#Ebola resurgence in Liberia – 160 being monitored after teenager dies

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New case of #Ebola virus in Liberia- deadly outbreak continues.

Liberia was declared ebola free in September, and earlier this week I posted about the recovery of the last ebola case in Guinea. However, a new case of ebola has been reported in Liberia, stressing the difficulty of ending the most deadly ebola outbreak in history. Above is an image from WHO from earlier in the week, showing the difference a year can make, although the graphic does not capture this new ebola case in Liberia.

A new case of Ebola emerged in Liberia on Friday in a setback for the country declared free of the disease on Sept. 3 and for the region, which is struggling to end an epidemic that has killed around 11,300 people.

The patient is a 10-year-old boy who lived with his parents and three siblings in Paynesville, a suburb east of the capital Monrovia, said Minister of Health Minister Bernice Dahn.

All six family members, as well as other high risk contacts, were in care at an Ebola Treatment Unit in Paynesville, Dahn said.

End of the deadly #Ebola outbreak in West Africa?

The deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa may finally be over.  While the Ebola outbreak was only in US news for a brief period, it has continued to ravage affected countries until recently. Sierra Leone and Liberia have been declared ebola free, and with the last known ebola patient in recovery, Guinea may soon also be on that list.

A 3-week-old girl in Guinea believed to be last victim of Ebola has recovered, potentially signaling the end of an unprecedented two-year epidemic in West Africa that claimed more than 11,000 lives.

By global health standards, 42 days must pass without another case of Ebola for Guinea to be declared free of the disease. The incubation period for Ebola is 21 days and out of an abundance of caution, twice that period of time must pass before the WHO declares the disease is defeated in Guinea.

NYC Ebola survivor Dr. Craig Spencer – video and lessons learned

Check out this video of Dr. Craig Spencer describing his time treating Ebola in Guinea and then contracting the disease himself in NYC. More info here.

He writes about his illness as a missed opportunity for the news media to educate the public about the disease. “After my diagnosis, the media and politicians could have educated the public about Ebola. Instead, they spent hours retracing my steps through New York and debating whether Ebola can be transmitted through a bowling ball.”

#Ebola update: First increase in ebola cases in 2015 in all 3 heavily impacted countries

Despite the recent good news out of West Africa showing weeks of decreases in Ebola case incidences, last week showed increases in ebola cases in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone (graph above modified from WHO situation report showing cases from Guinea, recent case count tallies below from CDC). More info and graphs from the other affected countries can be found at CDC, WHO. A news article from Reuters here.

The recent increases in ebola cases are a reminder that the outbreak is still ongoing, and that trials for ebola treatments and vaccines are still as important as ever!

Nurse Kaci Hickox calls out Gov Chris Christie for ignoring #science… AGAIN #vaccines #IStandWithKaci #Ebolx

Remember Kaci Hickox? The nurse that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie quarantined when she returned from West Africa during the ebola outbreak because he ignored the science and gave into Ebola fear-mongering? She is now calling out the Governor for his anti-science stances, this time when it comes to his recent statements on vaccines. Turns out Kaci has a heck of a lot more experience with measles than Chris Christie!! More info on Kaci’s statements here.

I think this is a good example of Gov. Christie making some very ill-informed statements. We heard it a lot during the Ebola discussion, and now it seems to have happened again.

We know that vaccines are safe, and we know that vaccines save lives. I have worked in a measles outbreak in northern Nigeria before. We were seeing about 2,000 children a week with measles. It is a scary disease. I know that these families of these 100 people who have the disease now could tell you a little bit about what the disease looks like and how much misery it causes. After the vaccine was implemented in 1963, there was a large reduction in cases, about 98 percent. And I believe it was 1989 to ’91, there was a resurgence. … The stakes are high. We have to protect our most vulnerable populations. – Kaci Hickox

#Ebola Update: Outbreak may be subsiding – BUT after 21759 cases – 8668 deaths

This terrific popsci.com article highlights the role that international intervention played in slowing and reversing the West African Ebola outbreak. First off, lets not downplay the horribleness of the outbreak:

The havoc that Ebola is wreaking in West Africa cannot be understated. With a total of 21,200 people infected since March 2014, the disease is shredding the social fabric of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, leaving 8,400 dead. People live in fear, afraid to shake others’ hands. Survivors are shunned, and those suspected of carrying the disease are being physically assaulted in some regions.

Scientific models showed late last summer that the Ebola outbreak could result in over a million cases without a strong international effort to curb it. Many governments and aid organizations did step up, and were likely responsible for proving the scientific models wrong… Colin Brown (who studies infectious diseases at King’s College London) puts it perfectly:

The models showed what could happen if there was a lack of international effort. We really don’t know what would have happened if the world hadn’t stepped up.

While the outbreak seems to be subsiding, the article also highlights the need for people and governments to not be complacent… not surprisingly.

Graphs showing the awesome downward trend of cases and deaths can be found in the article, or in the WHO situation reports here. Shout out to my cousin Jason, who shared this article with me!

The #Ebola Outbreak Continues in West Africa! New Case Counts and the safety trial for Merck-NewLink’s vaccine restarts

Despite the dissipated interest by most media outlets in the US, the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa continues. The CDC and WHO have updated Ebola case counts for the West African countries impacted most by the outbreak. The number of deaths now exceeds 8,000.

A clinical trial testing the safety of an Ebola vaccine has had to undergo a change in dose. The trial in Geneva, is testing a vaccine made by Merck-NewLink, and was halted in early December.

The clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine developed by Merck and NewLink resumed on Monday at a lower dose after a pause to assess complaints of joint pains in some volunteers, the University of Geneva hospital said.

#Ebola Update: FDA approves 3-hour Ebola test from Roche, Ebola case count surpasses 20,000!

The FDA has approved a Roche test for Ebola that detects the virus in 3 hours (LightMix Ebola Zaire rRT-PCR). More info here.

New case counts from the World Health Organization indicate there have been more than 20,000 Ebola cases in the current West African outbreak.

More than 20,000 people have been diagnosed with Ebola virus and more than 7,800 have died of it, according to the latest data from the World Health Organization. It’s a new milestone in the ever-worsening Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, and it shows Sierra Leone has more cases than any other country.

We finally have a Surgeon General! #It’sAboutTime

Yesterday, the senate FINALLY voted to confirm the new U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy.  We have gone over one year without a surgeon general (c’mon, where are our priorities?!), and are in the midst of an international Ebola crisis.  So yea… it’s about time for this to finally happen.

Dr. Murthy has an impressive resume: an MD and an MBA currently practicing and teaching at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and teaching at Harvard Medical school. He co-founded a clinical trials company, an HIV education organization, and Doctors for America. And hasn’t even celebrated his 40th B-day yet. Bam!

Part of the hold up in the confirmation may have arisen from a tweet by Dr. Murthy several years ago, where he asserted that “guns are a health care issue.”

Clearly, the National Rifle Association has not been too happy about that…

HOWEVER, Murthy states that his primary goal as surgeon general will be to target obesity. Good luck!!