Disaster Response

When Abibatu and Lanphia finally returned home from the field treatment centre where they came close to losing their lives to Ebola, they hoped it was an end to the terrible price that the virus which had robbed them of their father and two brothers had exacted from their family.

Instead, what awaited them was a second battle for survival against the disease – this time the struggle against stigmatisation and rejection by a community which blamed them for bringing the disease into their midst in Sierra Leone and sought turn them into outcasts.

Researchers have developed a low-cost and portable diagnostic device that can be used to detect Ebola infection and many other diseases. The device could be particularly useful to monitor endemic, epidemic and pandemic disease outbreaks in resource-limited developing countries that need portable diagnostic equipment that functions outside the hospital.

Read more at: http://www.oneindia.com/international/low-cost-portable-device-that-can-detect-ebola-2020618.html

Antibodies targeting the Ebola virus surface glycoprotein (EBOV GP) are implicated in protection against lethal disease, but the characteristics of the human antibody response to EBOV GP remain poorly understood. We isolated and characterized 349 GP-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from the peripheral B cells of a convalescent donor who survived the 2014 EBOV Zaire outbreak. Remarkably, 77% of the mAbs neutralize live EBOV, and several mAbs exhibit unprecedented potency. Structures of selected mAbs in complex with GP reveal a site of vulnerability located in the GP stalk region proximal to the viral membrane. Neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) targeting this site show potent therapeutic efficacy against lethal EBOV challenge in mice. The results provide a framework for the design of new EBOV vaccine candidates and immunotherapies.

(complet article)

WHO joins the government of Sierra Leone in marking the end of the recent flare-up of Ebola virus disease in the country. As of today, 17 March, 42 days have passed, two incubation cycles of the virus, since the last person confirmed to have Ebola virus disease in the country tested negative for a second time.

This latest flare-up of Ebola brings to 3 590 the number of lives lost in Sierra Leone to an epidemic that devastated families and communities across the country and disrupted every aspect of life.