Health

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says at least 3,700 children in West Africa have seen one or both parents die because of the Ebola epidemic. “Thousands of children are living through the deaths of their mother, father or family members from Ebola,” Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF’s Regional Director for West & Central Africa has revealed. “These children urgently need special attention and support; yet many of them feel unwanted and even abandoned,” he said, adding, “Orphans are usually taken in by a member of the extended family, but in some communities, the fear surrounding Ebola is becoming stronger than family ties.” UNICEF says the number of children orphaned by Ebola has spiked in recent weeks and is projected to double by mid-October. “Ebola is turning a basic human reaction like comforting a sick child into a potential death sentence,” Fontaine noted. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of patients with Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has surpassed 6,500 with more than 3,000 deaths.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

01.Oct.2014

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US federal health officials said on Tuesday the first patient infected with the deadly Ebola virus had been diagnosed in the country. The patient was hospitalised in Dallas, Texas, with symptoms that were confirmed to be caused by Ebola, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Earlier on Tuesday, the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas said it had placed in strict isolation a person based on “symptoms and recent travel history”. The patient is the first to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, although a handful of US medical workers who were infected in West Africa have been flown back to the United States for treatment, and have recovered. The world’s largest outbreak of Ebola has infected 6,574 people across five west African countries, and killed 3,091, according to the World Health Organization.

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Ngwa Bertrand

30.Sep.2014

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Kundu and the other 12 patients who took the lamivudine and survived, received the drug in the first five days or so of their illness. The two patients who died received it between days five and eight. "I'm sure that when [patients] present early, this medicine can help," Logan said. "I've proven it right in my center." Logan is mindful that lamivudine can cause liver and other problems, but he says it's worth the risk since Ebola is so deadly. He also knows American researchers will say only a real study can prove effectiveness. That would involve taking a much larger patient population and giving half of them lamivudine and the other half a placebo. "Our people are dying and you're taking about studies?" he said. "It's a matter of doing all that I can do as a doctor to save some people's lives." Logan said he got the idea to try lamivudine when he read in scientific journals that HIV and Ebola replicate inside the body in much the same way. "Ebola is a brainchild of HIV," he said. "It's a destructive strain of HIV." At first he tried an HIV drug called acyclovir, but it didn't seem to be effective. Then he tried lamivudine on a healthcare worker who'd become ill, and within a day or two he showed signs of improvement and survived. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says that theoretically, Logan's approach has some merit. Lamivudine is a nucleocide analog, and other drugs in this class are being studied to treat Ebola.

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

29.Sep.2014

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The World Health Organization has announced that two experimental vaccines to cure the fatal Ebola virus will be ready by 2015. The WHO is currently collaborating with the British company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and the American group, NewLink Genetics, to accelerate the process of clinical tests and production of Ebola vaccines, the assistant director general at the World Health Organization said on Friday. “If everything goes well, we may be able to begin using some of these vaccines in some of the affected countries at the very beginning of next year,” Marie-Paule Kieny stated. However, no definite treatment has so far been discovered to stop the deadly epidemic that has claimed the lives of more than 2,800 people over the past few months, with over 5,700 being infected in the West African countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon raised alarm about the Ebola outbreak, urging the international community to act effectively to tackle the humanitarian crisis. The virus remains one of the world’s most virulent diseases, which kills between 25 to 90 percent of those who contract. Cameroon Concord senior health correspondent made a joke that he hopes the two vaccines will be able to cure both black and white skin patients.

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Ngwa Bertrand

27.Sep.2014

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the death toll from the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has now risen to over 3,000. The WHO said that at least 3,091 out of 6,574 probable, suspected and confirmed cases died according to data received up to September 23. The data provided by the UN health agency shows that Liberia has recorded 1,830 deaths. It is the most affected country, with around three times as many fatalities as any other nation in West Africa. The outbreak, which began in Guinea, has ravaged neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone.  WHO officials say the world's worst Ebola epidemic in history may kill tens of thousands of people.  Nigeria and Senegal have also confirmed cases of Ebola, but no new cases or deaths have been reported in the two countries over the past few weeks.

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Ngwa Bertrand

27.Sep.2014

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The Ebola situation in Liberia has become more intractable following news that the personal assistant to deputy minister of health has been diagnosed with Ebola virus. Dr. Bernice Dahn has voluntarily accepted today to be quarantine until she is declared Ebola free. Minister Bernice Dahn will henceforth remain indoors for 21 weeks as recommended by Ebola experts. The UN announced that more than 3,000 persons have been killed by the deadly virus in West Africa. In Guinea and Sierra Leone many health officials have become victims of the Ebola virus.

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Ngwa Bertrand

27.Sep.2014

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