And much, much more.
We begin on the lighter side, given what follows.
From Reuters Plus:
Cuddly Ebola toy almost wiped out
Program note:
It’s probably the only time you’ll find Ebola associated with “Add to Wishlist”. Giantmicrobes.com’s fluffy rendition of the deadly virus is completely sold out.
A more serious note — much more serious — from Agência Angola Press:
World must stop Ebola in West Africa or face ‘pandemic’ – Cuba’s Castro
The world must confront Ebola in West Africa to prevent what could become one of the worst pandemics in human history, Cuban President Raul Castro said on Monday.
“I am convinced that if this threat is not stopped in West Africa with an immediate international response … it could become one of the gravest pandemics in human history,” Castro told a summit of the leftist ALBA bloc of Latin American and Caribbean countries in Havana.
Cuba is sending 461 doctors and nurses to West Africa, the largest medical contingent of any single country to fight the worst Ebola outbreak on record.
Another warning from the Independent:
Ebola outbreak: Nowhere is safe until virus is contained in Africa, claims the top doctor who beat it in Nigeria
Dr Faisal Shuaib, the incident manager for Nigeria’s Ebola response, told The Independent that Nigeria was still under threat, and that no state could afford to be complacent.
“Yes we have contained an outbreak, but there’s always a threat that we could be infected again by individuals travelling from affected states,” he said. “The outbreak in West Africa is two different stories, a success story in Nigeria, and a story of human tragedy [in the worst-affected states].
“There are still lot of resources required in Sierra Leone and Liberia to contain the outbreak. We need international clarity that as long as the outbreak continues in West Africa, then no country, no individual in the world is safe from contracting the disease. We need to mobilise resources – human, material and financial – to these countries to contain the outbreak there,” he said.
“Then and only then can we say we have dealt with this as a global community as one human race.”
From Shanghai Daily, a key reason for the win:
Nigeria declared Ebola-free thanks to doctor who died from the virus
The first case in Nigeria was imported from Liberia when Liberian-American diplomat Patrick Sawyer collapsed at the main international airport in Lagos on July 20.
Authorities were caught unawares, airport staff were not prepared and no hospitals had an isolation unit, so he was able to infect several people, including health workers at the hospital where he was taken.
But they acted fast after the doctor on duty, who later herself died of the disease, quarantined him against his will and contacted officials.
Ameyo Adadevoh, the doctor at the First Consultants hospital in Lagos, kept him in the hospital despite his protests and those of the Liberian government, preventing the dying man spreading it further, said Benjamin Ohiaeri, a doctor there who survived the disease.
“We agreed that the thing to do was not to let him out of the hospital,” Ohiaeri said, even after he became aggressive and demanded to be set free. “If we had let him out, within 24 hours of being here, he would have contacted and infected a lot more people … The lesson there is: stand your ground.”
From South China Morning Post, a promise:
WHO chief pledges ‘transparent’ review of its handling of Ebola crisis
WHO chief Margaret Chan says agency will be upfront about how it handled disease, after damning internal report details its initial failings
The head of the World Health Organisation said the agency would be upfront about its handling of the Ebola outbreak after an internal report detailed failures in containing the virus – while a senior WHO official praised the precautions China has taken.
In a draft document, the WHO says “nearly everyone” involved in the Ebola response failed to notice factors that turned the outbreak into the biggest on record.
It blames incompetent staff, bureaucracy and a lack of reliable information.
WHO director general and former Hong Kong director of health Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun said on Monday that the report was a “work in progress”. Chan, who was attending a conference in Tunisia, said: “I have promised WHO will be fully transparent and accountable.”
The Wire covers the political:
Democrats Defy Obama in Favor of an Ebola Travel Ban
The question of restricting flights to insulate the U.S. has become a classic campaign litmus test
Worried about the political fallout from the Ebola outbreak, vulnerable Senate Democrats are declaring their support for a U.S. travel ban from the afflicted countries in west Africa.
In multiple cases, the Democrats are shifting from their earlier positions on the question, despite arguments from senior U.S. medical officials and the White House that stiff restrictions would only make it harder to prevent an infected person from entering the country. Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire joined the crowd on Monday night, saying through a spokesman that she “strongly supports any and all effective measures to keep Americans safe including travel bans if they would work.” Shaheen said last week she didn’t think a travel ban makes sense, but she is facing heavy criticism from her Republican opponent, former Senator Scott Brown, on the issue. Under pressure from Republicans, Senator Kay Hagan came out in support of a ban late last week, and Senators Mark Pryor and Mark Udall have also called for travel restrictions.
More from BuzzFeed:
Democratic Congressional Candidate: Ebola Is Coming To Nevada, Ban Travel From Africa
“I wasn’t sure why they didn’t stop tourists visas a week ago from Africa. I wasn’t sure about that, why that hasn’t happened?”
A Democratic congressional candidate says Ebola is coming to southern Nevada and wants to ban travel from Africa.
In a video from last Thursday, Erin Bilbray, the Democrat challenging Republican Rep. Joe Heck in Nevada’s 3rd District
Bilbray said hospitals need to be equipped to handle Ebola saying, “I think it is gonna happen here in southern Nevada, god forbid.”
Next, from Gallup, the trend line revealing declining confidence in the ability of America’s government to handle an Ebola outbreak on this side of the Atlantic:
Now that white folks are getting sick. . .from Homeland Security News Wire:
Congress ready to allocate additional funds to agencies working on Ebola
Some members of Congress are preparing to offer additional funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and other federal agencies, but according to White House press secretary Josh Earnest, the Obama administration has not decided how much additional funding it will request from Congress to combat the epidemic.
Efforts to contain and eliminate Ebola in affected countries need more U.S. government funding, according to aid organizations and public health agencies involved in the matter. Some members of Congress are preparing to offer additional funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and other federal agencies, but according to White House press secretary Josh Earnest, the Obama administration has not decided how much additional funding it will request from Congress to combat the epidemic.
Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who heads the Labor and Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, has asked his staff to work with the administration to figure out what resources will be needed to fight Ebola in the United States and West Africa. “Areas of focus in these discussions on funding for the U.S. Ebola response include the need for resources to expand quarantine stations, train and equip health workers, test potential treatments and vaccines, and expand our response in West Africa,” an aide to Harkin said.
From the Associated Press, and why aren’t we surprised?:
Insurer considers Ebola exclusion in some policies
Global property and casualty insurer Ace Ltd. says it may exclude Ebola coverage from some of its general liability policies.
The Swiss company said Tuesday that it is making the decision on a “case by case” basis for new and renewal policies under its global casualty unit, which offers coverage for U.S.-based companies and organizations that travel or have operations outside the U.S.
Ace said in a statement that it is evaluating the risk for clients that might travel to or operate in select African countries with higher exposure to the Ebola virus. It did not specify how many policies this might affect and declined to say if it has put an exclusions of this sort in place yet.
The company appears to be one of the first insurers to disclose that it is making modifications specific to Ebola, but that doesn’t mean it is the only one.
Laying down the rules with the Guardian:
Ebola health workers must be covered head to toe, say new US guidelines
Nurses’ groups and others had called for revised advice
Stricter CDC guidance provides ‘extra margin of safety
Federal health officials issued new guidelines to promote head-to-toe protection for health workers treating Ebola patients.
Officials have been scrambling to come up with new advice since two Dallas nurses became infected while caring for the first person diagnosed with the virus in the United States.
The new guidelines issued on Monday set a firmer standard, calling for full-body garb and hoods that protect workers’ necks; setting rigorous rules for removal of equipment and disinfection of gloved hands; and calling for a “site manager” to supervise the putting on and taking off of equipment.
Nurses’ groups and other hospital workers had pressed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the new guidance, saying the old advice was confusing and inadequate, and workers felt unprepared.
From the New York Times, preparations:
New York Health Care Workers Gather for Ebola Training
Thousands of health care workers, including janitors and security guards, doctors and nurses, gathered at the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan on Tuesday for a combination training session and pep rally to prepare them in the event that the Ebola virus is found in New York.
The workers are being taught how to recognize Ebola and prevent it from spreading. Though many said they had already received training at their hospitals, the session was intended to address concerns that existing practices were inadequate, after two nurses in Dallas contracted the virus after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died on Oct. 8. The session’s organizers planned to communicate the latest protocols from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which had been updated as recently as Monday.
Though several New York hospitals have taken in patients with symptoms signaling Ebola, like high fever, none have tested positive for the virus. To date the only three people to be diagnosed with it in the United States are the three in Dallas.
From CCTV America, another impact of the Ebola crisis in the U.S.:
Liberians in the US facing stigma of the virus
Program notes:
Liberians in the United States say they are facing social isolation as a result of fears that they will pass on the Ebola virus. CCTV America’s Daniel Ryntjes reports.
From TheLocal.de, a call form Germany:
Steinmeier wants epidemic task force
At the World Health Summit in Berlin, the Ebola crisis took centre stage at talks meant to create plans for how to handle future outbreaks.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier opened the conference on Sunday with his own ideas.
“One could possibly conceive of something like the White Helmets. Not an organisation that is always there, but a pool of experts, of doctors, of nursing staff, that one can call upon in these kind of crisis situations,” he said at his key note speech.
At a press conference, Steinmeier added that a coordinated effort is most important to stem the spread of the Ebola outbreak.
Consultation from Agência Angola Press:
WHO’s emergency committee on Ebola to meet Wednesday
The World Health Organization’s emergency committee on Ebola will meet on Wednesday to review the scope of the outbreak and whether additional measures are needed, a WHO spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
“This is the third time this committee will meet since August to evaluate the situation. Much has happened, there have been cases in Spain and the United States, while Senegal and Nigeria have been removed from the list of countries affected by Ebola,” WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told a news briefing.
The 20 independent experts, who declared that the outbreak in West Africa constituted an international public health emergency on Aug. 8, can recommend travel and trade restrictions. The committee has already recommended exit screening of passengers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
From The Hill, case closed:
American journalist declared free of Ebola
An American freelance journalist has been cleared of the Ebola virus after he fell ill while working as a cameraman for NBC News and Vice News in Liberia, according to reports.
Ashoka Mukpo tweeted Tuesday night that he’s had three consecutive days of negative Ebola tests and called the discovery “a profound relief.”
Another Northerner cured, from TheLocal.no:
Norwegian Ebola victim free of virus
A Norwegian woman who contracted the Ebola virus while working for Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leoneis now free of the virus and was released from an isolation unit on Monday.
“Today I am in good health and am no longer contagious,” Silje Lehne Michalsen told reporters just minutes after Oslo University Hospital announced she had recovered.
Profits aplenty, via the Associated Press:
Ebola causing spike in demand for hospital gear
Manufacturers and distributors of impermeable gowns and full-body suits meant to protect medical workers from Ebola are scrambling to keep up with a surge of new orders from U.S. hospitals, with at least one doubling its staff and still facing a weekslong backlog. Many hospitals say they already have the proper equipment in place but are ordering more supplies to prepare for a possible new case of Ebola.
This gear is made of material that does not absorb fluids and is crucial to preventing the spread of the virus, which has infected thousands across West Africa, many of whom caught the disease while caring for those infected. Ebola is transmitted through direct contact, through cuts or mucous membranes, with bodily fluids such as blood, vomit and feces, and proper protective equipment helps prevent doctors and nurses from accidentally getting any fluids in their eyes, nose or mouth.
Hospitals are paying close attention to the type of protective gear they stock after two nurses contracted Ebola earlier this month while caring for a Liberian man dying of the disease at a Dallas hospital. The nurses were exposed to the disease during what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called a “breach in protocol” at the hospital. But some medical professionals criticized the CDC for distributing guidelines that do not require medical staff caring for infected patients to don full-body suits or wear multiple layers of gloves.
Likewise, from Deutsche Welle:
Disinfection a growing market
Demand for disinfection and disease protection gear is booming amidst concern about the Ebola epidemic
The McClatchy Washington Bureau covers amelioration:
Ebola panic may be subsiding in Dallas
Panic over Ebola appears to be waning across much of the Dallas-Fort Worth region as residents drop off the quarantine list and more is learned about how the virus spreads.
Numbers of note from the Washington Post:
U.S. influx of travelers from Ebola-stricken nations slows
During the first five days of screening, there were an average of about 80 travelers a day from the three countries, down from the average of 150 that had been expected.
Enhanced screening at JFK — where about 43 percent of the passengers enter — began on Oct. 11, and was implemented five days later at Dulles and airports in Atlanta, Chicago and Newark.
The number of West Africans arriving in the United States has been closely held by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security.
More from the Los Angeles Times:
Passengers from Ebola-stricken countries to use five U.S. airports
Passengers flying to the U.S. from three Ebola-stricken countries will have to fly into one of five designated American airports for additional screening, including having their temperature taken, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Tuesday.
The restriction was immediately criticized by House Republicans who want a complete ban on travelers coming from West African countries with high Ebola infection rates.
Starting Wednesday, airline passengers coming from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea must fly into New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport or Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Johnson said.
More screening from the Japan Times:
India to step up travel surveillance to stop any Ebola outbreak
India stepped up its efforts on Tuesday to prevent an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, conducting mock drills at its airports and installing surveillance systems.
Global health authorities are struggling to contain the world’s worst Ebola epidemic since the disease was identified in 1976. The virus has killed more than 4,500 people across the three most-affected countries, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
All international airports and seaports in India will soon be equipped with thermal scanners — similar to Nigeria, which has been declared Ebola-free — and other detection equipment, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
Japan screens, and more from Jiji Press:
Fears Grows over Possible Ebola Outbreak in Japan
Japan has become concerned about a possible Ebola outbreak in the country, prompting the health ministry to take precautions such as training doctors and implementing preventive measures at airports.
Fears have grown since medical workers in the United States and Spain suffered secondary infections from sufferers who entered the countries from Africa.
In Japan, Ebola hemorrhagic fever is in the Type 1 category of most dangerous infectious diseases. Only 45 designated medical institutions nationwide are allowed to accept those believed to have the virus. Each institution can admit between one and four patients.
More from the Japan Times:
Japan orders travelers from Ebola nations to report twice daily
Health minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki said Tuesday travelers arriving from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are now required to report their health condition to officials twice daily for three weeks, regardless of whether they have had known contact with Ebola patients.
The move comes amid growing fears of a global Ebola pandemic. Japan’s response so far includes the introduction of a bill in the Diet that would give local governments greater power to require patients with an infectious disease to submit samples for testing for Ebola.
Shiozaki said the quarantine requirement for travelers will last 21 days.
Still more from Nikkei Asian Review:
Japan getting the lowdown on Ebola from US military
Japan sent five officials, including members of the Self-Defense Forces, to the headquarters of the United States Africa Command in Germany on Tuesday to collect information about the Ebola outbreak and help prevent the spread of the disease.
One of the five, an Air Self-Defense Force major, will remain at the facility in Stuttgart to gather information on the status of regions affected by Ebola and related activities by the armed forces of other countries. The officer is also expected to support the American military in coordinating transportation of personnel and supplies in affected areas.
Some in the U.S. government reportedly want the SDF to participate in activities in affected areas, including constructing medical facilities and transporting supplies. But Japan intends to stay put for now.
And tuurnabout’s fair play, from the Washington Post:
Now an African country is screening incoming Americans and Spaniards for Ebola
According to the U.S. Embassy in Rwanda, the tiny land-locked East African nation has begun screening passengers from the United States and Spain for the deadly virus.
From a note on the embassy’s Web site:
Visitors who have been in the United States or Spain during the last 22 days are now required to report their medical condition — regardless of whether they are experiencing symptoms of Ebola — by telephone by dialing 114 between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. for the duration of their visit to Rwanda (if less than 21 days), or for the first 21 days of their visit to Rwanda. Rwandan authorities continue to deny entry to visitors who traveled to Guinea, Liberia, Senegal, or Sierra Leone within the past 22 days.
The screening measures have been in place for two days, and images apparently showing the screening forms have been posted on Twitter.
After the jump, another Carribean travel ban, sparse preparations in Pakistan, British Columbia gets ready, scares and readiness in China, Europe boosts its donations, a new high-speed diagnostic tests as new treatments are rushed into production and vaccine trials commence, Cuba sends more medical teams with thousands of volunteers waiting in the wings, food woes intensify and care gaps wide, the Sierra Leone death tool continues to rise and dubious treatments flourish, retired soldiers are pressed into service, and recovered patients faces growing stigmatization, on to Liberia and a call for border monitors and Kenyans in Monrovia hankering for home, a call for blood, lost survivors, memories of civil war, and tightened controls on the press, Kenya orders border scanners, and the safari business in decline. . .
Another outright ban from Reuters:
Dominican Republic joins entry ban for Ebola-affected countries
The Dominican Republic joined other countries in banning entry to foreigners who have visited Ebola-affected countries in the last 30 days, the country’s Ministry of Public Health announced on Tuesday.
The Caribbean country joined several other states in the Americas, including Colombia, Jamaica, and St. Lucia, to issue travel bans.
From the Canadian Press, in the event of a northern exposure:
Ebola assessment and treatment in B.C. would happen at one of five hospitals only
British Columbia’s Health Minister says five hospitals in the province have been designated to assess people at risk of having Ebola and treat confirmed cases.
Terry Lake says a task force reviewed the province’s protocols to respond in the unlikely event that the Ebola virus arrives in B.C., and decided that five regional centres should care for such patients.
The hospitals are: Surrey Memorial, Kelowna General, Royal Jubilee in Victoria, University Hospital of Northern B.C. in Prince George and B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, which would deal with all pediatric cases.
From the Express Tribune, Pakistani preparations:
Two isolation wards to fight Ebola is all the Sindh govt has planned
The Sindh government feels that all responsibility has been washed off its shoulders after it set up two isolation wards to counter the challenge of possible entry of the Ebola virus in Pakistan.
According to health experts, the virus would be a disaster for Sindh, in particular Karachi, once a person is diagnosed in any part of the country. “We are aware of the seriousness of the situation,” said Dr Khalid Hussain Shaikh, the provincial special secretary for the public. He said that the government has initiated screening at sea points and airports.
The isolation wards have been set up at Sindh Services Hospital and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC). According to Shaikh, some of the available protectioned kits given by the World Health Organisation (WHO) have been distributed among the hospital staff.
While the JPMC officials were unavailable for comment, other sources informed The Express Tribune that no separate ward has been established in the JPMC and not even a single kit had been provided till the filing of this report.
“While there is a ward available for the [Crimean] Congo [haemorrhagic] fever patients, there are no isolation wards for the Ebola virus patients,” said a source.
From Global Times, multiple false alarms in China:
China rules out Ebola cases
South China’s Guangdong Province has ruled out possible Ebola cases as 43 people suspected of infection tested negative for the deadly virus, local health authorities said on Tuesday.
A total of 8,672 people from Ebola-ridden areas entered the province since August 23, said Chen Yuansheng, director with the provincial health and family planning commission.
So far, 5,437 people have been discharged from medical observation, Chen added.
And from China Daily, the nationwide alert level rises:
Authorities raise Ebola readiness
Health authorities nationwide have been ordered to increase preparations for a possible outbreak of the Ebola virus in China.
In a notice issued on Monday, the National Health and Family Planning Commission required health authorities to take steps that include the establishment of designated hospitals and the storage of drugs, disinfection and hygiene materials related to Ebola.
The commission is also requiring emergency rescue centers nationwide to be prepared to transport infected patients. The centers should prepare the ambulances, isolation devices and disinfection materials for the transportation work, it said.
The health authority also told local authorities to increase interaction with quarantine and civil aviation authorities.
From Voice of America, panic in the North loosens purse strings:
Europe Vows to Step Up Aid for Ebola Crisis
European Union foreign ministers have called for more money, more coordination and more health workers on the ground to respond to the Ebola crisis in West Africa. EU leaders will consider a pledging goal of $1.27 billion for Ebola when they meet later this week.
In a statement following their meeting Monday in Brussels, European Union foreign ministers called for a “united, coordinated and increased effort” to contain the Ebola outbreak, which has killed more than 4,500 people to date – most of them in West Africa.
European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton spoke to reporters after the meeting.
“[We] recognize that Ebola represents an unprecedented crisis that requires an unprecedented response,” she said. “We’ve already seen the pledging of the EU and its member states of over 500 million euros in assistance to the fight against Ebola and recognize the need to make an increased effort in close cooperation with the United Nations.”
From TheLocal.fr, a significant development:
French docs develop ‘high speed’ Ebola test
As fears over Ebola continue to grow, French researchers announced on Tuesday they have developed a simple test that could detect the deadly disease in 15 minutes.
A new device similar to a simple pregnancy home-test could allow doctors to diagnose a patient with suspected Ebola in under 15 minutes, its French developers said Tuesday.
Trials at a high-security lab have validated the technique and prototype kits should be available in Ebola-hit countries by the end of October for a clinical trial, France’s Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) said in a statement.
Help on the way from BBC News:
Ebola serum for Africa patients within weeks, says WHO
Serum made from the blood of recovered Ebola patients could be available within weeks in Liberia, one of the countries worst hit by the virus, says the World Health Organization.
Speaking in Geneva, Dr Marie Paule Kieny said work was also advancing quickly to get drugs and a vaccine ready for January 2015.
Dr Kieny, WHO assistant director general for health system and innovation, said: “There are partnerships which are starting to be put in place to have capacity in the three countries to safely extract plasma and make preparation that can be used for the treatment of infective patients.
“The partnership which is moving the quickest will be in Liberia where we hope that in the coming weeks there will be facilities set up to collect the blood, treat the blood and be able to process it for use.”
More potential hope from Associated Press:
WHO: Ebola vaccine trials in W. Africa in January
The World Health Organization is pressing the search for an Ebola vaccine and hopes to begin testing two experimental versions as early as January on more than 20,000 front-line health care workers and others in West Africa’s hot zone — a bigger rollout than envisioned just a few months ago.
An effective vaccine would not in itself be enough to stop the outbreak — for one thing, there probably won’t be enough doses to go around — but it could give important protection to the medical workers who are central to the effort. More than 200 of them have died of the disease.
The WHO, which has come under fire for bungling its initial reaction to the Ebola crisis, is helping coordinate trials of two of the most promising experimental vaccines.
Still more from the Asahi Shimbun:
Fujifilm to provide free anti-virus medicine to Ebola patients in Africa
The Fujifilm group said Oct. 20 that it will mass-produce an anti-influenza drug that has shown promise in treating Ebola patients and provide it for free in Africa.
Known by the brand name Avigan, the anti-viral drug favipiravir was developed by Toyama Chemical Co., a pharmaceutical subsidiary of Fujifilm Holdings Corp.
Japan’s health ministry approved the drug for treatment against influenza in March, particularly for patients who do not respond to other flu medications.
And a bonus from Reuters:
Flu drug aimed at Ebola may also fight norovirus, study finds
An experimental Japanese flu drug that has hit the headlines because of its potential to fight Ebola may also work against norovirus, the winter vomiting bug, British researchers said on Tuesday.
As with Ebola, the research is still at an early stage but a study in mice found that Fujifilm’s Avigan, or favipiravir, was effective at reducing — and in some cases eliminating — norovirus infection.
The drug works by causing the virus to self-destruct in a process known as “lethal mutagenesis”, which causes errors in its genetic information. In effect, the virus mutates itself to death.
Cuba steps up again, from the Associated Press:
Cuba sends 91 more doctors to fight Ebola
Every few years Dr. Leonardo Fernandez flies to a nation shaken by natural disaster, political turmoil or disease, leaving his hospital in eastern Cuba for countries that have included Pakistan, Nicaragua and East Timor.
On Tuesday, the intensive care specialist was headed to the epicenter of the Ebola epidemic along with 90 other Cuban medical workers as part of a half-century-old strategy that puts doctors on the front lines of the country’s foreign policy.
The 91 nurses and doctors going to Guinea and Liberia join 165 already in Sierra Leone — making this island of 11 million people one of the largest global contributors of medical workers to the fight against Ebola.
More from Reuters:
Cuban doctors proud to risk lives in mission to halt Ebola
Cuban doctors and nurses departing for West Africa to combat Ebola consider themselves lucky. Among the 15,000 who volunteered, they are among only 256 who have been chosen for the job.
“There have been fights breaking out, heated arguments, with some doctors asking, ‘How come my colleague gets to go and I can’t?'” doctor Adrian Benitez, 46, said on Tuesday just hours before he was due to board a plane for Liberia.
Despite a global alarm over the worst Ebola outbreak on record, Cuban doctors are eager to travel to West Africa and start healing the sick.
Nicknamed as the “army of white robes” and citing a long history of Cuban medical missions in Africa and elsewhere, they speak of a sense of duty and are willing to assume the risks.
“We know that we are fighting against something that we don’t totally understand. We know what can happen. We know we’re going to a hostile environment,” said Leonardo Fernandez, 63. “But it is our duty. That’s how we’ve been educated.”
IRIN covers food woes:
Ebola hits West Africa food security
West Africa’s Ebola outbreak, which has been disrupting agricultural and market activities, threatens to erode food security and negatively affect the livelihoods of millions of already vulnerable people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone unless more is done to meet their immediate food and nutritional needs, say aid agencies.
They say they are still calculating the number of food insecure households, but already the results of initial rapid assessments are worrying.
The World Food Programme (WFP) found that more than 80 percent of people surveyed via mobile phone in the eastern part of Sierra Leone say they have been eating less expensive food since the outbreak began. Three-quarters of respondents have begun to reduce the number of daily meals and portion sizes.
“I’m very concerned about having enough food every day,” said Sheku Conteh, a street trader in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown. “The Ebola has caused a lot of strain right now. There’s no business and no jobs. and I’m having difficulty providing food for my family,” he said. “I have to starve myself much of each day just to save a bit from my sales to get food for my family.”
Reuters again, and care gaps:
Home care kits highlight gaps in West Africa’s Ebola response
With the number of Ebola cases spiralling in West Africa and weeks remaining until treatment units promised by Western governments are built, health workers fighting one of the world’s deadliest diseases are being forced to improvise.
In the “hot zones” of Liberia, where Ebola patients are being turned away from overflowing clinics, aid agencies are distributing tens of thousands of protection kits, made up of buckets, chlorine, soap, gloves, a gown and instructions on how to look after the infected in their own homes.
In neighbouring Sierra Leone, authorities advise those waiting for an ambulance to isolate the patient in a room, designate someone to treat them and ensure this person uses gloves or a towel soaked in chlorine when they are in contact.
On to Sierra Leone and numbers rising from the Guardian:
Ebola in Sierra Leone increasing to rate of more than 20 deaths per day
Government estimates confirm rise with 49 new cases at start of week across two Ebola zones in capital Freetown
The number of people infected with Ebola in western Sierra Leone is increasing to more than 20 deaths daily, according to government estimates.
Forty-nine new cases of were confirmed on Monday in two Ebola zones in and around the capital Freetown, the National Ebola Response Center reported on Tuesday. There are 851 total confirmed cases in the two zones, called Western Area Urban and Western Area Rural, the centre said. The Ebola outbreak previously primarily affected eastern Sierra Leone.
Claude Kamanda, a lawmaker who represents a western area, told local newspaper Politico that more than 20 deaths are being reported daily, and authorities are struggling to keep up with the collection of corpses from homes in the area.
From the NewDawn, the highly dubious:
Sierra Leone tells Nano Silver success story
The Nano Silver nutrient that was reportedly rejected by the Liberian health authorities is said to be curing Ebola patients in neighboring Sierra Leone, according to Sierra Leonean officials. A government official in Sierra Leone says that some people are recovering from Ebola because of the Nano silver treatment, rejected in Liberia.
At the beginning of the Ebola outbreak here, a group under the banner Concerned Citizens of Liberia chaired by Mr. Nathaniel Blama, a Montserrado County senatorial aspirant told a news conference that it had secured the product “Nano Silver” that could deactivate the Ebola Virus if administered to patients.
“Nano Silver, from our research, has shown that it has the power to cure lots of illnesses and diseases, including the ability to deactivate the Ebola Virus.” According to Blama, the nutrient is made up of crystal mineral water and Macro Particles of refined silver, adding that it is nontoxic, self-sterilizing and inexpensive.
We’ve read similar stories making extravagant claims about the potion, and we regard then as extremely dubious and irresponsible. We also note this 3 October article from the Wall Street Journal:
FDA Cracks Down on Sellers Touting Ebola Treatments
Agency’s Move Is Part of an Effort to Stop False Claims Spreading Quickly on the Internet
The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on sellers of so-called essential oils who are claiming on social media sites that their products prevent or cure Ebola.
The actions are part of a broader effort by the regulatory agency to stop false claims that spread quickly via online social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Some companies are being held responsible for claims made by their independent sellers.
Last week, the FDA sent letters to two essential-oils makers and a seller of a product called Nano Silver, telling them to rein in claims that the products can cure, treat or prevent disease because they aren’t drug manufacturers and aren’t FDA-approved.
And from StarAfrica, calling in the reserves:
S/Leone: 200 ex-service men to be deployed to help contain Ebola spread
At least 200 ex-service men from the northern Koinadugu District in Sierra Leone will be deployed there to help in monitoring communities quarantined over the Ebola outbreak.
Koinadugu has become the last district to be affected by the virus which finally entered there last week, five months since the country had its first case.
The local authorities in the district had endeavoured to prevent the disease from infiltrating. But latest figures from the Health ministry indicated 2 cases. It still remains that way as of Monday.
Momonh Kemoh Conteh, a member of the task force on Ebola in the district, said the ex-service men who are mostly drawn from volunteer militias which fought alongside government troops during the (1991-2002) war would serve to provide security in homes quarantined for suspected cases.
From StarAfrica, countering another impact of devastation:
S/Leoneans launch campaign against Ebola stigmatization
A campaign aimed at discouraging discrimination against victims of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has been launched. The ‘Beauty for country campaign’ is the brainchild of three Sierra Leonean ladies, one of whom is a former broadcaster, according to reports on Tuesday.
Sierra Leoneans have been tormented by reports of their compatriots and citizens from Guinea and Liberia being stigmatized in foreign countries.
“This is unfair”, said Ms Hannah Fullah, the pioneer of the campaign who called on people the world over to join in the campaign. “Anybody and everybody can get involved, all they have to do is to send their photos via Facebook” said the popular former radio presenter.
On to Liberia with a call for precautions from the NewDawn:
MSF wants vigilance at Liberia’s borders – Ebola cases drop in Lofa
The French medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF which runs an Ebola Treatment Unit in Foya, Lofa County is warning here that “we have to stay vigilant” even if the Ebola situation in the county is stabilizing.
MSF Foya Project Coordinator, Serge ST-Louis, called for vigilance in Lofa mainly in areas connecting Liberia with Guinea, warning that Ebola is not far away from Liberia once situations worsened in the neighboring country.
“All we know is even if the officials close the borders, situation of our colleagues in Guekedu and Minceta- they’re reaching at the moment almost their full capacity. So this is quite worrying,” he told President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf at the Foya ETU Monday.
From StarAfrica, isolated but not abandoned:
Kenyans stranded in Liberia to be evacuated next week
Hundreds of Kenyans who have been stranded in Liberia following the Ebola outbreak will be flown to Nairobi next week, the government said on Tuesday.The ministry for Foreign Affairs said evacuation arrangements had been finalised, adding that the process had taken long because necessary precautionary measures had to be addressed, according to the Daily Nation newspaper.
The Kenyans have been stranded there for the past two months since national carrier Kenya Airways stopped plying the West African route in August.
The Foreign Affairs ministry said that Kenyans constitute the largest bloc of civilian expatriates in Liberia, saying it has been following on their welfare keenly.
The NewDawn issues a call:
Ebola doctor appeals for blood
A doctor assigned at a holding center in Ganta, Nimba County is urgently appealing for blood for suspected Ebola patients at the Ebola Treatment Unit in the county. Dr. Paye Gbamie said since the holding center was renovated by ArcelorMittal and subsequently turned over to the Nimba Ebola task force, blood shortage has posed a serious challenge.
He said the holding center in Ganta has 14 suspected Ebola patients, who urgently need blood transfusion. Doctor Gbamie explained that Ebola patients lose blood, adding that patients suffering from Ebola bleed profusely; so they need blood. He said some of the patients in the holding center are not from Ganta and have no family members around them to donate blood.
He said if patients have access to blood donation it will help them to overcome the virus, and appealed to residents of Nimba to go to the Ganta Hospital to donate blood. Doctor Gbamie made the appeal recently when the center received donation from the Nimba Community College.
And from the Washington Post, the missing:
As Ebola patients vanish in Liberia’s health system, survivors go on a desperate search
Ebola ravaged this capital so quickly that some patients passed through an already broken medical system with hardly any paper trail. Others were admitted to one clinic and transferred to another without notice. Hundreds were cremated long before their families were notified that they had died.
The world has heard about the deaths. Ebola has claimed 2,500 lives in this country, most of them in Monrovia. But the epidemic has also left in its trail another form of grief and anguish for those whose friends and relatives are missing. About 30 percent of Ebola victims survive. That’s the number many here obsess over — it is just high enough to offer hope and to fuel uncertainty.
Their vigil is a reflection of a medical system so overwhelmed by the virus that it has lost track of both the living and the dead. The United States and other foreign donors are working with the Liberian government to improve its system of medical records. Some clinics and hospitals have started posting more accurate lists of the deceased on their front walls, where families now gather, collapsing into tears as soon as the names appear.
BuzzFeed offers a comparison:
Liberians Who Lived Through The Civil Wars Fear Ebola Is Worse
“With the civil war, you can tell your family: Run to Ghana, or run to Nigeria, or run to the Ivory Coast. You could know where the rebels are coming from, and you could run the other way. With Ebola, you don’t know.”
In the biggest Liberian community outside of Liberia, the trauma of the civil wars of the ’80s and ’90s is being dredged up again, this time by the deadly outbreak of Ebola that has killed 2,500 people in the West African country.
Some who lived through it tell Oretha Bestman-Yates, president of the Staten Island Liberian Community Association, that Ebola is worse than war. “Because with the civil war, you can tell your family: Run to Ghana, or run to Nigeria, or run to the Ivory Coast,” Bestman-Yates, told BuzzFeed News. “You could know where the rebels are coming from, and you could run the other way. With Ebola, you don’t know.”
Staten Island is home to some 10,000 people of Liberian descent. Born of the two civil wars that ravaged the West African country for more than a decade, killing hundreds of thousands of people, Little Liberia is in many ways a community of refugees. According to one survey by African Refuge, a social services group, 68% of Liberians in the enclave said they’d had at least one family member killed in the wars.
While journalists lament their own diminishing freedom, via the NewDawn:
CPJ calls for collective fight
The Center to Protect Journalists has called on authorities of Ebola affected countries and journalists to work together in fighting the deadly virus. The Center said the Ebola crisis in West Africa is unrelenting, and journalists on the frontline of reporting on the virus are caught between authorities wanting to control how the outbreak is reported, and falling victim to the disease themselves.
It said the Liberian media is in a fight for survival, with government continuing a clampdown on the press which began after the first cases of Ebola were reported here in March, according to CPJ research and interactions with local journalists and rights activists.
On September 30, the government announced it was taking over the issuing of accreditation for both local and international journalists to practice in the country, according to news reports.
The Press Union of Liberia has accused the government of going against a Memorandum of Understanding signed in the early 1990s between the PUL and the government, in which the PUL was put in charge of accrediting individual journalists, while the government, through the Ministry of Information, registered media houses, the reports said, but notes that Government has reneged by saying the memorandum is not backed by any statutory law, quoting government spokesman Isaac Jackson.
Precautions elsewhere in Africa from the Star in Nairobi, Kenya:
State sends 3 Ebola scanners to borders
THE government has bought three scanners that will enhance Ebola screening at key border points of entry.
The devices, which will be deployed to the Busia, Malaba and Namanga borders, are expected to hasten screening and ensure no cases of Ebola get into the country undetected.
This comes as a meeting by doctors’ unions and Health ministry officials yesterday resolved to co-opt doctors and service providers in measures being undertaken to fight Ebola.
Finally, an impact that’s not so lamentable with CNN:
Ebola fears crippling Africa’s safari industry
With travel to Africa poised to hit all-time highs in 2014, a drop-off in travel bookings was the last thing the continent’s lucrative safari industry thought it would be facing going into 2015.
But despite the fact that the main safari destinations in southern and eastern Africa are thousands of kilometers from the Ebola-stricken countries of the west, industry leaders say fears of the disease are keeping tourists away.
A survey based on feedback from more than 500 safari operators conducted by African booking company Safaribookings.com found that as of late September, more than half reported a 20 to 70% decline in bookings.
