In Sierra Leone, a Cuban doctor infected with Ebola became the latest of nearly 600 health workers to have contracted the virus, amid fresh warnings that the fight against the disease is far from over.
Ebola Preparation by US Radiology Departments
A special report on radiology preparedness for handling cases of Ebola virus has been issued by Radiologists from the National Institutes of Health and Emory University School of Medicine.
A special report on radiology preparedness for handling cases of Ebola virus has been issued by Radiologists from the National Institutes of Health and Emory University School of Medicine.
"He's not critical, he's doing well, in a good condition," Jorge Delgado Butillo said.
"The most important thing now is to get him evacuated to Geneva pretty soon," he said, adding that the rest of the Cuban team had not been discouraged by the infection of their 43-year-old colleague.
Ebola Could Eclipse Malaria
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has voiced concerns that because of the focus on the Ebola virus, malaria risks are being sidelined, a medical professor said after meeting the monarch.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has voiced concerns that because of the focus on the Ebola virus, malaria risks are being sidelined, a medical professor said after meeting the monarch.
Cuba said the doctor was being treated by British medics.
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Turn in Ebola Outbreak on Horizon, but Rapid Diagnostic Tests Needed
The World Health Organization voiced hope that the number of Ebola cases would start falling by next year, stressing the need to develop rapid diagnostic tests for the end-phase.
The World Health Organization voiced hope that the number of Ebola cases would start falling by next year, stressing the need to develop rapid diagnostic tests for the end-phase.
The worst ever outbreak of Ebola has killed almost 5,200 people, mostly in west Africa, but the international community, particularly the World Health Organization, has come under fire for its slow response.
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Teenage Pregnancy and Violence in Ebola Times
A chaste new set of social norms are being followed by people of Ebola-hit Sierra Leone, where touching and kissing are a definite no-no .
A chaste new set of social norms are being followed by people of Ebola-hit Sierra Leone, where touching and kissing are a definite no-no .
According to WHO figures, of the 570 healthcare workers known to have contracted the virus, 324 have died.
- Lack of toilets -
The three countries at the epicentre of the outbreak are among the world's poorest, with sketchy healthcare and infrastructure facilities that were ravaged by years of inter-linked civil conflicts.
The lack of toilets in the region was highlighted by the United Nations as a possible cause of the spread of the highly contagious haemorrhagic disease.
Half the population of Liberia, the country worst hit by the epidemic, have no access to toilets, while in Sierra Leone nearly a third of people live without latrines, a new UN report said.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said the fight against Ebola was going well, citing a big drop in the number of new infections during a tour of an Ebola Treatment Unit or ETU.
"I feel very good. The people are working well -? doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers -? they are all very vigilant and very efficient; more importantly, most of the ETUs don't have patients," she added.
Her office said the objective was to have "zero new cases by Christmas".
The World Bank meanwhile said nearly half the workforce in Liberia was no longer working since the onset of the epidemic.
The bank said the hardest-hit were the self-employed working in markets, where activity has dried up because of Ebola fears.
In Mali, which has recorded five Ebola deaths, 413 people were being tracked for signs of the disease and only one -- a doctor at a hospital where a Guinean imam had died of the disease -- has tested positive, the government said.
The oil-rich west African country of Equatorial Guinea meanwhile hired 50 Cuban doctors to help prevent an Ebola outbreak during football's Africa Cup of Nations next year, an official said.
The original hosts, Morocco, refused to host the competition because it feared Ebola could be transmitted by visiting supporters. When it requested a postponement, it was stripped of the tournament and thrown out of the next two.
- 'Danger for entire world' -
The fight against Ebola is far from being won despite the encouraging news from Liberia, world leaders have warned.
"As long as the outbreak continues to rage in the three countries in west Africa -- Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea -- this is still going to be a danger -- not just for America, but for the entire world," US President Barack Obama said.
"We are nowhere near out of the woods yet in West Africa," he said.
The worldwide focus on Ebola has meanwhile worried the British monarch who fears that malaria -- which can also be fatal -- would be ignored.
"After Ebola we will still have malaria," Queen Elizabeth II said, according to David Heymann, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
"She's afraid that malaria will have a comeback because of the fact people are not paying enough attention to it," he said.
Source-AFP
