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A researcher suggests that proteins from the blood donated by an Ebola survivor may be used to develop a new class of drugs aimed at defeating the deadly epidemic. Dr. James Crowe, a researcher at Vanderbilt University in the US, received the first blood sample in mid-November from Dr. Rick Sacra, a physician from University of Massachusetts who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia. Crowe is cooperating with a US-based pharmaceutical company which is responsible for the research and development of ZMapp, a drug that is hoped to be used to fight the Ebola outbreak.

With the recent blood donation, Crowe wants to improve ZMapp by isolating the human antibodies of actual survivors and produce a drug effective against all strains of Ebola. “They can take antibodies they find in my blood and map them out. They are looking for the ones that are most important in neutralizing the virus,” he said in an interview. Antibodies are immune-system proteins that seek and destroy foreign invaders, such as viruses or bacteria.

The donation is considered as a breakthrough as accessing the blood samples of the victims has become almost impossible, with transfer restrictions being applied both in West Africa and US. The disease has already taken 7,000 lives in West Africa. The epidemic has been most devastating in the countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Details: Ngwa Bertrand; 23.Dec.2014; Hits: 2424

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Details: Health

Ethiopia’s prime minister says African countries should stop relying on aid from Western states in the fight against Ebola in West Africa and should do more to overcome the problem on their own. “We should show that there is solidarity within the African countries” in fighting Ebola, Hailemariam Desalegn said on Monday, urging the African states to send medical staff to the areas affected by the disease. “We have to show that Africans also are there for Africans. We should try our best to bring African solutions to African problems,” Desalegn added.

Last week, Ethiopia dispatched 187 health volunteers to Sierra Leone and Liberia, two countries badly affected by Ebola. It was the biggest African medical team sent to combat the epidemic. According to Desalegn, another 1,000 volunteers will be sent soon. Some African countries, however, are unwilling to send volunteers to the Ebola-hit regions because of either a lack of financial resources or fears that they are not ready to treat those who potentially return infected with the virus.The Ebola outbreak has killed 7,518 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea - the three West Africa countries hardest hit by the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

Details: Ngwa Bertrand; 23.Dec.2014; Hits: 2391

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Details: Health

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon yesterday urged countries affected by Ebola to avoid discriminating against healthcare workers. The UN boss was speaking in Guinea on whistle-stop tower aimed at thanking health care workers. The World Health Organisation says Ebola has killed 7,373 people in the worst-affected countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Details: Ngwa Bertrand; 22.Dec.2014; Hits: 2566

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Details: Health

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has traveled to Liberia for an unmediated assessment of global efforts against Ebola in West Africa. Ban flew in from the UN Ebola mission headquarters in Ghana on Friday. The UN chief was welcomed on arrival by Liberian Vice President Joseph Boakai in the capital, Monrovia. “United Nations will stand with the people in region until such time that we make sure that there is no such cases,” Ban told Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama late Thursday in the capital, Accra.

Mahama said, “We must think carefully about how to strengthen the healthcare systems of the countries in the region to withstand the future outbreak of infectious diseases.” Non-governmental organizations have censured UN agencies, such as the World Health Organization, for the delay in their responsive actions regarding Ebola. Ban has planned a meeting with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and officials from the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), and a visit to an Ebola center run by the US military.

Head of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, the UN coordinator for the fight against Ebola, David Nabarro, and UNMEER chief, Anthony Banbury, accompany Ban in the Liberia trip. The Ebola-stricken countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Mali are also on Ban’s itinerary. He said last month that with international mobilization, the epidemic will be highly likely under control in 2015.Ebola has killed more than 6,900 people, almost all of them in West Africa, over the past few months. The number of fatalities in Liberia has been 3,290 deaths.

Culled from Presstv

Details: Ngwa Bertrand; 19.Dec.2014; Hits: 2459

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Details: Health

The Ebola outbreak death toll in the three hardest-hit West African countries has passed 6,000, says the World Health Organization (WHO). The toll until December 10 reached 6,538 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, said the UN health agency on Friday. WHO also reported that 18,188 cases of infection have also been recorded in the three West African countries.

Earlier on Friday, a man who entered Guinea-Bissau from the neighboring Guinea in West Africa was reportedly being treated for suspected Ebola infection. According to a medical official the traveler was running a temperature and was put under surveillance as he attempted to pass through the border crossing.

Details: Ngwa Bertrand; 13.Dec.2014; Hits: 2359

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The clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine has faced a problem in Switzerland as some volunteer patients have complained of joint pains in their hands and feet. The University of Geneva Hospital said in a Thursday statement that scientists decided to stop the trial one week early in all 59 volunteers “as a measure of precaution.” It noted that four volunteers complained of the side-effects of the vaccine, which is developed by pharmaceutical company NewLink and recently bought by Merck. “They are all fine and being monitored regularly by the medical team leading the study,” the hospital said.

The hospital said it would resume human safety trials on January 5 with participation of 15 volunteers after checks take place to ensure the joint pain symptoms were “benign and temporary.”There is still no licensed vaccine for Ebola, although two vaccines are currently being tested in humans in a number of countries.

Details: Ngwa Bertrand; 13.Dec.2014; Hits: 2621

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Flourish Doctor Article Count: 3

Meet Your Coach Dr. Joyce Akwe ... With a master's in public health and a medical doctor specialized in internal medicine with a focus on hospital medicine.

Dr. Joyce Akwe is the Chief of Hospital Medicine at the Atlanta VA Health Care System (Atlanta VAHCS), an Associate Professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and an Adjunct Faculty with Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta GA.

After Medical school Dr. Akwe worked for the World Health Organization and then decided to go back to clinical medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency and chief resident year at Morehouse School of Medicine. After that, she joined the Atlanta Veterans VAHCS Hospital Medicine team and has been caring for our nation’s Veterans since then.

Dr. Akwe has built her career in service and leadership at the Atlanta VA HealthCare System, but her influence has extended beyond your work at the Atlanta VA, Emory University, and Morehouse School of Medicine. She has mentored multiple young physicians and continuous to do so. She has previously been recognized by the Chapter for her community service (2010), teaching (as recipient of the 2014 J Willis Hurst Outstanding Bedside Teaching Award), and for your inspirational leadership to younger physicians (as recipient of the 2018 Mark Silverman Award). The Walter J. Moore Leadership Award is another laudable milestone in your car

Dr. Akwe teaches medical students, interns and residents. She particularly enjoys bedside teaching and Quality improvement in Health care which is aimed at improving patient care. Dr. Akwe received the distinguished physician award from Emory University School of medicine and the Nanette Wenger Award for leadership. She has published multiple papers on health care topics.