Health News – Page 17

Mutating Ebola Virus Warning: Medical Microbiologist says it’s already changing

Written on December 9, 2014. Posted in Health News, Science News.

While the numbers surrounding the Ebola epidemic in West Africa are scary enough — the death toll is nearing 5,000, and a possible infection rate of 50,000 has been forecast —mutation, a single word, may be more worrisome than all of the virus’s epidemiological statistics put together. According to medical microbiologist Michael McCann, Ph.D., professor of biology and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Saint Joseph’s University...

Liberians Urged to Travel Last Mile to Beat Ebola

Written on December 9, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Government News, Health News.

Liberia’s president is urging her countrymen to travel the “very difficult last mile” to rid remote areas of Ebola. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has set the goal of stopping Ebola transmission by the end of the year, a target that appears unrealistic but may be useful as a way to ensure people don’t get complacent as infection rates stabilize in Liberia. There are concerns that, as the disease retreats, lax hygiene practices...

Sierra Leone Doctors protest after 10 colleagues die from Ebola

Written on December 9, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Health News, Science News, World News.

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Junior doctors in Sierra Leone went on strike Monday to demand better treatment for health workers who become infected withEbola, a health official said. The association representing junior doctors asked the government to make sure life-saving equipment, like dialysis machines, is available to treat infected doctors. The government has promised that a special treatment unit for health care workers will open...

Liberia no longer top of Ebola list, Sierra Leone ‘Out of control’

Written on December 9, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Government News, Health News, World News.

Sierra Leone is struggling to contain the deadliest-ever Ebola outbreak. Sierra Leone has overtaken neighbouring Liberia as the country with the highest number of Ebola cases, the latest World Health Organization figures suggest. Its latest estimate of the cumulative number of cases since the start of the outbreak in March now stands at 7,780 in Sierra Leone and 7,719 in Liberia. In Guinea, the figure is 2,283. The virus has killed more than 6,300...

U.S. Dept of Health gives immunity to Ebola Vaccine manufacturers

Written on December 9, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Business News, Health News, Science News, World News.

(Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday offered liability protections to drugmakers rushing to develop Ebola vaccines and urged other countries to follow suit. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell made the announcement as part of the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act in a move aimed at encouraging the development and availability of experimental Ebola vaccines. The...

Using Survivors’ Blood in Attempt to Treat Ebola?

Written on December 8, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Health News, World News.

Dr. Bakary Oularé in Conakry, Guinea, has founded an association to assist those who survived the virus. TK By BETSY MCKAY in Atlanta, DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS in Conakry, Guinea, and PATRICK MCGROARTY in Monrovia, Liberia Achille Guémou was one of three health workers to survive Ebola after becoming infected in late August while performing a caesarean section on a woman who had the disease but hadn’t yet been diagnosed. Now, the 44-year-old...

Dallas ER Doctor missed signs of Ebola

Written on December 8, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Health News, USA News.

The Dallas emergency-room doctor who missed signs of Ebola in a Liberian man who later became the fist to die of the disease in the U.S. is telling his story for the first time. Dr. Joseph Howard Meier told The Dallas Morning News that when he treatedThomas Eric Duncan in the early morning hours of Sept. 26, he was unaware that Duncan had recently arrived from a country ravaged by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. He also said he did not realize...

Third member of U.N. mission in Liberia contracts Ebola

Written on December 5, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Health News, Travel, World News.

REUTERS/James Giahyue MONROVIA, Dec 5 (Reuters) – A U.N. peacekeeper in Liberia has contracted Ebola and is being treated at a clinic in the capital Monrovia, becoming the third member of the mission infected by the deadly virus since the outbreak began. The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) said in a statement that it was taking steps to ensure all those who come into contact with the peacekeeper while he was symptomatic were quarantined...

Italian Ebola victim’s condition worsens

Written on December 5, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Health News, World News.

Credit: Reuters/Tony Gentile (Reuters) – An Italian doctor suffering from Ebola is in intensive care after his condition worsened, a spokeswoman for the hospital treating him said on Friday. The 50-year-old Sicilian contracted Ebola while working for the humanitarian group Emergency in Sierra Leone, one of the countries worst hit by the virus… (read more) ...

What Twitter Can Tell Us About Ebola

Written on December 4, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Business News, Health News, Opinion News.

The Ebola virus is spreading and mutating, and so is the chatter about it on social media. Luminoso, an MIT Media Lab spinoff that helps companies monitor consumer sentiment, has been tracking tweets about Ebola. Luminoso’s software reveals trends –- some worrisome –- that show how online conversations may be shaping public opinion. Between August 31 and October 15, 2014, Twitter users posted 5.4 million tweets that mentioned Ebola. That’s fewer...