Health

Major NHS hospitals across UK have been put on standby, as health officials warn of a “real risk” that the deadly Ebola virus could spread to Britain. The Prime Minister will convene a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergency committee on Wednesday morning to discuss the growing threat to the UK from the spread of Ebola. It comes after a Spanish nurse became the first person to contract the disease outside Africa, and as the United States drew up plans to screen arrivals for the virus. On Tuesday, public health officials in this country ruled out such a move. Four major NHS hospitals in England have now been identified as units to take patients with Ebola if the need arises. Currently, just one unit has been established, in the Royal Free Hospital in north London, which treated William Pooley, a British nurse who contracted the virus in Sierra Leone in August.

Royal Liverpool University Hospital NHS foundation trust, Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation trust and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals foundation trust have now been identified as hospitals which could take Ebola patients if the virus reaches the UK. Thirty medical staff in Madrid are now being monitored for signs of the virus, with four people, including the nurse’s husband, placed in quarantine. Today, David Cameron will today chair an emergency meeting in Whitehall to discuss the growing threat to the UK. It comes after the World Health Organisation said more cases in Europe are now “quite unavoidable”. Ministers yesterday announced plans to send a humanitarian operation out to West Africa, to treat medics with the disease. Latest forecasts from US scientists warn of a 50 per cent chance that the virus could reach British shores within three weeks. Under NHS contingency plans, protective equipment will be sent to hospitals in Sheffield, Newcastle and Liverpool, if the need arises. Operational guidance from NHS England dated last month warns that there are only two high level containment beds available in the country - both in the Royal Free Hospital – with no isolation units available at all in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Universities and schools have also been sent advice warning them to look out for pupils showing signs of fever who have travelled from West Africa.

 

 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

08.Oct.2014

Hits: 2156

Write comment (0 Comments)

Ugandan health officials have reported the outbreak of a new virus with similar symptoms as the deadly Ebola. The virus currently referred to by the Ugandans as the Marburg virus has already caused the death of one person. Cameroon Concord gathered from a sister publication that the first Ugandan to die from the Marburg virus was himself a laboratory technician at the Kampala General hospital. 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

07.Oct.2014

Hits: 2214

Write comment (0 Comments)

A Spanish nurse who treated two Ebola victims at a Madrid hospital has tested positive for the disease, becoming the first to contract the virus outside of Africa, Spain’s health ministry said today “We’ve just heard from the Spanish Health Minister, Ana Mato, who has confirmed that a 44-year-old nurse has tested positive for the Ebola virus, and has confirmed that it is the first case of someone contracting that disease in Europe and outside of West Africa,” journalist Fiona Govan told FRANCE 24. The nurse was admitted to hospital with a high fever on Monday morning where an initial test showed she had contracted Ebola. “Then a second test also confirmed she [had been infected with] the deadly virus,” Govan said.Prior to falling ill, the nurse, who works at Madrid’s Carlos III hospital, had cared for two Ebola-infected men who had been repatriated to Spain after contracting the disease while working in West Africa. Both patients died from the virus. Spanish priest Miguel Pajares, 75, was infected with Ebola in Liberia and died at the Spanish hospital on August 12. Another Spanish missionary, Manuel Garcia Viejo, 69, was repatriated from Sierra Leone and died at the same hospital on September 25. Both were members of the Hospital Order of San Juan de Dios, a Roman Catholic group that runs a charity working with Ebola victims in Africa. According to Govan, Spanish authorities have called on the public to stay calm, saying they are carefully monitoring those who have been in contact with the nurse in the past 10 days. The Ebola virus causes fever, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and sometimes internal and external bleeding. The current epidemic that has been ravaging West Africa is the worst outbreak of the disease yet, killing almost 3,500 people since the start of the year, with Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone worst hit.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

07.Oct.2014

Hits: 2435

Write comment (0 Comments)

An American freelance television cameraman working for NBC News in Liberia has been infected with the Ebola virus and will be flown back to the United States. According to the network, Ashoka Mukpo started showing Ebola symptoms on Wednesday. The 33-year-old man immediately quarantined himself and sought medical help. On Thursday morning, he was tested for the virus and a few hours later medical tests confirmed he had contracted the virus. The rest of the crew that Mukpo was working with is reportedly being closely monitored and not showing symptoms of the Ebola virus. "The good news is this young man, our colleague, was admitted very, very early," said NBC News Chief Medical Editor and Correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman. In a note to staff, NBC News President Deborah Turness, said: “We are doing everything we can to get him the best care possible. He will be flown back to the United States for treatment at a medical center that is equipped to handle Ebola patients.” "We are also taking all possible measures to protect our employees and the general public," he added. Three American aid workers in the West African country were diagnosed with the deadly virus in recent months. All were flown back to the United States and have reportedly been recovered. Ebola fear grips Americans in Dallas, Texas, after a Librarian man there was diagnosed with Ebola this week. Thomas Eric Duncan, who flew from Liberia to visit her family members, was initially admitted at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital late last Thursday but was sent home with antibiotics. More than 3,000 people have died in this year’s outbreak in West Africa.

 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

03.Oct.2014

Hits: 2427

Write comment (0 Comments)

Gabriel Tambe-Takang, Toronto

 Canada is in panic ever since the first case of Ebola cropped up months ago. Tracking Ebola has become something of a Canadian obsession— and not a healthy one. An unidentified patient is currently being tested at a University Health Network facility in Toronto for what doctors call a possible Ebola virus since Thursday October 2, 2014. Cameroon Concord learnt that the said patient has fever and had recently travelled from West African where the outbreak has reportedly killed over 3,300 people this year. According to Dr. Michael Gardam, the director of infection prevention and control at UHN, while the patient has been isolated to prevent any contamination, hospital staffs have been asked to employ personal protective equipment during their contact with the patient. Although doctors claim that it is “very unlikely” that the patient has the oft-deadly virus, the news is not very welcome in Toronto as the virus is now considered  one of the most deadly killer disease. Canada and the U.S. are now taking all necessary measures to ensure that those who show signs of the virus after travelling from West Africa are immediately isolated and tested. In the month of August, a Nigerian was quickly isolated and tested a hospital in Brampton Ontario after he presented with flu-like symptoms immediately after his travel from Nigeria. His test was negative. In the United States, a man from Liberia is also being tested for the Ebola virus in a hospital in Dallas after his recent travel from Liberia.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

03.Oct.2014

Hits: 2375

Write comment (0 Comments)

The death toll from the deadly Ebola virus has reached 42 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the African nation attempts to contain its second outbreak this year. On Wednesday, Health Minister Felix Kabange Numbi said that right health workers were among the latest victims of the virus in the country. In a remote region near the town of Boende, located some 800 kilometers northwest of Kinshasa, about 70 Ebola cases have been confirmed. The World Health Organization (WHO) and Kinshasa authorities say the current outbreak is “distinct and independent” and not related to the one that has taken thousands of lives in West African countries, including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, and Guinea. The rise in the death toll comes about one week after DR Congo Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo said the outbreak in his country was almost over. On October 1, the WHO said the Ebola death toll in West Africa had risen to 3,338, with more than half of the victims being in Liberia

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

02.Oct.2014

Hits: 2546

Write comment (0 Comments)