Health

Canada has planned to ship 800 vials of its Ebola vaccine to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva to curb the outbreak of the disease. The experimental vaccines will be distributed by WHO in the countries most affected by the disease, the Public Health Agency of Canada announced. "The vaccine is undergoing clinical trials on humans at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in the United States after showing promising results in animal testing," the agency explained. As the vaccine is experimental, researchers are not able to predict how many people could be immunized or treated. The vaccine was developed at Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba. More than 4,500 people, most of them in the West African countries, had lost their lives to Ebola which was first confirmed in March.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

20.Oct.2014

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Nigeria has been declared officially free of Ebola after six weeks with no new cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

Africa's most populous country won praise for its swift response after an infected Liberian diplomat brought the disease there in July.

"The average Nigerian is relieved ... a lot of people have been quite scared. Officials want people to celebrate but to remain cautious.

"Nigeria is a transport hub, and the virus can be brought back, and this is why officials are not taking any chances," Mutasa said.

Nigeria becomes the second country in west Africa to be declared Ebola free in the past week. On Friday, the UN health agency declared Senegal free of Ebola after it passed the 42 day landmark.

"WHO officially declares the Ebola outbreak in Senegal over and commends the country on its diligence to end the transmission of the virus," the WHO said.

In all, eight people died out of 20 confirmed cases in Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, and the oil hub of Port Harcourt, while nearly 900 people were monitored for signs of the disease.

More than 4,500 people have died and nearly 10,000 have been infected with the haemorrhagic fever, most of them in West Africa, since the start of the year.

 

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

20.Oct.2014

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Cannabis Sativa, Inc. CEO Gary Johnson believes marijuana is "potentially an actual cure" for the Ebola virus. And his medical director predicts it "will help the survival of this deadly disease."

“We actually believe we have efficacy with regard to treating Ebola," Johnson recently said. “I am not a snake oil salesman. I’m not. You know, I’m the former governor of New Mexico.”

David B. Allen of Cannabis Sativa argues that cannabinoids inhibit VEGF and other Cytokines, which is critical to countering the effecs of Ebola. "Cannabinoids are emerging as a new class of drugs that treat infections of bacteria, fungi and virus by different mechanisms of action not found in any other class of drug." he writes. "Cannabinoids inhibit many different virus strains from replicating."

Allen calls on the "medical community to start human trials on survivability of Ebola infected patients" using cannabinoids, specifically cannabidiol (CBD), because  "cannabis is so very safe especially under doctor supervision."

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Ngwa Bertrand

20.Oct.2014

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News that vaccines to fight Ebola are being developed in Russia as earlier announced by the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Veronika Skvortsova grabbed global media headlines and pushed the West to hasten up their own Ebola research. But which laboratory will be the first to get it to market? In recent days the World Health Organisation (WHO) has cited two experimental vaccines that have showed promising results when they were tested on lab monkeys. Both could one day help eradicate Ebola. The current outbreak has claimed more than 4,500 lives, mostly in West Africa. The first candidate vaccine has been named VSV-EBOV by scientists at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Canada, and will be licensed by the US firm NewLink Genetics.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

20.Oct.2014

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The deadly Ebola disease could become the "definitive humanitarian disaster of our generation", the charity organization Oxfam says. Oxfam said on Saturday that more troops, financial support and medical staff should be given to the West African countries which are at the center of the epidemic. "We cannot allow Ebola to immobilize us in fear, but ... countries that have failed to commit troops, doctors and enough funding are in danger of costing lives," Oxfam’s Chief executive Mark Goldring said. The deadly disease has so far killed at least 4,555 people, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Meanwhile, Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma announced that the country’s Defense Minister Alfred Paolo Conteh was given responsibility to battle the spread of Ebola. The death toll from the disease has risen to 1,200 in the country.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

19.Oct.2014

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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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