Process at Britain’s airports to be reviewed after Doc says ‘inadequately prepared’

The screening process for the deadly Ebola virus at Britain’s airports is to be reviewed after a doctor who travelled back to the UK with the Scottish nurse suffering from the disease described staff as “disorganised” and “inadequately prepared”. Dr Martin Deahl sat next to Pauline Cafferkey on a flight to Heathrow as they returned from five weeks tackling Ebola in Sierra Leone. Mrs Cafferkey, a 39-year-old public health nurse, became ill on...

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Scottish Ebola Nurse transferred to London hospital

A Scottish Ebola nurse was on the way to specialist facilities in London on Tuesday morning after being diagnosed with the Ebola virus. The woman had been treated in an isolation unit in Glasgow after being diagnosed hours after arriving home from west Africa via a British Airways flight from Heathrow. She was later transferred from Glasgow airport on a military-style plane in a quarantine tent surrounded by a group of health workers in full protection...

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Could Christmas Worsen Ebola’s Spread?

Christmas is coming. Around the world, people who celebrate the end of the year holidays are taking time off and heading home to see friends and relatives. They include aid workers fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. And they include residents of the three countries hardest hit by the Ebola epidemic. It worries Dr. Dan Kelly. And officials in Sierra Leone were concerned enough to limit public gatherings for the holidays. “The...

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World Health Organization say recorded Ebola deaths top 7,000

(Time-CONAKRY, Guinea) — The worst Ebola outbreak on record has now killed more than 7,000 people, with many of the latest deaths reported in Sierra Leone, the World Health Organization said as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon continued his tour of Ebola-affected countries in West Africa on Saturday. The three countries hit hardest by Ebola have now recorded 7,373 deaths, up from 6,900 on Wednesday, according to WHO figures posted online...

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Cuban Docs Most Under-Appreciated in the Fight Against Ebola

Time magazine named the Ebola fighters as their person of the year, and while Americans came to know Dr. Jerry Brown, Dr. Kent Brantly and others by name … there is one group of those fighters who have gone largely unrecognized. Cuban doctors. They make less than $75 a month, but they are still Cuba‘s most valuable export. “I am proud of you all, this is my team,” Dr. Juan Carlos told his team as they gathered around a prep...

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Ebola concern cancels Christmas and New Year’s gatherings in Sierra Leone

Christmas and New Year gatherings have been banned by the government throughout Sierra Leone for fear the Ebola virus will be spread to rural villages as people go home to celebrate. The edict, which will be enforced by the army, means those who live in the capital, Freetown, will be barred from travelling to join their extended families. The city’s residents account for a third of the country’s population. A “lock-down” is reported to also be...

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Ebola outbreak: Mali’s last known case recovered and released

The last Ebola patient being treated in Mali has survived the disease and been released, the Health Ministry said Friday, leaving no known Ebola outbreak cases in the West African country. Mali had recorded eight cases of Ebola, all of them linked to people who crossed from neighboring Guinea. The country now has no confirmed or suspected cases, according to the ministry, but authorities are still monitoring 26 people who had contact with the sick....

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Airport screenings haven’t turned up any Ebola patients

Airport screenings of travelers from West Africa haven’t turned up anyone with Ebola, health officials announced Tuesday. U.S. officials screened nearly 2,000 travelers for Ebola symptoms over 31 days in October and November, according to a report Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only seven travelers with symptoms were referred to the CDC for medical exams, and none had the disease, the report says. Although two...

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The Truth about Ebola and Air Travel

You have likely read or heard about the first confirmed case of Ebola in the United States. A man who traveled from Liberia to Dallas via Brussels has been diagnosed with the virus and is in quarantine. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the patient “did not have symptoms when leaving West Africa, but developed symptoms approximately four days after arriving in the U.S. on Sept. 20.” Should you be concerned to take...

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

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...

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