Africa

Ebola Survivors May Be the Key to Treatment - For Almost Any Disease

Wed, 2015-07-08 20:07 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by George Hurlburt

A group of volunteer medical workers carry the bodies of Ebola victims to a car in order to bury them in Kptema graveyard in Kenema, Sierra Leone, on August 24, 2014. Mohammed Elshamy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

wired.com - by Erica Check Hayden - June 30, 2015

. . . The patients held the answer. If they survived, they carried antibodies that targeted the very viruses that had almost killed them. The samples he’d been working with didn’t contain antibodies, but if he could get blood from survivors, he might be able to figure out how to make the same antibodies that their immune systems had produced. It would not be easy or fast, but he couldn’t stand by while more people lost their lives—if not in this outbreak, then in the next one, or the next one after that. It was time for a new plan. . . .

. . . Once your body knows how to make antibodies specific to a disease, it never forgets . . . So physicians use survivor serum in the hope that amid the trillions of antibodies an adult human can make, the ones that fight a specific disease will be in the mix. It’s not a new idea.

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Panel Calls W.H.O. Unfit to Handle a Crisis Like Ebola

Tue, 2015-07-07 13:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

nytimes.com - by SOMINI SENGUPTA - July 7, 2015

UNITED NATIONS — More than a year after the Ebola epidemic began tearing through three of the world’s most fragile countries, the World Health Organization remains unfit to handle a public health emergency, an independent panel concluded in a blistering report issued Tuesday.

“W.H.O. does not currently possess the capacity or organizational culture to deliver a full emergency public health response,” the panel said in its report.

While the agency itself has acknowledged the need for change, the panel added, “it will need to be held accountable to ensure that this transformation is achieved.”

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CLICK HERE - WHO - Report of the Ebola Interim Assessment Panel

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Video - The Story of Ebola

Mon, 2015-07-06 22:35 — Kathy Gilbeaux

CLICK HERE - Global Health Media - The Story of Ebola - English

June 26, 2015

This animation—produced in collaboration with International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, UNICEF, and Yoni Goodman—brings to life key messages that help people see and understand how Ebola spreads and how to protect themselves and their communities.

CLICK HERE - About the film:

The story features a young girl whose grandfather dies from Ebola and puts the rest of her family at risk. The film makes visible the invisible Ebola germs to help people see and understand how Ebola spreads and how to protect themselves. Critical messages are woven through the story so that people better understand Ebola, see themselves within the context of an outbreak, and see how to act in ways that can keep themselves safe from the disease and protect their communities.

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Bush Meat Trade Roaring Again Despite Ebola Ban

Mon, 2015-07-06 01:58 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Despite a ban on bush meat, due to the threat of Ebola, Liberians are once again selling it in markets and along the sides of roads. Photo: Issa Davies/IRIN

irinnews.org - by Prince Collins - June 24, 2015

. . . the trade in bush meat, a known source of the Ebola virus, has picked up once again. . . .

. . . Monkeys, antelope, raccoons, rodents, bats, and a variety of other animals native to the forests of Liberia, are once again filling market stalls around the country. . . .

. . . As the official US government advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says, “human infections have been associated with hunting, butchering and processing of meat of infected animals.”

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UNICEF Recruits U-Reporters Across Liberia

Sun, 2015-07-05 18:59 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Posted by U-report Liberia on Monday, June 29, 2015

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Rural women’s groups in peacebuilding activities

Sat, 2015-07-04 15:10 — Maeryn Obley

Women at a VSLA meeting in Barkedu.

Image: Women at a VSLA meeting in Barkedu.

fao.org - June 25th, 2015

FAO’s integrated approach of reaching Ebola-hit farmers in Liberia’s Lofa County is bearing increased results not only in crop production, VSLA (village savings and loan associations) revitalization and education in Ebola prevention but the help is also uniting women in peacebuilding, palaver management as well as visiting sick members.

The women associations have transcended the normal call of duty to VSLA and business activities among members to also get involved in other “worthy communal undertakings.” They have expanded shared group engagements to include sympathizing with bereaved members and palaver resolution among aggrieved women.

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Congo and WHO investigate possible Ebola outbreak

Sat, 2015-07-04 14:48 — Maeryn Obley

uk.reuters.com - July 2nd, 2015

Health officials in Democratic Republic of Congo are investigating a possible outbreak of Ebola in a village about 270 km (170 miles) northeast of the capital Kinshasa, the government and the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Health minister Felix Kabange said that response teams arrived in Masambio, a village in Bandundu province, on Thursday to collect samples for testing.

Kabange said that six hunters fell ill on Friday with symptoms of Ebola including diarrhea, vomiting and bloody urine after killing an antelope the day before that had been stumbling and was probably sick.

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Liberia - Access Constraints Map - 18 June 2015

Sat, 2015-07-04 03:08 — Kathy Gilbeaux

(CLICK ON MAP IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

reliefweb.int - Logistics Cluster - June 23, 2015

CLICK HERE - reliefweb - Liberia - Access Constraints Map - 18 June 2015

CLICK HERE - Logistics Cluster - Liberia - Access Constraints Map - 18 June 2015

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Liberia Investigating Animal Link After Ebola Re-Emerges

Thu, 2015-07-02 20:44 — Kathy Gilbeaux

reuters.com - By Alphonso Toweh and James Harding Giahyue - July 2, 2015

Liberia confirmed a third Ebola case on Thursday, nearly two months after it was declared Ebola free, and officials said they were investigating whether the disease had managed to lurk in animals before resurfacing.

Dr Moses Massaquoi, case management team leader for Liberia's Ebola task force, said the three villagers who had tested positive for the disease had shared a meal of dog meat, which is commonly eaten in Liberia.

"They come from the same time and have a history of having had dog meat together," he said.

The response team was investigating whether domestic animals might be carrying the virus, he said, referring also to mysterious deaths of hundreds of cattle in remote Lofa county.

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(ALSO SEE RELATED INFORMATION HERE)

AFP - YouTube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKkuOZCN3Iw

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Study of Ebola Survivors Opens in Liberia

Thu, 2015-07-02 19:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Trial to examine long-term health effects of Ebola virus disease

nih.gov - June 17, 2015

The Liberia-U.S. clinical research partnership known as PREVAIL has launched a study of people in Liberia who have survived Ebola virus disease (EVD) within the past two years. The study investigators hope to better understand the long-term health consequences of EVD, determine if survivors develop immunity that will protect them from future Ebola infection, and assess whether previously EVD-infected individuals can transmit infection to close contacts and sexual partners. The study, sponsored by the Ministry of Health of Liberia and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, will take place at various sites in Liberia and is expected to enroll approximately 7,500 people, including 1,500 people of any age who survived EVD and 6,000 of their close contacts.

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