Ebola Virus Disease

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Enlarge / A health worker puts on protective gear as he prepares to screen travelers at the Mpondwe Health Screening Facility in the Ugandan border town of Mpondwe as they cross over from the Democratic Republic of Congo. reader comments 28 with 17 posters participating Share this story US and UK government officials are warning travelers of the possibility of a concealed Ebola outbreak in Tanzania after the World Health Organization reported that the government there is withholding information about possible cases of the deadly virus . On September 21, the WHO released an unusual statement outlining a series of unofficial reports from the country. The first was that a doctor who had recently traveled to Uganda had returned to Tanzania with a “suspected” case of Ebola. Testing performed by the Tanzanian National Health Laboratory reportedly indicated that the doctor was positive for the virus. She died on September 8 in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania, after...

Enlarge / A health worker puts on protective gear as he prepares to screen travelers at the Mpondwe Health Screening Facility in the Ugandan border town of Mpondwe as they cross over from the Democratic Republic of Congo. reader comments 28 with 17 posters participating Share this story US and UK government officials are warning travelers of the possibility of a concealed Ebola outbreak in Tanzania after the World Health Organization reported that the government there is withholding information about possible cases of the deadly virus . On September 21, the WHO released an unusual statement outlining a series of unofficial reports from the country. The first was that a doctor who had recently traveled to Uganda had returned to Tanzania with a “suspected” case of Ebola. Testing performed by the Tanzanian National Health Laboratory reportedly indicated that the doctor was positive for the virus. She died on September 8 in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania, after...

The last five years have witnessed the two biggest outbreaks of Ebola, first in West Africa and currently in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) . The DRC is no stranger to Ebola and has battled the virus on nine previous occasions since 1976. The current outbreak however, for a multitude of socio-political reasons, refuses to give in to efforts by an international team of health care workers, armed with vaccines and treatment regimes, which did not even exist during previous episodes. As the outbreak surpasses its one year mark, the virus has infected over 3000 people and claimed more than 2000 lives. In July, the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a public health emergency but recent weeks still saw an average of 80 new cases. Every new case is followed up with contact-tracing and ring-vaccination . To date, more than 200 000 people have been administered the Merck rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine in the country. In addition to the vaccine, two treatments are also under tria...

More than one year into the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Luke Kane expresses his disappointment that we’ve failed to learn from past mistakes It was 2015, the height of the west Africa Ebola epidemic, and I was waiting for the first patient to be discharged since I’d arrived at the Moyamba Ebola Treatment Centre in Sierra Leone. After her final chlorine disinfection, known as a “happy shower,” she shuffled out of the tent and squinted in the brightness. Doctors and nurses sung and danced around her. We all shook her hand—my first human touch without the barrier of personal protective equipment since leaving the UK and her first in weeks. She quietly sobbed with a lost look on her face. She didn’t dance or sing.   To an outside observer her sorrow might have seemed at odds with the celebratory atmosphere. Why did she look so sad? She was an Ebola survivor, after all. Yet I knew from helping to care for her over the past few weeks that she’d come in wit...

The last five years have witnessed the two biggest outbreaks of Ebola, first in West Africa and currently in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) . The DRC is no stranger to Ebola and has battled the virus on nine previous occasions since 1976. The current outbreak however, for a multitude of socio-political reasons, refuses to give in to efforts by an international team of health care workers, armed with vaccines and treatment regimes, which did not even exist during previous episodes. As the outbreak surpasses its one year mark, the virus has infected over 3000 people and claimed more than 2000 lives. In July, the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a public health emergency but recent weeks still saw an average of 80 new cases. Every new case is followed up with contact-tracing and ring-vaccination . To date, more than 200 000 people have been administered the Merck rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine in the country. In addition to the vaccine, two treatments are also under tria...

The last five years have witnessed the two biggest outbreaks of Ebola, first in West Africa and currently in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) . The DRC is no stranger to Ebola and has battled the virus on nine previous occasions since 1976. The current outbreak however, for a multitude of socio-political reasons, refuses to give in to efforts by an international team of health care workers, armed with vaccines and treatment regimes, which did not even exist during previous episodes. As the outbreak surpasses its one year mark, the virus has infected over 3000 people and claimed more than 2000 lives. In July, the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a public health emergency but recent weeks still saw an average of 80 new cases. Every new case is followed up with contact-tracing and ring-vaccination . To date, more than 200 000 people have been administered the Merck rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine in the country. In addition to the vaccine, two treatments are also under tria...

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Ebola workers in DR Congo, where the latest outbreak has killed more than 2,000 The World Health Organization (WHO) has rebuked Tanzania for failing to provide information about possible Ebola virus infections. The WHO said it had learned of one suspected fatal case in Dar es Salaam and two others but, despite repeated requests, was given no information. Tanzania has said it has no suspected or confirmed cases. The latest outbreak has killed more than 2,000 in eastern DR Congo, with Uganda battling to stop any spread. An epidemic that ravaged parts of West Africa from 2014 to 2016 killed more than 11,000 people. What is the WHO complaining about? A statement on Saturday said that on 10 September the organisation had learned of a suspected infection in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's most populous city, in what would be the country's first Ebola case. It said the patient had been to Uganda, shown symptoms of Ebola in August, tested pos...

The development comes as neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to tackle an Ebola outbreak that began in August last year, in the country’s north-east. To date, it has claimed more than 2,100 lives in DRC, and latest figures show more than 3,150 cases overall, with 57 new cases in the week up to 19 September - compared to 40 in the previous week. Despite “several” requests, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday that it had not received the information required from Tanzania to fully assess the potential risks. Speaking to journalists in Geneva, WHO spokesperson Fadela Chaib said that the agency stands ready to help the country respond to “any type of health emergency they may be facing”. The agency is mandated to do this by International Health Regulations (IHR), she added, before noting that WHO is in contact with the health authorities in Tanzania “at all levels”, from Geneva to the WHO Regional Office for Africa and the WHO Office in Ta...

This is the 10th Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s also the largest and longest ever. More than 2,000 people have died since the outbreak started in August 2018. As part of the UN Ebola emergency response, the Red Cross is working with the World Health Organisation and the ministry of health to help stop the spread of the disease. Infection can occur from touching the bodies of those who have died. This practice is part of traditional burial rituals in eastern DRC, so the rituals need to be modified so that family members can say goodbye to their loved ones without becoming exposed to the virus. The Red Cross has trained specialist burial teams in remote communities to safely bury people who have died of Ebola https://ift.tt/2obLcnQ

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - The United States has warned its citizens to take extra care when visiting Tanzania amid concerns over Ebola, adding to calls for the East African country to share information about suspected cases of the deadly disease there. A person dressed in Ebola protective apparel is seen inside an Ebola care facility at the Bwera general hospital near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in Bwera, Uganda, June 14, 2019. REUTERS/James Akena/File Photo U.S. travelers should “exercise increased caution”, the State Department said on Friday in an updated travel advisory that cited reports of “a probable Ebola-related death in Dar es Salaam”. Tanzania denies the reports, saying no cases of Ebola have been confirmed, but with transparency key to combating the deadly and fast-spreading hemorrhagic fever, the government is under mounting pressure to provide clarification. The foreign affairs ministry was not immediately available on Saturday for co...

Jessica Kennedy, Staff Writer Since the beginning of 2019, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been facing a horrible epidemic. The Congo is facing the second largest outbreak of Ebola in history, with over 5,000 people affected. Of these 5,000, over 3,000 have gotten sick and over 2,000 have died from the virus. In July of 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in DRC an international public health concern. Organizations such as the Doctors Without Borders (also known in French as the Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF, in the Congo) and the International Foundation of the Red Cross have set up numerous sites across the DRC to treat the sick. This has been hard for the organizations because many armed groups of the DRC don’t trust the foreign doctors and unidentified individuals have been destroying the medical campsites and equipment. Though these medical staff have been administering vaccines and working to cure the sick, some DRC natives’ unce...

T he State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are alerting American travelers to the possibility that there may be unreported Ebola cases in Tanzania. The information — posted on their websites Friday afternoon — relates to concerning reports that a Tanzanian doctor who had been in Uganda in August and who died after her return home may have tested positive for Ebola. The Tanzanian government has steadfastly denied having any Ebola cases. But it has refused to send out for external validation the tests it performed on the dead doctor and several of her contacts who became sick after her death. advertisement Last Saturday, the World Health Organization took the highly unusual step of alerting the world that it had received credible intelligence that Tanzania might have a case or several cases of Ebola, but that the country was refusing to report them. The statement detailed the steps the Geneva-based agency has taken to seek information from Tanzanian au...

The circumstances under which doctors and helpers are currently fighting the viral disease Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo are much more complicated than during the first outbreak in West Africa in 2013. In addition to the medical emergency, civil war is raging in parts of Congo. Compared to that devastating epidemic in which more than 11,000 people died, the current outbreak has been less dramatic, however; at this point, 2000 deaths have been registered. The main reason for the fewer victims is that vaccinations are now available. During the first major epidemic in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire, the pharmaceutical company Merck developed a vaccine under high pressure. Although this vaccine arrived too late at the time, it has proved its efficacy in the current outbreak in Congo. Retaining reserves is good, but how much is too much? The vaccine is not available in infinite numbers. Merck will be able to produce several hundred thousand...

T he State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are alerting American travelers to the possibility that there may be unreported Ebola cases in Tanzania. The information — posted on their websites Friday afternoon — relates to concerning reports that a Tanzanian doctor who had been in Uganda in August and who died after her return home may have tested positive for Ebola. The Tanzanian government has steadfastly denied having any Ebola cases. But it has refused to send out for external validation the tests it performed on the dead doctor and several of her contacts who became sick after her death. advertisement Last Saturday, the World Health Organization took the highly unusual step of alerting the world that it had received credible intelligence that Tanzania might have a case or several cases of Ebola, but that the country was refusing to report them. The statement detailed the steps the Geneva-based agency has taken to seek information from Tanzanian au...

The current Ebola disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the second largest in history. It has been raging for over a year with no indication that it is nearing an end. Many of the issues that prevent effective containment of Ebola disease outbreaks have been discussed . These include porous borders , community mistrust of health workers, and the spread of misinformation . Read more: Why it's hard to stop Ebola spreading -- between people and across borders But one area that requires further study is Ebola virus’ persistence in the reproductive systems of otherwise healthy survivors. Understanding how Ebola disease outbreaks are exacerbated by sexual transmission is important to stop new chains of transmission and to prevent the disease from spreading to new geographic regions. Multiple reports strongly suggest that re-emergence of Ebola disease is linked to persistent infections and sexual transmission from survivors. What this means is that pe...