United States

REUTERS                                         OCT. 24, 2014

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON  - The Obama administration is considering quarantining healthcare workers returning to the United States from the Ebola hot zone of West Africa, after a New York doctor who treated Ebola patients there tested positive for the virus.

Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Reuters on Friday that quarantine is among a number of options being discussed by officials from across the administration.

"There are a number of options being discussed pertaining to the monitoring and mobility of healthcare workers who are returning to the United States from affected countries," Skinner said.

WHO ANNOUNCES  EBOLA VACCINE TRIALS WILL BE SPEEDED UP TO DECEMBER.
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REUTERS                                       OCT. 24

By Stephanie Nebehay and Kate Kelland

GENEVA/LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Trials of Ebola vaccines could begin in West Africa in December, a month earlier than expected, and hundreds of thousands of doses should be available for use by the middle of next year, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

Vaccines are being developed and made ready in record time by drugmakers working with regulators, the U.N. health agency said, but questions remain about their safety and efficacy which can only be settled by full clinical trials.

"Vaccine is not a magic bullet, but when ready they may be a good part of the effort to turn the tide against the epidemic," senior WHO official Marie-Paule Kieny told a news briefing after a meeting in Geneva of industry executives, global health experts, drug regulators and funders.

UPDATES:  Officials Tracing New York Ebola Patient’s Movements, While Reassuring a Wary City-- Two stories

The Gutter, the bowling alley in Brooklyn that Dr. Spencer visited with friends on Wednesday night. According to Dr. Mary T. Bassett, New York City's health commissioner, Dr. Spencer was not symptomatic at the time. Credit Robert Stolarik for The New York Times

NEW YORK TIMES                                                                                     Oct. 24, 2014               

By MARC SANTORA

USA TODAY                                                                                               Oct. 23, 014
Bt Brett Melino

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen says he will pledge at least $100 million to help fight the spread of Ebola.

In a statement released through his personal website on Thursday, Allen says the funding will go to the State Department to develop medevac containment units to evacuate health professionals from West Africa.

Allen is also working with the University of Massachusetts Medical School to donate funds to offer training, medical workers and equipment in Liberia, one of the nations hardest hit by the Ebola epidemic....

Allen is not the first prominent tech name to lend their fortunes toward the Ebola crisis. Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, gave $25 million to the CDC Foundation. Last month, fellow Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates donated $50 million through his foundation to battle Ebola.

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