Home Tags Posts tagged with "liberia"
liberia
Kenya is closing its borders to travelers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in response to the deadly Ebola outbreak.
The health secretary said Kenyans and medical workers flying in from those states would still be allowed in.
Kenyan Airways says it will stop flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone when the ban comes in on Wednesday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says Kenya is at “high risk” from Ebola because it is a major transport hub.
The epidemic began in Guinea in February and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
On Friday, the death toll rose to 1,145 after the WHO said 76 new deaths had been reported in the two days to August 13. There have been 2,127 cases reported in total.
Earlier, Kenya’s health ministry said four suspected cases of Ebola in the country had tested negative for the virus.
The cases had involved a Liberian national and two Nigerians who had recently travelled to Kenya as well as a Zimbabwean.
Kenya is closing its borders to travelers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in response to the deadly Ebola outbreak
Kenya Airways said it had decided to cancel flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone’s capitals after advice from Kenya’s government.
It said all passengers booked on the suspended flights would get a full refund.
Kenya Airways said its flights to Nigeria were not affected by the suspension.
Announcing the government’s decision, Kenyan Health Minister James Macharia said it was “in the interest of public health”.
James Macharia warned that Kenyans and health workers who had returned from the three west African states would face “strict checks” and would be quarantined if necessary.
On Friday, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said the Ebola outbreak would take at least six months to bring under control.
MSF President Joanne Liu said the situation was “deteriorating faster, and moving faster, than we can respond to”.
The WHO also admitted that the scale of the outbreak appeared to be “vastly underestimated” and said “extraordinary measures” were needed to contain it.
The Ebola disease is transmitted by direct contact with the body fluids of a person who is infected.
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external hemorrhaging from areas such as eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.
The WHO says the risk of transmission of Ebola during air travel remains low.
[youtube 5egWQUPH-pk 650]
Liberia will receive ZMapp, an untested experimental Ebola drug, to treat infected patients, the government announces.
The move came after a request to the US from Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the government said.
The news came as medical ethics specialists met in Geneva to explore the use of such new treatments.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which is hosting the meeting, says some 1,013 have died from Ebola in West Africa.
US government officials said their role had been to put Liberian officials in contact with ZMapp maker Mapp Biopharmaceutical.
The pharmaceutical company said its supply of the drug was exhausted after its supplies were sent to West Africa, AFP news agency reported.
Liberia will receive an untested experimental drug, Zmapp, to treat people infected with Ebola
The drug was “provided at no cost in all cases,” the company added.
ZMapp has been used in the US on two aid workers who have shown signs of improvement, and a Roman Catholic priest, infected with Ebola in Liberia, who is currently being treated in a hospital in Madrid.
However, the drug has only been tested on monkeys and has not been yet evaluatd for safety in humans.
The WHO will announce the outcome of its emergency meeting on the role of experimental drugs on Tuesday.
Earlier, Ivory Coast announced it had banned all passenger flights from the three countries hit the worst by the spread of Ebola: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
It is the second country, after Saudi Arabia, to impose such a ban in a bid to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
There is no cure for Ebola, which has infected at least 1,779 people since the outbreak was first reported in Guinea in February.
Ebola’s initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure. Patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.
Meanwhile, China has sent medical supplies worth 30 million yuan ($4.9 million) to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to help fight against the disease.
Separately, the Chinese ambassador to Sierra Leone said on Monday that eight Chinese medical workers who had been treating Ebola patients had been placed in quarantine for the past two weeks in the capital.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, confirmed a 10th case of Ebola on August 11.
[youtube Zwl71kviptk 650]
Guinea has decided to close its borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone to contain the spread of Ebola, which has killed 959 people in the three countries.
The latest Ebola outbreak is thought to have begun in Guinea, but Liberia and Sierra Leone are currently facing the highest frequency of new cases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday the spread of the virus was a global health emergency.
The Ebola virus is transmitted between humans through bodily fluids.
Animals such as fruit bats carry the virus, which can be transmitted to humans through contact with blood or consumption of bushmeat.
In recent weeks, countries around the world have advised their citizens not to travel to the affected countries.
The infections have spread to Nigeria, which has recorded two deaths and several more cases.
The total number of cases in the current outbreak stands at 1,779, the WHO said on Friday.
The most recent figures from August 5 and 6 showed 68 new cases and 29 deaths.
Guinea has decided to close its borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone to contain the spread of Ebola
They included 26 new cases in Sierra Leone and 38 in Liberia, but no new cases in Guinea, where the outbreak began.
Guinea said it was closing its borders in order to stop people from entering the country.
“We have provisionally closed the frontier between Guinea and Sierra Leone because of all the news that we have received from there recently,” Health Minister Remy Lamah told a news conference.
Remy Lamah added that Guinea had also closed its border with Liberia.
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have already declared varying levels of emergency over the spread of the virus.
The most intense outbreak in Guinea was located in the region along the border with Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The WHO had said the worst-affected area, which straddles the borders between the three countries, would be isolated and treated as a “unified zone”.
It is not clear what effect Guinea’s announcement will have on the strategy.
The WHO said a co-ordinated response was essential.
The Ebola virus was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976.
Experts say the current outbreak is unusual because it started in Guinea, which has never before been affected, and is spreading to urban areas.
[youtube 4FAlu6u9oH0 650]
A New York man who was admitted to hospital with a high fever and stomach problems after travelling through West Africa has tested negative for Ebola.
The patient in New York had been isolated shortly after arriving at Mount Sinai hospital on Monday.
An outbreak in West Africa has killed more than 900 people and a state of emergency has been declared in Liberia.
The US infectious disease agency is now operating at its highest emergency response in order to free up resources.
Ebola is one of the deadliest diseases known to humans, with a fatality rate in this outbreak of between 50% and 60%.
The Ebola suspected patient has been isolated shortly after arriving at Mount Sinai hospital
It is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of Ebola patients showing symptoms.
Two other Americans infected with Ebola were flown this week from Liberia to a hospital in Atlanta to receive treatment.
They are reportedly improving after receiving an experimental drug called ZMapp, produced by a firm in San Diego, but it is unclear if the drug is responsible for their improving health.
At least one country involved in the outbreak is interested in the drug.
Nigeria’s health minister, Onyenbuchi Chukwu, said at a news conference that he had asked US health officials about access. Nigeria has seen seven confirmed cases.
Officials said the manufacturer would have to agree. A spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said director Dr. Tom Frieden “conveyed there are virtually no doses available”.
Dr. Tom Frieden was expected to testify in front of Congress about the outbreak on Thursday.
The treatment, tested only in animals, boosts the immune system’s ability to fight off Ebola through antibodies made by lab animals exposed to elements of the virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has planned to convene a panel of medical ethicists next week to discuss the ramifications of using an untested drug.
In a statement, it said the use of ZMapp “has raised questions about whether medicine that has never been tested and shown to be safe in people should be used in the outbreak and, given the extremely limited amount of medicine available, if it is used, who should receive it”.
Some public health officials were wary of ramping up production of the drug at the expense of traditional isolation and testing measures.
Peter Piot, who co-discovered the virus in 1976, and two other Ebola experts, urged the drug be made more widely available.
The FDA has separately given the US defense department an emergency authorization to use an Ebola diagnostic test overseas.
It will be used in labs designated by the defense department to respond to the Ebola outbreak.
[youtube PMEdAYrU6AE 650]
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.
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.
[youtube z4Wz5pOmvVw 650]
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.
[youtube -fQemtp6l1g 650]
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.
[youtube Y8iioMkNsHg 650]
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.
[youtube rTUcxTgkpQc 650]
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.
[youtube QPpvwd3woFw 650]
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.
[youtube GGFhxmEoQNU 650]
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.
[youtube P0V87ocADzI 650]
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.
[youtube rRvDpW6pnMY 650]
[youtube a7zYnW80TqQ 650]
Prev12Page 2 of 2
