H5N1

Nigeria: FCTA refutes report of Ebola in Abuja

Via the Daily Trust: FCTA refutes report of Ebola in Abuja. Excerpt:

Authorities of the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat at the weekend denied any case of Ebola infection within the territory as reported in some media, which was said to have killed a medical student. 

Public Relations Officer of the secretariat, Mr Badaru Yakasai, said that the office of the FCT Health Secretary monitored the suspected case. 

He said the case was referred to Irrua Specialist Hospital and tested for Lassa fever (which has similar clinical presentations as Ebola) and the test result was negative. 

According to him: “The FCT Department of Public Health under the Health and Human Services Secretariat, whose mandate is to investigate and report the outcome of all suspected outbreaks, is in contact with Irrua Specialist Hospital and the centre confirmed that no Ebola has been confirmed in this case. However, samples have been taken to a more specialised centre with facility to do further investigations on the sample.” 

He said the FCT Department of Public Health, Health and Human Services Secretariat, is collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Health to obtain more information from the family members of the suspected case and the various healthcare facilities where the suspected case was managed.

I'm not sure this really settles the matter. It would help if we knew what the young woman actually died of, especially if her symptoms were similar to Ebola and Lassa fever.

Guinea: No new Ebola cases, but three deaths

Via Guinéenews.org: Ebola: "no new cases reported in the last 24 hours," says Dr. Sakoba Keita. The Google translation:

Reported no new cases in the last 24 hours. However,  many died of Ebola virus in the country, has now reached 80 122 cases reported. It is the Division Chief Prevention and Fight against Disease Ministry of Health, Dr Sakoba Keita, anti Ebola gentleman Guinea, just give us the data on the evolution of the disease in the country. 

''There has been no new reported throughout the national territory for the Sunday event yesterday. However, two new cases of deaths occur among cases detected in Conakry. This makes   for a total capital of 3 victims,'' he has said. 

A situation which demonstrates stability now probably on the spot efficiency measures implemented by the Guinean authorities with the involvement of foreign partners in the fight and response against the Ebola outbreak, reported in Guinea since January.   

It must still emphasize that the triangle-Guékédou Macenta-Kissidougou, remains the epicenter of the epidemic with a macabre record of more than 70 people dead.

Liberia: Government bans bush meat to stop Ebola

While the Liberian government may be slow to post news on its own website (see post just below), it's providing some very current information to the local media. Via The New Dawn: To stop Ebola: Gov’t bans monkey meat, others. Excerpt:

The Government of Liberia has announced a number of measures to curtail the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, a day after it confirmed the first two cases of the virus here. 

Among the preventive measures are avoiding direct contacts with body fluids of infected persons, which include having sex with suspected persons, not eating dead bush animals and being very careful in handling fresh bush meat. 

Others include avoiding bathing dead bodies of suspected patients, eating plums/mangoes and other fruits partially eaten by bats; avoid eating monkeys, bats, and bamboos. 

“The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare wishes to confirm that two out of the seven samples sent for laboratory analysis of the Ebola Virus in Liberia are positive, indicating that Liberia now has an outbreak of the virus,” the ministry said in a statement issued Monday. 

The two Liberian cases are sisters, one of whom had recently returned from Guinea to Foyah, a district in the northern Liberian town of Lofa, Information Minister Lewis Brown told this paper via mobile phone Monday. 

One of the sisters, the one who returned from Guinea, died later in Foyah, while the other sister who had earlier taken care of her deceased sister returned to Firestone, where she resides via Chicken-Soup Factory, a community in Gardnerville, outside Monrovia and was later taken to Harbel, Firestone and received by her husband at a taxi rank. This was after she had spent one night with the taxi driver’s family. 

“We sent 7 samples or specimens for testing, two came back positive,” Brown explains. He said the seven samples included the two sisters. He said Government has identified the husband of the sister who returned to Harbel, Firestone, adding that she has a household of four. 

Mr. Brown said the government has also identified the taxi driver who took the infected lady from Foyah and his family. The driver, he added, is assisting in the identification of other passengers that were in the taxi from Foyah. The children of the infected lady, he said, are also being monitored as the lady has been quarantined.

Click through to the news story to read the extensive statement from the government. You can also see a relevant report on Mike Coston's Avian Flu Diary.

Liberia: A belated response to Ebola

Via the Liberian Ministry of Health & Social Welfare, a news release: March 28, 2014 Press Release on the outbreak on the EBOLA Virus. Excerpt:

The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and partners have stepped up efforts and strategies to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus from neighboring Guinea into Liberia. Public information campaign has been intensified and hotlines established for the public to call and get basic information about the disease.

This is odd: The news release is three days late, and a good 24 hours or more after Ebola was confirmed in Liberia. But not a word about that. Maybe the ministry will pull itself together tomorrow.

A Guinean blogger on "Ebolaphobie"

Thanks to the reader who sent the link to the blog Ma Guinée Plurielle. Alimou Sow, the blog's author, gives us a vivid picture of Ebola in the city: reality, fantasies and paranoia. Excerpt from an edited Google translation:

A small importer of cosmetics owes a candle to filovirus Ebola. He wondered what to do with a large amount of expired hand gel hand when the announcement was made ​​that the virus cannot resist the antibacteriological gel, soap, chlorine and bleach. His goods are selling like hotcakes. 

Now in Conakry, everyday is International Day for hand washing. At the entrance of great restaurants, some schools, NGOs, institutions, banks and insurance companies, armed security guards stand by buckets of bleach, ready to apply instructions to the letter. Wash your hands before returning. Grocery stores are already out of stock chlorine and bleach. 

This Sunday I was tickled by the sight of one of these paranoids walking in the street below at 35° C, hands roasting in medical gloves. He bowed at a distance, seeing Ebola in each individual he met. The Chinese walk in a herd in a white-hot Conakry, all their mouth hidden by scarves. So your Kung fu can be neutralized by Ebola? 

Successive years of a cholera epidemic could not make Guineans provident and hygienic. But they are also hysterical. 

It is in transit that the situation becomes unmanageable. You must see guys getting even smaller so as not to touch in a taxi crammed with up to seven fellows. ... We want less touch, each case of excitement being suspicious. 

This weekend, a tragedy was narrowly averted in a bus transit on Fidel Castro highway. In a bus as full as an egg, the heat was stifling. At this time that someone with nausea has vomited inside! This is the sauve qui peut. The driver ran off the bus first, leaving it at a standstill while the passengers escaped in chaos. Several cases of minor injuries. Oh well, better a broken arm than Ebola in the stomach. 

Less amusing is the stupidity of the university teacher who throws a shit in front of his students that it would be inadvisable to sit with Forest Guinean at risk of contracting the disease. He was nearly lynched by his own students of all ethnicities. 

In addition, crafty - but big con - fun to make intrusive advertising in broadcasting SMS whereby a Guinean physician researcher living in Senegal found a miracle cheap remedy against Ebola: raw onion! Nonsense. 

But in this Ebolaphobie , panic is not only at the individual level. It is also the state. This is West Africa in turmoil, which is paralyzed. Mali, Guinea's other lung, announces preventive measures, Côte d'Ivoire is in crisis, Liberia and Sierra Leone are already suspected of harbouring the disease, and Senegal has closed its land border northwest of Guinea, blocking thousands of people in both directions.

...It triggered a tsunami of paranoia across the Guinean border, yet it has the merit of having been able to reduce tension in Conakry on the social front. We forget the problems of water, electricity and insecurity to deal with a common and formidable enemy that does not distinguish between supporters and opponents; he eats them all with the same sauce.

Precisely speaking of sauce, the country's rats, squirrels, monkeys and agoutis are protected. They received an unexpected reprieve, and probably for a long time. Defenders of the environment, especially wildlife, can take their sabbatical. Poachers and other singivores [monkey eaters] have fallen on bone. Ebola kö dougoulaa! [Ebola is harmful]

“No Ebola in Sierra Leone”: Health Minister

Via Awareness Times: “No Ebola Virus in Sierra Leone” Health Minister assures. Excerpt:

The Minister of Health and Sanitation, Madam Miatta Kargbo has announced that no confirmed case of the deadly Ebola virus has been reported by the surveillance team of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in Sierra Leone. 

She said her ministry has instituted an emergency response plan as a precautionary measure to effectively address any incidence of Ebola virus in the country. The minister made this assurance on 27th March 2014 at the weekly press briefing of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) at the ministry’s conference hall at Youyi Building in Freetown. 

She reiterated that the ministry is on high alert to ensure that the virus is contained if any incidence is confirmed in the country. She said they have set up a national task force that includes officials of the ministry, World Health Organization (WHO), Office of National Security (ONS), health development partners and civil society organizations to ensure an effective coordinated response in case the virus spills over. 

The minister said the Government is serious about the threat of Ebola and is working relentlessly on a number of issues to ensure that the virus does not spill over from Guinea where it is now evident. She went on to say Sierra Leone’s health ministry, WHO and ONS are working with their Guinean counterparts to concertedly strengthen efforts to avert the spread of the disease.   

Madam Kargbo also informed to newsmen that her ministry has mounted a robust community sensitization campaign about the need to be cautious about the contagious disease and to be aware about the type of meat they eat, especially the bat meat which is the main carrier of the virus.   

Also speaking at the press briefing, Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Brima Kargbo reiterated that no incidence of the disease has been confirmed by their surveillance team on sites. He said all the suspected cases of Ebola have been tested negative and assured that a competent surveillance team has its ears on the ground and is prepared to address any reported case. 

He said Ebola is a highly infectious disease with no specific cure but whose preventive measures include, to promptly report any suspected case to the nearest health facilities. Dr. Kargbo admonished his audience not to eat animals found dead, especially monkeys, chimpanzees and bats.

CIDRAP: WHO revises guidance on MERS case-control studies

Via CIDRAP, Robert Roos writes: WHO revises guidance on MERS case-control studies. Excerpt:

In the wake of its recent conclusion that camels are probably fueling Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) cases in humans, the World Health Organization (WHO) has revised its guidance for case-control studies to ascertain exactly how the virus is getting into people. 

The 22-page guidance is designed to equip investigators to compare MERS case-patients with other people who don't have MERS, with the aim of identifying what factors might have caused exposure to the virus. The revision includes many questions about contact with animals, especially camels. 

The lack of case-control studies has been cited by experts as a major gap in the response to MERS-CoV. It's not clear if any of the Middle Eastern countries most affected by MERS have launched a case-control study as yet.  

In its Mar 27 summary of MERS developments, the WHO said, "Recent studies support the premise that camels serve as the primary source of the MERS-CoV infecting humans and that other livestock are not involved." 

It said that available genetic data show the MERS-CoV isolates in camels and humans are closely linked and "suggest the current observed pattern of disease in humans is the result of repeated introductions into human populations from camels, with subsequent limited human-to-human transmission, rather than sustained community transmission among humans. As such, discovery of the route of transmission between camels and humans remains critical to stopping the initial introduction into human populations." 

Multinational effort wanted 

The case-control study guidance, dated Mar 28, was completed at a meeting in Riyadh on Mar 1 and 2 and was distributed to affected countries after the meeting, according to the WHO. 

The stated goals of the guidance are to "identify modifiable non-human exposures that lead to human MERS-CoV infection" and describe other risk factors for infection, such as pre-existing medical conditions. 

Investigation should focus on primary (index or sporadic) cases, meaning those in patients with no recent exposure to other confirmed or probable MERS patients, the document says. 

"The study should be a multinational effort combining standardized data from all participating countries," it states. "Implementation will be supported by an international team of experts and national focal points that will jointly resolve issues and questions regarding implementation by consensus." 

Anthony W. Mounts, MD, the WHO's MERS-CoV technical lead, recently told CIDRAP News that the agency would like to see the case-control study "include some retrospective cases but also enroll new cases as they occur." 

He said the study would be carried out by the affected countries, with the WHO in a strictly advisory role.

Red Cross responds to Ebola outbreak in Guinea

Via ReliefWeb, a report from the Canadian Red Cross: Red Cross responds to Ebola outbreak in Guinea.

Guinea has been hit by an Ebola outbreak, an infectious and contagious disease that is spread through contact with an infected person’s or animal’s secretions, such as saliva, or blood. According to the Ministry of Health, the first suspected cases were registered in early February. As of March 27, the deadly haemorrhagic fever had claimed the lives of 66 people out of 103 cases reported across the country. 

The Red Cross Society of Guinea has been working to raise awareness of Ebola. The Red Cross is training and mobilizing 100 volunteers to work in affected areas, where they will teach people how to protect themselves from the virus, assist in the removal of dead bodies, and monitor people who may have come in contact with infected persons. 

In addition, the Red Cross has mobilized a Field Assessment Coordination Team to Guinea to assist in the assessment of the situation on the ground. This will include the deployment of a psychosocial support worker from the Canadian Red Cross. The team’s work will help inform future Red Cross response plans. 

The Ebola outbreak comes at a time when the Red Cross Society of Guinea and other partners are already working with the government to address a cholera epidemic and an outbreak of measles. Symptoms of Ebola resemble those of cholera and measles, making it difficult to identify and confirm cases.

Guinea: MSF advises on Ebola

Via Guinéenews.org: Advice Julie Damond, responsible communication Doctors Without Borders Ebola outbreak in Guinea. Excerpt from a Google translation:

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is raging in Guinea for more than three months with a disastrous record of 112 infected 72 dead. The non-governmental organization Médecins Sans Frontières is a leader in the fight against the pandemic in Guinea. It is his regional manager in that Guinéenews © Julie Damond had this Sunday for a telephone interview communication. Here's the point that it makes the situation. 

© Guinéenews: Make us an update on the evolution of Ebola fever in Guinea? 

Julie Damond: It is difficult today to say something about the evolution of the epidemic. It is disturbing to have cases in Conakry is a densely populated city. The arrival of such an epidemic in the capital Conakry seems extremely serious. What to do urgently is to isolate suspected cases to reduce the risk of contamination. Isolated case, it seems simple a priori, but it is complicated because it takes place in a place where we can see them. 

This means that you must have a lot of equipment because it must go to a place where there is a patient who may have contracted the Ebola virus. Have a completely airtight combination and have protective equipment because Ebola is transmitted through blood, urine, tears, sweat, feces. Isolate the case, it is done with a lot of material and make being aware until it can be a place where we can not go without protection. 

The second thing is to follow all the people who have been in contact closely with these infected people. These are people who knew him and the patient who may have been infected individual. Should be followed clinically for 21 days since the incubation is twenty-one days. These are family members or who have had a fairly intimate contact with the sick person. 

The third important thing to do is to explain to people, communities and journalists are the megaphone, how the disease is transmitted at a time not to create a generalized psychosis in the population, but so that if If you have a sick person who has the symptoms of the disease, that people are sufficiently informed to protect themselves. 

This is actually the challenge we will have to have in Conakry get to isolate patients, trace all the people who have been in contact with these patients and in addition we need to explain to the population that 'What is it that this disease and the priority now is to break the chain of transmission. Therefore we have a case, it must at all costs be isolated. 

© Guinéenews: Officially since Friday, we talk about eight (8) cases in Conakry. Do we know how many people, these eight people came into contact? 

Julie Damond: I do not know, I can not tell you a number but each infected person, sick person comes into contact with his family is already his wife, husband, children ... 

© Guinéenews: When do you become contagious and dangerous? This is before or after incubation? 

Julie Damond: You become contagious when you have the first symptoms. 

© Guinéenews: When one becomes sick, you become contagious? 

Julie Damond: Yes. When you're contagious, you are the first symptoms, you are sick. You have fever, diarrhea, you vomit, you're tired and then it depends on people, you can even have bleeding in the urine, nose, etc. 

© Guinéenews: When one becomes contagious and dangerous, is that you can move, go to the market, at school, in a public place? 

Julie Damond: No. You are sick, you should not normally move. You're weak, you could not move. 

© Guinéenews: The question today is whether is it necessary to close schools, avoid combinations, banning concerts, go to the market ...? 

Julie Damond: Yes. There is a public health decision. These are the health authorities of Guinea who must take appropriate measures. And again, people feel sick and it takes a lot to pay attention to this fact before disseminating wrong messages to the population.

Guinea: Minister blasts media for publicizing onions as Ebola cure

Via GuinéeConakry.info: MEDIA: "Stop saying that onion cure Ebola," said Minister Makanéra. The Google translation:

The Minister of Health and Public Hygiene, Doctor Colonel Rémy Lamah and its counterpart in the communication Alhousseny Makanera Kake, animated in the morning of Monday, March 31, 2014, a press conference dedicated to raising awareness of media people about the danger posed by the epidemic of Ebola, and the role of awareness that they have'' patriotic duty'' to play in the current situation of health crisis. An exciting mission that some journalists subtilised shamefully, by engaging in speculation obscurantist. 

From the outset, the Minister of Communication indicated that the situation is serious and Ebola "is a real threat to the Guinean people, regardless of their social, political persuasions, their ethnic or their region." 

To cope with this fight that appears by him as a national challenge, it is imperative that journalists undertake to play their roles highly, relaying vital information provided by experts in the field . "The risk we run is that this pandemic has no vaccine or cure. The only solution available to us is prevention through mass awareness. For this, we rely on journalists know you are."   

The communications minister went further, inviting journalists to not relay the information that "onion could cure Ebola."  Abundant in the same direction, the Minister of Health has urged each and others go as always to the source to collect scientific information that can be conveyed. As an epidemiologist, the doctor Rémy Lamah gave broad explanation of findings that led the government declared the epidemic in the region of the Forest Guinea.  

In speaking, the spokesman of the Ministry of Health, Dr Sakoba Keita, wanted to tell the difference between that, medically known confirmed cases and suspected cases . He refers to "the evolution of the epidemic is now located at 112 cases against 78 deaths." 

Dr Sakoba Keita explained that Ebola, like cholera, contracts only through the consumption of contaminated food. And to better prevent this pandemic, we must strictly observe the rules of hygiene listed by specialists.