Epidemia de Ébola alcanza proporciones nunca antes vistas

Domingo 23 de marzo del 2014 | 22:07

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP). Las muestras tomadas a las víctimas de una fiebre hemorrágica viral que ha matado a más de 50 personas en Guinea dieron positivo al virus del ébola.  Es la primera vez que se detecta un brote entre humanos en este país del Africa occidental.

Un comunicado del Ministerio de Salud informaba de 80 casos, incluidos 59 decesos, en su mayoría en tres prefecturas sureñas cercanas a Sierra Leona y Liberia. Tres casos, incluidas dos muertes, se reportaron en Conakry, la capital. Un equipo que incluye al ministro de Salud fue enviado a la región, dijo Damantang Albert Camara, portavoz del gobierno, mientras que el grupo Médicos sin Fronteras instaló una unidad de aislamiento en Gueckedou para tratar de detener la propagación de la enfermedad.

PELIGROSA FALTA DE SALUBRIDAD

"En Guinea, un país con una endeble infraestructura médica, un brote como este puede ser devastador", dijo el domingo el Dr. Mohamed Ag Ayoya, representante de la UNICEF en el país. Agregó en un comunicado que tres niños habían muerto en el brote.

Brotes previos de ébola se registraron en el Congo y Uganda, el más reciente en 2012. El único caso previo de humanos infectados por el virus en Africa occidental fue en 1994, cuando un científico enfermó tras atender casos de ébola en chimpancés en un parque nacional de Costa de Marfil. El científico sobrevivió.

Las autoridades no han podido determinar cómo empezó el brote en la región, aunque puede deberse a contacto con un animal infectado, como un murciélago o un mono. Entre humanos, la enfermedad se transmite a través de fluidos corporales. La tasa de mortalidad por el ébola puede variar en función del subtipo entre 25% y 90%.

F. Calero | G. Algar (MSF) 25 MAR 2014 - 18:50 CET

Esther Sterk, especialista en enfermedades tropicales de Médicos Sin Fronteras, señala las características y síntomas de la enfermedad, y cómo se combate cuando hay un nuevo brote


La doctora de Médicos Sin Fronteras, Esther Sterk, especialista en enfermedades tropicales degrana las claves de la lucha contra el ébola cuando se produce un nuevo brote, cómo se contagia y los síntomas de la enfermedad.

¿Cuáles son las características distintivas del Ébola?

Es una enfermedad poco frecuente. Las epidemias son limitadas, pero siempre causan pánico porque el ébola es mortal entre el 25 y el 90% de los casos. Tras un periodo de incubación de 21 días, el virus causa una fiebre intensa, cefaleas, dolor muscular, conjuntivitis y debilidad general. La siguiente fase incluye vómitos, diarreas y, a veces, erupciones cutáneas. El virus se propaga por la sangre y paraliza el sistema inmunitario. Es especialmente temible porque el organismo no detecta estos virus de inmediato. Cuando el organismo reacciona en muchos casos ya es demasiado tarde. Para entonces, el virus ha producido coágulos que obstruyen órganos vitales y causan hemorragias graves. Los pacientes pueden tener un sangrado abundante.

La enfermedad se contagia al estar en contacto con personas o animales infectados; por ejemplo, mediante la orina, el sudor, la sangre o la leche materna. Los familiares o profesionales de la salud que atienden a los pacientes corren riesgo de infectarse. La elevada tasa de mortalidad y el sangrado son tan aterradores que los profesionales de la salud llegan a huir abandonando a los pacientes.

Los ritos funerarios en los que los familiares lavan el cuerpo del difunto también son una fuente importante de riesgo de contagio en las comunidades afectadas.

¿Cómo reacciona MSF a la epidemia del ébola, considerando que no existe ningún tratamiento?

Aunque no hay cura para esta enfermedad, podemos reducir su mortalidad tan elevada al tratar los síntomas. Esto incluye administrar suero a los pacientes deshidratados por la diarrea y confirmar que no han contraído otra enfermedad como, por ejemplo, malaria o una infección bacteriana como la tifoidea. Las vitaminas y los analgésicos también pueden ser útiles. Cuando la persona pierde el conocimiento y sangra copiosamente, ya no hay esperanza. Entonces, mitigamos el dolor del paciente y lo acompañamos hasta el final.

Una vez que el primer caso se confirma mediante un análisis de sangre, todos los que cuidan a un paciente infectado deben usar un traje contra riesgos biológicos, guantes, máscara y gafas protectoras, y extremar precauciones durante el tratamiento. Generalmente, se instalan cámaras de descontaminación entre los pacientes aislados y el exterior. Para limitar la epidemia es fundamental averiguar el origen de toda la cadena de contagio. Para ello, se realiza un seguimiento de todos los que hayan tenido contacto con los pacientes y que pudieran haberse infectado y se les aísla a la primera señal de infección. Además, debe informarse a todas las comunidades afectadas sobre la enfermedad y las precauciones que deben tomar para evitar el riesgo de infección. La higiene básica, como lavarse las manos, puede reducir considerablemente el riesgo de contagio.

¿Cuáles son las perspectivas de la lucha contra el virus del ébola?

Aunque a varios países les interesa combatirlo en lo referente a la protección contra la guerra bacteriológica o el bioterrorismo, la investigación es limitada. El pequeño número de epidemias y de pacientes limita el trabajo de investigación. También continúan las investigaciones sobre el origen del virus y sobre los murciélagos, el probable reservorio natural del Ébola.

En los últimos años, MSF ha intervenido en casi todas las epidemias del Ébola. Otros organismos también han estado presentes, pero podemos ofrecer nuestra experiencia en el tratamiento de los casos. A menudo se requiere equipo y material considerables para aislar a los pacientes y evitar el contagio entre los profesionales de la salud. También estamos tratando de mejorar nuestra capacidad de respuesta a esas epidemias. Esa es la clave del éxito. Uno debe actuar tan pronto como sea posible en cuanto se confirma el primer caso. La dificultad es que el Ébola se presenta en zonas aisladas; y se requiere tiempo para identificar la enfermedad y poner sobre aviso a las autoridades sanitarias. Además, los primeros síntomas se parecen a los de la malaria. Estamos capacitando a profesionales de la salud para que puedan responder con mayor celeridad.


Historia de la enfermedad

El Ébola hace referencia a varias cepas de un mismo virus que se identificó por vez primera en seres humanos en 1976 en Sudán y en la República Democrática del Congo (RDC), en el río ébola. Los virus del ébola producen enfermedades devastadoras que, en la mayoría de los casos, causan la muerte. El ébola produce fiebres hemorrágicas que provocan sangrado interno y externo, similares a la fiebre de Marburg, causada por un virus afín. No existe ningún tratamiento ni vacuna.

Se cree que ciertas especies de murciélagos que viven en los bosques tropicales de África Central y Occidental son el reservorio natural del virus. Aunque son los portadores del virus, no muestran síntomas y, al parecer, infectan a monos y a seres humanos a través de sus excrementos o mordeduras. Los seres humanos también pueden adquirir el virus al entrar en contacto con animales infectados, vivos o muertos, o con otras personas contagiadas.

En la última epidemia de ébola, a finales del verano de 2012, murieron docenas de personas en Uganda y en la RDC. Aunque el virus es muy peligro sigue siendo poco frecuente. Desde que se descubriera en 1976 se han registrado aproximadamente 2.200 casos; de los cuales, 1.500 fueron mortales. Sin embargo, es indudable que casos esporádicos e incluso epidemias han pasado inadvertidos porque ocurren precisamente en áreas donde la población no tiene acceso a los servicios médicos.

7:36 AM EDT, Tue March 25, 2014

(CNN) -- Health officials in Canada said Monday they are looking into the case of a man who recently traveled from Liberia and is exhibiting symptoms consistent with viral hemorrhagic fevers.

Viral hemorrhagic fevers is a generic term that refers to a number of diseases found in Africa, including Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and yellow fever, according to Denise Werker, deputy chief medical health officer at the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health.

"There is no risk to the general public at all about this incident. We recognize that there's going to be a fair amount of concern, and that's why we wanted to go public with this as soon as possible and dispel some of those myths that are out there," she told reporters Monday.

"We do not have information that it's Ebola hemorrhagic fever. All we know at this point is that we have a person who's critically ill who traveled from a country where these diseases occur," Werker said.

An Ebola outbreak has killed at least 59 people in Guinea, which borders Liberia in West Africa.

Werker said the Canadian patient is in an intensive care unit and isolated, meaning no visitors are allowed. Specimens have been sent for study, and officials are expecting preliminary results Tuesday, she said.

The hemorrhagic fevers are characterized by high fever and symptoms that may be nondescript. But at the end point of the disease, patients can have bleeding from their mouths or eyes, Werker said.

There is no drug treatment for Ebola hemorrhagic fever, she said, adding it is not a highly infectious disease.

"You have to be in close proximity to the person's secretions," Werker said. "The persons who are most at risk are person who are actually health care workers, who don't wear protective clothing."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/24/health/canada-possible-ebola-case/

Ebola virus reaches Guinea's capital
Four new cases are first to be reported in capital since outbreak that has so far killed at least 63 people.
Last updated: 27 Mar 2014 23:42


Four cases of infection by the deadly Ebola virus have been confirmed in Conakry, Guinea's Health Minister Remy Lamah said, marking the first confirmed spread of the disease from rural areas to West African state's capital.

The minister said on Thursday that the virus appeared to have been transmitted by an old man who showed symptoms of haemorrhagic fever after visiting Dinguiraye in central Guinea, far from the identified outbreaks of Ebola in the remote southeast.

Four of the man's brothers, who attended his funeral in the central town of Dabola, started to show the same symptoms and were tested for Ebola on their return to Conakry.

"The four tested positive," Lamah told Reuters. "They have been placed in an isolation ward in Donka hospital." The man's family has also been quarantined, the minister said.

The spread of the disease to Conakry, a city of some 2 million people, marked an escalation in the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, which ranks as one of the poorest nations on earth despite rich deposits of bauxite and iron ore.

As of Wednesday, 63 deaths had been reported from suspected cases of infections.

Governments spooked

Ebola had never spread among humans in West Africa before February but five deaths being investigated in Liberia, one in Sierra Leone and others still being tested could bring the total in the epidemic to above 70.

The spread of Ebola, one of the most lethal infectious diseases known, has spooked nations with weak health care systems. In Guinea's southeast, home to all the confirmed cases, residents are avoiding large gatherings and prices in some markets have spiked as transporters avoid the area.

Ebola was discovered in 1976 in then-Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo. Scientists have identified the outbreak in Guinea as the virulent Zaire strain of the virus.

The virus causes a raging fever, headaches, muscle pain, conjunctivitis and weakness, before moving into more severe phases of causing vomiting, diarrhoea and unstoppable bleeding.

Liberia confirms Ebola's arrival from Guinea
Government says patient dies after catching disease in Guinea, where 70 have died in one of worst outbreaks for years.
Last updated: 31 Mar 2014 01:45

iberia has confirmed two patients have tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus, which is already believed to have killed at least 70 people in neighbouring Guinea.

Walter Gwenigale, Liberia's health minister, told the Associated Press news agency late on Sunday that one patient was married to a Guinean man and had returned ill from a recent trip there. She died in Lofa County.

The second patient is the sister of the dead woman. Gwenigale said she is alive and has been isolated in a medical centre outside of Monrovia, declining to give further details "because we don't want to cause panic".

Guinea confirmed last week that dozens of victims of hemorrhagic fever in the country's southern region had tested positive for Ebola. Cases have also been confirmed in the capital, Conakry.

Senegal on Saturday said its border crossings to Guinea would be closed "until further notice", while Sierra Leone has also reported suspected cases of the disease.

No treatment or vaccine is available for Ebola, a highly infectious and virulent disease which can cause uncontrollable bleeding. The Zaire strain detected in Guinea, first recorded 38 years ago in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, has a 90 percent death rate.

It can be transmitted to humans from wild animals, and between humans through direct contact with blood, bodily fluids or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.

Senegal moves to prevent Ebola spread
Staff at hospitals and airports will get specialised clothing as neighbouring Guinea battles Ebola outbreak.
Last updated: 02 Apr 2014 05:14

Senegal's Minister of Health Awa Marie Coll-Seck has announced her plan to prevent the spread of Ebola into the country.

Measures include the setting-up of a 24-hour crisis centre and providing specialised medical clothing for workers at hospitals and airports.

The Senegalese government has already closed its borders with Guinea, where more than 70 people have been killed by the virus.

However, despite attempts to reassure the population, paranoia about the illness persists with some reluctant to shake hands and limiting contact with others.

Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque reports from the capital, Dakar.


http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2014/04/senegal-moves-prevent-ebola-spread-20144243025781364.html

Mineras cierran operaciones en Guinea, donde aumentan las muertes por ébola
miércoles 2 de abril de 2014 18:23 GYT


Por Saliou Samb y Stephanie Nebehay

http://lta.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idLTASIEA3108N20140402

CAONAKRI/GINEBRA (Reuters) - Mineras extranjeras han cerrado operaciones en Guinea y retirado parte de su personal, dijeron el miércoles ejecutivos, mientras las muertes que se sospecha que han sido causadas por el ébola subieron a 84.

El país de Africa Occidental informó que se reportaron cuatro nuevos casos sospechosos de una de las infecciones más letales del mundo en la últimas 24 horas, lo que lleva el total a 134.

El grupo de ayuda Médicos sin Fronteras (MSF) ha advertido que Guinea enfrenta una epidemia de ébola sin precedentes que va a poner a prueba los sistemas sanitarios de Africa Occidental.

Además se han reportado casos sospechosos de la enfermedad -que tiene una tasa de mortalidad del 90 por ciento- en Liberia y Sierra Leona, mientras que Gambia dijo que puso en cuarentena a dos personas que venían del sudeste de Guinea.

El epicentro de la epidemia, que ya lleva dos meses, ha estado en el sudeste de Guinea, cerca de las principales reservas de hierro. El país es además el mayor exportador mundial de bauxita, un material que se usa para la producción de aluminio, y tiene ricos depósitos de oro.

"Todos están tomando precauciones higiénicas estrictas, pero hasta ahora no se había producido un impacto real en la producción", dijo un ejecutivo que pidió que no se mencionara su nombre.

El ejecutivo dijo que había sido suspendido de sus labores por un largo tiempo, mientras que otras empresas estaban evitando que la gente entrara o saliera de sus minas.

(Reporte adicional de Jeb Blount en Rio de Janeiro, David Lewis y Daniel Flynn en Dakar; Editado en español por Javier López de Lérida)

Suman 111 muertos por ébola en África

Notimex Abril 8, 2014 5:47 pm

Según la OMS, Guinea ha reportado 157 casos de la enfermedad, de los cuales 101 han sido mortales


El número de muertos por el virus de ébola en África llegó a 111 decesos, por lo que la fiebre hemorrágica es ya una de las epidemias más significativas, indicó hoy la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS).

Según las más recientes cifras del organismo, publicadas este martes, Guinea ha reportado 157 casos de la enfermedad, 20 en la ciudad portuaria de Conakry, de los cuales 101 han sido mortales; mientras que Liberia contabiliza 21 con 10 fallecimientos.

Los casos sospechosos registrados en Sierra Leona y en Malí fueron descartados luego que los resultados de los análisis salieron negativos al virus.

La epidemia de ébola en África está entre “las más significativas a la que nos enfrentamos” desde la aparición de la enfermedad hace 40 años, declaró Keiji Fukuda, vicedirector general de la OMS.

Indicó que la propagación de la epidemia, que avanzó desde el sur de Guinea hacia la capital Conakry y al país vecino Liberia, es particularmente inquietante, por ello la organización envió equipos humanitarios a esa región para prestar apoyo.

Un experto médico de la OMS que recientemente regresó de Guinea sugirió no dar demasiada importancia a las cifras, “lo más importante es la tendencia y la propagación de la infección, hay un riesgo de que otros países sean afectados. Debemos permanecer vigilantes”.

El ébola, identificado por primera vez en la década de 1970 en lo que es la actual República Democrática del Congo, es uno de los más peligrosos ya que no existe vacuna ni cura específica para la enfermedad, por lo que su tasa de mortalidad es de 90 por ciento.

Seven new Ebola deaths reported in Liberia
Seven Ebola deaths reported in recent days in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, for the first time.
Last updated: 18 Jun 2014 00:01

The latest deaths bring the total to have died from Ebola in Liberia to 16 [AFP]

Seven people believed to have the Ebola virus have died in recent days in the first deaths reported in the Liberian capital since the outbreak began, a health official said on Tuesday.

Deputy Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah told AP news agency the latest deaths brought to 16 the number of people believed to have died from the virus in the West African country. Four of the deaths were confirmed by tests to be Ebola, Nyenswah said on Tuesday.

The deaths, recorded since June 8, are worrying because no new cases had been confirmed in Liberia in almost two months. Nyenswah said the new wave of cases was believed to have emerged on May 30.

The virus, which causes severe bleeding and high fevers, has continued to ravage neighbouring Guinea and has spread to Sierra Leone.

"The first phase of the epidemic was contained,'' said Nyenswah. "But because of proximity to Guinea and Sierra Leone, we did not declare the outbreak over."

Other officials have previously downplayed the significance of the virus jumping borders, saying that it was to be expected since people travel and trade frequently across the borders of the three countries.

Staff flee hospital

One of the seven deaths was a woman who had recently travelled from an infected area in Sierra Leone and is believed to have passed the disease on to others in the house where she was staying in Monrovia.

At one hospital on the outskirts of Monrovia, staff and patients fled after the death on Saturday of a nurse. On Tuesday, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf visited the hospital and met with a few nurses who came back to the hospital to mourn their colleague. But the beds were still empty and most of the staff have stayed away.

The outbreak appears to have begun in neighbouring Guinea, where the vast majority of the cases and deaths have been recorded. Amara Jambai of Sierra Leone's Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that the number of confirmed deaths from Ebola in his country had risen to 20 in recent days.

The new deaths reported in Liberia and Sierra Leone would push the World Health Organization's death toll for the current outbreak to more than 250. There is no vaccine and no known cure for Ebola, which causes severe bleeding, although proper care can increase the survival rate.
Source:
AP

Ebola outbreak spreads as toll reaches 337
World Health Organization says "one of most challenging" Ebola outbreaks ever is spreading in West Africa.
Last updated: 19 Jun 2014 11:55


The Redemption Hospital where a nurse reportedly died of Ebola virus in Monrovia, Liberia [EPA]

An Ebola outbreak continues to spread in three West African countries, and the death toll in the outbreak has risen to 337, the World Health Organization says.

Health officials have struggled to contain the outbreak, which is believed to have begun in Guinea, where the majority of the cases and deaths have been.

It has also touched Sierra Leone and Liberia, where it recently flared again after about two months with no new cases.

"This is a complex outbreak involving multiple locations in three countries with a lot of cross-border movement among the communities," Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the UN health agency, wrote in an email.

"This makes this one of the most challenging Ebola outbreaks ever."

Médicos Sin Fronteras: La epidemia más letal de ébola está "totalmente fuera de control"

Publicado: 20 jun 2014 | 21:29 GMT Última actualización: 20 jun 2014 | 21:29 GMT


El director de operaciones de Médicos Sin Fronteras (MSF) afirma que el brote de ébola en el oeste de África está "totalmente fuera de control".

Bart Janssens, director de operaciones de Médicos Sin Fronteras (MSF), opina que el grupo médico ha llegado al límite de su capacidad para responder al virus en África Occidental, informa AP. "Lo evidente es que la epidemia está en su segunda ola", añade Janssens, precisando que "está totalmente fuera de control sanitario".

De acuerdo con los datos de MSF, este brote de ébola deja más muertos que cualquier otro en la historia. Las últimas cifras de la Organización Mundial de la Salud revelan que el ébola ya ha causado más de 330 muertes en Liberia, Guinea y Sierra Leona. "Este es el mayor brote registrado y el causante del mayor número de muertes, así que no tiene precedentes hasta ahora", dice Armand Sprecher, especialista en salud pública de Médicos sin Fronteras.

Bart Janssens considera que las organizaciones internacionales y los gobiernos tienen que enviar más expertos en salud e incrementar los mensajes de educación para la población sobre las medidas necesarias para atajar la expansión del virus.

Epidemia de ébola “totalmente fuera de control”: Médicos sin Fronteras

AP Junio 21, 2014 1:05 am

El brote, que comenzó en Guinea a fines del año pasado o comienzos del actual, pareció amainar para volver a intensificarse en las últimas semanas


El brote del virus ébola que está asolando el oeste de Africa está “totalmente descontrolado”, advirtió ayer un directivo de Médicos Sin Fronteras, y añadió que el grupo se encuentra al límite de su capacidad para responder.

Bart Janssens, director de operaciones de MSF en Bruselas, dijo a The Associated Press que las organizaciones internacionales y los gobiernos deben movilizar más especialistas e incrementar los mensajes a la población sobre las medidas a tomar contra el contagio.

Janssens dijo que el brote dista de ceder y probablemente resultará el más mortífero que se haya registrado.

De acuerdo con las cifras más recientes de la Organización Mundial de la Salud, el Ebola ha causado más de 330 muertes en Guinea, Sierra Leona y Liberia.

“Está claro que la epidemia está ahora en una segunda ola”, agregó Janssens. “Y en mi opinión está totalmente descontrolada”.

El brote, que comenzó en Guinea a fines del año pasado o comienzos del actual, pareció amainar para volver a intensificarse en las últimas semanas, incluso propagándose a la capital liberiana por primera vez.

“Estoy absolutamente convencido de que la epidemia está lejos de concluir y que seguirá matando a una cantidad considerable de gente, y por lo tanto será la mayor jamás”, afirmó.

Los distintos escenarios del brote y su desplazamiento tras las fronteras lo convierten en uno “de los brotes de Ebola más peligrosos”, dijo esta semana Fadela Chaib, una portavoz de la OMS.

El brote no muestra signos de aflojar y los gobiernos y organizaciones internacionales están “lejos de estar ganando esta batalla”, afirmó Unni Krishnan, director de emergencias de Plan International.

Pero la caracterización que hizo Janssens del brote de Ebola fue todavía más alarmante y advirtió que los gobiernos afectados no han reconocido la gravedad de la situación. Criticó a la OMS por no alertar suficientemente a los dirigentes y dijo que debería aportar más expertos para rastrear a todos los que han estado en contacto con los enfermos.

“Debería haber una conciencia política de que esta es una emergencia muy grande”, afirmó. “De otro modo seguirá propagándose y con toda seguridad a otros países”.

La OMS no respondió inmediatamente un pedido de declaraciones.

Por su parte Tolbert Nyenswah, viceministro de salud de Liberia, dijo que el gobierno trabaja para contener el brote como lo demuestra el hecho de que ha habido un largo período en que no se manifestaron casos nuevos antes de esta segunda ola.

W Africa ministers hold emergency Ebola talks
Health ministers meet in Ghana to organise a regional response express concern over cash and sanitation practices.
Last updated: 03 Jul 2014 06:19

West African health ministers are meeting in Ghana to draw up a regional response to the outbreak of the Ebola virus, which has killed more than 500 people across the region.

"In Liberia, our biggest challenge is denial, fear and panic. Our people are very much afraid of the disease," Bernice Dahn, Liberia's deputy health minister, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Accra meeting on Wednesday.

"People are afraid but do not believe that the disease exists and because of that people get sick and the community members hide them and bury them, against all the norms we have put in place," she said.

Abubakarr Fofanah, deputy health minister for Sierra Leone said cash was needed for drugs, basic protective gear and staff pay.

Ebola: Shattering lives in Sierra Leone
As the death toll rises, fearful communities in Sierra Leone are torn apart by the Ebola virus.
Tommy Trenchard Last updated: 03 Jul 2014 11:07


Kenema, Sierra Leone - Until Friday, Hawa Daboh lived with 25 others in an unpainted concrete house in Sierra Leone's third largest city, Kenema. Now she lives with 24. Usually known for its diamonds, Kenema has become the nerve centre for the fight against what is now the worst outbreak of Ebola on record, which last Friday claimed the life of Alpha Lansana, Hawa's stepfather.

Ebola has now killed 467 people across Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia and infected many more. In Sierra Leone alone, 99 people have died - and for the first time, President Ernest Bai Koroma commented on the disease on Wednesday: "Ebola is real. Ebola kills," he said.

But Ebola does not simply kill. It spreads fear and mistrust among friends, divides communities, destroys livelihoods and puts a stop to education. For the residents of Hawa's peaceful, suburban home, it has changed everything.

"It affects us bad," Hawa told Al Jazeera. "Now there is nobody to help us. And the children are out of school." Being associated with someone who died of Ebola has made the family social outcasts. All of them were tested for the disease after Lansana's death and all came out negative.

But unable to get a medical certificate to prove it, this has had little impact on how they are treated. Even friends have stopped visiting them. If family members visit, neighbours on the street say they will be kicked out.

Now there is nobody to help us. And the children are out of school.

- Hawa Daboh, Kenema

"E no easy," said Hawa's aunt, Aminatta, in the local Krio language. She and other women in the family used to make a little money from trading at the market, she explains, indicating the woven wicker basket she used to sell. Now nobody will buy their products and the small revenue they brought in has disappeared.

Lansana had been the main breadwinner of the family, holding down a coveted job as a laboratory technician at the local hospital. Over the course of a few days, the family's financial security crashed.

Shunned and shut out

Across the street, one man who wished to remain anonymous to avoid the stigma of being associated with the disease, tells a harrowing story. A resident at the family compound, feeling unwell, went for testing at the local hospital, where she was diagnosed with typhoid, a common complaint in subtropical Sierra Leone. And so relieved family members went to visit her. By the time medical staff realised the disease was in fact Ebola, seven members of her family had also contracted it. Four are now dead. Three others are at the hospital being treated.

As in Hawa's home across the street, the remaining family members have been ostracised. The children, who tested negative, requested certificates so that they might be able to sit exams - but none was granted. One of Ebola's cruelties is that it is spread through contact with the fluids of an infected person, which means that friends and family are infecting each other, parents passing the disease on to children.

The disease has hit health workers particularly hard. When Al Jazeera visited the Kenema government hospital on Monday, workers from the Ebola ward were on strike. "For now, no driver will go to pick up a case," said one striking nurse.

Seven of their colleagues, including an ambulance driver, have now died from the disease - and so they decided that 100,000 leones ($23) was not sufficient compensation for the risks of dealing with Ebola.

Many of them, fully trained and certified, have long been working unpaid at the hospital. The head matron told Al Jazeera the strike had been resolved by the end of the day.

They, too, feel the force of the Ebola stigma, simply for having been in close proximity to the disease. One nurse told of being kicked out of the house by her husband as a result of her work.

United Nations Resident Coordinator for Sierra Leone, David McLachlan-Karr, compared it to the early days of HIV/AIDS. He told Al Jazeera that more efforts were being made to reach local communities, many of whom still do not understand the disease - even denying that it exists at all.

Even Hawa and her family, who witnessed their own father and seven neighbours catch the disease, do not believe it exists. Hawa insists he died of stress, despite testing positive for Ebola. Her sister Tiangay too, does not think Ebola is real. "I cannot say I think it exists," she says. "I still have not seen that disease."

They refuse to come to the hospital because they are afraid. People outside, they think we kill people.

- Rachael Musa, Kenema government hospital

Rachael Musa, who works in the Ebola screening room, explains that she faces two problems: Those who believe Ebola is real stigmatise her for being associated with the disease, and those who still deny Ebola exists are openly hostile to her.

"They refuse to come to the hospital because they are afraid," she said. "People outside, they think we kill people, [that] we give them Ebola injections. So we have few patients now."

Contagious rumours

Meanwhile, other conspiracy theories are running wild. Many believe Ebola is a cult whose members remove body parts from the patients. This, they say, explains why bodies must be instantly bagged and buried without the usual customs. Others see it as an aid industry plot to raise money. Even those that believe the disease is real, harbour misconceptions; a potent local whiskey, for example, is said to give you Ebola immunity.

Such is the mistrust of Ebola and those trying to treat it, that police last week had to use tear gas to disperse a mob intent on recovering the corpses of friends and relatives. Health workers in the field have also been prevented from doing their job. Dozens of suspected cases are on the run, fearful of what happens behind the closed doors of the isolation wards.

The reality is that testing and treatment offer the best chance of survival.

One man who did just that is Adikali Kamara, who committed himself to hospital early. Kamara spent a week in the Ebola ward, in the same room as his friend, Alpha Lansana, from whom he had contracted the disease. On the same Friday that Lansana died, leaving Hawa and the family to fend for themselves, Adikali tested negative and was discharged: a survivor.

"I was scared a little bit," he said. "But if you believe, it is simple."

Ebola death toll passes 600 in West Africa
Outbreak in nations including Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea has claimed 603 lives and continues to spread, WHO says.
Last updated: 15 Jul 2014 22:42

Medics were struggling to get access as residents feared outsiders were spreading and not fighting Ebola [Reuters]

The death toll from an Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen to 603 since February, with at least 68 deaths reported from three countries in the region in the last week alone, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

WHO said on Tuesday that there had been 85 new cases between July 8 to July 12, highlighting continued high levels of transmission.

International and local medics were struggling to get access to communities as many residents feared outsiders were spreading rather than fighting Ebola.

"It's very difficult for us to get into communities where there is hostility to outsiders," WHO spokesman Dan Epstein told a news briefing in Geneva.

"We still face rumours, and suspicion and hostility. People are isolated, they're afraid, they're scared."

Sierra Leone recorded the highest number of deaths, which include confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola, with 52, the Reuters news agency reported.

Liberia reported 13 and Guinea three, according to the WHO figures.

Epstein said the main focus in the three countries is tracing people who have been exposed to people with Ebola and monitoring them for the 21-day incubation period to see if they were infected.

"It's probably going to be several months before we are able to get a grip on this epidemic," Epstein added.

The outbreak started in Guinea's remote southeast but has spread across the region's porous borders despite aid workers scrambling to help some of the world's weakest health systems tackle the deadly, infectious disease.

In Sierra Leone and Guinea, experts think scores of patients are being hidden as relatives and friends believe hospitalisation is a "death sentence".

In Liberia, health workers have been chased away by armed gangs.
Source:
Agencies
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Ebola forces Liberia to shut border crossings
President orders most crossings closed and restricts public gatherings as worst outbreak in history continues to spread.
Last updated: 28 Jul 2014 02:07

Ebola can kill up to 90 percent of those who catch it [EPA]

The Liberian government has closed most of the West African nation's border crossings and introduced stringent health measures to curb the spread of the deadly Ebola virus that has killed at least 660 people across the region.

The new measures announced by the government on Sunday came as Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone struggle to contain the worst outbreak yet of the virus.

No doubt, the Ebola virus is a national health problem. And as we have also begun to see, it attacks our way of life.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Speaking at a task force meeting, Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said the government was doing everything to fight the virus, including inspecting and testing all outgoing and incoming airline passengers.

"All borders of Liberia will be closed with the exception of major entry points. At these entry points, preventive and testing centres will be established, and stringent preventive measures to be announced will be scrupulously adhered to," she said.

Ebola can kill up to 90 percent of those who catch it, although the fatality rate of the current outbreak is around 60 percent. The outbreak has placed a great strain on the health systems of some of Africa's poorest countries.

Highly contagious, especially in the late stages, its symptoms include vomiting and diarrhoea as well as internal and external bleeding.

Under the new measures, public gatherings such as marches, demonstrations and promotional advertisements also will be restricted.

Top doctor dead

"No doubt, the Ebola virus is a national health problem. And as we have also begun to see, it attacks our way of life, with serious economic and social consequences," Sirleaf said in a statement.

Still, despite efforts to fight the disease, the virus continues to spread. Samuel Brisbane, a senior Liberian doctor, who was also treating infected patients has died after contracting the virus, authorities said on Sunday.

In Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos, a Liberian man who tested positive died in on Friday.

A 33-year-old American doctor working for relief organisation Samaritan's Purse in Liberia tested positive for the disease on Saturday.

The charity said on Sunday a second American, who was helping a team treating Ebola patients at a case management centre in Monrovia had also tested positive.

Ebola virus spreads to Liberia medical staff
High-profile Liberian doctor dies and two American aid workers, including a physician, are infected as crisis deepens.
Last updated: 28 Jul 2014 00:51

Health workers are at serious risk of contracting Ebola, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids [EPA]

A senior doctor working at Liberia's largest hospital has died of Ebola, becoming the first Liberian doctor to die in an outbreak the World Health Organisation (WHO) says has killed 129 people in the country.

Tolbert Nyenswah, an assistant health minister, said Dr Samuel Brisbane died on Saturday at an Ebola treatment centre on the outskirts of the capital, Monrovia.

The WHO says the outbreak, the largest ever recorded, has also killed 319 people in Guinea and 224 in Sierra Leone.

Health workers are at serious risk of contracting the disease, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids.

Sierra Leone's top Ebola doctor fell ill with the disease last week, and the aid group Samaritan's Purse said on Saturday that an American doctor in Liberia was also sick.

The charity said Dr Kent Brantly had been isolated at the group's Ebola treatment centre at the ELWA hospital in the Liberian capital Monrovia.

"Dr. Brantly is married with two children," the group said, in a statement posted to its website on Saturday.

"Samaritan's Purse is committed to doing everything possible to help Dr Brantly during this time of crisis. We ask everyone to please pray for him and his family."

Brantly is the medical director of the Samaritan's Purse Ebola case management centre in Liberia, where the agency continues to work with Liberian and international health officials to contain the outbreak.

A second American, a missionary working in the Liberian capital, was also taken ill and was being treated in isolation there, said the pastor of a North Carolina church that sponsored her work.

Months-long epidemic

Ebola is an haemorrhagic fever with a very high fatality rate. Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea have borne the brunt of the recent epidemic, and last week Nigeria recorded its first death.

As of July 20, the number of Ebola cases recorded in the months-long epidemic stood at 1,093, including more than 660 deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.

The virus can fell victims within days, causing severe fever and muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in some cases, organ failure and unstoppable bleeding.

With no vaccine, patients believed to have caught the virus must be isolated to prevent further contagion.

Ebola first emerged in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is named after a river there.

Ebola epidemic 'out of control' says charity
Doctors Without Borders says outbreak can only worsen, as Nigeria tries to trace 30,000 people linked to first victim.
Last updated: 30 Jul 2014 18:04
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Global medical charity Doctors Without Borders has given warning that the Ebola crisis in West Africa is "unprecedented, absolutely out of control", as states across the world took steps to prevent its spread.

Bart Janssens, the charity's director of operations, warned there was no overarching vision of how to tackle the outbreak, in an interview with Belgium's La Libre Belgique newspaper.

"This epidemic ... can only get worse, because it is still spreading, above all in Liberia and Sierra Leone, in some very important hotspots," Janssens said.

"We are extremely worried by the turn of events, particularly in these two countries where there is a lack of visibility on the epidemic. If the situation does not improve fairly quickly, there is a real risk of new countries being affected.

"That is certainly not ruled out, but it is difficult to predict, because we have never known such an epidemic."

More than 670 people have died of Ebola in the outbreak, the largest on record since the disease was detected in the 1970s.

Meanwhile, the International Civil Aviation Organisation has met global health officials to discuss measures to stop the disease from crossing borders. The pan-African airline ASKY suspended all flights to and from the capitals of Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The EU allocated an extra $2.7m to fight the outbreak, bringing total funding to $5.2m.

"The level of contamination on the ground is extremely worrying and we need to scale up our action before many more lives are lost," said the EU's humanitarian aid commissioner, Kristalina Georgieva.

The bloc has deployed experts on the ground to help victims and try to limit contagion.

Communities quarantined

The warnings came as Liberia ordered the closure of all schools across the country and the quarantine of a number of communities in a bid to halt the outbreak.

Security forces have been ordered to enforce the new measures, part of a new action plan that included placing all non-essential government workers on 30-day compulsory leave.

In Nigeria, health authorities announced they were trying to trace more than 30,000 people who could be at risk of contracting Ebola after Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian, died from the disease in Lagos on Friday.

Sunday Omilabu, a professor at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, said: "We've been making contacts. As I'm talking, our teams are in the facility, where they've trained the staff, and then they (are) now asking questions about those that were closely in contact with the patient.

"We're actually looking at contacting over 30,000 people in this very scenario. Because any and everybody that has contacted this person is going to be treated as a suspect," said Yewande Adeshina, a public health adviser.

Nigeria's government has implemented a state of "red alert" at all border crossings and initiated a media campaign to

Sierra Leone's top Ebola doctor dies
Sheik Umar Khan becomes second specialist to die, as West Africa grapples with worst outbreak of virus on record.
Last updated: 30 Jul 2014 03:29

Sierra Leone's top Ebola doctor has died from the disease, medical officials have said.

Sheik Umar Khan was infected earlier this month and died on Tuesday at a ward run by medical charity Doctors Without Borders in the far north of the country.

Miatta Kargbo, Sierra Leone's health minister, called Khan a "national hero" and praised his "tremendous sacrifice" in working to save the lives of others.
Sheik Umar Khan was infected earlier this month and died on Tuesday

His death comes days after Samuel Brisbane, a senior doctor at Liberia's largest hospital, died on Saturday at an Ebola treatment centre on the outskirts of Monrovia.

Several other medics have also been infected. The aid group Samaritan's Purse said on Saturday that a US doctor, Kent Brantly, who was working in Liberia was also sick.

Health workers are at serious risk of contracting the disease, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids.

Azaria Marthyman, a Canadian doctor, has put himself in quarantine as a precaution after spending weeks in Liberia treating patients with the deadly Ebola virus alongside an American doctor who is now infected, local media said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Pan-African airline ASKY suspended all flights to and from the capitals of Liberia and Sierra Leone over the worsening Ebola health crisis.

Ebola has killed hundreds of people in West Africa in the worst outbreak on record. The World Health Organisation says that 219 people in Liberia, 319 people in Guinea, and 224 in Sierra Leone have died.

Nigeria death

The disease has also killed the Liberian husband of an American woman who had flown to Lagos, Nigeria.

The family of Patrick Sawyer, a 40-year-old who died on July 24, said he had recently arrived from the US for a visit. Health officials said his family members were not affected.

Officials stressed people were not contagious until they showed symptoms, and the Sawyer family left Liberia days before he fell ill.

Sawyer, a consultant for Liberia's Finance Ministry, collapsed on arrival at Lagos airport. He was put in isolation at the First Consultants Hospital in Obalende.

Ebola forces state emergency in Sierra Leone
President Koroma calls in security forces to quarantine affected areas as WHO announces more deaths in West Africa.
Last updated: 31 Jul 2014 18:49
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Sierra Leone began quarantining areas of Ebola infection, as international health officials announced an international $100m plan to combat an epidemic which has already killed more than 700 people in West Africa.

Security forces set up quarantines on Thursday, hours after Sierra Leone's president, Ernest Bai Koroma, ordered a state of emergency, cancelled a trip to the US and called a summit with regional leaders and the World Health Organisation on how to deal with the crisis.


"I hereby proclaim a state of public emergency to enable us take a more robust approach to deal with the Ebola outbreak," he said in a speech late on Wednesday, adding that the measures would initially last between 60 and 90 days. "All centres of the disease will be quarantined," he added.

Koroma said that the police and the military would restrict movement between affected areas, and would provide support to health officers and NGOs following a number of attacks on health workers by local communities.

Koroma also said that house-to-house searches would be implemented to trace Ebola victims and quarantine them.

He added that new protocols had been established for passengers arriving and departing Lungi airport outside Freetown.

In a statement, the WHO said the death toll from the outbreak of Ebola had risen to 729 after 57 deaths were reported between July 24 and 27 in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

The WHO added that its $100m fund will be launched at a Friday meeting in Conakry, Guinea.

"The scale of the Ebola outbreak, and the persistent threat it poses, requires WHO and Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to take the response to a new level," the organisation said.

"This will require increased resources, in-country medical expertise, regional preparedness and coordination."

WHO says Ebola outbreak is out of control
Chief of global health organisation says deadly outbreak is spreading quicker than efforts to contain it.
Last updated: 02 Aug 2014 11:35

The World Health Organisation is warning that West Africa's Ebola outbreak, which has killed more than 700 people since February, is spreading far quicker than efforts to contain the disease.

The WHO's chief, Margaret Chan, urged the presidents of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast at a meeting in Guinea's capital Conakry to step up efforts to avoid "catastrophic consequences", after the global health organisation announced a $100m plan to combat an epidemic.

"This outbreak is moving faster than our efforts to control it. If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socioeconomic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries."
Inside Story: 'Out of control' outbreak?

"This meeting must mark a turning point in the outbreak response," Chan said.

The outbreak is by far the largest in the 40-year history of the disease, with 729 deaths so far, including more than 60 healthcare workers, and 1,323 cases overall, she said.

Experience showed that the outbreak could be stopped and the general public was not at high risk of infection, but it would be "extremely unwise" to let the virus circulate widely over a long period of time, she said.

Epidemiologists say the pathogen is relatively difficult to catch and is not airborne.

The virus, which requires contact with the bodily fluids of a victim, their blood, urine, faeces, vomit, saliva or sweat, to leap into a new host, is also treatable

Cultural setbacks

Chan said cultural practices such as traditional burials and deep-seated beliefs were a significant cause of the spread and a barrier to containment and needed to change.

People's assumption that isolation wards were "a sure death sentence" led them to care for loved ones at home or consult traditional healers, defeating attempts to contain the disease.

"Moreover, public attitudes can create a security threat to response teams when fear and misunderstanding turn to anger, hostility, or violence."

Despite alarm by some in the US, two American aid workers infected with the virus while in Liberia were set to arrive back home on Saturday.

Health officials said bringing the sickened aid workers into the country would not put the American public at risk.

On Thursday, Sierre Leone ordered a state of emergency over the Ebola epidemic and began setting up quarantines in parts of the country.

Sierra Leone's president, Ernest Bai Koroma said that the police and the military would restrict movement between affected areas, and would provide support to health officers and NGOs following a number of attacks on health workers by local communities.

Koroma also said that house-to-house searches would be implemented to trace Ebola victims and quarantine them.

He added that new protocols had been established for passengers arriving and departing Lungi airport outside Freetown.

In Depth
What is Ebola?
Ebola is a viral hemorrhagic fever and one of the deadliest diseases known to humanity.
Last updated: 02 Aug 2014 12:59

The outbreak that began in Guinea in early 2014 is the first among humans in West Africa [MSF]

The Ebola virus disease is a viral hemorrhagic fever that has killed more than 1,600 people since it was first discovered in Africa in the 1970s.

The current outbreak in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone is the largest in history and has sickened more than 1,300 people and killed more than 700 this year.

With a death rate of up to 90 percent, Ebola is described as "one of the world's deadliest diseases" by Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Many of those infected with the virus quickly get flu-like symptoms such as fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.

MSF says that the symptoms are non-specific, making the disease difficult to diagnose. The symptoms can appear from two to 21 days after exposure.

No vaccine

There is no vaccine or cure available for the disease. The most serious cases require intensive care and a drip to combat dehydration.

Ebola can be caught from both humans and animals. It spreads by direct contact with blood, body fluids or tissues of the infected.

Funeral rituals in which relatives and friends touch the body of the dead play an important role in transmission, as does handling dead or living animals carrying the virus.

In Africa, particular species of fruit bats are considered possible natural hosts for Ebola virus. Infected bats are thought to transmit the disease to humans, or indirectly through other animals which are hunted for their meat.

Ebola first appeared in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks, in Sudan and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC outbreak was near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name.

The disease has since killed more than 1,600 people in parts of Africa.

The outbreak that began in Guinea in early 2014 is the first among humans in West Africa. The virus strain detected is Zaire, the most virulent.

Emirates suspends Guinea flights over Ebola
Dubai carrier becomes the first major airline to impose ban over outbreak of deadly virus in West Africa.
Last updated: 03 Aug 2014 04:50

Doctors Without Borders has set up a regional centre in Guinea to coordinate response to Ebola outbreak [AFP]

Dubai carrier Emirates has become the first major international airline to impose a ban in response to the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa by suspending flights to Guinea.

Flights were suspended from Saturday until further notice, the airline said in a statement on its website.

"The safety of our passengers and crew is of the highest priority and will not be compromised," it said.

The Ebola outbreak, which began in Guinea and has spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone, has killed more than 700 people, making it the deadliest since the virus was discovered almost 40 years ago. Sierra Leone declared a state of emergency on Wednesday.

In line with guidelines from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the World Health Organisation, several major airlines and international airports have started health screening passengers on flights from West Africa.

But IATA said on Thursday the WHO was not recommending travel restrictions or border closures, and there would be a low risk to other passengers if an infected person flew.

Nigeria's largest airline Arik Air, which flies to a limited number of international destinations including London, has stopped flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Pan-African airline Asky was suspended by Nigeria's civil aviation authorities for bringing the first Ebola case to the country's largest city, Lagos.

West African leaders agreed on Friday to take stronger measures to try to bring Ebola under control and prevent it from spreading outside the region.

Emirates, which does not fly to either Liberia or Sierra Leone, said any further actions in connection with the outbreak would be "guided by the advice and updates from the government and international health authorities".

Aid worker stricken with Ebola arrives in US
Doctor Kent Brantly, the country's first Ebola patient, taken to a state-of-the-art hospital isolation unit in Georgia.
Last updated: 03 Aug 2014 03:56

The facility at Emory is one of only four in the country with the facilities to deal with such cases [EPA]

An aid worker infected with the deadly Ebola virus while in Liberia has arrived at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in the US state of Georgia from West Africa.

Doctor Kent Brantly landed shortly before noon (16:00 GMT) on Saturday aboard a private air ambulance and was whisked to a state-of-the-art hospital isolation unit.

Brantly, the country's first Ebola patient, is one of two US aid workers infected with the virus as they helped to battle an outbreak that has claimed more than 700 lives in West Africa since March.

Wearing a biohazard suit, Brantly was driven by ambulance, with police escort, to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for treatment in a specially equipped room.

Television news footage showed three people in white biohazard suits stepping out of the ambulance. Two of them
walked into the hospital, one seeming to lean on the other for support.

A hospital spokesman confirmed that Brantly walked into the building under his own power, the Reuters news agency reported.

Dr Jay Varkey, an infectious disease specialist at Emory, said he could not comment on a treatment plan until Brantly had been evaluated.

Since there is no known cure, standard procedures are to provide hydration with solutions containing electrolytes or intravenous fluids, according to the World Health Organisation.

Brantly, a 33-year-old father of two young children, works for the North Carolina-based Christian organisation Samaritan's Purse.

A second infected member of the group, missionary Nancy Writebol who is a 59-year-old mother of two, will be brought to the US on a later flight, as the medical aircraft is equipped to carry only one patient at a time.

'Thankful to God'

"It was a relief to welcome Kent home today. I spoke with him, and he is glad to be back in the US," Brantly's wife, Amber, said in a written statement.

"I am thankful to God for his safe transport and for giving him the strength to walk into the hospital.

"Please continue praying for Kent and Nancy, and please continue praying for the people of Liberia and those who continue to serve them there."

Liberia is one of the three West Africa countries hit by the largest Ebola outbreak in history, the AP news agency reported.

Despite concern among some in the United States over bringing Ebola patients to the country, health officials have
said there is no risk to the public.

The facility at Emory, set up with the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, is one of only four in the
country with the facilities to deal with such cases.

Ebola is a haemorrhagic virus with a death rate of up to 90 percent of those who become infected; the fatality rate in the current epidemic is about 60 percent.

The patients will be able to see loved ones through a plate-glass window and speak to them by phone or intercom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrWmGKDR9o4


[youtube]

Could Ebola Reach Mexico? Mexican Health Official Says 'No Way'
By Oscar Lopez | Aug 03 2014, 03:23PM EDT

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Hospital Ambulance Ebola
Emory University Hospital after an ambulance carrying American doctor Kent Brantly, who has the Ebola virus, arrived via Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Atlanta, Georgia August 2, 2014. Reuters

The Director of Epidemiology at the Mexican Ministry of Health, Cuitláhuac Ruiz Matus, said that there is "not even a remote possibility" that Ebola could reach Mexico, because, although this virus has generated a major outbreak in African countries, it is not easily spread like flu or influenza. In an interview with Notimex, the specialist noted that the world is facing one of the largest outbreaks in the history of this virus, first identified in 1976 in the Center-West (Sudan and Congo) of Africa.

He explained that there are five Ebola subviruses and that four of them can cause disease in humans. One of the carriers of this virus is the fruit bat and unfortunately there is no vaccine or treatment. "The problem with this disease is related to its lethality, ie, the number of patients who die, can go from 20 to 90 percent, and today there is no specific treatment for this virus, nor is there a vaccine," said Ruiz Matus.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of July 27 more than 1,300 cases had been reported, including 729 people who died in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. "However, given the characteristics of transmission and preventive measures for this virus it is quite unlikely that it will spread, either in Mexico, or elswehere in world geography," he said. Symptoms of the disease include a sudden fever, weakness, muscle pain, headache vomiting and diarrhea.

Secretaría de Salud pide a mexicanos evitar viajar a países con ébola

En caso de tener que viajar a Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leona, Guinea la dependencia aconseja evitar estar en contacto con personas enfermas
Sábado, 02 de agosto de 2014 a las 12:37
El virus del Ébola únicamente se ha presentado en cuatro países de África (Reuters/Archivo).
El virus del Ébola únicamente se ha presentado en cuatro países de África (Reuters/Archivo).
Lo más importante

La Secretaría de Salud de México pidió evitar viajar a los cuatro países donde se ha detectado ébola
Hasta este momento no se han presentado casos fuera del continente africano

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(CNNMéxico) — La Secretaría de Salud de México (SSA) pidió a la población evitar viajar a los países africanos donde se han presentado casos de ébola, enfermedad que se transmite a través de los fluidos corporales y para la que aún no hay una cura.

En caso de ser inevitable trasladarse por cualquier razón a Guinea, Liberia y Sierra Leona, los viajeros deben impedir estar en contacto con personas enfermas, señaló la dependencia federal en un comunicado citado por la agencia Notimex.

En Nigeria solo se ha detectado un caso del virus.

La SSA recordó que desde el 23 de marzo de 2014 a la fecha existe un brote de esta enfermedad en los países africanos mencionados y que hasta este momento no se han presentado casos fuera del continente africano.

Estados Unidos también ha pedido a sus ciudadanos evitar viajar a los países afectados por la enfermedad.

El virus del Ébola ha matado al menos a 729 personas, señalan cifras actualizadas hasta el 27 de julio, dadas a conocer esta semana por la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS). Terminar con la epidemia en el oeste de África podría tomar entre tres a seis meses, según los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades de Estados Unidos (CDC) de EU.

Liberia ha cerrado la mayoría de sus fronteras como medida preventiva para evitar que se propague la enfermedad y estableció restricciones en lugares públicos.

Mientras que Sierra Leona se declaró en estado de emergencia. Su presidente, Ernest Koroma, anunció que personal médico acompañado por el Ejército registrará casa por casa en busca de personas enfermas.

La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) anunció esta semana la puesta en marcha de un programa emergente que busca controlar el brote y que éste no se extienda hacia otros países.

Autoridades de Estados Unidos trasladaron este sábado al doctor Kent Brantly, un médico estadounidense que contrajó el virus en Liberia tras atender a pacientes enfermos.

Atlanta hospital deemed 1 of safest for Ebola care
Dr. Kent Brantly works at an Ebola treatment clinic in Foya, Liberia, on June 23. EPA: Samaritan's Purse

ATLANTA (AP) — The Ebola virus has killed more than 700 people in Africa and could have catastrophic consequences if allowed to spread, world health officials say. So why would anyone allow infected Americans to come to Atlanta?

The answer, experts say, is because Emory University Hospital is one of the safest places in the world to treat someone with Ebola. There's virtually no chance the virus can spread from the hospital's super-secure isolation unit.

And another thing, they say: medical workers risking their lives overseas deserve the best treatment they can get.

Dr. Kent Brantly became the first person infected with Ebola to be brought to the United States from Africa. He arrived Saturday at one of the nation's best hospitals. Fellow aid worker Nancy Writebol was expected to arrive in several days. He climbed out dressed head to toe in white protective clothing, and another person in an identical hazardous materials suit held both of his gloved hands as they walked gingerly inside.

"I hope that our understandable fear of the unfamiliar does not trump our compassion when ill Americans return to the U.S. for care," said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His agency received "nasty emails" and at least 100 calls from people questioning why the sick aid workers should be let into the United States.

Despite the calls and messages directed to the CDC, few of those nearest the hospital Saturday seemed concerned.

"I just think it's a blessing that we can help possibly make the infected person's life a little more tolerable," said Ashley Wheeler, who was shopping just down the street on Saturday. "If I were that person I would want my country to help me the best way they could."

An airplane carrying American doctor Kent Brantly, who has the Ebola virus, arrives at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Ga., on Saturday.Reuters: Tami Chappell

An airplane carrying American doctor Kent Brantly, who has the Ebola virus, arrives at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Ga..

Emory's infectious diseases' unit was created 12 years ago to handle doctors who get sick at the CDC. It is one of about four in the country equipped with everything necessary to test, treat and contain people exposed to very dangerous viruses.

In 2005, it handled patients with SARS, which unlike Ebola can spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

In fact, the nature of Ebola — which is spread by close contact with bodily fluids and blood — means that any modern hospital using standard, rigorous, infection-control measures should be able to handle it.

Still, Emory won't be taking any chances.

"Nothing comes out of this unit until it is non-infectious," said Dr. Bruce Ribner, who will be treating the patients. "The bottom line is: We have an inordinate amount of safety associated with the care of this patient. And we do not believe that any health care worker, any other patient or any visitor to our facility is in any way at risk of acquiring this infection."

Ribner also said the patients deserve help.

"They have gone over on a humanitarian mission, they have become infected through medical care and we feel that we have the environment and expertise to safely care for these patients and offer them the maximum opportunity for recovery from these infections," he said Friday.

Amber Brantly was heartened to see her husband climb out of the ambulance that met his plane at Dobbins Air Reserve Base outside Atlanta.

"It was a relief to welcome Kent home today. I spoke with him, and he is glad to be back in the U.S.," she said in a statement. "I am thankful to God for his safe transport and for giving him the strength to walk into the hospital."

Inside the unit, patients are sealed off from anyone who doesn't wear protective gear.

"Negative air pressure" means air flows in, but can't escape until filters scrub any germs from patients. All laboratory testing is conducted within the unit, and workers are highly trained in infection control. Glass walls enable staff outside to safely observe patients, and there's a vestibule where workers suit up before entering. Any gear is safely disposed of or decontaminated.

Family members will be kept at a distance for now, the doctors said. The unit "has a plate glass window and communication system, so they'll be as close as 1-2 inches from each other," Ribner said.

Dr. Jay Varkey, an infectious disease specialist who will be treating Brantly and Writebol, gave no word Saturday about their condition. Both have been described as critically ill after treating Ebola patients at a missionary hospital in Liberia, one of four West African countries hit by the largest outbreak of the virus in history.

There is no cure for the virus, which causes hemorrhagic fever that kills as many as 60-80 percent of the people it infects in Africa. There are experimental treatments, but the missionary hospital had only enough for one person, and Brantly insisted that Writebol receive it. His best hope in Africa was a transfusion of blood including antibodies from one of his patients, a 14-year-old boy who survived thanks to the doctor.

There was also only room on the plane for one patient at a time. Writebol will be next, following the same route to Emory in several days.

An employee of the Monrovia City Corporation mixes disinfectant before spraying it on the streets in a bid to prevent the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, in the city of Monrovia, Liberia.
AP 3 days ago By BOUBACAR DIALLO and KRISTA LARSON of Associated Press

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — An Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 700 people in West Africa is moving faster than the efforts to control the disease, the head of the World Health Organization warned as presidents from the affected countries met Friday in Guinea's capital.

Dr. Margaret Chan, the WHO's director-general, said the meeting in Conakry "must be a turning point" in the battle against Ebola, which is now sickening people in three African capitals for the first time in history.

"If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socio-economic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries," she said, as the WHO formally launched a $100 million response plan that includes deploying hundreds more health care workers.

Related: W. Africa Ebola outbreak tops 700 deaths

Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said the WHO pledge "needs to translate to immediate and effective action." While the group has deployed some 550 health workers, it said it did not have the resources to expand further.

Doctors Without Borders said its teams are overwhelmed with new Ebola patients in Sierra Leone and that the situation in Liberia is now "dire."

"Over the last weeks, there has been a significant surge in the epidemic — the number of cases has increased dramatically in Sierra Leone and Liberia, and the disease has spread to many more villages and towns," the organization said in a statement. "After a lull in new cases in Guinea, there has been a resurgence in infections and deaths in the past week."

Ebola moving faster than control efforts: Infographic charts and maps reported cases and deaths since February.Reuters

At least 729 people have died since cases first emerged in March: 339 in Guinea, 233 in Sierra Leone, 156 in Liberia and one in Nigeria.

Two American health workers in Liberia have been infected, and an American man of Liberian descent died in Nigeria from the disease, health authorities there say.

Plans were underway to bring the two American aid workers — Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly — back to the U.S. A small private jet based in Atlanta has been dispatched to Liberia. Officials said the jet was outfitted with a special, portable tent designed for transporting patients with highly infectious diseases.

While health officials say the virus is transmitted only through direct contact with bodily fluids, many sick patients have refused to go to isolation centers and have infected family members and other caregivers.

The fatality rate has been about 60 percent, and the scenes of patients bleeding from the eyes, mouth and ears has led many relatives to keep their sick family members at home instead. Sierra Leone is now sending teams door-to-door in search of Ebola patients and others who have been exposed to the disease.

Chan emphasized Friday that the general public "is not at high risk of infection," but also said the Ebola virus should not be allowed to circulate widely.

"Constant mutation and adaptation are the survival mechanisms of viruses and other microbes," she said. "We must not give this virus opportunities to deliver more surprises."

Randy Schoepp, chief of diagnostics at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, which is running the only lab in Liberia testing Ebola samples, said: "The virus is getting to large, dense, city areas. We're now getting samples (to test) from all over."

But he said he thinks "we're only seeing a small portion of the cases out there," partly because many drivers are scared to transport vials of blood that may contain Ebola to the lab.

Other countries are taking precautions to prevent the spread of Ebola.

The African Union mission in Somalia canceled a planned troop rotation by Sierra Leonean forces in an effort to prevent Ebola from crossing into the Horn of Africa country, the military said.

Seychelles forfeited an African Cup qualifying game and withdrew from the competition Thursday rather than allow Sierra Leone's soccer team to travel to the Indian Ocean island. And a cyclist from Sierra Leone competed in the Commonwealth Games after testing negative for Ebola.

Nigeria's minister of health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, said Thursday the government has located 10 more people who had primary contact with the man who flew to Lagos, and died there because of Ebola. The government is tracking down the remaining people who had contact with him, he said. As of Friday, 69 people are under surveillance and two are quarantined, Chukwu said.

President Barack Obama said the United States is taking precautions for next week's U.S.-African summit in Washington. Administration officials said the leaders of Liberia and Sierra Leone had canceled their trip to Washington for the gathering of African leaders.

Meanwhile, families in the United States expect to be reunited as early as this weekend with some of the more than 300 Peace Corps volunteers evacuated from West Africa as a precaution.

"We did really have faith in the Peace Corps that if things would become dangerous they would do what they're now doing," said Mirna Jope of Carmichael, California, whose 25-year-old son called home Thursday after learning he would be leaving Sierra Leone.

A Peace Corps spokeswoman said the organization is working to bring the volunteers home as quickly as possible. The group's medical officers are assessing volunteers before their departure as a precaution. The organization is advising them to monitor their health, including checking their temperature twice daily per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. The medical officers will check with returning volunteers and be on call if they experience symptoms or have concerns.

Two workers who have been exposed to the virus still were being monitored.

"The two Peace Corps volunteers who have had contact with an individual who later died of the virus are not symptomatic and are currently isolated and under observation," said spokeswoman Shira Kramer. "When they receive medical clearance for return to the U.S., we will work with them to travel safely back."

___


Larson reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press correspondents Maria Cheng in London, Carla K. Johnson in Chicago, Mike Stobbe in New York and Bashir Adigun in Abuja, Nigeria contributed to this report.

Virus del ébola, epidemia “fuera de control”

MATHIEU TOURLIERE
5 DE AGOSTO DE 2014
DESTACADO


MÉXICO, D.F. (apro).- La epidemia de ébola en África Occidental “todavía puede ser controlada si se aplican las medidas preventivas”, afirmó hoy el doctor Luis Gómez Sambo, director regional de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) para África.

Según las últimas cifras de ese organismo internacional, hasta ayer el virus había infectado a mil 603 personas en Guinea, Liberia y Sierra Leona, de las cuales 887 fallecieron.

Ante la contingencia, ayer el Banco Mundial anunció que desbloqueará un fondo de emergencia de 200 millones de dólares en la carrera contra el reloj que emprenden organizaciones internacionales para tratar y prevenir la propagación “fuera de control” del virus.

Y es que actualmente, las condiciones de trabajo para los equipos sanitarios locales, apoyados entre otros por integrantes de la OMS, Médicos Sin Fronteras (MSF), la Cruz Roja Internacional y el Cuerno Rojo son particularmente difíciles, según informaron médicos presentes en las zonas principales del virus.

Bajo temperaturas que se elevan hasta los 40 grados y entre aguaceros, los equipos humanitarios montan campamentos de salud herméticos donde atienden a los enfermos, observando estrictas normas de seguridad.

Según el director regional de la OMS para África, Luis Gómez Sambo, 123 trabajadores de la salud fueron infectados desde el inicio de la epidemia, de los cuales 70 ya fallecieron.

Además, dijo que “los tres países afectados tienen sistemas de salud muy débiles, capacidades al nivel local también muy débiles, y es ahí donde debemos fortalecer la entrega de servicios sanitarios, de información, prevención y medidas de protección. También se necesita más capacidad de tecnologías en términos de laboratorio, tratamiento y logística que no están disponibles tampoco en una situación normal”.

Y no sólo eso: Las ONG afirman tener grandes dificultades para ser aceptadas en las comunidades. El corresponsal del diario francés Le Monde en aquella zona observó que los habitantes rechazan tanto el apoyo del gobierno como de “los blancos”. Aseguró que, según sus tradiciones, prefieren cuidar el enfermo en su casa a pesar del riesgo de contagio y cuando éste fallece, se despiden del cuerpo abrazándolo y tocándolo.

Por lo anterior, las organizaciones institucionales desarrollan vastas campañas de información acerca del virus –que pasa también a través de las manos–, con el fin de “romper la cadena de transmisión”, planteó Sambo.

El corresponsal de The Guardian reportó que durante una caminata en Freetown, capital de Sierra Leona, observó las calles desiertas y sólo con mantas que colgaron las autoridades con el mensaje: “El ébola es verdad: no coman carne de murciélago”.

El murciélago, junto con otras especies, forma parte de los receptores del virus sin que desarrolle la enfermedad, afirma la OMS.

Según las agencias de noticias internacionales, los gobiernos de Guinea, Liberia y Sierra Leona desplegaron operativos militares para establecer un cordón sanitario en las zonas fronterizas y mantener a los pueblos en cuarentena.

El origen de la amenaza

El virus del ébola fue descubierto en septiembre de 1976, cuando infectó a un habitante de Yambuku, un pueblo ubicado en la orilla del río Ébola, en la República Democrática de Congo, entonces llamada Zaire.

Existen cinco especies del género ébola, pero el virus ébola zaire –que afecta actualmente a los países de África Occidental–, es el más letal. Según las cifras de la OMS, en los últimos 38 años, más de 60% de los infectados por el ébola zaire han muerto.

El virus, extremadamente contagioso, se propaga a través de los fluidos corporales y la sangre. Su periodo de incubación en el cuerpo varía entre dos y 21 días, de acuerdo con la OMS.

Se reproduce en las células e invade al cuerpo, saturando las venas, los órganos y los tejidos orgánicos, lo que provoca hemorragias internas y daña órganos vitales como el hígado y los riñones.

El paciente enfermo sufre primero de una fiebre aguda, seguida de vómitos, diarreas y erupciones en la piel; eventualmente presenta hemorragias internas y externas.

Y, aunque algunos laboratorios están probando vacunas, hasta la fecha no existe tratamiento antiviral, según el diagnóstico de la OMS. La única forma de combatir la enfermedad reside en su detección rápida para tratar sus efectos y mantener en vida el paciente hasta que su cuerpo elimine el virus.

Pánico en Estados Unidos

El doctor Kent Brantly y su ayudante, Nancy Writebol, dos misionarios estadunidenses en África Occidental, fueron infectados recientemente por el virus de ébola. El sábado pasado, las autoridades repatriaron de emergencia a Brantly y lo llevaron, bajo la escolta de helicópteros y de personal médico equipado con trajes herméticos, a la zona de confinación del hospital de Emory, en Atlanta. Este martes llevaron a Writebol en la misma institución.

La presencia de los dos pacientes infectados sobre territorio estadunidense despertó una ola de pánico en aquel país, misma que las autoridades sanitarias se esforzaron en tranquilizar, reveló The New York Times.

Los pacientes recibieron un suero experimental nunca antes probado sobre seres humanos. Según las últimas noticias, el estado de salud de Brantly –quien llegó con pocas esperanzas de vida– mejoró notablemente.

Por su parte, las autoridades nigerianas anunciaron hoy que mantienen a 70 personas “vigiladas”, ya que reportaron tres casos de infección.

Los próximos miércoles y jueves, la OMS llevará a cabo una reunión del Comité de Emergencias para determinar si el brote de ébola constituye una amenaza internacional.

08/08/2014 10:31

El Comité de Emergencia de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) declaró a la epidemia del virus del Ébola en Africa Occidental una amenaza para la salud pública internacional.
La directora general de la OMS, Margaret Chan, advirtió que se trata de “un acontecimiento extraordinario” y un riesgo para la salud pública de otros estados.

El brote comenzó en marzo de este año en Guinea, y a la fecha se ha cobrado la vida de casi un millar de personas y más de mil 700 están infectadas con el virus letal.

En poco tiempo el Ébola, un virus para el que no existe vacuna ni medicamento capaz de combatirlo, se dispersó rápidamente hacia la región del Africa Occidental, especialmente a Liberia, Sierra Leona y recientemente a Nigeria.

Chan señaló que las posibles consecuencias de la propagación mundial son particularmente graves en vista de la virulencia del virus, los patrones de transmisión a la comunidad y los sistemas de salud débiles en la mayoría de los países en riesgo actualmente afectados.

Subrayó la necesidad de la solidaridad internacional y una respuesta global coordinada, lo que consideró esencial para detener y revertir la propagación de Ébola.

Asimismo, advirtió que a pesar de que el virus afecta solamente una porción del continente africano, todos los países deben estar vigilantes.

Chan declaró la emergencia de salud pública internacional en virtud de las recomendaciones del Comité de expertos de la OMS que estudiaron el caso.

Notimex

Africa
US 'to send' untested Ebola drug to Liberia
Liberian presidency says US has approved its request to send sample doses of Zmapp to treat local doctors.
Last updated: 12 Aug 2014 02:03
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Ebola drug manufacturer said in a statement on Monday that its supply had been exhausted [AP]

Liberia has said it will receive doses of an experimental Ebola drug to treat infected doctors in the West African country.

A statement, published on the Liberian presidency's website on Monday, said the United States had approved a request from Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to ship the medicine, ZMapp, after a direct appeal to US President Barack Obama on Friday.

However, a spokesperson for the US Health and Human Services (HHS) Department said US authorities had simply assisted in connecting the Liberian government with the drug's manufacturer.

"Since the drug was shipped for use outside the US, appropriate export procedures had to be followed," the HHS spokesperson said, adding the drug company had worked directly with the Liberian government.

The Liberian statement said the head of the WHO, Margaret Chan, had authorised the dispatch of additional doses of the experimental drug to Liberia to support the treatment of affected doctors. Those doses will be delivered by a WHO expert this week.

A WHO spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Lewis Brown, Liberian information minister, told the Reuters news agency that it was not clear how many doses of the drug had been sent, but it could be in Monrovia within the next 48 hours.

The company said in a statement on Monday that its supply had been exhausted.

ZMapp, produced by California-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical, has already been used to treat two US aid workers and a Spanish priest infected with Ebola.

Global health emergency

The death toll from the world's worst outbreak of Ebola has climbed to 1,013 people, according to figures on Monday from the World Health Organisation, which has branded the outbreak an international health emergency.

The WHO has said the epidemic will likely continue for months as the region's healthcare systems struggle to cope and has appealed urgently for funding and emergency medical staff.

A WHO medical ethics committee had discussed on Monday the use of experimental drugs to tackle the world's worst outbreak of the deadly virus. It is due to announce its findings on Tuesday.

Aside from the ethics of using experimental drugs in humans, the committee was also due to consider who should receive priority for the limited supplies of the drugs.