Health

The US Department of Defense has announced it is preparing a 30-person rapid-response team that will provide quick medical support to civilian healthcare workers in the US, as the Ebola hysteria sweeps the country. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered US “Northern Command Commander Gen. Chuck Jacoby to prepare and train a 30-person expeditionary medical support team that could, if required, provide short-notice assistance to civilian medical professionals in the United States," Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said in a statement issued on Sunday. According to Kirby, the team is in response to a request by the Department of Health and Human Services. He added that the team, which will be ready to "respond quickly, effectively, and safely" in the event of more Ebola cases in the country, will include 20 critical care nurses, five doctors who specialize in infectious disease, and five specialists in infectious disease protocol training. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has said that the Ebola outbreak has so far left about 4,500 dead. One of the victims was American Thomas Eric Duncan who died after traveling from Liberia. Two nurses who treated Duncan contracted the virus and now are receiving treatment

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

20.Oct.2014

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The World Health Organization (WHO) will declare the Federal Republic of Nigeria Ebola free on Monday if no new cases emerge in the country. The last Nigerian case was detected on August 31. Correspondingly WHO says the outbreak of the deadly Ebola disease has ended in Senegal.  In a statement released on Friday, the WHO said it "commends the country on its diligence to end the transmission of the virus." The UN health agency hailed Senegal’s response to Ebola which “included identifying and monitoring 74 close contacts of the patient, prompt testing of all suspected cases, stepped-up surveillance at the country's many entry points and nationwide public awareness campaigns." The statement came following the 42-day mark, which is twice the maximum incubation period for the disease, without any new cases since Senegal's single, non-fatal Ebola case on August 29.The case was confirmed in a young man who had travelled to the Senegalese capital Dakar from Guinea, where he had direct contact with an Ebola patient.His laboratory samples tested negative on September 5, showing that he had recovered from Ebola.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

18.Oct.2014

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The fatal Ebola virus has claimed the lives of at least two people in Sierra Leone’s last unaffected area. The victims died in the northern Koinadugu district of Sierra Leone, the country’s officials announced on Thursday. The Koinadugu district had managed to curb the spread of Ebola in its borders since the outbreak of the deadly epidemic, and had been considered Sierra Leone’s only Ebola-free region. Disease surveillance officer Abdul K. Sesay said, "We have tightened surveillance around the area and are investigating... how the two confirmed cases might have contracted the disease.”

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

17.Oct.2014

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East African nations are sending over 600 health workers including 41 doctors to west Africa to combat the spread of Ebola, the regional five-nation bloc said in a statement Friday. The decision was made after health ministers met this week, where they raised their concern at the "rapid increase in the number of cases and deaths" from Ebola, the East African Community said in a statement. As of Sunday, 4,493 people had died out of a total of 8,997 cases in the outbreak, according to the World Health Organization, which has warned that the infection rate could reach 10,000 a week by early December. The 619 doctors and health workers will be sent from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Kenya is sending 15 doctors while Uganda will send 14, as well as seven from Rwanda and five from Tanzania. Burundi is sending 250 health workers, and Kenya 300.

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Ngwa Bertrand

17.Oct.2014

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Globalization has globalized every aspect of human life including Ebola. Ebola virus has quietly made its way into the North American continent. With already two confirmed cases in Dallas, USA, it is now certain beyond reasonable doubts that the virus knows no bounds and thus can penetrate even the hardest rock. The North America Continent is very vast, densely populated and is characterized by all sorts of socialization. Travel across borders is easy, smooth and frequent. Since the United States shares international land boarders with Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, it is highly believed that the virus will walk its way into both Canada and Mexico by 2015. Meanwhile, Canada is developing a radical approach to the effective prevention of the virus should the country be affected. This strategy consists of designating Ebola Treatment Centres across the country with specialized infectious disease specialists. This means every province and territory will have a designated hospital that will effectively treat the virus. According to medical experts, the approach is based on the notion that not all hospitals can attempt a treatment of the deadly Ebola virus.

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Ngwa Bertrand

16.Oct.2014

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Czech medical workers have sparked a diplomatic row after they covered a Ghanaian student in black plastic and rushed him to quarantine over unfounded fears that he had Ebola.

The student was apparently suffering nothing more than a bad cold.

Ghana's Prague envoy Zita Okaikwe told the BBC that her government would lodge a formal complaint over the incident.

Ghana has not been affected by the worst ever Ebola outbreak, which has killed thousands in West Africa.

The Czech government has not commented on the incident.

A video clip from Russian media purportedly showing the incident has been widely shared on YouTube.

The student apparently cleared airport security, but was later picked up at Prague's main railway station.

Many Ghanaians are outraged about the way the student was treated, reports the BBC's Sammy Darko from Accra.

Ms Okaikwe said the student had been left traumatised by the experience.

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Ngwa Bertrand

16.Oct.2014

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