Africa

LEIGH VALLEYLIVE  by Tony Rodin                             June 12, 2015

BETHLAHEM, PENNSYLVANIA  --OraSure Technologies Inc., a Bethlehem company that pioneered a quick test for determining HIV infection, has received a more than $10 million multiphase government contract to do the same for Ebola diagnosis, the company said Friday morning.

The company has developed a prototype device "that appears to deliver analytical performance similar to laboratory PCR tests when evaluated on stored samples from infected patients," the company said.

The three-year contract begins with a $1.8 million commitment and can add $8.6 million for clinical and regulatory activities, the company said.

The Ebola test will utilize the same OraQuick technology used in the company's rapid HIV and hepatitis C test kits, the company said.

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http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2015/06/bethlehems_orasure_gets_govern.html

VOICE OF AMERICA — by Chris Stein and  Prince Collins  June 11, 2015

DAKAR and  MONROVIA --Burial teams undertook some of the most hazardous work in Liberia’s fight against Ebola. With the West African nation now getting relief from the virus, these men and women say societal stigma is keeping them from getting jobs....

Being unemployed is no small thing in Liberia, which was already recovering from nearly two decades of ruinous civil war before Ebola broke out in 2014.

About two-thirds of Liberians live in poverty, according to the World Bank. Sonny Fayon was unemployed when the outbreak started, he found work on a burial team, but now is out of a job again. Even though he never got sick, no one will hire him, he said.

“We’re not very vulnerable to the Ebola business. We’re well-protected, we wore protective clothing to do the job,” Fayon stated. “So they should accept us. I think we were very careful in doing the work.”
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http://www.voanews.com/content/ebola-stigma-keeps-many-from-work-in-liberia/2816932.html

AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORP.     June 10, 2015

ADELAIDE, Australia --The Ebola virus can live in eye fluid 10 weeks after it is no longer detectable in a patient's blood,

Australian research has confirmedAustralian research has confirmed.

A study undertaken by researchers from Flinders University in South Australia involved Ebola survivor Dr Ian Crozier, an infectious diseases specialist who contracted the disease while treating patients in Sierra Leone in West Africa last August.

Dr Crozier survived after getting treatment in the United States and was declared free of the virus in his blood, but two months later fluid from his eye tested positive for Ebola.

Flinders ophthalmology researcher Professor Justine Smith, who took part in the study, told 891 ABC Adelaide the discovery of Ebola virus in the clear fluid in the front of the eye, between the lens and the cornea, could have big implications for Ebola survivors and for the medical staff who treat them.

Professor Justine Smith says Ebola survivors have little risk of passing on the virus from casual contact if it lurks in their eye fluid.Courtesy: Flinders University

NBC NEWS   by Magie Fox                          June 10, 2015

The steady decline in Ebolacases has stopped and the numbers are ticking up again in Guinea and Sierra Leone, the World Health Organization reported Wednesday.

WHO is worried that there are still people who don't understand how to stop the spread of the virus, which has infected more than 27,000 people and killed more than 11,000 of them in the West African epidemic. Even more worrying, it's not entirely clear where some of the new cases have come from....

If health workers can find out where and how people were infected, they can track down and check everyone who might have been in close contact and night transmit the disease. But there are still mysterious outbreaks.

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http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/ebola-ticks-again-west-africa-n373171