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New Ebola Cases Surface in “Ebola Free” Liberia: “The Threat Remains”
New Ebola Cases Surface in “Ebola Free” Liberia: “The Threat Remains”
The threat from ebola remains quite real, and there is legitimate concern over whether or not the world’s health experts are really capable of containing it.
The West African nation of Liberia has once again been reminded that it must remain vigilant and mindful of the terrible power that ebola has in its capacity to transform into a deadly epidemic.
Just months after being declared ebola free – twice now – the country has again been plagued by new cases.
Authorities aren’t sure how the recent outbreak of ebola happened, but know that it could once again be spreading. Live Science reports:
The death of a 15-year-old boy from Ebola in Liberia — a country that has been declared free of the disease twice — raises the question of why cases are still popping up in the country, experts say.
The teenager, who died Tuesday (Nov. 24), tested positive for the disease last week. His brother and father are also infected, and more than 150 people with whom the boy may have come into contact are now being monitored, according to Reuters.
“This is concerning and somewhat surprising,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease specialist and a senior associate at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Center for Health Security.
Among other factors, health workers learned during the most recent outbreaks that the virus for ebola can turn up in sperm long after the ordinary incubation period and/or recovery, and can be spread through sexual contact – even six months later:
Ebola could be sexually transmitted as much as six months or more after a patient has fully recovered from the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have now warned based on recent findings. Until further notice, the agencies said, Ebola survivors should make sure they use safer sex practices, such as those effective at protecting against the transmission of HIV.
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Ebola outbreak: Virus mutating, scientists warn
Ebola outbreak: Virus mutating, scientists warn
Scientists tracking the Ebola outbreak in Guinea say the virus has mutated.
Researchers at the Institut Pasteur in France, which first identified the outbreak last March, are investigating whether it could have become more contagious.
More than 22,000 people have been infected with Ebola and 8,795 have died in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Scientists are starting to analyse hundreds of blood samples from Ebola patients in Guinea.
They are tracking how the virus is changing and trying to establish whether it’s able to jump more easily from person to person
“We know the virus is changing quite a lot,” said human geneticist Dr Anavaj Sakuntabhai.
“That’s important for diagnosing (new cases) and for treatment. We need to know how the virus (is changing) to keep up with our enemy.”
It’s not unusual for viruses to change over a period time. Ebola is an RNA virus – like HIV and influenza – which have a high rate of mutation. That makes the virus more able to adapt and raises the potential for it to become more contagious.
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RT trails Ebola’s path of devastation in Liberia
RT trails Ebola’s path of devastation in Liberia
Behind the stark headlines of the Ebola outbreak, which has killed thousands of people in Western Africa, are endless tales of hope and courage as average people do what they can to help others.
On March 31, 2014, the West African country of Liberia confirmed its first two cases of Ebola. One month later, six people had already succumbed to the deadly disease and dozens more were infected. Some of the fatalities included unsuspecting doctors, who initially thought their patients were suffering from malaria.
READ MORE: Charity reviews Ebola safety procedures, UK nurse in ‘critical condition’
RT met with members of the Liberian Red Cross, many of them volunteers with little or no previous medical experience who, nevertheless, want to do what they can to help their country in this time of emergency.
alvin, for example, is an artist who used to decorate the tombstones of Ebola victims before the government started cremating the bodies out of safety concerns. As he and several other Red Cross volunteers prepare to remove a body of an Ebola victim from a street in Monrovia, the Liberian capital, Malvin explains that his work is for the living not the dead.
He tells relatives and friends of the Ebola victims, “If you keep the body of a [Ebola victim] in your house for 2, 3, 4 days, even the community will get concerned. So we talk to them and calm them down so we can remove the body.”
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Ebola death toll in three African countries hits 7,373: WHO | Reuters
Ebola death toll in three African countries hits 7,373: WHO | Reuters.
The death toll from Ebola in the three worst-affected countries in West Africa has risen to 7,373 among 19,031 cases known to date there, the World Health Organization said on Saturday.
The latest data, posted overnight on the WHO website, reflected nearly 500 new deaths from the worst ever outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since previous WHO figures were issued on Dec. 17.
Sierra Leone accounts for the most cases, 8,759, against 7,819 for Liberia. But Sierra Leone’s death toll of 2,477 is far less than 3,346 recorded in Liberia, leading some experts to question the credibility of the figures reported by Freetown.
Sierra Leone’s government this week launched a major operation to contain the epidemic in West Africa’s worst-hit country.
President Ernest Bai Koroma said on national television that travel between all parts of the country had been restricted as part of “Operation Western Area Surge”, and public gatherings would be strictly controlled in the run-up to Christmas.
Ebola outbreak: Sierra Leone to search house-to-house for patients – World – CBC News
Ebola outbreak: Sierra Leone to search house-to-house for patients – World – CBC News.
Sierra Leone said it would start house-to-house searches for Ebola patients on Wednesday and impose internal travel restrictions as part of a new push to combat the epidemic.
Health workers will seek Ebola victims and anyone with whom they have had contact, transporting those infected to new British-built treatment centres, according to a government plan announced this week.
Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia are at the heart of the world’s worst recorded outbreak of Ebola. Rates of infection are rising fastest in Sierra Leone and the country has more than half of the 18,000 confirmed cases of the virus.
- CBC’s Ebola coverage
- Ebola outbreak: Mali’s last known case released
- Canadian-developed Ebola vaccine trial suspended
President Ernest Bai Koroma said that under the measures, worshippers on Christmas Day must return home after services, and other festivities are banned. New Year’s Eve services must stop by 5 p.m. local time, while New Year’s Day festivities are prohibited.
“This is the festive season where Sierra Leoneans often celebrate with families in a flamboyant and joyous manner, but all must be reminded that our country is at war with a vicious enemy,” he said in a nationwide address.
BBC News – Ebola outbreak: Virus still ‘running ahead of us’, says WHO
BBC News – Ebola outbreak: Virus still ‘running ahead of us’, says WHO.
The Ebola virus that has killed thousands in West Africa is still “running ahead” of efforts to contain it, the head of the World Health Organization has said.
Director general Margaret Chan said the situation had improved in some parts of the worst-affected countries, but she warned against complacency.
The risk to the world “is always there” while the outbreak continues, she said.
She said the WHO and the international community failed to act quickly enough.
The death toll in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone stands at 6,331. More than 17,800 people have been infected, according to the WHO.
“In Liberia we are beginning to see some good progress, especially in Lofa county [close to where the outbreak first started] and the capital,” said Dr Chan.
Cases in Guinea and Sierra Leone were “less severe” than a couple of months ago, but she said “we are still seeing large numbers of cases”.
‘Hunting the virus’
Dr Chan said: “It’s not as bad as it was in September. But going forward we are now hunting the virus, chasing after the virus. Hopefully we can bring [the number of cases] down to zero.”
The official figures do not show the entire picture of the outbreak. In August, the WHO said the numbers were “vastly under-estimated”, due to people not reporting illnesses and deaths from Ebola.
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Liberia to end Ebola state of emergency – Africa – Al Jazeera English
Liberia to end Ebola state of emergency – Africa – Al Jazeera English.
President Sirleaf says while country has made progress against virus, more still needs to be done to end the epidemic.
Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said that she would not seek an extension to a state of emergency imposed in August over Ebola.
Her announcement on Thursday is a sign of progress in the fight against the disease, which has killed more than 2,800 people in Liberia since breaking out in West Africa in March.
“Thus, having consulted relevant stakeholders, the national health team and partners, I have informed the leadership of the National Legislature that I will not seek an extension to the State of Emergency,” Sirleaf told a news briefing in the capital Monrovia.
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