WHO ‘wasted precious time’ over Ebola

The Belgian microbiologist who co-discovered the Ebola virus has accused the World Health Organization of dithering in reacting to the deadly epidemic and accused the international community of “hysteria.” Peter Piot said that while an initial delay in confirming the outbreak could be expected, there was no excuse for waiting a further five months before acknowledging the extent of the crisis… (read more)

Continue reading

Ebola costs Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone $2 billion: World Bank

WASHINGTON/MONROVIA – The World Bank on Tuesday pledged further assistance to Liberia, the country worst hit by Ebola, and revealed that the epidemic would cost more than $2 billion across the region, causing once-booming economies to slow down or shrink. The report comes as the World Bank Group’s president, Jim Yong Kim, begins a two-day visit to West Africa to discuss ways of addressing the outbreak, which has already killed more...

Continue reading

Ebola is crippling the economies of three countries

The international response to Ebola is still too slow and piecemeal, Doctors Without Borders warned Tuesday, as officials said the disease is crippling the economies of the three West African countries hardest hit. Ebola has infected nearly 17,000 people, of which about 6,000 have died, according to the World Health Organization. The vast majority of infections are in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, poor countries that have been left to handle...

Continue reading

Ebola Joke Triggers Passenger’s Removal From US Airways Flight

Call it a sign of the times: An airline passenger sneezes, makes a joke about Ebola and is quickly escorted from the plane by hazmat-suited personnel. That’s what reportedly happened aboard a US Airways flight that had landed in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, shortly after arriving from Philadelphia on Wednesday. Dominican press reports that the passenger said: “I have Ebola. You’re all screwed.”… (read more)

Continue reading

Ebola vaccine from Glaxo passes early safety test

(Reuters) – An experimental Ebola vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline caused no serious side effects and produced an immune response in all 20 healthy volunteers who received it in an early-stage clinical trial, scientists reported on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The trial, which began on Sept. 2 and will monitor the volunteers for 48 weeks, is primarily aimed at assessing how safe the vaccine is. But the immune response...

Continue reading

Trial Of 15-Minute Ebola Test To Start in Guinea

A portable test that can detect the Ebola virus in blood and saliva samples within 15 minutes will go through a trial run in coming weeks in Guinea, one of the three countries affected by the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, researchers announced Friday. The 15-minute test is roughly six times faster than currently available technologies. The trial will help researchers establish if the test can be scaled up and used more widely… (read...

Continue reading

Here’s How the Ebola Vaccine Trial Is Doing

University of Maryland scientists are figuring out what doses of the Ebola vaccine are effective and still safe Scientists are scurrying to get their Ebola vaccines through the necessary safety trials before they can be used widely. That includes the University of Maryland School of Medicine, which recently kicked off the latest step in their research: figuring out the appropriate dosing for the vaccine that’s both effective and safe… (read...

Continue reading

Notable Absence of New Ebola Quarantines at New York Area Airports

A day after a doctor who had returned from Guinea about a week earlier became New York’s first Ebola case, the governors of New York and New Jersey announced that they would begin quarantining travelers who had been in contact with Ebola patients in West Africa. The move, which went beyond federal policy, drew protests from medical aid groups and the Obama administration, who said it would penalize people who were trying to contain Ebola and discourage...

Continue reading

Who Will Pay Ebola Patients’ Medical Bills in the U.S.?

The arrival of Ebola in the United States this year led to an unprecedented medical response involving experimental drugs, round-the-clock care and layers upon layers of protective gear. And none of it has been cheap. Nine people have been treated for the virus in the U.S. since August. Seven recovered. The National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, which treated one of them, estimates treatment for patients diagnosed with Ebola costs $50,000...

Continue reading

World must learn lessons of Ebola to stop future epidemics, says Bill Gates

Microsoft founder warns MPs that international community must prepare for outbreaks of other, more transmissive diseases. The world has “a very significant chance” to halt the Ebola epidemic in west Africa, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has said. But speaking to MPs and peers in the Palace of Westminster Gates warned it was vital to learn the lessons from the current outbreak to ensure the world is ready for other, more virulent...

Continue reading