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

(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...

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Using Survivors’ Blood in Attempt to Treat Ebola?

  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...

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Dallas ER Doctor missed signs of Ebola

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...

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Ebola Traps Painkiller Shipment as Economies Unravel

From his office in the Ghanaian coastal city of Tema, Mark Owiredu has an up-close view of how Ebola is ravaging the economies of poorer African nations to the west. Since the outbreak of the disease was identified nine months ago, Owiredu, the general manager for manufacturing of Ernest Chemists Ltd., has seen orders worth as much as $880,000 annually from Sierra Leone and Liberia all but evaporate. With flights into the worst-affected countries...

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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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Italian Ebola victim’s condition worsens

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) ...

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Dallas Paid $27K To Care For Ebola Nurse’s Dog

Ebola survivor Nina Pham is reunited with her dog Bentley at the Dallas Animal Services Center. Stringer / Reuters A total of $155,000 was spent on Ebola-related expenses. Much of Bentley’s care costs will be reimbursed by donations and grants. When nurse Nina Pham contracted Ebola, she requested her dog, Bentley, be taken care of and monitored for the disease and not euthanized – similar to what was done with an Ebola-exposed dog in Spain.. (read...

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What Twitter Can Tell Us About Ebola

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...

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German Hospital Discharges Ebola Patient

A German hospital says a Ugandan doctor it treated after he contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone has been cured and discharged. Frankfurt’s University Hospital said Thursday that the man, whose name hasn’t been released, was released on Nov. 19 and is now with his family. He was admitted on Oct. 3 and was critically ill for a time… (read more)

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