the affected region of West Africa a “mixed picture”.
It said Sierra Leone had accounted for 34 of the new cases and 14 deaths, while Liberia reported 16 new cases and 9 deaths.
“These numbers indicate that active viral transmission continues in the community,” the statement said.
WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said the two main modes of transmission were people caring for sick relatives at home and people attending funerals of victims.
“If we don’t stop the transmission in the several hotspots in the three countries we will not be able to say that we control the outbreak,” she said.
Last week, health ministers from 11 West African countries adopted a common strategy to fight the outbreak.
At an emergency meeting in Ghana last Thursday, ministers promised better collaboration to fight what has become the world’s deadliest outbreak to date.
Under the new strategy, the WHO will open a sub-regional control centre in Guinea to co-ordinate technical support.
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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “drastic action” is needed to contain the spread of deadly Ebola in West Africa.
Nearly 400 people have died in the Ebola outbreak which started in Guinea and has spread to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia.
It is the largest outbreak in terms of cases, deaths and geographical spread.
The WHO said it was “gravely concerned” and there was potential for “further international spread”.
Nearly 400 people have died in the Ebola outbreak which started in Guinea and has spread to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia
The Ebola outbreak started four months ago and is continuing to spread.
So far there have been more than 600 cases and around 60% of those infected with the virus have died.
Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever, has no cure and is spread by contact with the fluids of infected people or animals, such as urine, sweat and blood.
Most of the deaths have been centered in the southern Guekedou region of Guinea.
The WHO has sent 150 experts to the region to help prevent the spread of the virus but admits “there has been significant increase in the number of daily reported cases and deaths”.
Dr. Luis Sambo, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said: “This is no longer a country-specific outbreak, but a sub-regional crisis that requires firm action.
“WHO is gravely concerned of the on-going cross-border transmission into neighboring countries as well as the potential for further international spread.
“There is an urgent need to intensify response efforts…this is the only way that the outbreak will be effectively addressed.”
The charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has already warned that the Ebola outbreak is out of control.
Ebola virus disease (EVD):
- Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
- Fatality rate can reach 90%
- Incubation period is two to 21 days
- There is no vaccine or cure
- Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhea and vomiting can help recovery
- Fruit bats are considered to be the natural host of the virus [youtube 2l9ung-07qU 650]
The number of deaths from the Ebola virus in Guinea has passed 100, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) says.
It was “one of the most challenging Ebola outbreaks we have ever dealt with” and could take another four months to contain, the WHO said.
The Ebola virus had now killed 101 people in Guinea and 10 in Liberia, it said.
Ebola is spread by close contact and kills between 25% and 90% of its victims.
Many West African states have porous borders, and people travel frequently between countries.
Southern Guinea is at the epicenter of the outbreak, with the first case reported last month.
The geographical spread of the outbreak is continuing to make it particularly challenging to contain – past outbreaks have involved much smaller areas.
The number of deaths from the Ebola virus in Guinea has passed 100 (photo Getty Images)
“We fully expect to be engaged in this outbreak for the next two to three to four months before we are comfortable that we are through it,” Keija Fukuda, WHO’s assistant director-general, said at a news briefing in Geneva, Reuters news agency reports.
The WHO said 157 suspected cases had been recorded in Guinea, including 20 in the capital, Conakry.
Sixty-seven of the cases have been confirmed as Ebola, it added.
In neighboring Liberia, 21 cases had been reported, with five confirmed as Ebola, the WHO said.
Mali had reported 9 suspected cases, but medical tests done so far showed that two of them did not have Ebola, it said.
Last week, Mali said it was on high alert because of fears of an outbreak of the tropical virus and it would tighten border controls.
Saudi Arabia has suspended visas for Muslim pilgrims from Guinea and Liberia, in a sign of the growing unease about the outbreak.
This is the first known outbreak in Guinea – most recent cases have been thousands of miles away in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
There is no known cure or vaccine for Ebola.
Ebola leads to haemorrhagic fever, causing muscle pain, weakness, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, organ failure and unstoppable bleeding.
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Liberia has confirmed the first two cases of Ebola, after spreading from neighboring Guinea, where the deadly virus has killed 78 people.
The two Liberian cases are sisters, one of whom had recently returned from Guinea, officials say.
As concern grows over the outbreak, Senegal has closed its normally busy border with Guinea.
Ebola is spread by close contact and kills between 25% and 90% of its victims.
Senegalese singer Youssou Ndour cancelled Saturday’s concert in Guinea’s capital Conakry because of the outbreak.
Liberia has confirmed the first two cases of Ebola, after spreading from neighboring Guinea
The outbreak began in Guinea’s remote south-eastern Forest Region but last week spread to the capital, a sprawling city of two million.
Senegal’s Health Minister Awa Marie Coll-Seck said the government decided to close its border with Guinea after confirmation the virus had reached Conakry.
“When it used to be only in the south of Guinea, we didn’t do anything special. But now that it’s reached Conakry, we believe it’s safer to close our borders,” she said.
“We have also closed all weekly markets, known as luma, in the south. And we’re having some discussions with religious leaders regarding big religious events.”
There have also been suspected cases of Ebola in neighboring Sierra Leone but these have not been confirmed.
The outbreak is believed to have spread to humans from fruit bats, which are a delicacy in parts of south-eastern Guinea.
The government has now banned the sale and consumption of the bats.
It has also urged people to ensure they regularly wash their hands with soap to prevent the virus from spreading.
Discovered in 1976 after an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, then Zaire, Ebola causes a severe haemorrhagic fever where victims suffer vomiting, diarrhoea and both internal and external bleeding.
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