West Africa – Page 3

Scientists trace Ebola outbreak to a 2 year old boy

Written on December 30, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, Health News, Treatments, World News.

The two-year-old boy whose death started the current Ebola outbreak may have contracted the deadly virus by playing with bats in a hollow tree, a study has found. Scientists who visited the village of Meliandou, in Guinea, found that Emile Ouamouno and other children used to play with and sometimes hunt the bats, which are believed to carry Ebola. A team of researchers from universities in Germany, Sweden, the Côte d’Ivoire, Canada and the...

Scottish Ebola Nurse transferred to London hospital

Written on December 30, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, Health News, Travel, World News.

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...

Untested Ebola drug given to patients in Sierra Leone causes UK walkout

Written on December 22, 2014. Posted in Business News, Featured, Science News, Treatments, World News.

(The Guardian – Sarah Boseley/Freetown) Ebola patients at a treatment centre in Sierra Leone have been given a heart drug that is untested against the virus in animals and humans, a move that has been deemed reckless by one senior scientist and has prompted UK medical staff at the centre to leave. A 14-strong team of British doctors, nurses and paramedics stopped working at the Lakka treatment centre in Freetown because of their concerns...

Could Christmas Worsen Ebola’s Spread?

Written on December 22, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, Health News, Travel, World News.

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...

Ebola-Stricken Families to Receive Cash Payments

Written on December 22, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Business News, Featured, Government News, Health News, World News.

In 2015, the three Ebola-affected countries will start offering cash payments for families hit by Ebola, as well as survivors having trouble re-acclimating to society out of stigma for the disease. Every aspect of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone’s societies have taken a hit from Ebola, and the disease has shocked what were once fragile but growing economies. Public spaces are now forbidden, so markets are empty, tourists are no longer traveling...

World Health Organization say recorded Ebola deaths top 7,000

Written on December 22, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, Health News, Personal Safety, Travel, World News.

(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...

Spending cuts blamed for Ebola outbreak in West Africa

Written on December 22, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, Government News, Health News, World News.

It had led to “under-funded, insufficiently staffed, and poorly prepared health systems” in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, they said. The IMF denied the allegation. The deadliest Ebola outbreak ever has so far killed more than 7,300 people, mostly in the three states. “A major reason why the Ebola outbreak spread so rapidly was the weakness of healthcare systems in the region, and it would be unfortunate if underlying causes...

Officials threaten arrest over unsafe Ebola burial practices

Written on December 22, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, Government News, Health News, Personal Safety.

(VOA News) With Ebola having killed more than 2,000 people in Sierra Leone, and unsafe burial practices possibly being responsible for up to 70 percent of new infections, officials said they are resorting to increasingly desperate measures to clamp down on traditional burials in the country. Officials have even threatened to jail people – once it’s clear they have not caught the disease – who prepare the corpses of their loved...

UN chief urges respect for Ebola health rules

Written on December 19, 2014. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, Government News, Health News, World News.

(Reuters) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, starting a visit to Ebola-hit states in West Africa on Friday, urged their people to set aside traditional practices like washing the dead by hand so as to help end an epidemic that has killed nearly 7,000 people. Ban said he hoped to use his two-day tour of the region – his first since the outbreak was detected in March – to raise the profile of the fight against the disease and to...

Good News: Mali has not had a case of Ebola for three weeks

Written on December 18, 2014. Posted in Breaking News.

WEST AFRICA-Thursday 18 December 2014 – 11:16am GENEVA – Mali has not had a case of Ebola for three weeks, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, completing one of the two incubation periods the country needs to be declared free of the virus. “No new cases have been reported in Mali since 24 November.” The UN agency said in its latest situation report on the outbreak focused on west Africa. It added: “The...

Tag: West Africa