H5N1

Nigeria: No new Ebola case in Lagos

Via the Nigerian Tribune: No new Ebola case in Lagos —Govt •Ogun puts health workers in border areas on red alert. Excerpt:

Lagos State government, on Wednesday, reiterated that no fresh case of the dreaded Ebola virus disease has been found in the state or any part of the country. 

According to the Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr (Mrs) Yewande Adeshina, none of the persons said to have come in contact with the late Liberian victim of the Ebola virus disease, Mr Pat Sawyer, has manifested unusual body temperature or any other symptom of the dreaded virus. 

She explained that all the 59 people who were in close contact with the deceased Liberian in Nigeria were hale and hearty and had not exhibited any unusual symptoms, just as there had been no case of the dreaded disease from the country’s borders. 

Also, the Commissioner for Information, Lateef Ibirogba, advised the citizenry to be wary of the activities of fraudsters making spurious claims about their ability to provide cure for the Ebola virus disease, urging them to always contact health providers to report unusual feelings noticed.

Nigeria: An Ebola scare in Anambra state

More Ebola jitters. Via Leadership: Anambra Seals Off Hospital Over Ebola Scare. Anambra, I've just learned, is a small but densely populated state in Nigeria's southeast. Excerpt:

The Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Josephat Akabuike, announced yesterday that a hospital had been sealed off and its workers and patients quarantined due to Ebola disease scare. 

Briefing journalists in Awka, Akabuike said the measure followed information received by the government that a man whose body was brought back from Liberia at the weekend, might have died of the killer disease. 

He said that information available to the government indicated that the body was brought back from Liberia through Lagos and deposited in the mortuary at Nkwelle-Ezenaka in Oyi Local Government of the state. 

“Part of the briefing is to tell you what we are doing to make sure we don’t allow the deadly virus to come into the state. 

“What actually called for this is that we have a report that a corpse was brought through Lagos and the deceased was said to have been taken from Liberia where of course you know there are cases of the disease. 

“The corpse was said to have been brought to Nigeria and deposited somewhere in Nkwelle-Ezunaka and the ministry was alerted and that is why we are taking all these measures.” 

The commissioner said that Governor Willie Obiano had already directed the Police Command in the state to cordon off the place until the necessary tests were carried out. 

He further said that Federal Government had also sent medical experts from the Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, to Anambra to carry out the test at the hospital premises.

In another jitters report, Nollywood star Jim Iyke has left Liberia in a hurry because of Ebola, and now other Nigerians want him tested for it.

The New York Times: Emergency efforts to contain Ebola as toll rises

Via The New York Times: Emergency Efforts in Africa to Contain Ebola as Toll Rises. Click through for the full report with photos, links, and a video clip. Excerpt:

ABUJA, Nigeria — As the death toll mounted from the worst outbreak of the Ebola virus, West African leaders quickened the pace of emergency efforts on Thursday, deploying soldiers and authorizing house-to-house searches for infected people in an effort to combat the disease. 

International efforts to contain the virus also gained momentum and urgency. The World Health Organization announced a $100 million plan on Thursday to get more medical experts and supplies to the overwhelmed region, as the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States committed the agency to sending 50 more experts there in coming weeks. 

First recognized in March in Guinea, the Ebola outbreak has surged through porous borders to invade neighboring countries, quickly outstripping fragile health systems and forcing health officials to fight the battle on many fronts. Past outbreaks have been more localized, but the current one has spread extensively over a vast region.  

The stepped-up effort is long overdue, according to some analysts. They say the initial response was inadequate on both the national and international level and allowed the disease to mushroom from a local outbreak to an international threat.  

The viral illness has exacted a terrible toll, killing 729 people, including top physicians in Liberia and Sierra Leone, nations that already faced an acute shortage of doctors. The outbreak has also sickened two American aid workers, who were being rushed back to the United States for treatment. 

“The whole thing has been very incompetently handled,” said Lansana Gberie, a historian from Sierra Leone. “If the government had quarantined this area” where the outbreak started, in the remote northeast, “they could have contained it. Instead they opened a treatment center in Kenema, a major population center.” 

On PoliticoSL, a widely followed website in Sierra Leone, a journalist, Umaru Fofana, has written recently that “the country seems leaderless in the fight.” Now that cases have spread so widely, controlling the outbreak will be more costly and difficult. 

Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the C.D.C., warned on Thursday that the worsening outbreak could take at least three to six months to bring under control, “even in a best-case scenario.” Hostility and violence directed at health workers are making the job harder, he said.

Sierra Leone: Ebola update, July 31

Via the Facebook page of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Sierra Leone:

• 133 patients have survived the disease and have been discharged from the treatment centers in Kenema and Kailahun. 

• The cumulative number of Laboratory confirmed cases are 518 and 181 confirmed deaths 

• Seventy-three (73) patients are currently admitted at the treatment centers in Kenema and Kailahun 

• Our Hero, father, friend and brother Dr. Shiekh Umarr Khan has been laid to rest today at the Kenema Lassa Fever Hospital ground, which has been renamed Shiekh Umarr Khan Lassa Fever Hospital by the Mayor and people of Kenema District in appreciation for his dedication and service to the district and country at large. May his Soul Rest in Peace. 

• The Minister of Health and Sanitation, the Chief Medical Officer and senior directors of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation are off to Conakry Guinea to harmonize the response plans with other Manor River Union member countries ahead of the meeting of Presidents of Manor River Union countries tomorrow to endorse and officially launch to harmonized plan. Today’s meeting began with the technical session in the morning, followed by the ministerial meeting in the afternoon. The finalized plan will be presented at the Presidential meeting tomorrow for endorsement and official launch.

These confirmed numbers (518 cases, 181 deaths) do not match those of WHO, which in its update earlier today reports 473 confirmed cases and 195 deaths as of July 27. I have no idea why the numbers are discrepant.

CIDRAP: Officials issue response plan, travel alert over Ebola

Via CIDRAP, Lisa Schnirring has published an excellent summary of a very bad day: Officials issue response plan, travel alert over Ebola. Excerpt:

West Africa's worsening Ebola outbreak prompted announcements today that the World Health Organization and its partners, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are stepping up efforts to battle the disease. 

The CDC also issued a travel warning for Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia that advises against nonessential travel to the area, based on the deteriorating outbreak situation. 

In its latest update yesterday, the WHO said new cases and deaths have been reported in the three countries, with the identification of an air-travel-linked case in Nigeria as a significant new development. The Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak is by far the biggest and deadliest one ever recorded and is causing havoc in the affected countries and posing a big threat to neighboring countries. 

In yesterday's update, the WHO said 1,323 infections have been reported, 729 of them fatal.

Liberia: 2,000 villagers at risk from new suspected Ebola cases in Bong

Via FrontPageAfrica: 2,000 villagers at Risk: New Suspected Ebola Cases in Bong. Excerpt:

Sanoyea District, Bong County - The highly infectious Ebola virus has claimed three lives in Bong County with three more confirmed cases in Sanoyea district, about 40 miles from Gbarnga. 

A further two suspected patients, including two children, are being treated, while 10 villagers are being monitored after coming into contact with the dead or hospitalized, Bong County Health Team has disclosed. 

The first victims were a 29-year-old, father-of-three motorcycle taxi rider, his wife and 40-year-old sister. About 2,000 villagers are deemed to be at risk from the disease in a poor and remote farming region. ‘After two days of admission with no improvement at a community health center, the Pehn-Pehn rider was transferred to a clinic,’ says a source at the Bong County Health said. 

‘He had high grade fever, bloody diarrhea and was vomiting and sadly died two days later. A few days after the taxi rider’s burial, his wife and sister were also taken ill and later succumbed to the same illness. People are worried because they’re not sure who they’ve come in contact with,’ the County Health Team added. 

Initial efforts by the County Health Team and the leadership of the county to contain the outbreak have been challenged by a myth it is the work of witchcraft. One woman was admitted to the Phebe hospital prior to its closure from a traditional healer’s home, where she went for remedies. ‘In a bid to trace people who had contact with the deceased taxi rider, the district task force on Ebola visited his fellow riders, but all of them thought that ‘bad people’ in the community sent the disease by powers of witchcraft,’ hospital sources said. 

‘One of the myths common in Bong County is that loved ones fall sick because of witchcraft.

‘Quite often people with such belief, lose valuable time in seeking traditional interventions in the community, only to report to the formal health facilities too late,’ the source added.

Ebola in Liberia: Tellewoyan Hospital shuts down

Via FrontPageAfrica: Lofa: Ebola Patient Flees, Tellewoyan Hospital Shut Down.

The streets of Voinjama city, the provincial capital of Lofa County, on Tuesday witness a scene of panic with residents running helter skelter when dozens of suspected Ebola patients ran from their holding room in the main hospital’s compound and started loitering around other wards that hosted several patients with different medical problems. 

Tokpa Tarnue, a local journalist on the scene told FrontPageAfrica Wednesday that the majority of the suspected patients were in a holding room at the Tellewoyan Memorial Hospital while awaiting their departure for a treatment and isolation center in Foya when they abruptly left their room and moved into other wards that later resulted to all health workers escaping the hospital compound in deep fear. 

According to the journalist, the suspected patients managed to leave the hospital premises and ran into various homes and streets, a situation that caused severe panic among citizens and residents of Voinjama who were likewise escaping from the patients fearing not to contract the deadly Ebola virus. 

He told FrontPageAfrica that for several hours Voinjama was like a ghost town as many residents escaped the city while others locked themselves in their homes. 

Said the local journalist: “Everybody left. They had suspected Ebola patients in a holding room that is not well equipped. They are normally kept there before they are taken to Foya. In the process of doing that, those suspected patients left their wards and stating entering the children's ward and other places while they were vomiting and releasing feces at the same time. Based on that the entire hospital staff all left including the doctors and nurses. Up to now they have not gone back to work.” 

According to the journalist, the entire Tellewoyan Hospital facility, including the Outpatient Department (OPD) has been temporarily shut down and has been sprayed while heath workers are demanding police protection before they resume work. He said Barkedu town in Quardu Gboni district is now reporting the highest numbers of Ebola cases in the county as compared to Foya which was topping the number of cases. 

The Tellewoyan Memorial Hospital is the largest referral hospital in Lofa County, which caters to several critical medical cases in the county. Some health workers in the county have reportedly refused to return to work fearing the deadly Ebola virus that has already killed 672 persons in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

US: More on the Ebola patients heading for Atlanta

Via Business Insider: Ebola Patient At Emory University Hospital. Click through for the full report, including a statement by Emory University Hospital. Excerpt:

A patient with the deadly Ebola virus will arrive at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for treatment "within the next several days," according to a statement from the university. 

There is no word yet on exactly when the patient will arrive, but it is expected that he or she will be treated in the hospital's wards that are specifically set up to treat highly infectious diseases. 

The "hospital has a specially-built isolation unit to treat patients exposed to certain serious infectious diseases," Misty Williams wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Set up in collaboration with the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the unit is physically separate from other patient areas and is one of only four such facilities in the country." 

Doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff who work on such dangerous cases are "specially trained," and a statement from Emory indicated that the hospital and its staff "are fully prepared for this type of situation." 

According to Vaughn Sterling of CNN, Medevac will actually be picking up more than one American Ebola patient in Liberia. It is not known whether the Ebola patient headed to Atlanta is one of the Americans with Ebola, both of them, or another patient entirely. 

A CBS/Associated Press report from earlier in the day noted that "the U.S. is looking into Medevac options to bring two American aid workers diagnosed with Ebola back to the U.S.," citing White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest as the source. 

That approach would be consistent with previous outbreaks, such as SARS, when infected Americans have been brought home so that they can receive treatment in the U.S. healthcare system.

Meanwhile the #Ebola hashtag is full of squawks about this development that would not be out of place in the more backward regions of rural Guinea.

Ebola fears send Liberia hand sanitiser prices soaring: NGO

Via ReliefWeb, an AFP report: Ebola fears send Liberia hand sanitiser prices soaring: NGO.

The struggle to contain the worst-ever Ebola epidemic in west Africa is being complicated by the soaring cost of hand sanitiser, a leading charity said on Thursday. 

Mike Noyes, ActionAid UK's Head of Humanitarian Response, said the prices of some hygiene products had gone up sevenfold, making them unaffordable for many in the region. 

"Hand sanitiser that they used to pay seven Liberian dollars for is now 50 dollars ($0.54, 0.40 euros), and that makes even protecting yourself a huge challenge for very poor families in quite isolated areas," he told AFP. 

Demand for sanitary products has risen sharply as communities have become increasingly aware of hygiene measures that can halt the transmission of the deadly disease. 

But this has led to a steep rise in prices, compounding the challenges facing people in affected countries like Liberia, where the average monthly income is just $65 (49 euros), according to the World Bank. 

The current outbreak is the largest in history and has killed 156 people in Liberia and 729 across the west African region. 

The virus can be fatal in up to 90 percent of cases, though this outbreak has killed about 60 percent of those infected. While there is no known cure, sanitary precautions can greatly reduce the risk of transmission. 

Noyes also warned that the crisis could be economically ruinous for some of the poorest communities in the region. 

"When markets stop functioning because people don't want to go to them or people are advised not to go to them, trading doesn't happen," he said. 

"That means people don't necessarily sell the products they need to sell, they don't buy what they need to buy."

Another look at today's Ebola numbers

Earlier today I posted a link to WHO's July 31 Ebola virus disease, West Africa – update. The numbers deserve another look, especially Guinea's.

Between January 24 and 27, Sierra Leone reported 8 new cases and 9 deaths, making a total of 533 cases and 233 deaths (a case fatality rate of 43.7%).

 

Liberia reported 80 new cases and 27 deaths, for a total of 329 cases and 156 deaths (CFR 47.4%).

 

Guinea reported 33 new cases and 20 deaths, for a total of 460 cases and 339 deaths (CFR 73.6%).

 

While Guinea's Ebola cases seem to have only one chance in four of surviving, I have a subjective sense that the outbreak there is getting much less coverage. I don't know whether I can trust this feeling. 

 

It may be because Liberia and Sierra Leone are easier to follow: they both have more or less functional ministries of health, and they're English-speaking countries. Guinea by contrast has no online presence for its ministry of health, and while Google Translate can handle French news reports, it's tedious to deal with computer translations. The Guineans, in the sources I usually consult, seem to be more concerned at present with local politics (and with an admittedly horrible disaster this week at a beach concert, where 33 people were trampled to death).

 

So I may be paying more attention to Sierra Leone and Liberia and neglecting equally good Guinean coverage. If any francophone readers can direct me to Guinean sources that are doing a good job of following Ebola, I'd be grateful.