Africa

Read more about Spanish priest with Ebola dies in hospital
Log in or register to post comments

WHO grants ethics approval for use of experimental Ebola drug - Zmapp

Tue, 2014-08-12 07:50 — JSole

The World Health Organization declared Tuesday that it's ethical to use unproven Ebola drugs and vaccines in the outbreak in West Africa provided the right conditions are met.

"In the particular circumstances of this outbreak and provided certain conditions are met, the panel reached consensus that it is ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet unknown efficacy and adverse effects, as potential treatment or prevention," the agency said in a statement.

The panel said "more detailed analysis and discussion" are needed to decide how to achieve fair distribution in communities and among countries, since there is an extremely limited supply of the experimental drugs and vaccines.

The statement from the UN health agency came amid a worldwide debate over the medical ethics surrounding the Ebola outbreak. However the agency sidestepped the key questions of who should get the limited drugs and how that should be decided.

WHO says 1,013 people have died so far in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and authorities have recorded 1,848 suspected or confirmed cases.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Read more about WHO grants ethics approval for use of experimental Ebola drug - Zmapp
3 comments
Log in or register to post comments

The Deadly History of Ebola Outbreaks

Tue, 2014-08-12 00:36 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Volunteers prepare to remove the bodies of people who were suspected of contracting Ebola and died in the community in the village of Pendebu, Sierra Leone, on August 2, 2014. REUTERS/WHO/Tarik Jasarevic

cbsnews.com - By Agata Blaszczak-Boxe - August 11, 2014

The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa has rapidly grown into the largest and deadliest in history, claiming more than 960 lives so far in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. The death toll is already more than three times higher than any previous Ebola outbreak. Experts say a number of factors have contributed to making this outbreak so much worse than those that came before.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Read more about The Deadly History of Ebola Outbreaks
Log in or register to post comments

Experimental Ebola Drug On Its Way to Liberia

Mon, 2014-08-11 23:32 — Kathy Gilbeaux

cnn.com - by Susannah Cullinane - August 11, 2014

(CNN) -- The government of Liberia says that sample doses of the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp will be sent there to treat doctors who have contracted the deadly virus.

The White House and Food and Drug Administration approved the Liberian request for the drug to be made available to them.

Liberia identified itself as the recipient of the drug after the company that makes ZMapp said earlier that its supply was exhausted after fulfilling the request of a West African country, which it did not name.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

(ALSO SEE SAME ARTICLE HERE)

Read more about Experimental Ebola Drug On Its Way to Liberia
Log in or register to post comments

Liberia Health System Collapsing as Ebola Spreads

Mon, 2014-08-11 23:05 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Health workers, wearing head-to-toe protective gear, prepare for work, outside an isolation unit in Foya District, Lofa County, Liberia in this July 2014 UNICEF handout photo. REUTERS/Ahmed Jallanzo/UNICEF/Handout via Reuters

reuters.com - by Stella Dawson - August 7, 2014

WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The health care system in Liberia is collapsing, hospitals closing down and medical workers fleeing from the Ebola epidemic, which is poised to worsen, Liberia’s foreign minister said on Thursday.

“People are dying from common diseases because the health care system is collapsing,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan said in an interview with Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“It is going to have a long-term impact, even after this crisis is behind us.”

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Read more about Liberia Health System Collapsing as Ebola Spreads
Log in or register to post comments

Panel discussion on ethical considerations for use of unregistered interventions for Ebola viral disease

Sun, 2014-08-10 20:41 — Maeryn Obley

who.int - August 8th, 2014

The recent treatment of two health and workers infected with the Ebola virus with experimental medicine has raised questions about whether medicine that has never been tested and shown to be safe in people should be used in the outbreak, and, given the extremely limited amount of medicine available, if it is used, who should receive it.

A number of interventions have been through the laboratory and animal study phases of development. It is likely that ‘first in man’ studies will be conducted over the next 2-4 months. It is also likely that the number of doses available for further study and/or deployment from end 2014 onwards will remain insufficient to meet demand.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Tracing Ebola’s Breakout to an African 2-Year-Old

Sun, 2014-08-10 20:29 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Doctors Without Borders workers at an Ebola treatment center in Guinea in April, shortly after the virus was recognized. Credit Kjell Gunnar Beraas/Doctors Without Borders

nytimes.com - By DENISE GRADY and SHERI FINK - August 9, 2014

Patient Zero in the Ebola outbreak, researchers suspect, was a 2-year-old boy who died on Dec. 6, just a few days after falling ill in a village in Guéckédou, in southeastern Guinea. Bordering Sierra Leone and Liberia, Guéckédou is at the intersection of three nations, where the disease found an easy entry point to the region.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

(THE GLOBAL RESILIENCE SYSTEM IS ASSISTING WITH THE ADMINISTRATION OF A FACEBOOK PAGE TITLED
"Ebola Virus Info".
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE "Ebola Virus Info" FACEBOOK PAGE.)

Read more about Tracing Ebola’s Breakout to an African 2-Year-Old
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola Virus Info - Facebook

Sun, 2014-08-10 20:28 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Read more about Ebola Virus Info - Facebook
Log in or register to post comments

Ebola Virus Info - Twitter - @InfoEbola

Sun, 2014-08-10 20:27 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Global Resilience System-great up to date info: http://t.co/u8ValDjczW
— Ebola Virus Info (@InfoEbola) August 7, 2014

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Read more about Ebola Virus Info - Twitter - @InfoEbola
Log in or register to post comments

WHO urged to allow experimental drugs in "dire" Ebola outbreak

Sun, 2014-08-10 20:20 — Maeryn Obley

Volunteers prepare to remove the bodies of people who were suspected of contracting Ebola and died in the community in the village of Pendebu, north of Kenema August 2 , 2014. REUTERS/WHO/Tarik Jasarevic/Handout via Reuters

Image: Volunteers prepare to remove the bodies of people who were suspected of contracting Ebola and died in the community in the village of Pendebu, north of Kenema August 2 , 2014. REUTERS/WHO/Tarik Jasarevic/Handout via Reuters

trust.org - August 5th, 2014 - Kate Kelland

Three of the world's leading Ebola specialists called on Tuesday for experimental drugs and vaccines to be offered to people in West Africa, where a vast outbreak of the deadly disease is raging in three countries.

Noting that American aid workers who contracted the disease in Liberia were given an unapproved medicine before being evacuated back to the United States, the specialists - including Peter Piot, who co-discovered Ebola in 1976 - said Africans affected by the same outbreak should get the same chance.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: