Sierra Leone

A worker at a UNICEF-supported Interim Care Center plays with 19-month-old Ebola survivor Tamba in Gueckedou, Forest Region, Guinea on January 11, 2015.  Tamba's mother died of Ebola, then his father abandoned him for fear of catching the disease himself.  UNICEF is working to break down the stigma around Ebola so children like Tamba still have homes to go to.

cnn.com - by Diana Magnay - January 30, 2015

Liberia (CNN) - First, the good news: Ebola is in decline.

2014 was a year of profound fear for communities living with -- and dying of -- the disease; of health workers making the ultimate sacrifice, dying as they tried to save; of apocalyptic forecasts as to the disease's possible spread. . .

. . . Ebola is still critically dangerous. Hotspots remain.

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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS NEWS by Jayalaksmi K      Feb. 2, 2015

A common virus that infects billions at some point of their lives is believed to deliver some protection against other deadlier viruses like HIV and Ebola.

David O'Connor, a pathology professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, found the genetic fingerprints of the virus GBV-C in the records of 13 samples of blood plasma from Ebola patients.

While six of the 13 people who were co-infected with Ebola and GBV-C died, seven survived.

Combined with earlier studies that have hinted persistent infection with the virus slowed disease progression in some HIV patients, researchers think the virus could be beneficial.

"We're very cautious about over-interpreting these results," O'Connor told NPR. He is now waiting to get a bigger sample, to see if there really is a strong connection between GBV-C infection and survival.
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PRESS ASSOCIATION                                                                                                     Feb. 2, 2015

LONDON --A second UK military healthcare worker has been transported back to England after likely exposure to Ebola via a needle-stick injury while treating someone with the virus in Sierra Leone, Public Health England said.

               Press Association - The healthcare worker has been admitted to the Royal Free Hospital in London

The healthcare worker arrived in the UK today and has been admitted to the Royal Free Hospital in London where they are undergoing an assessment.

They have not been diagnosed with Ebola and do not have symptoms, Public Health England added.

It comes after another British military healthcare worker was flown back to England for monitoring after suffering a needle-stick injury, also in Sierra Leone.

Read complete story.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ebola-tests-uk-military-worker-105839068.html#tDyqh5N

              Parents resister pupils at Massaquoi less than a month after the last Ebola patient left the school.

WASHINGTON POST   by Martin Sieff                                                                             Feb. 1, 2015

MONROVIA--As the Ebola epidemic fades here, with fewer than 10 new cases reported per week, Liberia is beginning the massive challenge of resuming normal life. Many of its public institutions have been shuttered since June. Its economy has been paralyzed. More than 3,600 Liberians have died of the disease.

Those who endured the crisis are now grappling with a new set of predicaments: whether to sleep in the rooms where relatives died, to have babies in hospitals where Ebola patients were treated. In a country where containing Ebola meant persuading people to fear it, the public may remain traumatized for some time to come.