News – Page 14

Ebola: A Day in the Life of a Chlorine Sprayer

Written on December 16, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Health News, Treatments.

The phone rings. There is a dead body in the neighborhood and, as with every death in the city of Monrovia at the moment, Ebola is the suspected cause. The body of an Ebola victim is extremely contagious, so it must be collected, and the home and belongings of the victim disinfected. This task falls to B. Sunday Williams, a Liberian chlorine sprayer, and his colleagues in the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) outreach team...

Britain not seeking U.S. military assistance to fight Ebola

Written on December 16, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Government News, World News.

(Reuters) – Britain said on Tuesday it would not be seeking U.S. military assistance to fight Ebola in Sierra Leone where it expects to see “enormous change” by the end of January following a surge in response measures. As a U.S. operation of 3,000 troops begins to turn the tide against the deadly virus in neighboring Liberia, calls have grown for it to shift resources towards ally Britain, which is leading the response in Sierra...

Justice Department Warns Against Ebola Discrimination

Written on December 16, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Government News, Opinion News.

Huffington Post – WASHINGTON — The Justice Department issued guidelines on Monday designed to help government workers avoid illegally discriminating against people because of the Ebola virus. Citing “increased reports of discrimination in the United States against people who are or are perceived to be from an African country or of African descent,” the department’s Civil Rights Division sent out non-discrimination...

CDC disease detective explains why ambulance chasing is crucial to tracking Ebola

Written on December 16, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Health News, World News.

(CDC) Ambulance chasing is a discouraged practice in the US – but in Liberia it’s exactly what Neil, a CDC disease detective in the Center for Global Health, had to do as part of his efforts to stop the spread of Ebola at its source. “We would follow ambulances that were called to pick up suspected Ebola cases. We would keep our distance and observe how they collected patients, and would make corrections to any lapse in infection control. As soon...

For Ebola Patients in Sierra Leone, Survival Takes More Than Medicine

Written on December 16, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Health News, Treatments, World News.

BO, Sierra Leone—Morning rounds have just begun at an Ebola treatment center here in the city of Bo, in central Sierra Leone. The patients who are able shuffle out of a tent towards two layers of chain-link fence that separate them from the outside—2 meters minimum distance. Some clutch bottles of water, bright orange soda, or foil-wrapped nutritional bars. A woman in an orange printed wrap skirt lags behind the others, struggling to slide a sandal...

Here’s How Much the Next Ebola Will Cost Us

Written on December 16, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Business News, World News.

(Time) The global community cannot withstand another Ebola outbreak: The World Bank estimates the two-year cost of the current epidemic at $32.6 billion. Unfortunately, the virus has revealed gaping holes in our preparedness for major infectious disease epidemics. Because of these, plus the urbanization of rural communities and globalization of travel and trade, more of these epidemics are expected. In a new report from the EcoHealth Alliance published...

Potential Ebola Vaccines, Treatments – Improved Mouse Model Will Accelerate Research

Written on December 16, 2014. Posted in Health News, Science News, World News.

CHAPEL HILL, NC – In the war against Ebola, one important hurdle has just been cleared – by a mouse. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and colleagues have developed the first genetic strain of mice that can be infected with Ebola and display symptoms similar to those that humans experience. This work, published in the current issue of Science, will significantly improve basic research on Ebola vaccines and treatments,...

Liberia treating Ebola patients with serum made from blood of survivors

Written on December 15, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Government News, Health News, World News.

Liberia has begun treating Ebola patients with serum therapy – a treatment made from the blood of recovered survivors. Doctors hope the experimental treatment could help combat the virus that has been sweeping West Africa and killing thousands of people. Up to 13 December, 6,841 people had been reported as having died from the disease. The total number of reported cases is more than 18,000. If a person has successfully fought off the infection,...

Ebola-hit Liberia delays election until weekend

Written on December 15, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Government News, World News.

Monrovia (AFP) – A much-postponed election for half the seats in Ebola-hit Liberia’s Senate has been put back until the weekend — but cannot be further delayed, the country’s electoral commission said Monday. The vote for 15 seats in the upper house of parliament has been postponed twice already as the epidemic ravaged the impoverished west African nation.The National Elections Commission (NEC) said the poll will now be...

This is what an Ebola curfew looks like

Written on December 15, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Government News, Health News, World News.

Killian Doherty, an Irish architect working for the Architectural Field Office (AFO), has been in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, for much of the Ebola epidemic. He documented the curfews in some dramatic photographs Emptied of people, it is even more clear that the city’s infrastructure is extremely dated … Freetown, Sierra Leone during the recent curfew. All photographs by Killian Docherty Sierra Leone has been severely affected...