Disease

IMF to provide new funds to help three main Ebola-hit nations

Thu, 2015-01-08 22:21 — mike kraft

REUTERS by James Harding Giahyue Jan. 8, 2015

The International Monetary Fund is preparing around $150 million in additional support to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the countries at the heart of the Ebola epidemic, the Fund's representative in Liberia told Reuters on Thursday.

"In Guinea and Sierra Leone, existing Fund financial programs are being augmented to provide more resources to these countries. In Liberia, a one-off disbursement under the Fund's Rapid Credit Facility is being considered," Charles Amo-Yartey told Reuters in an email.

The money could be made available in the first quarter of this year and would add to $130 million disbursed by the Fund in September.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/08/health-ebola-imf-idUSL6N0UN3RA20150108

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J&J, Bavarian Nordic start clinical tests in Ebola vaccine race

Tue, 2015-01-06 14:52 — mike kraft

REUTERS by Ben Hirschler Jan. 6, 2015
LONDON --Johnson & Johnson has started clinical trials of its experimental Ebola vaccine, which uses a booster from Denmark's Bavarian Nordic, making it the third such shot to enter human testing.

The initiation of the Phase I study in Britain, which had been expected about now, marks further progress in the race to develop a vaccine against a disease that has killed more than 8,000 people in West Africa since last year.

Two other experimental vaccines, one from GlaxoSmithKline and a rival from NewLink and Merck, are already in clinical development. However, the J&J vaccine offers a different approach, since it involves two separate injections.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/06/us-health-ebola-vaccine-j-j-idUSKBN0KF0HH20150106

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Ebola: as ZMapp stocks run out doctors turn to alternative treatments

Mon, 2015-01-05 20:50 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Sarah Boseley Jan, 5, 2015
LONDON --Even at the Royal Free hospital in London, the lead UK specialist centre for Ebola, doctors have limited options for treating their patients. In the end, survival may depend more on the strength of an individual’s immune system than anything medical science is currently able to do.

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Save the Children probe how UK nurse contracted Ebola

Mon, 2015-01-05 15:14 — mike kraft

BBC Jan. 5, 2015

The charity Save the Children has said "no stone will be left unturned" in its investigation into how a British nurse working at an Ebola treatment centre contracted the disease.

Pauline Cafferkey was diagnosed after returning to Glasgow a week ago. She had been working with the charity in Kerrytown, Sierra Leone.

Ms Cafferkey is critically ill in a north London hospital after her condition worsened in recent days.

Save the Children's Sierra Leone Director Rob MacGillivray told the BBC the charity would carry out a special investigation over and above its routine reviews....

He said the investigation would look at how protective equipment is used, and at person-to-person contact both inside and outside the Kerrytown treatment centre where the nurse worked.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30677619

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Ebola in the UK: Infected nurse Pauline Cafferkey in 'critical' stage of treatment

Fri, 2015-01-02 02:09 — mike kraft

THE INDEPENDENT by Kashmira Gander Jan. 1, 2015

Pauline Cafferkey, the British nurse who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone, is entering a “critical” stage of her recovery.

Dr Michael Jacobs said Ms Cafferkey was being treated with convalescent plasma taken from the blood of a recovered patient and an experimental anti-viral drug which is “not proven to work”.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ebola-in-the-uk-infected-nurse-pauline-cafferkey-in-critical-stage-of-treatment-9952904.html

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Ebola screening to be reviewed after doctor attacks ‘inadequate’ measures

Wed, 2014-12-31 16:45 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Josh Halliday and Severin Carrell Dec. 31, 2014
LONDON--Public HealthEngland has vowed to review its Ebola screening measures after they were branded “utterly illogical” by an NHS doctor who returned from Africa with the Scottish nurse who has contracted the virus.

Public Health England said it would review its procedures, but defended its guidance as being in line with other organisations who have sent volunteers to Ebola-affected countries. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/Rex

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Scottish government confirms Ebola case in Glasgow

Mon, 2014-12-29 22:31 — mike kraft

UPDATE: Ebola Patient Is Moved to London, and 2 Others Are Tested in Britain

NEW YORK TIMES by Alan Cowell Dec. 30, 2014

LONDON — A health worker who returned from West Africa and was found to have Ebola when she arrived home in Scotland was transferred on Tuesday to Britain’s designated treatment center for the disease in London. The authorities also reported that two more people were being tested for the virus.

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UK must act to guard against pandemics, says scientist who discovered Ebola virus

Fri, 2014-12-26 19:54 — mike kraft

THE INDEPENDENT by Charlie Cooper Dec. 26, 2014

The UK must create a new health security agency to guard against future pandemics, according to the scientist who discovered the Ebola virus. Professor Peter Piot said Britain and Europe lacked “an epidemic intelligence service” with global reach, leaving them “vulnerable” and less able to intervene in overseas health crises such as the Ebola outbreak, which has killed thousands of people in West Africa. Peter Piot discovered Ebola when he was sent to investigate an outbreak in Zaire, now the DRC, in 1976 (AFP/Getty)

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Ebola vaccine 'promising in African populations'

Tue, 2014-12-23 03:19 — mike kraft

BBC By Smitha Mundasad Dec. 22, 2014
The first-ever trial of an Ebola vaccine in Africa shows promising initial results, according to a report in the Lancet medical journal.

Scientists say it is a crucial step as other vaccines have shown lower levels of protection in African populations.

Tests involving Ugandan and American volunteers reveal the vaccine is so far safe and generates an immune response in both populations.

It provides reassurance for other trials currently underway, they say.

No proven vaccine exists to prevent people from getting the disease, though several trials are underway.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health tested this experimental vaccine on healthy adults in Uganda, having first trialled it in the United States.

Dr Julie Ledgerwood, the lead researcher, said: "This is the first study to show comparable safety and immune response of an experimental Ebola vaccine in an African population.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30577776

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

Mon, 2014-12-22 22:36 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN by Sarah Boseley Dec. 22, 2014

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -- 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.

British health workers help an Ebola patient in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photograph: Baz Ratner/Reuters

A 14-strong team of British doctors, nurses and paramedics stopped working at the Lakka treatment centre in Freetown because of their concerns over what they considered the experimental and potentially dangerous use of the drug, and other safety issues.

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