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Now tracking the new emerging South Africa Omicron Variant

Ebola Again

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MikeL View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MikeL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 27 2018 at 1:55pm
We entered 'syozyodo' as a search term at Pubmed. It retrieved a few refs, with Abe,Y as an author both in 1948 and in 2018. Since Abe is a presidential family name, we further pursue this trajectory. A Yahoo search 'syozyodo' retrieves only one reference:

A Synopsis of Diptera pupipara of Japan -- Hawaii Biological
hbs.bishopmuseum.org/pi/pdf/9(4)-727.pdf

(1948) Abe, Y / Syozyodo / Japanese Encephalitis

(Ap 2018) Abe, Y / Sumoylation in Alzheimer's

Ebola Hijacks Cellular Sumoylation System

There are two other links to sumoylation:


'Ardmoeca ardeae (Macquart, 1835) Hist. Nat. Ins. Dipt. 2: 640 (Olfersia) Type Locality: "En Sicilie" (Italy) -- Distr. in Old World, widely spread.'
(Catalogue, op cit, p.221)

This Ardmoeca species links to A. schoutedeni at Mogende, Belgian Congo. Further, it may parasitize herons, so heron hepatitis would link the evolution of the retroviruses because hepatitis B virus, HIV-1 and HIV-2 have a common ancestor (reverse transcriptase). Tracking the anti-ebola ether-lipid analogue, brincidofovir, and recalling that in Niemann-Pick a cholesterol transporter is critical for filovirus infection, we link a heron virus (first discovered in 1956) in a heron rookery in Japan, reported in the year of the Marburg virus outbreak in Germany:

(1967) Nodamura Virus / Diethyl Ether and Chloroform Resistance

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 27 2018 at 3:11pm
the link i posted to "hot zone " the book is all about the 1980 french man and a lot more on Ebola ,Marburg even an airbourne subtype

the "hot zone" refers to an island in africa where the monkeys/ apes who were not wanted by the Scientists the old infirm diseased were dumped ,(this was back in the 60's when animals were captured by the thousands and  used for experiments) created a "Hot Zone "of viruses

well worth a read 
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.๐Ÿ––

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 28 2018 at 5:31am

We Have Some Great News About The Ebola Outbreak in Congo

Humans are amazing.

MAX BEARAK, THE WASHINGTON POST

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MikeL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 28 2018 at 7:11am
One approach is to have a companion text to the Hot Zone such as Marburg Virus Disease (Martini and Siegert, eds.), because it shows photos such as the "6-shaped" virus morphology, and devotes an entire chapter on Marburg virus hepatitis. As far as is known, Hot Zone does not mention Naivasha, because the Frenchman, being an outdoorsman, was  not documented as having visited the lake there, which is an important clue to possible vectors/reservoirs such as cormorants via Hippoboscidae.

Hot Zone has no index, and most assuredly Hooper's The River should be consulted due to especially the map Preston places at the front of the book.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MikeL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 28 2018 at 10:32am
Preston (Hot Zone) p. 265, 'Highway' : 'The road to Mount Elgon heads northwest from Nairobi into the Kenya highlands, climbing through green hills that bump against African skies. It goes through small farms and patches of cedar forest, and then it breaks over a crest of land and seems to leap out into space, into a bowl of yellow haze, which is the Rift Valley. The road descends into the Rift, cutting across wrinkled knees of bluffs, until it hits bottom and unravels on a savanna dotted with acacia trees. It skirts the lakes at the bottom of the Rift and passes through groves of fever trees, yellow-green and glowing in the sun. It is detained in cities that dwell by the lakes, and then it turns westward toward a line of blue hills. a straight, narrow, paved two-lane highway, crowded with smoky overlander trucks gasping up the grade, bound for Uganda and Zaire. The road to Mount Elgon is a segment of the AIDS highway, the Kinshasa Highway, the road that cuts Africa in half, along which the AIDS virus traveled during its breakout from somewhere in the African rain forest to every place on earth.'

Consulting The Atlas of Africa, 1973, Editions Jeune Afrique, we find that the agricultural map between Nairobi and Mt. Elgon shows large plantings of pyrethrum just west of Lake Naivasha, and above that Tobacco plantings encircling Nakuru. The pyrethrum was most likely used as insecticide on the tobacco, so at the time of the Marburg outbreak in Germany in 1967, mutations in viruses were occurring in the Lake Naivasha region, prompting the question of migrating cormorants and African Corax between Nzoia area and Naivasha.

Intriguingly, a more rigorous scrutiny of the trajectory did yield the Japanese encephalitis connection to Syozyodo Cave yesterday, whereas today pyrethrum links to encephalitis and by default, Lake Naivasha:

India / Pyrethrum / Japanese Encephalitis
'....fogging with 2% pyrethrum....'
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MikeL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 29 2018 at 11:04am
Ebola and Marburg virus divergence twixt one another critically depended on their hosts during evolution. Preston's passages on crab-eating monkeys:

'The monkey tree usually hangs out over a river, so that they can relieve themselves without littering the ground....and the troops moves out, leaping through trees, searching for fruit.'
(Preston, Hot Zone p.112 Reston)

We are interested in ebola (not Marburg) antibodies in orangutans on Borneo and Sumatra, a close link to Reston ebola virus. Kaeng Khoi District, Thailand, with Kaeng Khoi being spelled Kaeng Khlo on Macmillan's Book of the World map. It is situated on the Sa Pak River at the edge of a lake.

Kaeng Khoi District
'...."vulture waiting"....Pa Sak River....'

We next verify that Marburg virus has been fou nd in Egyptian fruit bats, Rousettus aegyptiacus:

Genomic Analysis of Filoviruses Associated with Four Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Outbreaks in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2012, Virology (2013) 442:87-100: '....Indeed, MARV and RAVN viruses have been repeatedly isolated from common African fruit bats, Rousettus aegyptiacus.'


Evolutionary History of Indian Ocean Nycteribiid Bat Flies Mirroring the Ecology of Their Hosts
journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0075215
'....Species of Eucampsipoda were limiited to Rousettus....E. madagascariensis....Rousettus madagascariensis....E. theodori....Rousettus obliviosus....'

Marburg-infected Rousettus aegyptiacus is also infected with other viruses, and it would be patently absurd to suggest that no blood-sucking bat flies never ingested Marburg virus, the corresponding mechanism would mirror Yersinia pestis plague which is endemic on Madagascar.

May 2017  Egyptian Fruit Bats in South Africa
'....Rousettus aegyptiacus....Wolkberg virus....Kaeng Khoi virus....'


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MikeL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 29 2018 at 11:26am
'Nycteribiidae. Subfamily Cyclopdiinae

Genus Eucampsipoda Kolenati, 1857 Kolenati, Wein. Ent. Mschr. 1:62. Type species: Nycteribia hyrtlii Kolenati, 1856: Parasiten der Chiropt., Bruenn: 42 (des. Theodor, 1955: Parasitology 45: 196) (junior synonym of Brachitarsina aegyptia Macquaer, 1851 (Maa, 1965, J. Med. Entomology 1(4):379).

aegyptia (Macquart, 1851): Mem/ Soc. Sci. Agric. Lille, 1850: 282 (Brachitarsina). Type Locality: Egypt -- Distr. Asia: S. Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iran, North Africa Saudi Arabia, Yemen....hyrtlii....fitzingeri.

Genus Cyclopodia Kolenati, 1863, Kolenati, 1863: Horae Soc. ent. ross., 2:82 Type species: nycteribia sykesii Westwood, 1835, Trqans. Zool. Soc. London, 1:275 (des Musgrave, 1925; Rec. Aust. Mus. 14:299); not Palaearctic.

[greeffi Karsch in Greeff, 1884: Sber. Ges. Befoerd. ges Naturw. Marburg, 1884: 77 (Cyclopodia) Type localities: Sao Tome and Roles. Distr. Afrotropical Region].'
(Catalogue of Palaerctic Diptera V. 11, pp. 233-4)

Sao Tome links ebola vectors and reservoirs in West Africa.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MikeL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 29 2018 at 11:47am
Eidolon dupreanum
'....Two different host preference patterns occurred in nycteribiids infecting insectivorus bats....'

Pteropus / Eidolon
'....antibodies against Nipah....' 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MikeL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 01 2018 at 1:54pm
In developing a Japanese alphabet for use in science and medicine, especially epidemiology, an introductory music video for the alphabet seems worth considering. For example, saxophonist John Coltrane, who died of hepatitis B-caused hepatocellular carcinoma at 41 years of age in 1967, the year of the Marburg virus outbreak in Germany. Ideally, we would ask if Grace Kelly would be interested in being featured in the video. Grace's work appears on the new Manhattan Transfer's album, The Junction, since the passing of founding member, Tim Hauser. Some great musicians are linked to the loss of 461 years of talent due to disease:

The Lost Years: The Impact of Cirrhosis on the History of Jazz (Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology)
europe.pmc.org/articles/PMC2721805
'....Hepatitis B vaccination could improve longevity, but alcoholism and Hepatitis C remain major health issues among jazz musicians.....Hepatocellular carcinoma also claimed major saxophone stylists Stan Getz....and Steve Lacy....It is interesting to speculate where jazz may have gone had John Coltrane and Charlie Parker lived into their 80s rather than succumb to the ravages of liver disease in their 30s. If we assume an average life span 75 years for an adult man, the jazz musicians depicted in Figure 1 have lost a combined 461 years of jazz productivity as a consequence of cirrhosis.'

At the onset of the ebola crisis of 2014, we saw ebola rap emerge from Africa: Ebola in Town "Dont Touch Your Friend."

Stan Getz, who once described himself as "a pale Lester Young," also had this to say:

"There wasn't much choice, I wanted to be a doctor, actually. I think I would have made a good research doctor, with my curiosity."

MikeL recalls attempts to mimick Getz's horn by listening to the Hi-Fi record, which machine was cranking out the music off-key, introducing strange new worlds such as concert C#, F#, B, A flat, etc. Needless to say, the new Japanese alphabet will also be used to score music, at least in MikeL's studio.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 04 2018 at 3:21pm

Democratic Republic of Congo: Ebola Virus Disease - External Situation Report 14

Report
from World Health Organization
Published on 03 Jul 2018 โ€” View Original

1. Situation update

The Ministry of Health and WHO continue to closely monitor the outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On 27 June 2018, all the people who were exposed to the last confirmed EVD case-patient completed their mandatory 21-day follow up without developing symptoms. This is an important milestone. The last confirmed EVD case in Equateur Province was cured and discharged from the Ebola treatment centre (ETC), following two negative tests on serial laboratory specimens, on 12 June 2018. The response is now focused on intensive surveillance, including active case finding and investigation of suspected cases and alerts.

Since our last report on 26 June 2018 (External Situation report 13), 13 suspected EVD cases were reported in Bikoro (10), Iboko (2) and Wangata (1) health zones. Of the 13 suspected cases, 11 tested negative, while two suspected cases reported on 30 June 2018 are awaiting collection of the second specimens for a repeat test after the first specimens tested negative.

Since the beginning of the outbreak (on 4 April 2018), a total of 55 EVD cases and 29 deaths have been reported, as of 1 July 2018. Of the 55 cases, 38 have been laboratory confirmed, 15 were probable cases (deaths for which it was not possible to collect laboratory specimens for testing) and two were suspected cases. One community death that occurred on 20 May 2018 in Iboko Health Zone was retrospectively identified and reclassified as a probable case, increasing the number of probable cases from 14 to 15. Of the 53 confirmed and probable cases, 29 died, giving a case fatality rate of 54.7%. Twenty-eight (53%) confirmed and probable cases were from Iboko, followed by 21 (40%) from Bikoro and four (8%) from Wangata health zones. Five healthcare workers have been affected, with four confirmed cases and two deaths. A total 24 casepatients with confirmed EVD have been cured since the onset of the outbreak.

Context

On 8 May 2018, the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo notified WHO of an EVD outbreak in Bikoro Health Zone, Equateur Province. The event was initially reported on 3 May 2018 by the Provincial Health Division of Equateur when a cluster of 21 cases of an undiagnosed illness, involving 17 community deaths, occurred in Ikoko-Impenge health area. A team from the Ministry of Health, supported by WHO and Mรฉdecins Sans Frontiรจres (MSF), visited Ikoko-Impenge health area on 5 May 2018 and found five case-patients, two of whom were admitted in Bikoro General Hospital and three were in the health centre in Ikoko-Impenge. Samples were taken from each of the five cases and sent for analysis at the Institute National de Recherche Biomรฉdicale (INRB), Kinshasa on 6 May 2018. Of these, two tested positive for Ebola virus, Zaire ebolavirus species, by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on 7 May 2018, and the outbreak was officially declared on 8 May 2018. The index case in this outbreak has not yet been identified and epidemiologic investigations are ongoing, including laboratory testing. This is the ninth EVD outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo over the last four decades, with the most recent one occurring in May 2017. Further information on past outbreaks is available at: http://www.who.int/ebola/historical-outbreaksdrc/en/.

Source:   https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/democratic-republic-congo-ebola-virus-disease-external-situation-12
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote EdwinSm, Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 04 2018 at 10:34pm
That is one scary Case Fatality Ratio.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MikeL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 05 2018 at 8:15am
Another ridiculous URL to transcribe, the reader must go to Promedmail and click to see the google map:

Promedmail 4 Jul 2018 Ebola Update
'....Here we share a map visualizing the geographic clustering of ebola....Mayi.... Bene Dibele....'

Due west of Lusambo (approx. 500km) is Kikwit, which presents the most current opportunity for investigation of ebola vectors and reservoirs.

Ebola Vaccine Approved for Use in Ongoing Outbreak
'....The key to Merck's vaccine is a protein expressed on the surface of the Zaire strain of ebola, collected during a 1995 outbreak in Kikwit.'

Note Edward Hooper's link to Kikwit for polio vaccinations (posted earlier to this thread) and current Promedmail report of polio in New Guinea.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MikeL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 05 2018 at 8:27am
The polio vaccine revertant in New Guinea's Morobe Province borders on Fore country (Eastern Highlands Province) for kuru and its link to the slow viruses such as HIV-1/HIV-2.

Morobe Province

Eastern Highlands Province
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MikeL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 06 2018 at 7:59am
Orangutans / Filoviruses

Ecotourists / Orangutans / Influenza
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Jul 2018 Hollow Fiber Infection Model / Favipiravir / Ebola / Influenza / Zika
'....FAV is approved in Japan to treat human influenza and is currently in phase III clinical trials for the treatment of uncomplicated influenza in the United States. Moreover, it was used with some success to treat ebola-infected patients during the 2014-2015 ebola outbreak in West Africa.'
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MikeL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 06 2018 at 9:49am
No evidence of ebola was found when they inspected the supposed bat roosting tree where the child had played at Gueckedou. What one might wish to know is why the faint red color on the map for Conakry, Guinea. It is connected by roads to Gueckedou, a major market town supposedly the epicenter of the ebola outbreak. We're not that sure, and suspect are items brought to Gueckedou market from the coast.

The reader can scroll down to see a curious red tinge at Conakry, but surprisingly, none at Freetown, which would also seem accessible to Gueckedou:

14 Jan 2016 BBC News, Ebola: Mapping the Outbreak

Indeed, one Pasteur Institute physician surmised that the child at Gueckedou was not the first ebola case, which child was infected during the same week in December 2013 (as the height [zenith] of the Zika outbreak [italics]) in the New Caledonia region.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 24 2018 at 7:27am

Pigs May Be a Host for Ebola Virus

July 10, 2018

Much is still unknown about the Ebola virus. The microbe, which re-emerges from time to time usually in Africa, causes a hemorrhagic fever with a fatality rate as high as 90%.

One of the many goals of epidemiology is to understand the ecology of infectious disease. Where does the virus go when there isn't an active human outbreak? Viruses can't survive in the environment, so some type of animal must be serving as a "reservoir" from which outbreaks re-emerge. So far, evidence points to fruit bats as the guilty party, but gorillas, chimpanzees, and antelope may also play a role.

Furthermore, there was some evidence that pigs might be able to host the Ebola virus. This is particularly worrisome because it would mean that a common animal used as livestock could be spreading the disease. To further investigate this possibility, a team of scientists collected blood samples from 400 pigs in regions of Sierra Leone that had reported human cases of the Ebola virus.

Of the 400 pigs, three had antibodies in their blood that reacted to Ebola virus proteins. This indicates that these three animals had been infected by the virus and mounted an immune response. (Note: An infected animal does not necessarily show signs of disease; that is, infections can be asymptomatic.)

Next, the authors investigated if the antibodies generated by the pigs were protective against Ebola virus. Antibodies are protective or "neutralizing" if they block the ability of the virus to infect cells. They found that the antibodies were not protective, which means that the pigs' immune response wasn't particularly specific to the Ebola virus. Taken together, what does all of this mean?

Unfortunately, it's not entirely clear. Perhaps the likeliest explanation is that these three pigs were infected by some type of Ebola virus (there are five different Ebola species), but maybe not the one that caused the large West African epidemic. Thus, the good news is that the data suggest that pigs didn't play much of a role in spreading the disease.

The bad news is that they could in the future. The presence of antibodies serves as proof that an animal had been infected, even if it showed no signs of illness. Monitoring livestock near an Ebola outbreak should be on the to-do list for future virus hunters.

Source: Kerstin Fischer, et al. "Serological Evidence for the Circulation of Ebolaviruses in Pigs From Sierra Leone." J Infect Dis jiy330. Published: 5-July-2018. DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiy330

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IT'S OVER - THAT'S OFFICIAL!


Tue 24 Jul 2018 18.47 BST

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been declared officially over, thanks to a major response from the government and support by an international community determined to prevent the sort of spread that killed more than 11,000 people in west Africa three years ago.

There were 53 cases and 29 deaths in the DRC outbreak that began in early May, but a massive effort began to contain it as soon as the government declared it was Ebola. Although DRC had successfully contained and closed down eight Ebola outbreaks in the past four decades, the most recent appeared on the Congo River, the main arterial transport route through the country.

The first cases were in the village of Ikoko-Impenge in ร‰quateur province, which is not accessible by road and is 19 miles (30km) from Bikoro, which has a hospital. There was a risk that people infected by the virus would travel to the town or even further by river and that the outbreak could spread widely and even into neighbouring countries.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, praised the governmentโ€™s response and the international support. โ€œThe outbreak was contained due to the tireless efforts of local teams, the support of partners, the generosity of donors, and the effective leadership of the ministry of health. That kind of leadership, allied with strong collaboration between partners, saves lives,โ€ he said.

WHO released an immediate $2m (£1.5m) and eventually a total of $4m from its emergencies contingency fund and appealed for more. A total of $63m was raised and made available to end the epidemic.

The west Africa outbreak took hold in part because Ebola had never been seen in that region before. It was not quickly identified, however. Governments did not immediately declare they had an outbreak and WHO was heavily criticised for its slow response.


Source:   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/24/drc-ebola-outbreak-officially-declared-over

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 27 2018 at 12:24am
Although this Congolese outbreak is finally over, the disease is zoonotic and the original resevoir in wildlife remains.  Now researchers have found a new strain in the local bat population of Sierra Leone:

New Ebola virus found in Sierra Leone

2018-07-26 21:02

A new Ebola virus has been found in bats in Sierra Leone, two years after the end of an outbreak that killed over 11 000 across West Africa, the government said on Thursday.

It is not yet known whether the new Bombali species of the virus - which researchers say could be transmitted to humans - can develop into the deadly Ebola disease.

"At this time, it is not yet known if the Bombali Ebola virus has been transmitted to people or if it causes disease in people but it has the potential to infect human cells," Amara Jambai, a senior ministry of health official, told AFP.

"This is early stages of the findings," Jambai added, calling on the public to remain calm while awaiting further research.

A health ministry spokesperson and a researcher who worked on the discovery confirmed the findings to AFP.

Researchers who found the new virus in the northern Bombali region are now working with the Sierra Leone government to determine whether any humans were infected.

"As precautionary measures, people should refrain from eating bats," Harold Thomas, health ministry spokesperson told AFP.

The worst-ever Ebola outbreak started in December 2013 in southern Guinea before spreading to two neighbouring west African countries, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The West African outbreak was caused by the Zaire species, which has historically been the most deadly in humans since it was first identified in 1976.


Source:   https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/new-ebola-virus-found-in-sierra-leone-20180726-2

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 02 2018 at 2:11pm
............................  'And as if that were not bad enough;  IT'S NOT OVER!

EBOLA OUTBREAK: Killer disease WARNING as fresh cases discovered - 'We need calm'

AN Ebola virus outbreak has been confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province, the country's Governor has confirmed.

The health ministry said four cases of the virus have been confirmed, while 20 deaths from hemorrhagic fever in and around Mangina, a densely populated town 30km southwest of the city of Beni and 100km from the Ugandan border have also been recorded. 

A team of 12 experts from the health ministry will arrive in Beni on Thursday to set up a mobile lab.

Julien Paluku wrote on Twitter: "Ebola virus conformed in North Kivu province.

"The Minister of Health just announced it after confirmation of the analysis at the INRB (Institut National de Recherche Biomรฉdicale).

"I call for calm and prudence."

World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet that it has started moving staff and supplies to the affected area. 

He said: "Ebola is a constant threat in DRC. What adds to our confidence in the country's ability to respond is the transparency they have displayed once again.

"We will fight this one as we did the last.โ€

On Monday, health ministry said it had foound 25 cases of fever near the town of Beni and that samples had been sent to the capital Kinshasa for testing.  

It added that there is no evidence that the new Ebola cases are linked to a previous outbreak, which began in April and occurred over 2,500 kilometres away.

Last week, DR Congo confirmed the end of a separate outbreak that killed 33 people in the northwest. 

Congolese and international health officials deployed an experimental vaccine that helped contain its spread after it reached a large river port city.

In May, international experts said there has been a massive change in the urgency of the Congolese government to highlight the risks of the virus spreading, which was downplayed during the 2014 Western African epidemic.

Protection were distributed to local hospitals and traveller screening commenced, even before the first cases of the contagious virus were confirmed by health officials.

DR Congo health minister Oly Ilunga had said: "The government knew this outbreak presented a higher risk than last year's (smaller) outbreak due to the fact the health workers were among the first victims.

"All the major international organisations have worked in better alignment with the government's Ebola response plan."

This is the central African country's 10th Ebola outbreak since 1976, when the virus was discovered near the eponymous river in the north.

Ebola, believed to be spread over long distances by bats, causes hemorrhagic fever, vomiting and diarrhea. 

It is spread through direct contact with body fluids, and often spreads to humans via infected bush meat.

Between 2013 and 2016, an ebola outbreak concentrated in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea killed at least 11,300 people.


Source:   https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/997484/ebola-outbreak-dr-congo-ebola-outbreak-latest

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it will never be over ................

hopefully it will become airbourne and knock 75% of us off........
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.๐Ÿ––

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........................................ ' Or breed with something else, Carbon.

Mystery disease wreaks havoc

02 August 2018

Mystery disease wreaks havoc

An unknown disease is on the increase in the Mabalako health zone, 30 km South-West of Beni in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR). The DRC Ministry of Health (MoH) and World Health Organization (WHO) sent a team to assess the situation on 31 June and begin laboratory analysis. A humanitarian health partner also sent an evaluation and response team. Laboratory results are anticipated in the coming days and WHO human resources are available to be deployed in 24 hours. Preventative measures have been taken by medical staff in Mangina to avoid the disease spreading.


Source:   https://www.itij.com/story/114441/mystery-disease-wreaks-havoc

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There are 13 confirmed cases in the latest outbreak/re-outbreak and 33 suspected deaths - cause yet to be confirmed.


                                                                      and

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This outbreak seems much more concerning than the one before. It appears to have been going on for months and the scale is already as large, if not larger. 
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BBC news just made their first TV announcement on this second outbreak.  They say it is right next to a refugee camp.

Howzat for upping the risk factors!
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Ebola death toll climbs to 34 as health workers struggle to contain latest outbreak in Congo

At least 34 people are reported to have died in a fresh outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including one healthcare worker, the World Health Organization says, as officials scramble to contain the deadly virus in the restive eastern part of the country.

As of August 6, 43 Ebola cases have been reported primarily in North Kivu province, an area that has been beleaguered by decades of violence, with an additional 33 suspected cases currently undergoing laboratory tests.

It is the tenth Ebola outbreak in the country, and news of the most recent cases came just days after the previous outbreak in the DRC was declared over on July 24, in which 33 people also died.

While there is no evidence yet that confirms the recent outbreaks are related, a connection canโ€™t yet be ruled out, said World Health Organization spokesperson Tarik Jaลกareviฤ‡.

The conditions in the area of the new outbreak are extremely challenging. Several armed militia groups have been fighting for control of mineral-rich North Kivu for years, a conflict that forced 1.7 million people to flee their homes in 2017. In December, at least 15 United Nations peacekeepers from Tanzania were killed in the region.

Today than one million displaced people live in the area, with residents and traders routinely moving across local borders with Rwanda and Uganda.

All of this makes for a logistical nightmare for the people trying to trace the movement of one of the worldโ€™s most ruthless viruses.

In the DRCโ€™s last outbreak in western Equateur province, there were also โ€œmassive logistical constraints,โ€ says Mr Jaลกareviฤ‡.

But workers were still able to travel hundreds of miles by motorbike to trace people who had come into contact with the virus, a vital part of its containment. In North Kivu, however, the same work may have to do be done with armed escorts when traveling outside cities.

โ€œThe prolonged humanitarian crisis and deterioration of the security situation is expected to hinder response to this outbreak,โ€ says Mr Jaลกareviฤ‡.

Mรฉdecins Sans Frontiรจres, which has played a key role in the Ebola virus outbreaks that were first identified in 2014, says it has responded to the most recent outbreak.

โ€œWe have teams on site, currently setting up treatment centres and supporting the existing local health facilities in infection prevention and control, in order to help limit the possible spread of the disease and ensure continuity of care for the general population,โ€ an MSF press officer in Johannesburg said on Monday.

After the virus was identified in Equateur in May, an experimental vaccine manufactured by the American pharmaceutical giant Merck was used early in the outbreak. It may have contributed to the outbreakโ€™s quick containment and relatively low death rate. Between 2014 and 2016, more than 11,300 people died from the virus in West Africa.

There are still 3,200 doses of the vaccine that are currently be stored in the capital Kinshasa, and WHO says it can mobilize 300,000 more doses at short notice if required. The government has to approve the vaccineโ€™s distribution by WHO before it can be given to people.

Health workers are now rushing to set up a cold chain to start vaccinating people in eastern part of the country on Wednesday, the DRCโ€™s health ministry has said.

But the biggest constraint, says Mr Jaลกareviฤ‡ of WHO, will be โ€œsecurity and access issues and that ability to really determine the contacts of contacts of contacts.โ€

FAQ | Ebola

What does Ebola do?

Symptoms begin with fever, muscle pain and a sore throat and can escalate rapidly to vomiting, diarrhoea and internal and external bleeding. The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50% although they have varied from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks. Health workers are at serious risk of contracting the disease and need to wear a protective suit covering their entire body.

How is the virus transmitted?

The virus is introduced into the human population through close contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals such as fruit bats and chimpanzees.

The virus spreads through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact with infected indviduals, through broken skin or mucous membranes, and indirect contact with objects contaminated with bodily fluids, such as door handles and telephones. The virus cannot be spread through the air

Health workers who have close contact with infected patients are particularly at risk of contracting the disease. Burial ceremonies that involve direct contact with the body of the deceased can also lead to the spread of Ebola.

Is the disease treatable?

There is no cure for the disease and treatment involves rehydration or intravenous fluids. Early treatment improves a patientโ€™s chances of survival. There is no cure although during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014 anti viral treatments were developed. A vaccine has also been developed and will be used in the latest outbreak to protect direct contacts of infected patients.

Source:   https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/07/ebola-death-toll-climbs-34-health-workers-struggle-contain-latest/
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Update:  

New Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo: 43 infected, 36 dead

Updated 1627 GMT (0027 HKT) August 8, 2018

Source and full article:   https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/07/world/dr-congos-health-ministry-reports-new-ebola-deaths-in-latest-outbreak/index.html

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Vaccinations have begun in the province of those at high exposure risk.

Source:   http://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/en/

Hmmm.... That hyperlink does not seem to be working, so if anyone can be bothered to cut and paste it, here it is unopened.   http://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/en/
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Ebola vaccination begins in North Kivu
8 August 2018 News Release
Mangina/Geneva


The Ministry of Public Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo today announced the launch of Ebola vaccinations for high risk populations in North Kivu province.

The vaccinations have begun just one week after the announcement of a second outbreak of Ebola this year in the country. A total of 44 cases have been reported so far, of which 17 have been confirmed.

Work has begun to prepare ring vaccination in the Mangina health area, 30km from the town of Beni.

The provincial health minister and the provincial coordinator of the Expanded Programme on Immunization were the first to be vaccinated. They were followed by first line health workers from the Mangina health centre, who had been in contact with people who were confirmed cases of Ebola.

โ€œVaccines are an important tool in the fight against Ebola. This is why it has been a priority to move them rapidly into place to begin protecting our health workers and the affected population,โ€ said Dr Oly Ilunga, Minister of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A total of 3,220 doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine are currently available in the country, while supplementary doses have been requested. While the vaccine goes through the licensing process, an agreement between Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and Merck, the developer of the vaccine, ensures that additional investigational doses of the vaccine are available.

โ€œThe Democratic Republic of the Congo has once again demonstrated strong leadership in its early response to this outbreak,โ€ said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). โ€œEbola is aggressive. We must respond more aggressively. Beginning the vaccination so quickly is a key early step.โ€

WHO has provided logistical support for the establishment of the cold chain and sent supplies needed for the vaccinations, in addition to supporting the negotiation of protocols with the manufacturer and national authorities, and supporting the deployment of vaccination experts from Guinea to work alongside national staff, who began the vaccination.

"We are proud of the regional solidarity demonstrated by the vaccination efforts, and confident that the strong capacity of the African region will once again be demonstrated during the response to this outbreak," said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
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Wonder why this outbreak is causing such concern? It's in a war zone!

BENI, Congo (AP) โ€ In a new reminder of the dangers in containing an Ebola outbreak in a war zone, suspected rebels killed seven people overnight in northeastern Congo and sent residents fleeing, an official said Saturday.

Global health officials have warned that combating this virus outbreak is complicated by multiple armed groups in the mineral-rich region and a restless population that includes 1 million displaced people and scores of refugees leaving for nearby Uganda every week.

The insecurity means health workers might have to change a vaccination strategy that proved successful in Congoโ€™s previous Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organizationโ€™s emergency preparedness chief Dr. Peter Salama said Saturday.

The so-called โ€œring vaccinationโ€ approach of first vaccinating health workers, contacts of Ebola victims and their contacts might have to give way to the approach of vaccinating everyone in a certain geographic area such as a village or neighborhood. That would require a larger number of vaccine doses.

Vaccinations began Wednesday in the current outbreak, which was declared on Aug. 1 and has killed 11 people in the densely populated region. WHO has said more than 3,000 Ebola vaccine doses are available in Congo.

While Congoโ€™s previous Ebola outbreak, declared over barely a week before the current one began, set off alarm by spreading to a city of more than 1 million on the other side of the country, the current outbreak comes with the threat of armed attack.

The overnight assault that killed seven people in Mayi-Moya, about 40 kilometers (24 miles) from Beni city, was likely carried out by rebels with the Allied Democratic Forces, the administrator of Beni territory, Donat Kibwana, told The Associated Press. The rebels have killed more than 1,500 people in and around Beni in less than two years.

The rebels sent the local population fleeing, Kibwana said. Beni residents already had been shaken by the discovery on Tuesday of 14 bodies of civilians who had been seized by suspected ADF rebels.

The latest attack occurred as the WHO director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was visiting the area to see the response to the Ebola outbreak, which is being carried out in some cases under armed escort.

โ€œThe active conflict in the area is a barrier to control Ebola,โ€ Tedros said in a Twitter post Saturday night. โ€œI call on all warring parties to provide secure access to all responders serving affected populations & saving lives.โ€

United Nations peacekeepers, Congolese police and at times Congolese troops have been traveling with convoys of health workers as they fan out to contain the outbreak. Hospitals are guarded by Congolese police and military police.

โ€œThis will be a highly complex operation because it is occurring in an area that has been embroiled in armed conflict for 20 years,โ€ said Hanna Leskinen, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross. โ€œPeople are regularly moving as waves of violence force new communities to flee. This makes tracing infected cases much harder.โ€ Health care workers may be forced to flee as well, she said.

Parts of North Kivu province, where most of the Ebola cases have been reported, have been inaccessible to aid groups because of the fighting, Leskinen said.

โ€œIt is critical that the disease is contained before it spreads to areas where there is more active fighting or it will be incredibly challenging to reach those in need (and) ensure safe vaccination campaigns,โ€ she said. That includes keeping the vaccines at the optimal temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 158 degrees Fahrenheit), a challenge in a region with hot temperatures and unreliable power supplies.

So far, Congoโ€™s health ministry has said 48 cases of hemorrhagic fever have been reported in this outbreak, 21 of them confirmed as Ebola.

Nearly 1,000 people are being monitored. Screenings for the virus are being carried out at the heavily traveled border; officials have said travel restrictions are not necessary.

This is Congoโ€™s tenth outbreak of Ebola, which is spread via contact with bodily fluids of those infected, including the dead. There is no licensed treatment, and the virus can be fatal in up to 90 percent of cases, depending on the strain.
source:   http://www.gainesville.com/news/20180811/congos-latest-ebola-outbreak-taking-place-in-war-zone
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3 000 doses is not much if they have to change the strategy to blanket vaccinations.

This does look like it might get out of hand, despite Congo's good reputation in handling Ebola outbreaks.
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Health chiefs issue โ€˜EBOLA ALERTโ€™ amid fears outbreak about to CROSS BORDERS

HEALTH chiefs have issued an ebola alert amid fears the outbreak as about to cross borders โ€“ with four new cases confirmed.
By Henry Holloway / Published 11th August 2018



Ugandan medical authorities have issued a โ€œhigh riskโ€ alert spurred by the continuing outbreak of the Ebola haemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Heath secretary Dr Diana Atwine issued to the warning on Twitter โ€“ including details of symptoms and fact sheets about treating ebola.

It comes as authorities in the Congo continue to detect new cases of the killer disease.

And health bosses are preparing to deploy an experimental treatment in a bid to curb the ebola outbreak.

Health workers are being vaccinated as they continue to fight the infection.
r Atwine urged people in Uganda to share the warning โ€“ revealing a phone line to report cases.

She said: โ€œThere is a confirmed Ebola outbreak in the [Congo] putting Uganda at high risk.

โ€œEbola is a serious disease that kills many with a very short period of time.

โ€œThe general public should remain clam and be on alert."

Source and full article:   www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/722708/ebola-outbreak-africa-uganda-congo-warning-death-toll-vaccine-borders-threat-alert-symptom
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Health officials are "worried" as the outbreak seems to be spreading. You can read a report on that here:   https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/14/health/congo-ebola-outbreak-update/index.html

Also there is a new ebola drug about to be trialled in the area. Details on that development are available here:   https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/new-drug-for-ebola-outbreak-2bt6cg59n
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Congo Ebola outbreak: 78 cases, 44 deaths, 10 health workers infected

Updated 1547 GMT (2347 HKT) August 17, 2018

(CNN)There have been 78 cases of Ebola reported in the current outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo as of Wednesday, the World Health Organization said Friday.
Of those cases, 51 are confirmed, and 27 are probable. This includes 44 deaths.
The reported cases are in five health zones in North Kivu and one health zone in Ituri, but all of the cases are linked to the "outbreak epi-center" in Mangina, the agency said.

In addition, 10 health care workers have become infected with the disease. Nine of those cases are confirmed, and the one probable case is a worker who died.
"These health care workers were likely exposed in clinics, not Ebola treatment centres (ETCs), many of which may have been infected before the declaration of the outbreak," according to a statement from WHO.
The agency is working to "increase awareness of Ebola among health care and other frontline workers, and to strengthen infection prevention and control (IPC) measures."
The affected provinces share a border with Uganda and Rwanda and are densely populated. Ongoing conflict and violence in the area pose security concerns for those working to contain the outbreak.
This is the 10th outbreak in Congo, where the virus is endemic.

This outbreak is now bigger than the previous outbreak in Equateur province that was declared over July 24. During that outbreak, 53 cases were reported, including 29 deaths, according to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO. Health officials said last week that the two outbreaks are not related.
The viral hemorrhagic fever is transmitted from person to person by infected bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, feces and breast milk. It is highly infectious but not highly contagious.
Vaccination has begun in North Kivu province among health care workers and some residents.

Source:   https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/17/health/congo-ebola-outbreak-update-bn/index.html
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This ts the Daily Star paper - IMHO a comic bit here is the report anyway:

Ebola outbreak cases expected to SOAR as victims canโ€™t be helped in โ€˜NO-GO ZONESโ€™

THE cases of deadly Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are expected to increase as aid workers cannot access affected regions deemed to be โ€œno-go zonesโ€.



The World Health Organisation (WHO) is becoming increasingly concerned about Congoโ€™s current outbreak of Ebola, which has killed an estimated 44 people.

Health officials have not been able to identify all people exposed to the lethal virus in the African nation's North Kivu region, where security issues are stopping aid workers reaching some areas.

The North Kivu has been ravaged by armed ethnic conflict between Congoโ€™s military and the Hutu Power group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) since 2004.

Meanwhile, health authorities in Congo are scrambling to contain the outbreak as neighbouring countries Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda are braced for it to spread across borders.

A total of 78 Ebola cases have been confirmed and 1,500 people have been identified as contacts of infected people, according to official WHO figures.

"We don't know if we are having all transmission chains identified,โ€ WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said in a press conference in Geneva.   

โ€œWe expect to see more cases as a result of earlier infections and infection developing into illness.โ€

On Tuesday WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concerns that the virus would be harder to contain after visiting North Kivu, where the outbreak is concentrated.

โ€œBefore I went there I was really worried because of the different nature of the Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC,โ€ he told a press conference.

โ€œBut after the visit I am actually more worried because of what we have observed there first hand.โ€

He said the conditions in North Kivu, where around 100 armed groups are operating, make it more likely that the deadly hemorrhagic fever will spread.

โ€œThe environment is really conducive for Ebola to transmit freely,โ€ said Dr Tedros. โ€œThis is a very dangerous outbreak.

โ€œWhat makes the outbreak in eastern DRC or northern Kivu more dangerous is there is a security challenge โ€“ there is active conflict in that area.โ€

The challenges of containment will alarm health officials after an unprecedented outbreak of the disease between 2014 and 2016 killed more than 11,000 people across western Africa.

Cases of the disease, a type of viral hemorrhagic fever, were confirmed in Britain, Italy, Spain and the United States, where one person died.

The epidemic of 2014 to 2016 was the most widespread outbreak of Ebola in history, plaguing countries such as Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone with death and economic woe.

In June 2016, the outbreak was officially declared over, but the virus is still present in several African countries.

People who remain most at risk are those who care for infected people or handle their blood or fluid, such as hospital workers, laboratory workers and family members, according to NHS guidance.

To date, the latest outbreak is the ninth time Congo has been struck by the disease, which kills between 25-90% of those affected.

The most recent outbreak of Ebola in Congo was declared contained in July 2017, having killed four out of the eight it infected.

Source:   https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/723874/ebola-outbreak-virus-2018-congo-symptoms-who-latest-news
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This looks more promising:


Congoโ€™s new Ebola outbreak is hitting health care workers hard

By Jon CohenAug. 17, 2018 , 10:50 AM

Health care workers have been especially hard hit by the current outbreak of Ebola in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). To date, nine of the 51 confirmed cases of Ebola have been in people caring for the ill, says Peter Salama, an epidemiologist based in Geneva, Switzerland, who heads the response to the outbreak for the World Health Organization (WHO).

โ€œThereโ€™s an extremely low level of knowledge and awareness about Ebola in the area,โ€ Salama says. โ€œEarly on, the health care workers took no precautions whatsoever, and unfortunately, weโ€™re expecting more confirmed cases from that group.โ€

The outbreak is the 10th in the DRC since the disease first surfaced in 1976, and though it is the first to occur in this region of the country, Salama says he was surprised how little the affected communities knew about the deadly disease. In the past, health care workers have often been heavily affected during the early days of outbreaks, but the massive Ebola outbreak that caused more than 28,000 cases in West Africa in 2014โ€“16 brought more attention to the risks and proper responses than ever before.
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The virus has spread to seven health districts in North Kivu and Ituri, two northeastern provinces near the border with Uganda that have long been plagued by armed conflict between insurgent groups and government forces. This could vastly complicate efforts to contain its spread, as workers may have to travel with armed escorts. So far, however, security issues have not hampered the attempts to isolate the infected and to treat people, educate communities about personal hygiene precautions and safe burials, and conduct surveillance, Salama says. That's in part because the majority of cases are in a single village, Mangina, where response teams have been able to work safely.

In addition to the confirmed cases, there are 27 probable ones. So far, 44 of the probable and confirmed cases have died. An experimental vaccine that has performed well in other studies now is being used in health care workers and others who may have come in contact with confirmed cases. Salama says more than 500 people have received the vaccine so far. In addition to response teams from the DRCโ€™s Ministry of Public Health and WHO, two nongovernmental organizations, Doctors Without Borders and the Alliance for International Medical Action, have opened Ebola treatment centers to isolate and treat patients.

Robert Redfield, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, visited Kinshasa on Wednesday to meet with Minister of Public Health Oly Ilunga Kalenga. The next day, Kalenga led Redfield and a U.S. delegation to North Kivu, where the Americans toured an Ebola treatment center in the city of Beni.

Salama, who visited the affected area last week, led the WHOโ€™s response to the DRC's previous outbreak, which officially ended 1 week before this one surfaced. โ€œItโ€™s taking all the partners a little longer to get moving in this outbreak to be at the scale required to really deal with what is one of the more complex outbreaks of Ebola weโ€™ve had in recent years,โ€ says Salama, noting that they badly need more financial support from international donors. โ€œThis is a really tough one.โ€

Source:   http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/congo-s-new-ebola-outbreak-hitting-health-care-workers-hard
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 17 2018 at 4:22pm
This is the update from the WHO:

Ebola virus disease โ€“ Democratic Republic of the Congo

Disease outbreak news
17 August 2018

On 1 August 2018, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the town of Mangina, Mabalako Health Zone, North Kivu Province. Confirmed cases have since between reported from Beni and Mandima health zones, Ituri Province; however, all confirmed exposures and transmission events to date have been linked back to the outbreak epi-centre, Mangina. North Kivu and Ituri are among the most populated provinces in the country, share borders with Uganda and Rwanda, and experience conflict and insecurity, with over one million internally displaced people and migration of refugees to neighbouring countries.

As of 15 August 2018, 78 EVD cases (51 confirmed and 27 probable), including 44 deaths, have been reported.1 Since the DON published on 9 August, 34 new confirmed cases have been reported: seven from Ituri Province (Mandima Health Zone) and 27 from North Kivu Province (one in Beni and 26 in Mabalako health zones). The 78 confirmed or probable cases reside in five health zones in North Kivu and one health zone in Ituri. The majority of cases (39 confirmed and 21 probable) have been reported from Mangina in Mabalako Health Zone (Figure 1). As of 15 August, 24 suspected cases are currently pending laboratory testing to confirm or exclude EVD.

Eight new confirmed cases among health care workers have been reported, bringing the total number of infected health care workers to 10 (nine confirmed and one probable deceased case). These health care workers were likely exposed in clinics, not Ebola treatment centres (ETCs), many of which may have been infected before the declaration of the outbreak. WHO and partners are working to increase awareness of Ebola among health care and other frontline workers, and to strengthen infection prevention and control (IPC) measures.

The MoH, WHO and partners continue to systematically monitor and rapidly investigate all alerts in other provinces and in neighbouring countries. Since the last DON was published, alerts in several provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Central African Republic were investigated; EVD was ruled out for all.

Source:   http://www.who.int/csr/don/17-august-2018-ebola-drc/en/
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The WHO publishes regular ebola updates at:   http://www.who.int/ebola/en/ but this series of pages resist copying across to AFT.

This prece was available however:   

Current situation: DRC 2018

    National response plan North Kivu Province
    10 August 2018
    Strategic response plan ร‰quateur Province
    29 May 2018
    Ebola outbreak response
    Presentation by Dr Peter Salama, 23 May 2018
    FAQ: Compassionate use of investigational vaccine for the Ebola outbreak in DRC
    Updated 23 May 2018
    Ebola treatments approved for compassionate use in current outbreak
    6 June 2018
    Consultation on Clinical Trial Design for Ebola Virus Disease
    21 June 2018

'And this recent article (yesterday) was sumarised by Reuters:
Congo Ebola outbreak kills 44 as aid workers struggle to contain spread in conflict zone

Posted yesterday at 7:59pm

A deadly Ebola outbreak in a conflict-hit area of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) poses an "unprecedented" challenge to health workers trying to access victims and contain the disease, medical charities said.
Key points:

    Latest outbreak started just a week after another was declared to be over
    Longstanding conflict in the region has made people more susceptible to disease
    WHO are concerned an epidemic could break out in security blindspots

At least 44 people have died and 78 people have been infected in the Congo's tenth Ebola outbreak since the deadly virus was discovered in the 1970s, according to the World Health Organisation.

At least 1,500 people have been potentially exposed to the deadly virus in North Kivu province but the violence means officials cannot be sure if they have identified all the chains by which it is spreading in the east of the vast country.

"We don't know if we are having all transmission chains identified. We expect to see more cases as a result of earlier infections and these infections developing into illness," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told a news briefing in Geneva.

"The worst-case scenario is that we have these security blindspots where the epidemic could take hold that we don't know about," he said.

The latest outbreak started just a week after the country declared an end to a separate outbreak and marks the first time responders have had to work in an active conflict zone, where armed groups regularly kill and kidnap civilians.

"With Ebola, this situation is unprecedented. It will make the response longer and more expensive," said Michelle Gayer, director of emergency health for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which is working to contain the outbreak.
Ms Gayer said longstanding conflict in the region has made people more susceptible to disease because of poor sanitation and high levels of malnutrition and displacement, with many people now living in camps.

Treatment centres have been set up in towns that are violence free, but surveillance teams cannot access surrounding areas to check for cases, said Papys Lame of the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA).

    "Measures are in place to be able to manage it as best as possible despite the insecurity," he said.

The virus, which spreads via bodily fluids and causes vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea, has already spread from its epicentre in North Kivu province to neighbouring Ituri province since the first cases were detected on August 1.

Two children have already died from the disease, and centres in Beni and Mangina were treating six children infected by the disease or suspected to be.

UNICEF said it had also identified 53 orphaned children who have lost their parents to Ebola.

"The impact of the disease on children is not limited to those who have been infected or suspected," Gianfranco Rotigliano, the UNICEF representative in Congo, said in a statement.

"Many children are faced with the illness or death of their parents and loved ones, while some children have lost large parts of their families and become isolated. These children urgently need our support".
Health news

For the latest on Ebola follow our Infectious Diseases page

The WHO is having to rely on local health workers in the "red zones" deemed too unsafe for its staff to enter, and has been unable to send in experts, regional emergencies director Ibrahima Soce Fall said.

Authorities are trying to negotiate access with the militia, the WHO director-general said earlier this week.

It has been difficult to raise support and awareness because the outbreak so closely followed another one, Mr Fall said.

"We mobilised very quickly the money needed to respond to the first outbreak, but now we are going back to the same donors and there can be this kind of fatigue," he said.

    "It is really important for the international community to know that this outbreak is more complex."

Millions died in civil wars in eastern Congo from 1996 to 2003, but Ituri province had experienced relative peace until violence erupted again this year.

Ethnic rivalries and militia fighting throughout the country have been fanned by a breakdown of state authority since President Joseph Kabila refused to step down at the end of his mandate in 2016.

Reuters

Topics: ebola, diseases-and-disorders, health, unrest-conflict-and-war, congo-the-democratic-republic-of-the

Source:   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-18/congo-ebola-outbreak-kills-44-in-conflict-zone/10135226
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Technophobe: The death toll is still rising.

Militia threat hampers Ebola fight in Congo as disease kills 47

Militia violence in Democratic Republic of Congo has prevented aid workers from reaching some potential cases in an outbreak of Ebola that has so far killed 47 people, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

GENEVA: Militia violence in Democratic Republic of Congo has prevented aid workers from reaching some potential cases in an outbreak of Ebola that has so far killed 47 people, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

Over 2,000 people have been potentially exposed to the virus that began in North Kivu province, but the violence means officials cannot be sure if they have identified all the chains by which it is spreading in the east of the vast country.

"We don't know if we are having all transmission chains identified. We expect to see more cases as a result of earlier infections and these infections developing into illness," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told a news briefing in Geneva.

"The worst-case scenario is that we have these security blind spots where the epidemic could take hold that we don't know about," he said.

Congo's Health Ministry said confirmed and probable cases numbered 87 in total, including 47 deaths. About 2,150 people have been identified as contacts of people infected with the disease, which causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea.

Health workers "have a huge amount of work to do to follow up on these contacts, to continue the investigations and the active search for cases, as well as to prepare the ground for the vaccination teams," the ministry said in a statement late on Friday.
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The outbreak is spreading across the lush farmlands of eastern Congo. Its epicenter is the town of Mangina in North Kivu province and it has already reached neighboring Ituri province.

Congo has experienced 10 Ebola outbreaks since the virus was discovered on the Ebola River in 1976, altogether killing some 900 people.

An epidemic between 2013 and 2016 killed more than 11,300 people in West Africa.

The United Nations children's agency UNICEF said an unusually high proportion of the people affected in this outbreak were children.

Two children have already died from the disease, and centers in Beni and Mangina were treating six children infected by the disease or suspected to be.

UNICEF said it had also identified 53 orphaned children who have lost their parents to Ebola.

"The impact of the disease on children is not limited to those who have been infected or suspected," Gianfranco Rotigliano, the UNICEF representative in Congo, said in a statement.

"Many children are faced with the illness or death of their parents and loved one

s, while some children have lost large parts of their families and become isolated. These children urgently need our support".

The WHO said more than 500 people including health workers have been vaccinated against the disease. It had deployed more than 100 experts to Mangina and Beni towns to oversee tracing, vaccination and safe burials.

There were, however, "red zones" near Mangina that aid workers could not enter for security reasons, Jasarevic said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Additonal reporting by Angus MacSwan and Edward McAllister; Editing by Alison Williams, Toni Reinhold)
Source: Reuters

My source:   https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/militia-threat-hampers-ebola-fight-in-congo-as-disease-kills-47-10628334
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Ebola in the DRC: Death toll rises in second outbreak

The second Ebola virus outbreak this year in the DRC is already nearly twice as deadly as the first and shows no signs of slowing.

9 hours ago

The number of deaths from a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to rise.

Since it was declared in the northern Kivu province 3 weeks ago, 55 people have died of the virus and 69 people are confirmed to be infected.

It is the tenth time Ebola has struck the DRC since 1976. It has had twice as many outbreaks as any other country.

Vaccines are providing new hope, with education filling in where medicine cannot.

Source:   https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/ebola-drc-death-toll-rises-outbreak-180821132003714.html
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 21 2018 at 3:43pm
.................... 'And the official line.............

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): Ebola virus disease outbreak - Revised One International Appeal nยฐ MDRCD026

Report


from International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies
Published on 21 Aug 2018
preview
Download PDF (885.05 KB)

This second revised One International Appeal (OIA) seeks a total of 9.1 million Swiss francs to enable the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to support the Democratic Republic of the Congo Red Cross (DRC RC) and International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement) partners to respond to the ongoing Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in North Kivu, while continuing to support the DRC RC in reinforcing its organizational epidemic preparedness to deal with a potential new EVD outbreak in Equateur. This revised OIA aims to support 800,000 people for 9 months with a specific focus on risk communication, social mobilization and community engagement, surveillance and response mechanisms, Infection and Prevention Control (IPC) support to health facilities and at community level, Safe and Dignified Burials (SDBs), Psychosocial support (PSS) as well as National Society capacity building. While the operation focuses on typical responses to an EVD outbreak through the aforementioned pillars in North Kivu, it supports transition from response to EVD preparedness strategies in Equateur. The OIA is revised reflecting the evolving situation of the two Ebola outbreaks and comprises operational support from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has ensured permanent presence in North Kivu for over two decades. The activities in this OIA are fully aligned with the response strategy of the DRC Ministry of Health (MoH) and will be implemented in close coordination with the MoH, WHO and other organizations in the country. The planned response reflects information available at this time of the evolving operation and will be adjusted based on further developments and assessments, which will be detailed in the Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA).


Source:   https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/democratic-republic-congo-drc-ebola-virus-disease-outbreak-2
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[Technophobe: Sorry folks, this newspaper is the "Daily Star" a sort of adult comic. Please take the hyperbole with a pinch of salt]

Ebola OUTBREAK: Death toll SOARS to 55 as authorities announce crisis plan

THE death toll of the latest outbreak of the Ebola virus has risen to 55 since the start of August as authorities struggle to control the spread of the disease.
Published 22nd August 2018



Health officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DNC), southern Africa, announced five new victims in the town of Mabalako-Mangina, close to the epicentre of the outbreak in Beni, North Kivu province.

The government has announced free treatment for all victims against the disease for the next three months as they desperately try to control the outbreak.

Beni's mayor Jean Edmond Nyonyi Masumbuko Bwanakawa said locals would not have to pay for treatment in the towns of Beni, Mabalako-Mangina and Oicha starting this week.

In a statement, the country's health ministry said: "96 cases of haemorrhagic fever were reported in the region, 69 of which had been confirmed and 27 were seen as probable."

But it did say the number of estimated "contacts" โ€” people who may have had contact with infected victims โ€” had been scaled down fro 2,157 to 1,609 following scientific tests.

The Ebola virus spreads fast, authorities have struggled to control the latest outbreak, with 20 killed in one town alone in the DRC.

Whole regions of the country are described as "no-go zones" as aid workers can't access them.


Source:   https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/724842/ebola-outbreak-africa-democratic-republic-of-congo-warning-death-toll-vaccines-borders
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 25 2018 at 3:31am
Who do you believe?

The WHO says: "Response to DRC Ebola outbreak going well."

The Telegraph says: "Ebola cases in DR Congo pass 100 as disease is found near country's highly insecure 'red zone'."

Personally, I believe the Telegraph. The WHO has a drive to avoid panic and newspapers want to excite us but the WHO has deliberately downplayed past outbreaks and epidemics of disease before, whilst the Telegraph has a fairly clean record. Only time will tell for certain.

The sources of Today's information are to be found here:

Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/24/ebola-cases-dr-congo-reaches-100-disease-confirmed-near-countrys/
WHO: https://punchng.com/response-to-drc-ebola-outbreak-going-well-who/
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 27 2018 at 6:13am
Congo Ebola outbreak: Two recover after experimental treatment; cases top 110

By Meera Senthilingam, CNN

Updated 1207 GMT (2007 HKT) August 27, 2018

(CNN)Two of the first 16 people to receive an experimental treatment for Ebola have recovered in the current outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization said Monday.
Five experimental Ebola therapies have been approved to treat people infected with the Ebola virus, said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic. Two are already in use and the other three will follow suit.

"This is a major advancement in an Ebola response," Jasarevic told CNN, adding that it's hoped that more recoveries will soon be reported.
As of August 25, a total of 111 cases were reported, of which 83 are confirmed and 28 probable. This includes 72 deaths.
Fourteen health-care workers have been infected, with one dead.
The cases have been reported in five health zones in North Kivu province and one health zone in Ituri, but all the cases have been traced back to the outbreak's epicenter in Mabalako, according to the WHO.
Vaccination also began among those at risk of infection, though children below age of 1 and pregnant and breastfeeding women are not eligible.
On August 20, 7,160 additional doses of vaccines arrived in Kinshasa and were to be promptly transported to Beni. An additional 2,160 doses of vaccine were expected to be shipped by the end of last week.
Two recovered
This outbreak is now bigger than the previous outbreak in Equateur province that was declared over July 24. During that outbreak, 53 cases were reported, including 29 deaths.
To aid the response, all five available experimental treatments for Ebola have been approved for use at Ebola treatment centers.
To date, 13 patients have received the monoclonal antibody cocktail mAb114 and three patients were given the antiviral Remdesivir, the WHO confirmed. Two of the people given mAb114 have recovered.
Observations and follow-up continue following the approved protocol, according to Jasarevic.
The remaining three treatments -- Favipiravir (GS5734), REGN3470-3471-3479 and ZMapp -- will be used, with each treatment chosen by clinicians on a case-by-case basis.
The treatments can be used as long as informed consent is obtained from patients and protocols are followed, with close monitoring and reporting of any adverse events.
"It's very important to monitor," said Jasarevic. "These drugs are all different."
The current outbreak was first declared by Congo's Ministry of Health on August 1, after which a rapid response effort was initiated.
The disease is endemic to Congo, and this is the nation's 10th outbreak since the discovery of the virus in the country in 1976.
The Ebola virus is transmitted from person to person by infected bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, feces and breast milk. Humans can also be exposed to the virus, for example, by butchering infected animals.
It is highly infectious but not highly contagious.

Source:   https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/27/health/congo-ebola-outbreak-update-experimental-treatment-africa-intl/index.html
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A Dangerous Twist To The Latest Ebola Outbreak

By Nurith Aizenman

NPR.org, August 27, 2018 ยท It was the news they'd been dreading. Last week, world health officials learned that a doctor's wife had contracted Ebola. She is from Oicha, a town in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo that is surrounded by a violent insurgent militia called the Allied Democratic Forces.

Her case is one of many in an outbreak that's been ongoing since the start of August. But it was the first to be confirmed in a location that is extremely dangerous for health workers to reach because of the conflict raging in that part of the country.

So far, the number of confirmed cases โ€” more than 80 since the start of this month โ€“ has been in line with previous flare-ups in that country that were controlled in a matter of months. But the dangerous twist to this outbreak is requiring health workers to come up with creative strategies to reach those in need.

To get a sense of just how insecure this part of the DRC can be, consider the experience of a top official in the World Health Organization โ€” Dr. Peter Salama, deputy director-general of emergency preparedness and response. Just over a week ago he stopped at a town called Beni near the epicenter of the outbreak.

"The night we were there, there was an attack on civilians โ€” about 20 kilometers [about 12 miles] from where we were staying," he says. "And at least four or five people were murdered."

There are at least 20 armed rebel groups active in the area, notes Salama. And he adds that several of them have also made a practice of kidnapping and killing humanitarian workers.

Until last week's case in Oicha, says Salama, nearly all Ebola cases in this outbreak have been in towns and villages that health workers can get to relatively safely. As soon as they confirm a case they've been rushing to the sick person's town or village to find and vaccinate everyone that the patient has had contact with โ€” and anyone who's had close contact with those contacts. The vaccine is experimental, and the strategy is called "ring vaccination."

"You form in a sense a protective ring around that ... confirmed case," says Salama.

The Oicha case complicated that approach.

It's likely that the doctor's wife wasn't the only person there who had gotten infected. According to Salama, sometime earlier the doctor himself had been ill with what health officials now suspect was Ebola โ€“ although he had already recovered and is now testing negative. And a third person who had died in Oicha is considered a probable Ebola case.

A WHO team was able to travel to Oicha โ€“ and identify and start vaccinating nearly 100 people who had contact with the infected person. But to get there they needed an armed escort of U.N. peacekeepers. That's not ideal says, Salama: "There certainly is risk with being too closely associated with any fighting force." Health workers need to be perceived as impartial in order to operate in areas where multiple sides are battling each other.

And Salama says WHO has already decided they'll have to suspend ring vaccination if a case surfaces in a village or town that's too dangerous to visit long enough to meticulously trace the sick person's contacts. Instead they'll move to a less effective strategy: basically making a much briefer visit to vaccinate anyone and everyone they come across before it's time to leave.

"Because we may only have access for a couple of hours with armed vehicles and armed escorts," says Salama. In such places, the longer you stay, the greater the risk.

Another group that's having to tweak its usual Ebola-fighting approach is Doctors Without Borders, which has opened a treatment facility in a town called Mangina, not far from Oicha.

A critical concern in stemming this outbreak involves the homes of patients. Karin Huster, an emergency coordinator with the group, says that, if this were a typical Ebola outbreak, for every patient that comes in Doctors Without Borders would be sending a team back to their house to decontaminate it โ€” a specially-trained group wearing protective suits who would spray every single surface with chlorine.

"To make sure that then that it's safe for the familiy to live in this place," Huster explains.

Many of these families live in areas that are too dangerous for Doctors Without Borders to travel to โ€” especially since it's against the group's policy to go in with armed guards.

One idea under consideration is to build a model of a typical house so Doctors Without Borders could use it to teach families how to decontaminate their homes safely with a take-home kit.

"It might not be professionally done the way we would do it," says Huster. "But it would be much better than having nothing done to the house."

Doctors without Borders is also considering training patients who recover from the virus to become ambassadors of a sort โ€” educating their communities about the disease when they go home. Again, says Huster, it's not a perfect solution. Among other reasons, calling attention to Ebola survivors could stigmatize them.

"You always have to do this in a careful way," she says.

But when it comes to responding to an Ebola outbreak in a conflict zone, she says, "if we don't find creative ways to deal with it, we'll never control it."

Source:   https://text.npr.org/s.php?sId=641536981
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