Monday, 4 August 2014

Health: Ebola kills 46 in Sierra Leone

Helper of late Liberian shows Ebola symptoms -Official

A top official at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Lagos, has said that one of the people who helped the 40-year-old Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, on the Monrovia-Lome and Lome-Lagos flight may have been infected with the virus.

The reliable source, who is also on the team of experts monitoring the testing and surveillance of persons who have had contact with the late Liberian victim in Lagos, told our correspondent on Wednesday, that although they had yet to confirm, the person was showing feverish symptoms similar to that of Ebola virus.

He said, “We are still investigating and monitoring those who had first contact with Sawyer. One of the people who helped him off the plane is showing signs of fever, a symptom of Ebola. We have isolated them and we are carrying out various tests to establish if it is Ebola or not.”

However, when contacted the Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina, denied that none of the people that had been isolated at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, was sick.

Adeshina said, “No one is sick. We are doing a routine surveillance at the centre now and I can tell you that no one is sick or showing symptoms. We are just monitoring them because we are going by the World Health Organisation’s guidelines of prevention, treatment and management.”

The Lagos State Government had on Monday said 59 people in the state came in contact with the 40-year-old Liberian who died of Ebola virus in the state on July 25.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, said this figure consisted of 44 healthcare workers and 15 others at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

They include 44 hospital contacts (38 healthcare workers and six laboratory staff) and 15 airport contacts.

The 15 airport contacts comprise three ECOWAS staff-driver, Liaison, and Protocol Officer, Nigerian Ambassador to Monrovia, two nursing staff and five airport passenger handlers.

Sawyer, arrived in Lagos via Lome on Asky Airline Flight KP50.

He was said to be on his way to Calabar, the Cross River State capital for the 8th ECOWAS Retreat of Heads of Offices as a senior ECOWAS official in Liberia.

The deceased was also reported to have been very ill on arrival at the airport in Lagos and was assisted by some airport and ECOWAS protocol staff to a private hospital in Obalende .

It was said that when he showed the symptom of Ebola virus, the hospital notified the state Ministry of Health which also notified the Federal Ministry of Health.

The patient was said to have died at about 6.50am on July 25.

The state Ministry of Health in collaboration with the National Centre for Disease Control of the Federal Ministry of Health, and WHO have established an isolation centre for persons believed to have had contact with Sawyer while entering the country.

The private health facility where Sawyer was admitted had been decontaminated to eliminate any possible infections, according to health officials.

Meanwhile, veterinary virologist, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, has warned Nigerians against unsupervised burial of persons who died of Ebola.

He said 40 per cent of cases in high risk countries were transmitted from victims` bodies, stressing that an Ebola corpse was deadlier than the patient.

Former JPS doctor with Ebola showing signs of improvement

Dr. Kent Brantly shows signs of improvement, and he received a dose of experimental serum before leaving Africa for Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital, where he is being treated for the often deadly Ebola virus, authorities said Sunday.
Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Fox News Sunday that Brantly, a former resident at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, “appears to be improving.”
Samaritan’s Purse, the organization Brantly was serving as a medical missionary for in West Africa, confirmed that Brantly’s condition is improving and said in a statement Sunday evening that “Kent was able to receive a dose of the experimental serum prior to leaving Liberia.”
Emory officials have not commented on the condition of Brantly, a husband and the father of two children, ages 3 and 5.
Brantly’s colleague Nancy Writebol, who is also stricken with the Ebola virus, is expected to be flown from Liberia to Atlanta on Tuesday for treatment at Emory’s infectious disease unit. Brantly, 33, arrived in Atlanta on Saturday.
His wife, Amber Brantly, said in a statement posted on Samaritan’s Purse website that she saw her husband Sunday.
“Our family is rejoicing over Kent’s safe arrival, and we are confident that he is receiving the very best care,” Amber Brantly said. “We are very grateful to the staff at Emory University Hospital, who have been so nice and welcoming to us. I was able to see Kent today. He is in good spirits. He thanked everyone for their prayers and asked for continued prayer for Nancy Writebol’s safe return and full recovery.”
No threat to public in U.S.
Top American public health officials continue to emphasize that treating Brantly and Writebol in the U.S. poses no risks to the public as West Africa grapples with its worst Ebola outbreak on record.
“The plain truth is that we can stop Ebola,” Frieden said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “We know how to control it: hospital infection control and stopping it at the source in Africa.”
Brantly and Writebol served on the same medical mission team that was treating Ebola patients in Liberia.
The outbreak, which is also spreading in Guinea and Sierra Leone, has infected more than 1,300 people in West Africa, killing at least 729.
Liberian officials said a medical evacuation plane will take Writebol to the United States early Tuesday.
Brantly arrived Saturday under the same protocol, flying from West Africa to Dobbins Air Reserve base outside Atlanta in a small plane equipped to contain infectious diseases. A small police escort followed his ambulance to the hospital, where he emerged dressed head to toe in white protective clothing and walked into the hospital on his own power.
An American mission official has said Brantly was treating victims of the outbreak at a hospital compound near Monrovia, the Liberian capital, when he became infected. They said Writebol served as a hygienist whose role included decontaminating those entering or leaving the Ebola treatment area at that hospital.
Prayer, donations for Brantly
In Fort Worth, where Brantly attended Southside Church of Christ while working at JPS Hospital, members of the church gathered Sunday and prayed for him, Writebol and the people of West Africa.
More than 30 members of the Liberian Community Association of Dallas-Fort Worth attended the Sunday morning service to offer support and appreciation for Brantly’s work in West Africa, church elder Kent Smith said.
Southside, on Hemphill Street south of the Medical District, also collected more than $20,000 for Brantly’s family and for Samaritan’s Purse.
Some members plan to turn their porch lights on from 8 to 11 p.m. this week as a reminder to pray for Brantly, Smith added.
“We will continue to pray for Dr. Brantly, for the comfort and peace for his family and for all those affected,” Smith said. “We pray to ask God to strengthen the faith of our church members and not let it waiver in these hard times.”
Taking no chances
There is no cure for the Ebola virus, which causes hemorrhagic fever that kills at least 60 percent of the people it infects in Africa. It is spread by close contact with body fluids including blood, meaning that it is not spread as easily as airborne influenza or the common cold.
That means any modern hospital using standard infection-control measures should be able to handle it. American doctors say the virus could be curtailed in Africa by a better-functioning healthcare system.
The Emory hospital’s infectious disease unit is one of about four in the country equipped to test and treat people exposed to dangerous viruses. Patients are quarantined, sealed off from anyone who is not wearing protective gear. Lab tests are conducted inside the unit, ensuring that viruses don’t leave the quarantined area.
In 2005, it handled patients with SARS, which unlike Ebola can spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
The hospital won’t be taking any chances.
“Nothing comes out of this unit until it is noninfectious,” said Dr. Bruce Ribner, who will be treating the patients. “… We do not believe that any healthcare worker, any other patient or any visitor to our facility is in any way at risk of acquiring this infection.”
Family members can see and communicate with patients only through barriers.
Staff writers Lee Williams and Sarah Bahari contributed to this report, which includes material from The Associated Press.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/08/03/6015604/ebola-update-brantly-appears-to.html#storylink=cpy

Ebola outbreak: Western drugs firms have not tried to find vaccine 'because virus only affects Africans', says UK's top public health doctor

Professor John Ashton, the president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, says the West needs to treat the deadly virus as if it were taking hold in the wealthiest parts of London rather than just Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Writing in The Independent on Sunday, Professor Ashton compares the international response to Ebola to that of Aids, which was killing people in Africa for years before treatments were developed once it had spread to the US and UK in the 1980s.
He writes: "In both cases [Aids and Ebola], it seems that the involvement of powerless minority groups has contributed to a tardiness of response and a failure to mobilise an adequately resourced international medical response.
"In the case of Aids, it took years for proper research funding to be put in place and it was only when so-called 'innocent' groups were involved (women and children, haemophiliac patients and straight men) that the media, politicians, scientific community and funding bodies stood up and took notice."
The Ebola outbreak has so far claimed the lives of at least 729 people across Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO), although the number is likely to be far higher.
Yesterday, a US relief organisation confirmed that two US aid workers who contracted the disease in Liberia had left the country. Dr Kent Brantly was being treated in a specialised hospital unit in Atlanta, Georgia, after becoming the first person with the disease to arrive on US soil yesterday evening. The second aid worker, Nancy Writebol, was due to land on a separate private flight.

In pictures: Ebola virus

On Friday, the WHO warned that the outbreak in West Africa was "moving faster than our efforts to control it". The organisation's director general, Dr Margaret Chan, warned that if the situation continued to deteriorate, the consequences would be "catastrophic" to human life. Professor Ashton believes that more money must be funnelled into research for treatment.
"We must respond to this emergency as if it was in Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster. We must also tackle the scandal of the unwillingness of the pharmaceutical industry to invest in research [on] treatments and vaccines, something they refuse to do because the numbers involved are, in their terms, so small and don't justify the investment. This is the moral bankruptcy of capitalism acting in the absence of a moral and social framework."
Western countries are on high alert after Patrick Sawyer, a civil servant for the Liberian government, died last week after arriving at Lagos airport – the first known case in Nigeria. International airline hubs are the focus of attention because of the high volume of passengers flying into and out of West Africa every day. Dubai's Emirates airline began a ban yesterday on its flights in Guinea over the crisis, with the suspension lasting until further notice.
Professor Ashton welcomed the decision by the Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, to convene a meeting of the Government's crisis committee, Cobra, last week to discuss the UK's preparedness for cases of Ebola in this country.
Development of a vaccine is in the early stages in the US, but this is on a small scale and there is little hope of one being ready to treat the current outbreak in West Africa. Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services, has said it has plans possibly to begin testing an experimental Ebola vaccine on people in mid-September, following encouraging results in pre-clinical trials on monkeys. Earlier this month, the US Food and Drug Administration put a hold on a trial upon healthy volunteers by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation to ensure their potential Ebola treatment has no ill-effects, as it sought more information to ensure the safety of volunteers.
Professor Ashton said: "The real spotlight needs to be on the poverty and environmental squalor in which epidemics thrive and the failure of political leadership and public health systems to respond effectively. The international community has to be shamed into real commitment... if the root causes of diseases like Ebola are to be addressed."

Lagos State Government Gives Update on the Ebola Virus

The Lagos state government says no fresh case of Ebola virus has been discovered in the state or in any part of the country.
According to the Special Adviser to the Lagos state Governor on Public Health, Dr (Mrs) Yewande Adeshina, all the 59 people who had direct or indirect contact with late Liberian Patrick Sawyer who died last Friday in Lagos from the virus, have been traced, tested and found to be hale and hearty and have not exhibited any unusual body temperature or any other symptoms of the dreaded virus.
In a related development, the state Commissioner for Information, Lateef Ibirogba advised residents to be wary of the activities of fraudsters who are making spurious claims about their ability to provide cure for the Ebola Virus, urging them to always contact health providers to report unusual feelings noticed as only medical solutions are known to be appropriate for the disease. He warned those making false claims of being able to cure the disease to desist from it or would be made to face the full wrath of the law once they are caught.
He reminded residents of the State to make use of the emergency phone numbers- 08023169485, 08033086660, 08033065303, 08055281442 and 08055329229 provided to contact health authorities in case anyone with observed symptoms of the Ebola disease is noticed.

There is something very, very important that the corporate media and public health officials are not telling you regarding the Ebola outbreak in west Africa.

The information I'm about to present here is frightening. There's really no way around that. However, I request that you do your very best to maintain a calm state of mind.
right now in West Africa the worst Ebola outbreak in history is in full swing and is jumping borders at an alarming rate. Already it has spread to four countries, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and now Nigeria. This latest jump into Nigeria is particularly serious since the infected individual carried the virus by plane to Lagos Nigeria, a city with a population of over 21 million. Doctors without borders has referred to the outbreak as "out of control".
To make matters worse, there is something very, very important that the corporate media and public health officials are not telling you regarding this crisis.
You'll notice if you read virtually any mainstream article on the topic that they make a point of insisting that Ebola is only transferred by physical contact with bodily fluids. This is not true, at all.
A study conducted in 2012 showed that Ebola was able to travel between pigs and monkeys that were in separate cages and were never placed in direct contact.
Though the method of transmission in the study was not officially determined, one of the scientists involved, Dr. Gary Kobinger, from the National Microbiology Laboratory at the Public Health Agency of Canada, told BBC News that he believed that the infection was spread through large droplets that were suspended in the air.
"What we suspect is happening is large droplets; they can stay in the air, but not long; they don't go far," he explained. "But they can be absorbed in the airway, and this is how the infection starts, and this is what we think, because we saw a lot of evidence in the lungs of the non-human primates that the virus got in that way."
Translation: Ebola IS an airborne virus.
UPDATE: Someone pointed out that in medical terms, if the virus is transferred through tiny droplets in the air this would technically not be called an "airborne virus". Airborne, in medical terms would mean that the virus has the ability to stay alive without a liquid carrier. On one hand this is a question of semantics, and the point is well taken, but keep in mind that the study did not officially determine how the virus traveled through the air, it merely established that it does travel through the air. Doctor Kobinger's hypothesis regarding droplets of liquid is just that, a hypothesis. For the average person however what needs to be understood is very simple: if you are in a room with someone infected with Ebola, you are not safe, even if you never touch them or their bodily fluids, and this is not what you are being told by the mainstream media. Essentially I am using the word "airborne" as a layman term (which kind of makes sense, since I am a layman in this field).
Now I'm not going to speculate as to whether these so called "journalist" and public health agencies who keep repeating the official line regarding the means of transmission are lying, or are just participating in some massive display of synchronized incompetence, but what I will say, is that this shoddy reporting is most likely getting people killed right now, and may in fact put all of humanity in danger.
How so?
By convincing people that the virus cannot travel through air, important precautions that could reduce the spread of the virus are not being taken. For example the other passengers on the plane that traveled to Lagos, Nigeria were not quarantined.
To put this into context, Ebola kills between 50% and 90% of its victims, so the stakes are very, very high here.
NOTE: We have reported on the fact that Ebola can spread through the air in three separate articles since March of 2014, here, here and here, however the corporate media has continued to misrepresent the vectors of transmission.
This particular strain of Ebola is not Ebola Zaire. This is a new strain, and it may in fact be more dangerous than the Zaire variety. Not because of any difference in the symptoms (the symptoms are identical), but because this new virus seems to be harder to contain. Whether this is due to some characteristic of the virus itself or merely dumb luck is uncertain at this time, but the rate at which this outbreak has extended its range is unprecedented.
According to the CDC this virus is genetically 97% similar to the Zaire strain. However if you are interested in this virus' phylogenetic relationship (genetic lineage) to the Zaire strain you should look read "Phylogenetic Analysis of Guinea 2014 EBOV Ebolavirus Outbreak" on plos.org.
Another study by the New England Journal of medicine (this was the one referenced by the CDC) specifically names the parts of the genetic code which differ:
The three sequences, each 18,959 nucleotides in length, were identical with the exception of a few polymorphisms at positions 2124 (G→A, synonymous), 2185 (A→G, NP552 glycine→glutamic acid), 2931 (A→G, synonymous), 4340 (C→T, synonymous), 6909 (A→T, sGP291 arginine→tryptophan), and 9923 (T→C, synonymous).
Note that there doesn't yet seem to be a consensus as to what this new strain is called. One study referred to it as "Guinean EBOV", another as "Guinea 2014 EBOV Ebolavirus" and others are still referring to it as Zaire. Given that we can specifically name the points where the virus has mutated, using the old name is misleading.

right now the question on everyone's minds is whether this virus will spread outside of Africa. Considering the fact that Ebola has a three week incubation period, can travel through the air, and has already hitchhiked onto an international flight, this is a very real possibility. There are some that are downplaying the probability of this outcome, and to be honest, I hope that they are right, but the simple fact of the matter is that these people are basing their assessment on the faulty premise that Ebola is not an airborne virus.

Now the first thing you might be feeling when looking at this situation is a sense of fear and helplessness, and while that's a perfectly normal reaction it's really not helpful. Instead we should be thinking in terms of practical steps we can take to influence the outcome.
One thing we can all do is to start confronting journalists and public officials who keep making false statements regarding the way Ebola spreads. Use the links to the original study, the BBC report from 2012 and this video to put them in their place.
We also need to confront the fact that there isn't a full out, coordinated, international effort to contain this. This is being treated like a sideshow but it has the very real potential to become a main event.
The doctors on the ground in West Africa don't have enough staff or resources to deal with this situation. It is absolutely inexcusable for the U.S. and the E.U. to be investing billions of tax payer dollars into their little power games in Ukraine and Syria (which are both in the process of escalating right now by the way) while Ebola is getting a foothold in Africa. Every available resource should be shifted to West Africa in order to contain and extinguish this epidemic right now.
This is serious. Call them, write them, heckle them in the streets if you have to, but don't allow them to ignore this issue. Make it impossible for them to pretend later that they didn't know.
Now whether or not official policy towards the Ebola crisis changes there are some precautions that you should take right now for yourself and your family.
1. Know where you would go if you needed to leave your home on short notice. If Ebola escapes Africa the last place you want to be is in a densely populated metropolitan area. It may be that the most practical destination for your family would be a rural area near your current home, but if you already have concerns about the government you are living under, and how they may handle a crisis like this, then you might want to start looking at alternatives. Finding an alternative location that suits your family's needs is something that requires a lot of time and research, so don't put this off. The primary characteristics you should be examining in an alternative destination are geography , political environment, climate, population density and visa terms and requirements. Ideally you would want to end up somewhere that is geographically isolated to some degree.
2. If you don't have passports for yourself and each of your dependents, get them now. This is not to say that you should leave your country, but you should have the means to do so. In countries where the Ebola outbreak is underway it is getting harder and harder to exit. Borders are being closed down. Flights are being cut off. This didn't happen right away, but you definitely don't want to be waiting for your passport to show up if Ebola arrives in your city.
3. Know what you would carry with you if you had to leave on short notice. Have those items ready, and have the luggage to carry them. It would be wise to consider buying a pack of surgical masks as part of this.
Now if you think about it, these preparations are wise steps to take regardless of whether the Ebola situation deteriorates or not. Knowing where you would go in an emergency, and having the means to get there on short notice is important for a wide variety of situations. The civilian population of Iraq, Syria, east Ukraine, and Gaza can attest to that.
Whatever you do don't let fear take control of your mind. Take the steps you can take now, monitor the situation calmly, and be prepared to adapt if necessary.
UPDATE: A number of people have requested that I comment on the fact that the Americans infected by Ebola are right now being flown into the U.S. My personal opinion is that this particular move will not lead to the virus getting out. This event is going to be highly scrutinized, and the isolation security should be at max. The real danger isn't in these highly controlled transfers and quarantines, but rather in the ongoing flow of air travel from these regions. Thirty five countries are merely one flight away from an Ebola zone right now.
Why is this random air travel more dangerous?
Because if it gets in when people aren't looking, it can spread before containment measures are put into place.

Outbreak of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone

Guinea at a Glance

Suspected and Confirmed Case Count: 472
Suspected Case Deaths: 346
Laboratory Confirmed Cases: 337

Liberia at a Glance

Suspected and Confirmed Case Count: 391
Suspected Case Deaths: 227
Laboratory Confirmed Cases: 109

Sierra Leone at a Glance

Suspected and Confirmed Case Count: 574
Suspected Case Deaths: 252
Laboratory Confirmed Cases: 507

Nigeria at a Glance

Suspected and Confirmed Case Count: 3
Suspected Case Deaths: 1
Laboratory Confirmed Cases: 0

Highlights

July 30, 2014, the Guinea Ministry of Health announced a total of 472 suspect and confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD), including 346 fatal cases.
Affected districts include Conakry, Guéckédou, Macenta, Kissidougou, Dabola, Djingaraye, Télimélé, Boffa, Kouroussa, Dubreka, Fria, Siguiri, Pita; several are no longer active areas of EVD transmission (see map).
337 cases across Guinea have been confirmed by laboratory testing to be positive for Ebola virus infection.
In Guinea’s capital city, Conakry, 91 suspect cases have been reported to meet the clinical definition for EVD, including 41 fatal cases.
July 30, 2014, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone and WHO reported a cumulative total of 574 suspect and confirmed cases, including 507 laboratory confirmations and 233 reported fatal cases.
Cases have been reported from 11 Sierra Leone districts.
July 30, 2014, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Liberia and WHO have reported 391 suspect and confirmed EHF cases (including 109 laboratory confirmations) and 227reported fatalities.
July 30, 2014, the Nigerian Ministry of Health and WHO reported 3 suspect and probable cases and 1 fatal probable case.
Genetic analysis of the virus indicates that it is closely related (97% identical) to variants of Ebola virus (species Zaire ebolavirus) identified earlier in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon (Baize et al. 2014 ).
The Guinean Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Liberia, and the Nigerian Ministry of Health are working with national and international partners to investigate and respond to the outbreak.

Distribution map showing districts and cities reporting suspect ceses of Ebola.

Click map to view larger version.

Graphic showing the life cycle of the ebolavirus.

Click graph to view larger version.

RESOURCES

August 3, 2014

Outbreak Update

The World Health Organization, in partnership with the Ministries of Health in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria announced a cumulative total of 1440 suspect and confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) and 826 deaths, as of July 30, 2014. Of the 1440 clinical cases, 953 cases have been laboratory confirmed for Ebola virus infection.
In Guinea, 472 cases, including 346 fatal cases and 337 laboratory confirmations of EVD, were reported by the Ministry of Health of Guinea and WHO as of July 30, 2014. Active surveillance continues in Conakry, Guéckédou, Boffa, Pita, Siguiri, and Kourourssa Districts.
In Sierra Leone, WHO and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone reported a cumulative total of 574 suspect and confirmed cases of EHF as of July 30, 2014. Of these 574, 507 cases have been laboratory confirmed and 252 were fatal. Districts reporting clinical EVD patients include Kailahun, Kenema, Kambia, Port Loko, Bo and Western Area, which includes the capital, Freetown. More recently, Tonkolili, Bambali, Moyamba, and Bonthe Districts have also reported confirmed cases of EVD. Reports, investigations, and testing of suspect cases continue across the country.
As of July 30, 2014, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Liberia and WHO reported 391 clinical cases of EVD, including 109laboratory confirmations and 227 fatal cases. Suspect and confirmed cases have been reported from Lofa, Montserado, Margibi, Bomi, Bong, Nimba, RiverCess, and Grand Cape Mount Counties. Laboratory testing is being conducted in Monrovia.
In Nigeria, WHO and the Nigerian Ministry of Health reported one probable fatal case and 2 suspect cases as of July 30, 2014.
CDC is in regular communication with all of the Ministries of Health (MOH), WHO, MSF, and other partners regarding the outbreak. Currently CDC has personnel in all four countries assisting the respective MOHs and the WHO-led international response to this Ebola outbreak.
Based on reports from the Ministry of Heath of Guinea, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Liberia, the Ministry of Health of Nigeria, and WHO

Friday, 1 August 2014

Ebola virus outbreak: July 31 as it happened

An asylum seeker who had arrived in Britain from Liberia was suspected of carrying the deadly virus Ebola, it has emerged, follow the latest developments here

By Raziye Akkoc

11:30PM BST 31 Jul 2014

2 Comments

• Graphic: the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history
• How could Ebola virus travel to the UK?
• Ebola: what are the symptoms of deadly disease?
• WHO says 729 killed, 57 in 4 days
• American doctors taken 'a turn for the worse'
• US peace corps pull out of West Africa
• 'I would sit next to Ebola sufferer on Tube', says scientist who discovered deadly virus

Latest

18.57 Project HOPE, an international health education and humanitarian organisation, has begun efforts to secure medicines and supplies for Sierra Leone, according to a statement on their website.

HOPE is working to secure donations of a range of medical aid including antibiotics, oral rehydration salts, examination gloves and body bags, following a request from the Sierra Leone Ambassador to the United States in Washington DC.

18.33 It was mentioned earlier WHO intended to launch an emergency response plan and there are now more details forthcoming via AFP. WHO has also said "several hundred" medical personnel need to be deployed to the affected countries to help overstretched workers and facilities struggling with the epidemic.

The Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak Response Plan in west Africa aims to plug those gaps "as part of an intensified international, regional and national campaign to bring the outbreak under control".

The plan will also bolster efforts to prevent and detect suspected cases, urge better border surveillance, and reinforce WHO's sub-regional outbreak coordination centre in Guinea.
18.25 BREAKING The US has just issued a travel warning against non-essential travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. They are also sending 50 disease experts to West Africa in the next 30 days, the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has said, according to Reuters.
18.14 The struggle to contain the worst-ever Ebola epidemic in west Africa is being complicated by the soaring cost of hand sanitiser, a leading charity has said.
Mike Noyes, ActionAid UK's Head of Humanitarian Response, said the prices of some hygiene products had gone up sevenfold, making them unaffordable for many in the region.
"Hand sanitiser that they used to pay seven Liberian dollars for is now 50 dollars ($0.54, 0.40 euros), and that makes even protecting yourself a huge challenge for very poor families in quite isolated areas," he told AFP.
17.56 BREAKING An asylum seeker was suspected of having the deadly Ebola virus after developing symptoms within days of arriving in Britain from Libera, it has emerged, Sarah Knapton reports.

The man, who was awaiting processing at an immigration centre run by security company G4S in Gatwick, was feared to be carrying the disease, which has killed more than 700 people in West Africa.
Immigration staff isolated the man and tested him for Ebola earlier this week, but he did not have the infection.
However the incident shows how easy it would be for the deadly disease to enter Britain through illegal channels.
17.48 Samaritan's Purse told AFP when an experimental serum arrived in the capital, Monrovia, on Wednesday, there was only enough for one person and Brantly had asked for it to be given to Ms Writebol.
"Even as he battles to survive Ebola, this heroic doctor is still focused on the well-being of others," said the statement.
It also noted that Brantly, 33, had been given a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who survived Ebola because of his care.
"The young boy and his family wanted to be able to help the doctor who saved his life," it said.
17.42 An American doctor who was stricken with the often fatal Ebola virus in Liberia has taken a "slight turn for the worse," said his Christian aid agency, AFP reports.
Kent Brantly and another American missionary worker, Nancy Writebol, "are in stable but grave condition," said a statement from Samaritan's Purse, the US group for which Brantly worked.

"Dr. Brantly took a slight turn for the worse overnight," it said.
The group did not elaborate further on Dr Brantly's condition.
17.32 Reuters says the World Health Organisation is saying doctors, nurses, epidemiologists, and logisticians urgently need to combat the Ebola outbreak, which has been on an "unprecedented" scale.
In the flight against the virus, WHO will lauch a joint $100m Ebola response plan to bring outbreak in West Africa under control.
17.27 U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the spread of the deadly Ebola virus and assistance for affected countries will be discussed during an African summit in Washington next week. It will be discussed in detail during side meetings, Reuters reports.
The leaders of Sierra Leone and Liberia, two of the worst affected countries, have cancelled plans to attend the summit.
It is unclear whether the president of Guinea, Alpha Conde, still plans to travel to Washington.
"I have spoken to all three heads of state to get from them where they see things going and what we can do to better assist them and we will be discussing that during the summit," Ms Thomas-Greenfield told an audience at the Atlantic Council.
16.40 The world aviation authority said it held emergency talks with officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to discuss the proposed changes, amid the worst ever outbreak of the highly contagious disease.
"The WHO, ICAO considered passenger screening revisions to the WHO document on travel and transport in light of recent events," said an ICAO statement.
"These are still being reviewed by the WHO, which was also intending to seek inputs from the World Tourism Organization and Airports Council International (ACI)," it said, AFP reports.
16.20 Previously it was written how to fight the virus, but AFP have produced this graphic about Ebola develops, its symptoms and what preventative measures can be taken.
1

5.55 The threat of the Ebola virus to the UK is increasing, according to Keith Vaz MP. The borders to the UK represent the first line of defence against this deadly disease, he added.
Keith Vaz MP, the Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, has today written to the Home Secretary to understand how prepared the UK borders are.
Mr Vaz said: “I am concerned that the officers enforcing our borders suggest they may not be fully prepared to protect the public from the spread of this deadly virus.
"Prevention is not just better than cure, in this case it is essential.
"I have written to the Home Secretary to ensure that we are doing all we can to protect the UK on the frontline.”
15.42 Medical staff working with Medecins sans Frontieres prepare to bring food to patients kept in an isolation at an Ebola treatment centre in Sierra Leone

15.37 Next week, there will be a gathering to discuss the crisis in Guinea. The regional summit will see the leaders of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Ivory Coast to address the issue as increasing numbers become ill and die as a result of the virus.
15.27 In Hong Kong, a densely populated city previously scarred by disease outbreaks such as the 2003 SARS epidemic, health officials confirmed they would quarantine as a precautionary measure any visitors from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia who showed fever symptoms, according to AFP.
15.23 Togo-based pan-African airline ASKY, which serves 20 destinations, has halted all flights to and from Liberia and Sierra Leone following the death of a passenger from the virus, AFP said.
15.22 Japan's health ministry has sent out an alert to hospitals and health organisations to be on the lookout for people with signs of the virus, AFP reports.
"In addition to the ordinary measures we already have in place, including thermographies to check on travellers' body temperatures (at the airport), the government is drawing attention to the concerned authorities," a ministry spokesman said.
15.15 Local media in Kenema described a "grief-laden" atmosphere weighing heavily on the town, with offices closed and markets empty, AFP reports.

President Ernest Koroma declared Mr Khan a "national hero" following the medic's death on Tuesday, and named a research centre in Kenema in his memory.
"The late doctor saved the lives of more than 100 patients before succumbing to the deadly ebola disease himself," Koroma said in a statement ahead of the funeral, which he did not attend.
Medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders described Khan as "an extremely determined and courageous doctor who cared deeply for his patients".
"His work and dedication have been greatly appreciated by the medical community in Sierra Leone for many years," it said.
15.10 Sierra Leone on Thursday buried a doctor it hailed as a "national hero" for saving the lives of more than 100 Ebola patients before succumbing himself to the killer tropical disease, AFP reports.
Umar Khan, 43, the west African nation's sole virologist, was at the forefront of his country's fight against the epidemic, which has seen more than 700 deaths in Sierra Leone and its west African neighbours.
He was laid to rest in the eastern town of Kenema, where he had spent much of his working life, in a Muslim ceremony attended by family, friends, local dignitaries, aid workers and health officials.
"He was committed and dedicated in the quest to save the lives of his compatriots," Health Minister Miatta Kargbo told the mourners.
"For the short time we interacted, he constantly described Ebola as a war that all Sierra Leoneans should join to fight against or otherwise it would be devastating."
14.32 General Secretary of the Immigration Service Union (ISU) Lucy Moreton says the border is not prepared to deal with the Ebola outbreak and staff do not know what to do if they suspect someone of being sick.
14.17 The WHO also said Nigerian authorities had so far identified 59 people who had come into contact with a U.S. citizen who died in Lagos last week after travelling from Liberia, via Togo and Ghana, reports Reuters.
13.54 122 new cases were detected over the four days, according to WHO data, between July 24 and 27
13.26 The World Health Organisation has released new figures showing 729 people died with 57 in four days.
1,323 are suffering with the virus. WHO says the new cases and deaths attributable to Ebola continue to be reported by the Ministries of Health in the four West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
13.22 Below is a map showing where in West Africa cases have been confirmed in the region.

13.15 More detail from Reuters regarding what the Sierra Leone president announced earlier.
The president said police and the military would enforce a quarantine on all epicentres of the disease, and would provide support to health officers and NGOs to do their work unhindered, following a number of attacks on health workers by local communities.
House-to-house searches would be implemented to trace Ebola victims and homes where the disease was identified would be quarantined until cleared by medical teams, he said, announcing a ban on all public meetings except those related to Ebola.
13.13 This is an interesting graphic demonstrating how Ebola could be one flight away from the UK

13.09 An American doctor who was in Guinea battling Ebola in June has written a powerful online diary. Here are some heartwrenching extracts.
June 2, 2014. Today was a pretty tough day - one of the first two patients I admitted on May 30 died. I walked into his room and he was on the floor half naked surrounded by bloody emesis and diarrhea. I put him back in bed, bathed him, and put fresh clothes on him and as I finished he died.
It’s pretty emotional to bathe a 27-year-old man who was incredibly strong and rendered completely helpless. His sister is next door and will likely die in the next hour. This is all in front of the other patients in the room, many of whom are family members or neighbors. The despair is suffocating. My computer is running out of batteries. Sorry, more to come.
June 3, 2014. Unfortunately we also have an 18-year-old woman who is 5 months pregnant, has Ebola, and malaria. I thought being 18 was tough - I can only imagine being pregnant, infected with a near uniformly fatal virus, having malaria, and being in an isolation zone treated with people in space suits. The clinical course of pregnant woman with Ebola is not good, to say the least, and unfortunately she began having contractions overnight and we “helped” her deliver a non-viable fetus this morning. Miserable.
13.05 The World Health Organisation is trying to calm fears about flying and Ebola, reports Mike Pflanz.
While travellers should be aware of Ebola, they will not contract the highly-contagious, often fatal disease unless they actually touch someone who is showing active symptom...
WHO has also warned health workers deployed by relief organizations to strictly apply infection control measures recommended by the Geneva-UN health agency as there is currently no specific treatment to cure the disease.
Readers can find the full statement here and FAQs here.
13.00 BBC presenter Pier Edwards reports the Sierra Leone football team is not able to fly to the Seychelles.
<noframe>Twitter: Piers Edwards - <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23SierraLeone" target="_blank">#SierraLeone</a> barred from flying to Seychelles for <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23NationsCup" target="_blank">#NationsCup</a> / <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23CAN" target="_blank">#CAN</a> qualifier because of fears over spreading Ebola virus. FA confirms</noframe>
12.57 Nigerian fraudsters are apparently claiming they can cure Ebola if it breaks out there, reports Mike Pflanz.
Lagos State Government has warned the public to be wary of some pastors who claim to have cure for the dreaded Ebola virus.
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Aderemi Ibirogba, specifically advised the citizenry to be wary of the activities of alleged fraudsters who were reportedly making spurious claims about their ability to provide cure for the deadly virus.
He called on those who wanted to rip off members of the public to desist from such claims of cure or risk arrest and prosecution.
“Only medical solutions are known to be appropriate for the disease,” said Mr Ibirogba.
12.52 The British Red Cross will this week deploy two more specialist delegates to West Africa as governments and aid agencies scale up efforts to curb the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in the region, the charity has said in a statement on Thursday morning, reports Mike Pflanz.
A health delegate and logistics expert are being sent to Sierra Leone and Liberia respectively, to support Red Cross staff and volunteers raise awareness about preventing Ebola infections. They will work alongside other agencies and the Ministries of Health to reach more people in communities affected by the Ebola outbreak.
British Red Cross spokesperson Mandeep Mudhar, said: “The Red Cross has already deployed several teams and delegates to the affected countries since the beginning of the outbreak. We know from experience that our health and hygiene promotion work makes a real difference to communities and has helped curb the spread of Ebola.
“Red Cross teams are taking to the streets and villages daily, educating the public through songs and theatre performances, on how to respond to the outbreak their communities,” Mandeep explained.
12.47 The boss of one of the charities pulling its non-essential staff out mentioned earlier believes "thousands" could die, he tells the WSJ.
"This is a growing crisis of proportions that will cost, we think, thousands of lives and maybe more," said Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA.
"The international community has the resources and people to respond, but they need to respond."
The newspaper reported "SIM will evacuate about 60 to 70 spouses, children and other nonmedical staff in the next few days, Mr. Johnson said".
12.19 Kenya and Ethiopia, home to some of Africa's largest transport hubs, said they had boosted measures to combat possible Ebola cases arriving in their countries.
Kenya's National Disaster Operation Centre said in a statement that "port health services are on standby, with enhanced screening at border points to prevent and contain any possible disease threat".
Meanwhile Ethiopia Airlines said it was taking "extraordinary precautions in connection with the outbreak of the disease".
Ethiopia's national carrier is a major airline connecting countries across Africa, as well as flying to the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
"Stringent and specific surveillance is being carried out regarding all flights from west Africa at Addis Ababa airport," the airline said in a statement, writes AFP.
12.08 The European Union is equipped and ready to treat victims should the deadly virus be found in its 28 member states, an EU source said in Brussels to AFP.
11.56 According to CBS News's Debora Patta, the numbers of those killed has increased.
<noframe>Twitter: Debora Patta - <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23EbolaOutbreak" target="_blank">#EbolaOutbreak</a> World Health Organisation confirms over 1300 known infections and over 700 deaths from the deadly virus</noframe>
11.40 While treating patients, medics must wear an all-encompassing plastic yellow body suit, along with two face masks, two pairs of gloves, a plastic apron and medical scrubs, writes Colin Freeman. In Sierra Leone’s humid tropical heat – temperatures at this time of year are around 80F – those wearing the suits have to be careful not to pass out from the heat.

“The protective equipment is very hot to wear and incredibly claustrophobic – I once tried working in it in the heat of midday and could barely last 15 minutes,” said Dr Black. “Most of the time we try to start very early in the morning before the sun comes up, and even then the goggles eventually become misted over.”
11.35 Interesting fact from David Heymann, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology and head of global health security at Britain's Royal Institute of International Affairs via Reuters.
Mr Heymann noted the only case in which an Ebola case was known to have left Africa and made it to Europe via air travel was in 1994 when a Swiss zoologist became infected with the virus after dissecting a chimpanzee in Ivory Coast.
The woman was isolated in a Swiss hospital and discharged after two weeks without infecting anyone else.
11.28 France “has the means to deal with Ebola,” according to the health minister, Marisol Touraine
.

Amid growing anxiety about the possibility that the virus could come to France, which has close links with its former colonies in west Africa, Ms Touraine said the country’s health service was prepared to tackle the threat.
Speaking after the international medical aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières warned of an “epidemic out of control”, Ms Touraine told the newspaper Le Parisien there was little risk of it spreading to France.
“At the moment, the risk of the virus coming to Europe or to France is low,” Ms Touraine insisted. “We are taking steps so that our country won’t be affected.”
However, she called for “vigilance” and said France was emphasising “prevention”.
“We have placed the health warning services on alert so that health workers know how to diagnose and deal with any patient suffering from fever who has just returned from one of the countries affected by the epidemic,” she said.
11.20 Sierra Leone's president has also banned all public meetings not related to Ebola and launched house-to-house searches to trace and quarantine suspected patients in Ebola hot-spots, AFP reports.
11.13 Colin Freeman spoke to the British doctor, Benjamin Black, fighting the devastating Ebola outbreak in west Africa who said belief in witchcraft is hampering the fight to stop the spread of the deadly disease.

Benjamin Black, 32, a volunteer with the charity Médecins Sans Frontières in Sierra Leone, said some of those in infected areas were not seeking medical treatment as they thought the disease was the work of sorcerers.
Belief in witchcraft and traditional medicine is still prevalent in parts of west Africa, particularly the remote rural areas of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia where the outbreak has been concentrated.oncentrated.
Dr Black, who completed a four-day stint earlier this week at an Ebola treatment clinic in Kailahun, near Sierra Leone’s northern border with Guinea, said: “There is a section of population here who simply don’t believe Ebola is real, they think it is witchcraft and so they don’t come to the treatment centres.
11.04 This an interesting short video from AFP explaining how Ebola is spread and where the origins of its name comes from.
10.49 Lewis G Brown, Liberian minister of information, told BBC Newsday the country was urging more cases to be reported rather than hidden.
We are continuing with increased levels of public sensitisation and awareness...Frankly the security forces have provided standing orders to carry out the strategy of containment of the virus. To be able to contain it means you have to have less and less movement of people, people need to practice proper hygiene and be aware.
We live in a part of the world where we are still touching the bodies to bury them - and we need to try to make sure people understand. We have to restrict how people interact with the dead. We know how difficult it is. If we have to contain the virus and report no new cases, which is the objective, we have to deal with that as well....
We must report cases rather than hide cases. Initially, even up to now, we have been treated with a sense of denial, but as the disease has spread people have begun to take it seriously. We need to continue to build public awareness.
10.34 The South African health minister said the department is using thermal scanners in O.R. Tambo International Airport, the country's largest, to detect travellers with raised temperatures in order to prevent people with ebola from entering the country, Stephanie Findlay reports from Pretoria, according to News24 and AFP.
10.30 Metro has this interview with an NHS doctor who volunteers in Sierra Leone after giving up his job. In the report, he calls on the world to "wake up" to the increasing threat of Ebola.
Benjamin Black tells the newspaper: "It’s a major concern, what might happen in the rest of the world. The main challenge here, though, is that the health authorities just don’t have the infrastructure to cope.
"They’re overwhelmed."
10.11 Earlier it was reported the US Peace Corps was pulling out of West Africa but now the Wall Street Journal is reporting SIM USA, a North Carolina missionary group providing assistance to those suffering with Ebola in Liberia, and Samaritan's Purse, are evacuating workers.
Samaritan's Purse is a Christian relief organisation from the same state, according to WSJ.
The newspaper reports "they were evacuating nonessential personnel due to the spread of the virus, as well as security issues".
09.50 David Chazan in Paris reports the country's health minister claims France is capable of dealing with the threat of Ebola and the risk that it will spread to France or Europe is low, but called for vigilance.
Yesterday the European Commission said it would give 2 billion euros in additional aid to help to contain the disease in west Africa.
“We will take steps to make sure that our country is not affected,” the French minister promised, speaking after the warnings in Britain.
09.47 Airlines Association, IATA, says the World Health Organisation (WHO) is not recommending any travel restrictions or border closures due to Ebola outbreak.
The association added in the rare event of an Ebola sufferer travelling by air, risks to other passengers are low.
09.44 "I hereby proclaim a State of Public Emergency to enable us take a more robust approach to deal with the Ebola outbreak," President Ernest Bai Koroma said in a speech late on Wednesday, Reuters reports. He added the measures would initially last between 60 and 90 days.
"All epicenters of the disease will be quarantined."
09.39 A spokesman for the Liberian government has sent a full statement on the president's decision not to go to the US: "President Sirleaf will no longer attend the US-Africa Leaders Summit next week in order to coordinate the efforts of the National Task Force on Ebola.
"Government travels will be seriously restricted and limited to only those that are determined to be absolutely necessary and critical.
"The Vice President and a few cabinet ministers whose presence are absolutely necessary will attend the ensuing U.S. - Africa Leaders Summit."

Liberia immigration officers inspect the travel documents of Sierra Leonean nationals at the Bo Waterside border post between Liberia and Sierra Leone
09.28 Hannah Flint writes about the symptoms of the disease.
It can start to show from two days after infection, but this can take up to 21 days. People are contagious for as long as their blood and other bodily fluids contain Ebola.
Some of the symptons include fever, cramps, headache.
For a full list, read her article in full here.
09.26 A spokesman for the Liberian government has confirmed President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, will not attend a summit African leaders in Washington this week so that she can focus on the crisis and "lead the effort".
09.13 Lucy Moreton, Immigration Service Union (ISU) general secretary, has told the BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight her members are ill-prepared for the virus and are "very concerned".
They serve on the front line; they are the first point of contact usually for people coming off an aircraft and the concern is what do they do if they're confronted with someone that doesn't appear well who appears at the border.
"There is no health facility at the border, there is no containment facility, and until extremely recently there has been no guidance issued to staff at all as to what they should do.
"They are phoning us up and asking 'what are we supposed to do, how do we spot this, how do we protect ourselves?', and we can't answer that for them just now."
09.06 Sierra Leone has declared a public health emergency to tackle the worst ever outbreak of Ebola and will call in security forces to quarantine epicentres of the deadly virus, President Ernest Bai Koroma said in a statement, Reuters reports.
The measures resembled a tough anti-Ebola package announced by neighbouring Liberia on Wednesday evening. Koroma also announced he was cancelling a visit to Washington for a U.S.-Africa summit next week because of the crisis.
08.53 Ernest Bai Koroma, Sierra Leone President, says they will quarantine epicentres of Ebola, and calls on security forces to enforce the measures.
08.50 Reuters is reporting that the Sierra Leone President has declared a public health emergency because of virus and has cancelled a trip to Washington.
08.39 The US Peace Corps announced it was pulling hundreds of volunteers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone due to growing concerns over the spread of the deadly Ebola epidemic raging in West Africa, AFP reports.
A Peace Corps spokeswoman said two volunteers had contracted Ebola after coming into contact with someone who later died from the virus, but she stressed that they were not symptomatic and were currently under medical observation and being held in isolation.
08.36 Dr Alexander van Tulleken, humanitarian medicine expert and senior fellow at Fordham University, has written an interesting editorial on the virus which he describes as "terrifying". Here is an extract:

It has three problems as a virus: it kills its victims too quickly and infected people are extremely symptomatic. So unlike, for example, HIV or tuberculosis infections, where people can be contagious but asymptomatic for years, thus infecting many others, it's easy to steer clear of people with Ebola.
Secondly it's actually not that contagious. Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian man who brought Ebola to Lagos, doesn't seem to have infected anyone else – despite being extremely unwell on a crowded plane.
But we can't afford to relax.
You don't have to worry about Ebola but you do have to care.
You can read it in full here.
08.33 The scientist who helped discover the Ebola virus said the outbreak in west Africa was unlikely to trigger a major epidemic outside the region, adding he would happily sit next to an infected person on a train, reports AFP.
But Professor Peter Piot said a "really bad" sense of panic and lack of trust in the authorities in west Africa had contributed to the world's largest-ever outbreak.
The Belgian scientist, now based in Britain, urged officials to test experimental vaccines on people with the virus so that when it inevitably returns, the world is prepared.
08.30 Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone are in the grip of the worst outbreak of Ebola virus in history. According to the latest figures from the Centre for Disease Prevention, 672 people have died so far from 1201 cases. That number is likely to have already risen.
To put that in context, the biggest previous outbreak of the disease saw 224 deaths from 425 cases, and there have only been 2,300 deaths from all previous outbreaks of the virus. This outbreak, which has been growing since January, concerns the deadliest form of the Ebola virus, Zaire ebolavirus.

Mark Oliver and Joel Gunter have produced this graphic showing the numbers of those who have died from the virus since its discovery.
08.20 Welcome to The Telegraph's live coverage of the Ebola outbreak. Much has gone on in the UK with the government's emergency planning comittee, Cobra, meeting yesterday to discuss the potential threat to the UK and Prime Minister David Cameron saying the outbreak was a "very serious threat" to the UK.
However, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the UK is ready for the virus. "We have a lot of experience dealing with diseases that are very dangerous," he added.
Across the pond US health officials warned Western countries they were just "one plane ride away" from infection.
The disease, which can be fatal for up to 90 per cent of infected victims, has now killed more than 670 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Ebola: 69 under watch, two isolated, says FG

Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu

The Federal Government has placed 69 persons who had first contact with the Liberian-born victim of Ebola Virus Disease, Patrick Sawyerr, on surveillance, while two persons have been quarantined, the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said.

He also said government had not shut its borders for now, “except when it becomes necessary.”

According to him, the 69 persons will be under surveillance for a period of three weeks from the date of contact in line with the specifications of the World Health Organisation.

The minister at a joint press briefing with the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, on Thursday on the update of the virus, said Sawyerr with dual citizenship from both Liberia and United States, was confirmed dead barely four days after arrival in Nigeria.

He said, “We decided on the proper manner on how to dispose off his body because the corpse of any victim of Ebola disease is very toxic. The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control decontaminated the body. We are tracking all those who had primary contact with him. As of today, 69 persons have been placed under surveillance while two persons have been quarantined.

“All those in the same aircraft to attend the meeting with him in Calabar are presently under surveillance. They will remain under this surveillance until a period of three weeks from the date of contact. We have a copy of the passengers’ manifest and we discovered that the sitting arrangement was free sitting. We are working with the airlines to track down those other passengers yet to be identified.

“As a Federal Government policy, we have not closed our borders, unless it becomes necessary. But the Aviation Minister is working with us in many aspects to make sure that the virus does not spread.”

Chukwu also stated that that the virus “can be contacted on air even while airborne once you contact the droplets.”

The Minister said government was engaging the states right from the moment that the disease was first reported in Guinea.

“Our rapid response team is in Lagos. Nigeria has been commended by WHO. Secondary contacts are also important. We are working with the Cross River State government. We are not going to quarantine them but we have demanded for their contact details,” he stressed.

Chukwu also commended the hospital where the patient was managed saying, “We commend them for the great job they have done. They did everything to keep the man alive but unfortunately, he passed on. We have ordered the closure of the hospital. The doctors are under surveillance, we are using WHO certified personal protective equipment. Doctors are at high risk but Nigerians should not panic.”

According to him, government is pushing the frontiers of communication “and we believe that by this weekend subscribers of the mobile networks will begin to receive what government has been doing in that regard.”

He said, “We will soon convene a meeting with airline operators, Transport Ministry, Federal Road Safety Commission and Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria to see how to manage people who travel on the West coast. Each state government has been mandated to expand its isolation centres beyond the ones they had before.

“Individuals can now buy sanitizers in offices, hotels and all public places. The idea is to reduce the sources of contamination. If it is not necessary to have a handshake, don’t. But where it is necessary do.”

Meanwhile The Federal Government on Thursday commenced workers’ sensitisation on Ebola at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

A statement issued by the Coordinating General Manager, Aviation Parastatals, Mr. Yakubu Datti, said the workers were from different agencies operating at the two major international airports.

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