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Global surge in coronavirus cases is being fed by the developing world — and the U.S.

Wed, 2020-07-15 13:40 — mike kraft

Global surge in coronavirus cases is being fed by the developing world — and the U.S. While some areas have recovered, case counts are hitting new highs in many regions. Griff Witte, Mary Beth Sheridan, Joanna Slater, Liz Sly

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Rigorous wildlife disease surveillence needed

Fri, 2020-07-10 23:55 — mike kraft

Rigorous wildlife disease surveillance Evidence suggests that zoonotic (animal origin) coronaviruses have caused three recent emerging infectious disease (EID) outbreaks: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In the search for an intermediate host for SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19), studies have identified SARS-CoV-2–like strains in bats ([ 1 ][1]) and pangolins ([ 2 ][2]), but these do not contain the same polybasic cleavage site that is present in SARS-CoV-2 ([ 3 ][3]).

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Climate Crisis Raises Risk of More Ebola Outbreaks

Wed, 2019-10-16 13:46 — Kathy Gilbeaux

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Impacts of environmental and socio-economic factors on emergence and epidemic potential of Ebola in Africa

cnn.com - by Jen Christensen - October 15, 2019

The climate crisis is going to raise the risk that Ebola will spread farther and reach areas previously unaffected by the virus, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications . . .

. . . In west and central Africa, where outbreaks have traditionally clustered, outbreaks would happen more frequently and spread farther, via airlines, to previously unaffected areas, the researchers suggested. Using the current network of airline flights in their model, the study suggests that there is a high risk of Ebola spreading to China, Russia, India, Europe and the United States.

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China's Mobile Payment Revolution Is Going to Africa

Mon, 2016-02-29 04:14 — Kathy Gilbeaux

BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

huffingtonpost.com - by Claire van den Heever - February 26, 2016

CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- With the launch of Apple Pay in mainland China on Feb. 18, Apple has become the first foreign player to secure a place at the table for China's enormous mobile payment market. . . .

. . . Africa's largest lender by assets, Standard Bank, has opted for a more direct route: joining forces with WeChat to secure a piece of Africa's growing mobile payment market. The Standard Bank-backed WeChat Wallet was launched in November 2015 in the continent's most industrialized nation, South Africa, and gives users access to a variety of the Chinese version's most popular offerings, including peer-to-peer money transfers and in-app payments for taxis and other services.

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A Chinese Ebola Drug Raises Hopes, and Rancor

Fri, 2015-06-12 14:25 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES by Sheri Fink, MD June 12, 2015

After a nurse who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone was discharged Wednesday from a Rome hospital, a doctor there described the experimental treatments the patient had received as “absolutely miraculous.”

The lab at Beijing Mabworks, which developed the experimental drug, MIL77, used to treat Ebola. Credit Adam Dean for The New York Times

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After four months, North Korea’s Ebola quarantine comes to an end

Tue, 2015-03-03 23:49 — mike kraft

WASHINGTON POST BY Anna Fifield March 3, 2015

TOKYO — North Korea has lifted its four-month-long Ebola quarantine, bringing an end to a period of isolation that was notable even by the Hermit Kingdom’s standards.

Embassies and international aid agencies in Pyongyang received a "note verbale" from North Korea's State Emergency Anti-Epidemic Committee informing them that the quarantine was now over for all visitors except for those arriving from a handful of west African countries. Tour operators have also been informed by their North Korean partners and the state airline that the borders are being re-opened.

With no cases of the virus east of Africa, the strictly-enforced 21 day quarantine for everyone entering North Korea — locals and foreigners alike — was puzzling and inevitably sparked theories about what the ban could really be about.

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Where Could Ebola Strike Next? Scientists Hunt Virus In Asia January 02, 2015

Fri, 2015-01-02 18:26 — mike kraft

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO by Michaeleen Doucleff Jan. 2, 2015

...Scientists think bats likely triggered the entire Ebola epidemic in West Africa....

So now the big question is: Where else in the world is Ebola hiding out in bats? Where could the next big outbreak occur?

Ecologists found signs of Ebola in a Rousettus leschenaultii fruit bat. These bats are widespread across south Asia, from India to China. Kevin Olival/EcoHealth Alliance

.. ecologist Kevin Olival at EcoHealth Alliance in New York City... hunts down another virus in bats, called Nipah. In humans, it causes inflammation in the brain and comas....

Nipah has outbreaks every few years in Bangladesh. So Olival went there back in 2010 and captured a bunch of bats. Many had signs of Nipah in their blood. Others had something surprising: "There's antibodies to something related to Ebola Zaire."

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China, Russia Send Ebola Facilities To West Africa

Sun, 2014-11-16 23:11 — mike kraft

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY Nov. 16, 2014

(Two stories, scroll down)

November 16, 2014

Russia and China are providing facilities to treat people suffering from the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa.

The Chinese Embassy in Liberia said on November 16 that 160 Chinese health-care workers have arrived to staff a $41 million Ebola treatment unit in the country hardest-hit in an outbreak that has killed more than 5,100 people this year.

It said many of the doctors, epidemiologists and nurses who will work at the facility previously helped tackle the SARS epidemic in Asia.

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http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-china-ebola-aid-west-africa/26694812.html
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Russia airlifts field hospital

INTERFAX Nov. 16, 2014
http://rbth.com/news/2014/11/16/russia_airlifts_field_hospital_to_guinea_to_fight_ebola_41442.html

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China to build Ebola hospital in Liberia

Thu, 2014-11-06 21:23 — mike kraft

THE GUARDIAN NOV. 6, 2014
By Jonathan Kaiman

BEIJING -- China plans to build a 100-bed medical centre in Liberia to combat Ebola, officials announced on Thursday, after criticism that the country is not doing enough to fight the disease.

Chinese medical staff receiving an Ebola training session in Beijing. The size of China's aid response to the outbreak has been criticised. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

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China To Send Elite Army Unit To Ebola-Hit Liberia

Fri, 2014-10-31 21:19 — mike kraft

REUTERS Oct. 31, 2014
By Megha Rajagopalan

BEIJING, -- China will dispatch an elite unit of the People's Liberation Army to help Ebola-hit Liberia, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday, responding to U.N. calls for a greater global effort to fight the deadly virus in West Africa.

Washington has led the international drive to stop the spread of the disease...sending thousands of troops and committing about $1 billion, but Beijing has faced criticism for not doing enough although it is Africa's largest trading partner.

The PLA squad, which has experience from a 2002 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), will build a 100-bed treatment center in Liberia, the first such facility in the three countries most impacted by Ebola to be constructed and run by a foreign country, said Lin Songtian, director general of the ministry's Department of African Affairs.

The center will be open for operation in a month's time, he told a briefing in Beijing. China will also dispatch 480 PLA medical staff to treat Ebola patients, he said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/31/china-ebola-liberia_n_6080396.html

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