Tag: West Africa

Where did the Ebola Virus come from?

WHERE DID THE EBOLA VIRUS COME FROM?   Ebola is one of about 177 pathogens that are considered to be newly emerging diseases. These diseases are generally zoonotic diseases.  Animal diseases that have jumped species. A familiar example of a zoonotic disease is measles, which is derived from dog distemper.   For the past thirty years, forty-one previously unrecognized human infectious diseases have jumped from their normal animal hosts to human...

Continue reading

Ebola closed schools reopen across West Africa

Almost 2 million children in Sierra Leone have returned to school after an eight month break due to Ebola. The Government of Sierra Leone and UNICEF along with other partners are working to ensure that children are safe through teacher training, hand-washing and regular temperature checks. Similar safety standards are in place in Liberia and Guinea, where schools reopened in January and February. In Guinea, more than 1.3 million children have returned...

Continue reading

Ebola Outbreak Leads To Thousands of Malaria Deaths

According to new research, nearly 11,000 extra malaria deaths may have occurred last year due to the disruption of healthcare services in West Africa currently experiencing widespread Ebola virus outbreaks. A further 3,900 deaths may have resulted from interruptions in the delivery of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITN), according to outbreak modelling data published in The Lancet on the eve of World Malaria Day. This suggested the haemorrhagic...

Continue reading

Ebola Orphans Taking Desperate Measures to Survive

Aid workers have warned that Ebola has created a generation of orphans forced into desperate measures to fend for themselves after the disease claimed their parents. A British-run charity says many of the thousands of children stricken by the virus have turned to crime and prostitution simply to care for their siblings. The Street Child charity’s researchers, who surveyed every district in Sierra Leone, first documented the shocking extent...

Continue reading

Fujifilm’s Flu Drug Turned Ebola Drug Avigan Proven Effective

Fujifilm Holdings Corp.’s drug Avigan, which has shown signs of efficacy against the Ebola virus, has drawn interest from about 20 countries and the company stands ready for large orders, its chief executive said. “We can provide as much as we are asked for,” said Shigetaka Komori in an interview Friday. The company has enough of the drug’s basic ingredient on hand to manufacture pills for 300,000 people and will ramp up production if necessary,...

Continue reading

What Are You Not Being Told About The Ebola Virus?

The information I’m about to present here is frightening. There’s really no way around that. However, I request that you do your very best to maintain a calm state of mind. Right now in West Africa the worst Ebola outbreak in history is in full swing and is jumping borders at an alarming rate. Already it has spread to four countries, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and now Nigeria. This latest jump into Nigeria is particularly serious...

Continue reading

Don’t Get Your Hopes Up on Ebola Vaccines – Warn Scientists

A team of leading international scientists on Tuesday called for new Ebola vaccines to be made available in months rather than years and warned against complacency after a reduction in infection rates. “Despite falling infection rates in West Africa, the risk that the current Ebola outbreak may not be brought completely under control remains,” said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, Britain’s biggest medical charity....

Continue reading

Liberia Fights Back, Only 5 Ebola Cases in Entire Country

Just five confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease remain in Liberia, a West African country that has seen more than 3,600 deaths from the outbreak of the deadly virus, Reuters quoted a senior health official as saying Friday. “It means that we are going down to zero, if everything goes well, if other people don’t get sick in other places,” said Deputy Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah, who leads Liberia’s Ebola task force. Three...

Continue reading

Ebola vaccine gets $115M to speed development

Johnson & Johnson said on Friday that newly formed groups supporting work on its experimental Ebola vaccine would receive 100 million euros ($115 million) from Europe’s Innovative Medicines Initiative to speed development. The U.S. drug maker earlier this month announced it had started clinical trials of its two-injection vaccine, which uses a booster from Denmark’sBavarian Nordic, making it the third such product to enter human...

Continue reading

Red Cross Volunteer Dies in Sierra Leone

Freetown, 14 December 2015:  The Sierra Leone Red Cross Society (SLRCS) is deeply saddened by the death of a staff member to the Ebola virus disease. “Our thoughts and condolences are with the family and friends of this brave staff member during this particularly difficult time. We are extremely grateful for his work and dedication to the Red Cross, and to the fight against this deadly disease,” said Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General, IFRC. The...

Continue reading