Solutions

abcnews.go.com - by Katie Moisse - August 28, 2014

U.S. scientists will begin testing an Ebola vaccine in humans next week, health officials announced today. But it could take 11 months to learn whether the vaccine is safe as the virus’ toll in West Africa continues to rise. . .

. . . The experimental vaccine, co-developed by the National Institutes of Health and GlaxoSmithKline, “performed extremely well in protecting nonhuman primates from Ebola infection,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH’s infectious disease branch, said.

Catharine Paddock PhD - 29 August 2014 - medicalnewstoday.com

An international research team has rapidly sequenced 99 Ebola virus genomes collected in the 2014 outbreak. The team, including members from the Broad Institute and Harvard University in the US and the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation, hopes the findings will help multidisciplinary, international efforts to understand and contain the unprecedented epidemic that is growing in West Africa.

The researchers report their findings in the journal Science. Five team members died of Ebola virus disease before the manuscript was published, and their fellow authors honor their memory in the study report.

The 99 genomes came from 78 patients diagnosed with Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone during the first 24 days of the outbreak. Some patients gave more than one sample, allowing the team to see how the virus changed over the course of a single infection.

BBC News - 28 August 2014 Last updated at 12:02 GMT

Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola death outside Lagos – a doctor in the oil hub of Port Harcourt.  His wife has been put under quarantine, while a further 70 people in the city are under surveillance.  Latest figures show more than 1,550 people have died of Ebola, with at least 3,000 confirmed cases - mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.  The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the total number of cases could potentially exceed 20,000.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28966258

There are fears Ebola has spread to a fifth country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, as sub-Saharan African authorities take drastic steps to keep population centres safe from the worst-ever Ebola outbreak.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Broadcast: 25/08/2014 - Reporter: Martin Cuddihy

. . . GAVIN MACGREGOR-SKINNER, ELIZABETH R. GRIFFIN RESEARCH FOUNDATION: It's heartbreaking. For being involved in infectious diseases prevention and control for years, what I'm hearing on the news, what I'm reading and the conversations that I'm having with colleagues in West Africa, it's absolutely heartbreaking.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: Gavin MacGregor-Skinner is an Australian expert in public health and emergency responses. He's now based in Washington, DC, but is preparing to leave for Nigeria. He says technology is making a big difference in how quickly authorities can react.

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