Home Tags Posts tagged with "who"
who
WHO Director of Strategy, Dr. Christopher Dye, has said in a recent interview that leading global health experts did not anticipate the scale of the Ebola outbreak.
He said the international response was helping but needed to continue.
Ebola is entrenched in the capitals of the worst-affected countries – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the WHO says.
The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 3,860 people in 2014, mainly in West Africa.
More than 200 health workers are among the victims.
Christopher Dye said that that although no-one was in a position to anticipate the scale of the current outbreak, the important thing was to look forward.
The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 3,860 people in 2014, mainly in West Africa
“We’ve asked for a response of about $1 billion; so far we have around $300 million with more being pledged, so a bit less than half of what we need but it’s climbing quickly all the time,” he told BBC.
In April 2014, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned of the potential spread of the virus, but the WHO played down the claims, saying that Ebola was neither an epidemic, nor was it unprecedented.
On October 10, MSF reported a sharp increase of Ebola cases in the Guinean capital, Conakry, dashing hopes that the disease was being stabilized there.
Meanwhile in Mali, an experimental serum is being tested on volunteer health workers.
The trial spans several countries, and the results will be sent to experts to determine whether it is able to protect against Ebola.
Meanwhile in Spain, seven more people are being monitored in hospital for Ebola.
They include two hairdressers who came into contact with Teresa Romero, a Madrid nurse who looked after an Ebola patient who had been repatriated from West Africa.
Teresa Romero is now reported to be gravely ill but stable.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that more Ebola cases can be expected among medical staff – even in developed countries with modern health care systems.
The WHO adviser, Prof. Peter Piot, said he was not surprised that a Spanish nurse had contracted the disease.
The nurse, Teresa Romero, is the first person known to have contracted the deadly virus outside West Africa.
She treated two Spanish missionaries who died of Ebola in Madrid.
Teresa Romero, a 40-year-old auxiliary nurse, had been part of a team of about 30 staff at the Carlos III hospital in Madrid looking after Manuel Garcia Viejo and Miguel Pajares when they were repatriated from Sierra Leone and Liberia respectively.
She remains in quarantine in the Spanish capital along with her husband and three other people.
A fifth person was admitted on Wednesday morning with a slight fever. She is said to be a friend of Teresa Romero and, like her, an auxiliary nurse in the Carlos III Ebola care unit.
In all, more than 50 people in Spain are under observation.
Teresa Romero told El Mundo on October 8 that she had followed the correct protocol and had “no idea” how she had become infected. She said she was feeling “a little better” but was very tired.
Officials say earlier she had twice gone into Manuel Garcia Viejo’s hospital room, first to treat him and later to disinfect the room after his death.
Spanish media say neighbors of the infected nurse have been calling emergency services, asking how to protect their children after sharing lifts and public spaces.
Prof. Peter Piot is a world specialist in Ebola brought in by the WHO as a scientific adviser
Promising “total transparency”, Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy appealed for calm while at the same time urging vigilance.
“Let the professionals do their work. Spain’s health system is one of the best in the world,” he told parliament on October 8.
In another development, Teresa Romero’s husband, Javier Limon, is reported to be fighting a court order to have their pet dog put down over fears that it could be carrying the disease. Animal rights groups have also criticized the move, saying there is no evidence that Ebola has been spread by dogs.
Some 3,400 people have died in the current Ebola outbreak with most of the deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
There have been nearly 7,500 confirmed Ebola infections worldwide, with officials saying the figure is likely to be much higher in reality.
WHO experts have insisted that modern hospitals with rigorous disease control measures would prevent infection – but the case of the Madrid nurse proves that is far more difficult than many thought.
Prof. Peter Piot, a world specialist in Ebola brought in by the WHO as a scientific adviser, warned that even the simplest movement, like rubbing your eyes, is a risk.
“The smallest mistake can be fatal,” he said.
“For example, a very dangerous moment is when you come out of the isolation unit you take off your protective gear, you are full of sweat and so on.”
Many of those who have died of Ebola in West Africa have been health care workers.
Meanwhile the US military is stepping up its efforts to respond to the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
[youtube vOTcfFiWhSY 650]
According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, the death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has passed 3,000.
The latest figures indicate that more than 6,500 people are believed to have been infected in the region.
Liberia is the worst affected country, having recorded around 1,830 deaths linked to the latest outbreak.
The Ebola outbreak is the world’s most deadly and President Barack Obama has called it a “threat to global security”.
Some studies have warned that the numbers of infected could rise to more than 20,000 by early November.
The WHO report said two new areas, in Guinea and Liberia, have recorded their first confirmed cases of Ebola in the last seven days.
It also highlights the risk of infection for health workers trying to stem the outbreak.
The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has passed 3,000
It says 375 workers are known to have been infected, and that 211 have so far died from the virus.
The deaths and sickness have made it even more difficult for the already weak healthcare systems in the affected countries to cope with the outbreak.
There is a severe shortage of hospital beds, especially in Liberia.
The US is sending some 3,000 troops to help Liberia tackle the disease, and set up emergency medical facilities.
Sierra Leone last weekend enforced a three-day lockdown in an attempt to quell the outbreak in the country.
During the curfew more than a million households were surveyed and 130 new cases discovered, the authorities say.
On September 24, Sierra Leone extended the quarantine area to three new districts, meaning more than a third of the country’s six million people cannot move freely.
Some 600 people have died in Sierra Leone and a similar number in Guinea, where the outbreak was first confirmed in March.
Nigeria and Senegal, two other West Africa countries that have also been affected by the Ebola outbreak, have not recorded any new cases or deaths in the last few weeks, the latest WHO report says.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Ebola infections will treble to 20,000 by November if efforts to tackle the outbreak are not stepped up.
A new analysis suggests about 70% of those infected have died, higher than the 50% previously reported.
There have been 2,800 deaths so far and the disease remains “a public health emergency of international concern”, the UN agency said.
Trials of experimental drugs are being fast tracked in West Africa.
Meanwhile, more information on the spread and likely scale of the epidemic has emerged.
Projections published in The New England Journal of Medicine suggest by early November there will have been nearly 20,000 cases.
A new analysis of confirmed cases suggests death rates are higher than previously reported at about 70% of all cases.
The WHO has warned that Ebola infections will treble to 20,000 by November 2014 if efforts to tackle the outbreak are not stepped up
And WHO scientists said numbers were predicted to rise exponentially, raising the possibility that the disease could become endemic [regularly found] in West Africa.
Nearly all of the deaths in the world’s worst Ebola outbreak have been recorded in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Dr. Christopher Dye, Director of Strategy for WHO, said projections suggest “unless control measures – including improvements in contract tracing, adequate case isolation, increased quality of care and capacity for clinical management, greater community engagement, and support from international partners – improve quickly, these three countries will soon be reporting thousands of cases and deaths each week”.
Dr. Christopher Dye, co-author of the study, called for “the most forceful implementation of present control measures and for the rapid development and deployment of new drugs and vaccines”.
It came as The Wellcome Trust charity announced that experimental drugs would be tested in West Africa for the first time.
Several drugs are under development, but they have not been fully tested and most are in very short supply.
They include the drug ZMapp, which has been given to a handful of infected health workers.
Dr. Peter Horby, of the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health at the University of Oxford, said the first trials could begin in West Africa as early as November.
Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said therapeutics alone were not an answer.
UN’s Ebola co-ordinator David Nabarro has said that more than $1 billion is needed to fight the West Africa Ebola outbreak – a tenfold increase in the past month.
David Nabarro made the announcement as the World Health Organization (WHO) described the health crisis as “unparalleled in modern times”.
The Ebola virus has killed 2,461 people this year, half of the 4,985 infected, the global health body said.
There has been criticism of the slow international response to the epidemic.
Later, President Barack Obama is to announce plans to send 3,000 troops to Liberia, one of countries worst-affected by the outbreak, to help fight the virus.
It is understood the US military will oversee building new treatment centers and help train medical staff.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) called on other countries to follow the US lead as the response to outbreak continued to fall “dangerously behind”.
The outbreak began in Guinea before spreading to its neighbors Sierra Leone and Liberia.
More than $1 billion is needed to fight the West Africa Ebola outbreak (photo AFP)
Nigeria and Senegal have reported some cases, but seem to have contained the transmission of the virus.
“We requested about $100 million a month ago and now it is $1 billion, so our ask has gone up 10 times in a month,” David Nabarro told a briefing in Geneva.
“Because of the way the outbreak is advancing, the level of surge we need to do is unprecedented, it is massive.”
At the briefing WHO deputy head Bruce Aylward announced the new Ebola case figures.
“Quite frankly, ladies and gentlemen, this health crisis we’re facing is unparalleled in modern times. We don’t know where the numbers are going on this,” he said.
When the WHO had said it needed the capacity to manage 20,000 cases two weeks ago “that seemed like a lot”, Dr. Bruce Aylward said.
“That does not seem like a lot today,” he added.
At the same briefing, MSF president Joanne Liu said there needed to be “co-ordinated response, organized and executed under clear chain of command”.
Sick people in the Liberian capital were banging on the doors of MSF Ebola care centers desperate for a safe place in which to be isolated, Dr. Joanne Liu said.
“Tragically, our teams must turn them away; we simply do not have enough capacity for them,” Dr. Joanne Liu said.
“Highly infectious people are forced to return home, only to infect others and continue the spread of this deadly virus. All for a lack of international response.”
On September 16, the WHO welcomed China’s pledge to send a mobile laboratory team to Sierra Leone, which will include epidemiologists, clinicians and nurses.
“The most urgent immediate need in the Ebola response is for more medical staff,” WHO head Margaret Chan said in the statement.
[youtube q1jI3mp6yn8 650]
According to the World Health Organization, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed 2,288 people, with half of them dying in the last three weeks.
The WHO said that 47% of the deaths and 49% of the total 4,269 cases had come in the 21 days leading up to September 6.
It also warned that thousands more cases could occur in Liberia, which has had the most fatalities.
The Ebola outbreak, which was first reported in Guinea in March this year, has also spread to Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
In Nigeria, eight people have died out of 21 cases, while one case of Ebola has been confirmed in Senegal, the WHO said in its latest update.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed 2,288 people, with half of them dying in the last three weeks
On Monday, the agency called on organizations combating the outbreak in Liberia to scale up efforts to control the outbreak “three-to-four fold”.
Ebola spreads between humans by direct contact with infected blood, bodily fluids or organs, or indirectly through contact with contaminated environments.
However, the WHO says conventional means of controlling the outbreak, which include avoiding close physical contact with those infected and wearing personal protective equipment, were not working well in Liberia.
Meanwhile, the US says it will help the African Union mobilize 100 African health workers to the region and contribute an additional $10 million in funds to deal with the outbreak.
The announcement comes as a fourth US aid worker infected with the deadly virus was transported to a hospital in Atlanta for treatment.
Two other aid workers who were treated at the same hospital have since recovered from an Ebola infection.
[youtube NKLtXDfdWX0 650]
According to a significant report by the World Health Organization (WHO), a person dies by taking their own life every 40 seconds.
The WHO said suicide was a “major public health problem” that was too often shrouded in taboo.
The UN health agency wants to reduce the rate of suicide by 10% by 2020, but warned just that 28 countries have a national suicide prevention strategy.
Campaigners said there needed to be more education in schools.
The WHO analyzed 10 years of research and data on suicide from around the world.
It concluded:
- Around 800,000 people kill themselves every year
- It was the second leading cause of death in young people, aged 15 to 29
- Those over 70 were the most likely to take their own lives
- Three-quarters of these deaths were in low and middle income countries
- In richer countries, three times as many men as women die by suicide
It said limiting access to firearms and toxic chemicals was shown to reduce rates of suicide.
The WHO wants to reduce the rate of suicide by 10 percent by 2020 (photo Wikipedia)
And that introducing a national strategy for reducing suicides was effective yet had been developed in only a minority of countries.
Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of the World Health Organization, said: “This report is a call for action to address a large public health problem, which has been shrouded in taboo for far too long.”
Social stigma attached to mental health disorders is known to stop people seeking help and can ultimately lead to suicide.
The WHO also attacked the reporting of suicide in the media, such as the details revealed about the death of Hollywood actor Robin Williams.
There was also a call for countries to provide more support for people who had previously made a suicide attempt as they were the most at-risk group.
Dr. Alexandra Fleischmann, a scientist in the department of mental health and substance abuse at WHO, said: “No matter where a country currently stands in suicide prevention, effective measures can be taken, even just starting at local level and on a small-scale.”
[youtube 8NVBMfdP1Ww 650]
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa could infect more than 20,000 people before it is brought under control.
The WHO said the number of cases could already be four times higher than the 3,000 currently registered.
It also called on airlines to resume “vital” flights across the region, saying travel bans were threatening efforts to beat the epidemic.
So far, 1,552 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria have died.
Announcing a WHO action plan to deal with the outbreak, Bruce Aylward said “the actual number of cases may be 2-4 fold higher than that currently reported” in some areas.
The WHO assistant director-general said the possibility of 20,000 cases “is a scale that I think has not ever been anticipated in terms of an Ebola outbreak”.
“That’s not saying we expect 20,000… but we have got to have a system in place that we can deal with robust numbers,” he added.
The WHO plan calls for $489 million to be spent over the next nine months and requires 750 international workers and 12,000 national workers across West Africa.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa could infect more than 20,000 people before it is brought under control (photo AFP)
On August 28, Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola death outside Lagos, with an infected doctor in the oil hub of Port Harcourt dying from the disease.
Operations have not yet been affected in Africa’s biggest oil producer, but a spokesman for Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary said they were “monitoring the Ebola outbreak very closely”.
Health ministers from across West Africa are meeting in Ghana at an extraordinary meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to discuss how to prevent the virus from spreading further.
Officials at the ECOWAS session backed the WHO’s call for flight bans to be ended and called for states to reopen their borders to make it easier for health workers to access affected areas.
Earlier Bruce Aylward insisted bans on travel and trade would not stop the spread of Ebola, saying they were “more likely to compromise the ability to respond”.
Despite rumors to the contrary, the Ebola virus is not airborne and is spread by humans coming into contact with bodily fluids, such as sweat and blood, from those infected with virus.
Medical agencies in West Africa are struggling to cope with an increasing number of cases and growing hostility from communities in certain affected areas.
Efforts to prevent the virus spreading are unlikely to see any results given that most treatment centers are already operating at full capacity.
Meanwhile, British medical charity Wellcome Trust and pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said safety trials on an experimental Ebola vaccine are being fast-tracked.
GSK says it plans to build up a stockpile of up to 10,000 doses for emergency deployment if results from the trials, which could begin as soon as next month, are good.
[youtube Os3mtqbG2u4 650]
According to the World Health Organization, the scale of the Ebola outbreak appears to be “vastly underestimated”, as the death toll from the disease reaches 1,069.
The WHO said its staff had seen evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths do not reflect the scale of the crisis.
The UN health agency said in a statement that “extraordinary measures” were needed.
The outbreak began in Guinea in February and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
However, the WHO said the risk of transmission of Ebola during air travel remained low, as the disease is not airborne.
As a consequence, Kenya Airways has rejected pressure to suspend its flights to the Ebola-hit states of West Africa.
The Ebola virus death toll reaches 1,069 in West Africa (photo AP)
The WHO said the outbreak was expected to continue “for some time”.
“Staff at the outbreak sites see evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak,” its statement said.
“WHO is co-ordinating a massive scaling up of the international response.”
Part of the challenge was the fact that the outbreak was in “settings characterized by extreme poverty, dysfunctional health systems, a severe shortage of doctors and rampant fear”, the WHO added.
Two people have died in Nigeria after drinking a salt solution rumored to prevent Ebola infection.
Text messages began circulating in Nigeria towards the end of last week recommending that people drink and bath in a salt solution as a way to stop getting the virus, for which there is no cure or vaccine.
Despite the health minister scotching the rumor, many people have been admitted into hospital after drinking salt water.
Ebola 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.
[youtube jcsIiqr6Wlw 650]
Canada will donate up to 1,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine to help battle the disease’s outbreak in West Africa.
The announcement comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was ethical to use untested drugs on Ebola patients.
However, experts say supplies of both the vaccine, and experimental drug ZMapp are limited and it could take months to develop more supplies.
More than 1,000 people have been killed by the current outbreak.
Canada says between 800 and 1,000 doses of the vaccine, which has only been tested on animals, will be donated to the WHO for use in West Africa.
However, it will keep a small portion of the vaccine for research, and in case it is needed in Canada.
The current outbreak has infected people in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.
Canada will donate up to 1,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine to help battle the disease’s outbreak in West Africa (photo WHO)
Dr. Gregory Taylor, deputy head of Canada’s Public Health Agency, said he saw the vaccines as a “global resource”.
He said he had been advised that it would make sense for health care workers to be given the vaccine, given their increased risk of contracting the disease.
Even if Canada releases most of its existing doses, experts warn it could take four to six months to make a quantity large enough to have any real impact at preventing the illness.
On Tuesday, the WHO said that in light of scale of the outbreak and high number of deaths, it was “ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet unknown efficacy and adverse effects, as potential treatment or prevention.”
Last week the WHO declared the Ebola outbreak was a global health emergency.
Liberia says it is getting an experimental drug, ZMapp, after requests to the US government.
However, the WHO said there were only 12 doses.
ZMapp maker Mapp Biopharmaceutical said on Tuesday: “The available supply of ZMapp has been exhausted. We have complied with every request for ZMapp that had the necessary legal/regulatory authorization.
“Drug has been provided at no cost in all cases.”
ZMapp has been used on two US aid workers, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who have shown signs of improvement, although it is not certain what role the medication played in this.
A Roman Catholic priest, infected with Ebola in Liberia, who died after returning home to Spain is also thought to have been given the drug.
Ebola’s initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external hemorrhaging 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.
[youtube 11B1NPvvYnE 650]
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that untested drugs can be used to treat patients infected with the Ebola virus.
The WHO said it was ethical in light of the scale of the outbreak and high number of deaths – more than 1,000 people have died in West Africa.
The statement was made after its medical experts met in Switzerland on Monday to discuss the issue.
However, officials warned there were very limited supplies of potential treatments.
The WHO said where experimental treatments are used there must be informed consent and the results of the treatment collected and shared.
The WHO says it is ethical to use untested drugs to treat patients infected with the Ebola virus
In a statement, it said: “In the particular circumstances of this outbreak, and provided certain conditions are met, the panel reached consensus that it is ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet unknown efficacy and adverse effects, as potential treatment or prevention.”
However, the organization conceded there were still many questions to be answered including how data could be gathered effectively while the focus remained on providing good medical care.
It was also unclear where the funding for the treatment would come from.
Last week the WHO declared the Ebola outbreak was a global health emergency.
The move came as Liberia said it was getting an experimental drug, ZMapp, after requests to the US government.
The WHO said there were only 12 doses.
ZMapp has been used on two US aid workers, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who have shown signs of improvement, although it is not certain what role the medication played in this.
A Roman Catholic priest, infected with Ebola in Liberia, who died after returning home to Spain is also thought to have been given the drug.
However, the drug has only been tested on monkeys and has not yet been evaluated for safety in humans.
There is no cure for Ebola, which has infected at least 1,779 people since the outbreak was first reported in Guinea in February.
The Liberian government said it was aware of the risks associated with ZMapp, but the alternative was to allow many more people to die.
[youtube KtScTYq4YKI 650]
The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak an international health emergency.
WHO officials said a coordinated international response was essential to stop and reverse the spread of the virus.
The announcement came after experts convened a two-day emergency meeting in Switzerland.
The WHO has declared the spread of Ebola in West Africa an international health emergency (photo Getty Images)
So far more than 960 people have died from Ebola in West Africa this year.
The WHO said the outbreak was an “extraordinary event”.
“The possible consequences of further international spread are particularly serious in view of the virulence of the virus,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
More than 1,700 cases of Ebola have been reported in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
WHO director-general Dr. Margaret Chan appealed for help for the countries hit by the “most complex outbreak in the four decades of this disease”.
Dr. Margaret Chan said there would be no general ban on international travel or trade.
[youtube LTepwDL5ar4 650]
[youtube U67NUm-CYXw 650]
[youtube ITW1beblwXc 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.”
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.
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.
[youtube ohpE4sC_YlI 650]
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned over the spread of polio as the disease becomes an international public health emergency.
Outbreaks in Asia, Africa and Middle East are an “extraordinary event” needing a coordinated “international response”, the WHO said.
The WHO said polio outbreaks in Asia, Africa and Middle East are an extraordinary event needing a coordinated international response
The agency recommends citizens of affected countries travelling abroad carry a vaccination certificate.
The conditions for a public health emergency of “international concern” were met, said the WHO’s Bruce Aylward.
Bruce Aylward, WHO Assistant Director General, was speaking after an emergency meeting in Geneva on the spread of polio which included representatives of the affected countries.
“The international spread of polio to date in 2014 constitutes an <<extraordinary event>> and a public health risk to other states for which a co-ordinated international response is essential,” the WHO’s Emergency Committee said in statement.
“If unchecked, this situation could result in failure to eradicate globally one of the world’s most serious vaccine preventable diseases.”
“Pakistan, Cameroon, and the Syrian Arab Republic pose the greatest risk of further wild poliovirus exportations in 2014,” the WHO says.
The WHO lists Afghanistan, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Somalia and Nigeria as “posing an ongoing risk for new wild poliovirus exportations in 2014”.
According to new World Health Organization (WHO) guidance, people should halve the amount of sugar in their diet.
The recommended sugar intake will stay at below 10% of total calorie intake a day, with 5% the target, says the WHO.
The suggested limits apply to all sugars added to food, as well as sugar naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit concentrates.
The recommendation that sugar should account for no more than 10% of the calories in the diet, was passed in 2002.
It works out at about 50g a day for an adult of normal weight, said the WHO.
The WHO recommended sugar intake will stay at below 10 percent of total calorie intake a day, with 5 percent the target
However, a number of experts now think 10% is too high, amid rising obesity levels around the world.
Announcing the new draft measures, the WHO said in a statement: “WHO’s current recommendation, from 2002, is that sugars should make up less than 10% of total energy intake per day.
“The new draft guideline also proposes that sugars should be less than 10% of total energy intake per day.
“It further suggests that a reduction to below 5% of total energy intake per day would have additional benefits.”
Dr. Francesco Branca, WHO’s nutrition director, told a news conference that the 10% target was a “strong recommendation” while the 5% target was “conditional”, based on current evidence.
“We should aim for 5% if we can,” he added.
The plans will now go for public consultation, with firm recommendations expected this summer.
Prev12Page 2 of 2
