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Ebola Kills 2,288, Nearly Half in Past 21 Days Geneva - The Ebola epidemic in west Africa has claimed 2,288 lives, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday, stressing that nearly half had died in less than a month. As of 6 September 2,288 people had died in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Libera out of 4,269 cases, the UN's health agency said, pointing out that 47% of the deaths and 49% of the cases had come in the prior 21 days. Another eight people have died in Nigeria out of 21 cases, while one case of Ebola has been confirmed...

Reference article about fomites and spread of viruses in offic enclosed environments. Long technical article. Pertains to enteric and Norovirus among others. Short version via MailOnline available here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2748351/Why-really-need-wash-hands-work-Infections-spread-office-door-handle-half-workforce-just-two-HOURS.html (Snip) Study found between 40 and 60 per cent of office contaminated in two hours Pushing buttons in lifts and touching phones spread infection quickest  Disinfectant wipes and regularly washing hands is best way to kill germs   Infections can spread from an office door handle to half the workforce in just two hours, new research has found.  Using tracer viruses, a study found as much as 60 per cent of...

Ebola Toll Tops 2,000, Cases Near 4,000 2014-09-05 22:28 Geneva - More than 2 000 people have died in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the World Health Organisation said on Friday, out of about 4 000 patients thought to have been infected in the three countries worst hit by the disease. The death toll in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone totalled 2 097 as at 5 Sept, out of 3 944 cases, a WHO document said. The data did not include patients in Nigeria or Senegal, which have also been affected, nor Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been...

Dramatic Surge in Ebola Deaths Dakar - More than 1 900 people have died in the Ebola epidemic sweeping through West Africa, the head of the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday. "As of this week, we are reporting 3 500 cases confirmed in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and more than 1 900 deaths - and the outbreak is rising," Margaret Chan told reporters in Washington. The latest toll represents a significant increase from the 1 552 deaths and 3 069 cases reported by the Geneva-based organisation just days ago. Speaking at a news conference, Chan said she hoped...

Guinea Ebola Riots Wound Dozens Conakry - Clashes between protesters and security forces in a Guinean city at the epicentre of the west African Ebola outbreak have left at least 55 wounded, the local government said on Saturday. A curfew was imposed in N'Zerekore, Guinea's second-largest city, after two days of protests on Thursday and Friday by market stall holders against a team of health workers sent, without notice, to spray their market with disinfectant. Regional governor Lancei Conde said at least 27 law enforcement officers forces were among the wounded. "In N'zerekore and elsewhere, there are two camps -...

Zimbabwe Can't Conduct Ebola Tests - Ministry Cape Town - Zimbabwe's health ministry has reportedly admitted it is not well equipped to deal with Ebola in the event of an outbreak in that southern African country. News Day reported on Friday that the Zimbabwean government had no capacity to conduct tests to detect the deadly disease. According to the report, officials in the ministry of health and child welfare said specimens from suspected cases of Ebola would be referred to South African laboratories for verification. The Minister of Health David Parirenyatwa said the World Health Organisation (WHO) had already organised...

Riots in Guinea as officials accused of transmitting Ebola Conakry - Riots broke out in Guinea's second-largest city Nzerekore over rumours that health workers had infected people with the deadly Ebola virus, a Red Cross official and residents said on Friday. A crowd of young men, some armed with clubs and pistols, set up barricades across the southern city on Thursday and threatened to attack the hospital before security forces moved in to restore order. Gunshots were fired by the rioters and several people were injured, said Youssouf Traore, president of the Guinean Red Cross. "A rumour, which was totally...

Ebola virus disease update, West Africa - update 28 August 2014 Epidemiology and surveillance The total number of probable and confirmed cases in the current outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the four affected countries as reported by the respective Ministries of Health of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone is 3 069, with 1 552 deaths. The outbreak continues to accelerate. More than 40% of the total number of cases have occurred within the past 21 days. However, most cases are concentrated in only a few localities. The overall case fatality rate is 52%. It ranges from 42% in Sierra...

Ebola outbreak will not be contained this year – WHO More than 1,300 people have died this year from the virus in the worst ever outbreak and WHO has faced criticism, including from medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), that it has done too little too late to fight the disease. "WHO is working on an Ebola road map document, it's really an operational document how to fight Ebola," WHO spokesperson Fadela Chaib said at a news briefing. "It details the strategy for WHO and health partners for six to nine months to come." Chaib, asked whether the timeline meant...

Senegal Blocks Liberia Aid Flight Dakar - Regional humanitarian hub Senegal said on Friday it had blocked a regional UN aid plane from landing and was banning all further flights to and from countries affected by Ebola, potentially hampering the emergency response to the epidemic. A number of aid agencies have their regional headquarters in politically stable Senegal. Both medical charity MSF and the United Nations, which are leading efforts to contain a West African Ebola epidemic that has killed at least 1 350 people, had planned to operate regional flights from the country. The World Health Organisation has repeatedly...

Last Ebola-free region of Liberia falls to virus Monrovia - Every region of Liberia has now been hit by Ebola, officials said on Friday, as the World Health Organisation warned the fight against the worst-ever outbreak of the killer disease would take months. After seeing people fall to the deadly virus in area after area, Liberia said two people had succumbed to the virus in Sinoe province, the last Ebola-free bastion in a country that has seen the biggest toll with 624 deaths. The virus has spread relentlessly through Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, and Nigeria has also been affected...

Kenyan businessman claims US 'owns' Ebola Cape Town – A Kenyan businessman has reportedly made claims that the United States government owns the Ebola virus that continues to rock West African countries. According to the Business Daily, Joseph Aura told the High Court in Nairobi that the US had patented the Ebola virus, its vaccine and cure in 2012 and should be compelled to bring the health crisis to a stop. The claim was made in court papers supporting Aura’s request to have the Kenya High Court throw out a case filed by the Consumers Federation of Kenya lobby group...

Sierra Leone News: No health worker will die of Ebola again-WHO Coordinator The WHO Coordinator in Kenema district has declared that no health worker will die in the country again because of Ebola infection. Dr. Jackson Amone said his declaration comes against the backdrop of modalities being put in place to protect health workers. “We are sure of their protection this time round; we have educated them adequately on what to do which is insurance for them,” the Ugandan born doctor stated. Dr. Amone was addressing the media at a press briefing held at the Unicef regional office in Kenema....

Residents riot as police quarantine slum to curb ebola ( Breaking news) Monrovia - Riots broke out in Monrovia after the government quarantined Liberia's biggest slum in an effort to curb the Ebola epidemic, local newspaper Front Page Africa reported on Wednesday. Residents clashed with armed security guards and police officers, who had cordoned off the West Point slum, home to an estimated 75 000 residents. Officers also blocked off the Waterside Market, one of the Liberian capital's key market places, due to its proximity to the slum. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf order the area quarantined after 37 Ebola patients...

Top doctor is Nigeria's fifth Ebola death Abuja - A senior doctor who treated Nigeria's first Ebola patient has died, taking the death toll in Africa's most populous country to five, health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said on Tuesday. Chukwu said the doctor was "the most senior who participated in the management of the (first Ebola) patient" in the country. Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer, aged 40, died in a Lagos hospital on 25 July, five days after arriving at the city's airport visibly unwell on a flight from the Liberian capital, Monrovia. "With this unfortunate development, the total number of Ebola virus-related...

Liberian security forces seal slum to halt Ebola Monrovia - Security forces deployed on Wednesday to enforce a quarantine around a slum in the Liberian capital, stepping up the government's fight to stop the spread of Ebola and unnerving residents. Liberia has the highest death toll of the four West African countries affected by the dreaded disease, and its number of cases is rising the fastest. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ordered the quarantine and imposed a night time curfew on Tuesday, saying that authorities have not been able to curtail the spread of Ebola in the face of defiance of...

Sierra Leone's 365 Ebola deaths traced back to one healer Kenema - It has laid waste to the tribal chiefdoms of Sierra Leone, leaving hundreds dead, but the Ebola crisis began with just one healer's claims to special powers. The outbreak need never have spread from Guinea, health officials revealed to AFP, except for a herbalist in the remote eastern border village of Sokoma. "She was claiming to have powers to heal Ebola. Cases from Guinea were crossing into Sierra Leone for treatment," Mohamed Vandi, the top medical official in the hard-hit district of Kenema, told AFP. "She got infected...

Ebola virus disease, West Africa – update 19 August 2014 Epidemiology and surveillance Between 14 and 16 August 2014, a total of 113 new cases of Ebola virus disease (laboratory-confirmed, probable, and suspect cases) as well as 84 deaths were reported from Guinea, Liberia*, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. Health sector response The response of WHO and other partners to the Ebola Virus outbreak is continuing to grow in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. To reduce the likelihood that those who are infected will carry the disease outside their communities, the governments have set up quarantine zones in areas of...

Following earlier denials, Liberia has admitted that 17 suspected Ebola patients are "missing" after a health centre in the capital was looted. The government had sought to reassure people, saying all the patients had been moved to another health facility. But Information Minister Lewis Brown told the BBC that 17 inmates had gone "back into their communities".

Dr Melvin Korkor tells the Telegraph he felt 'reborn' after surviving Ebola and is now campaigning to convince infected Liberians to seek help sooner Like every other medic trying to fight the spread of west Africa's deadly Ebola outbreak, Dr Melvin Korkor knows the importance of reassuring a panicking public. Despite its high fatality rate, and the belief that it is the work of witchcraft, his message is that victims may well pull through if they are treated early enough. Yet when he tells that to fellow Liberians these days, one thing gives him a unique credibility in winning them...