The Ebola News Digest

[Godwit]

Crawford Kilian ‏@Crof 7h
#Ebola in Liberia: Calm returns to West Point
http://bit.ly/YGQlSE


BBC Africa ‏@BBCAfrica 4h
Liberia defends curfew imposed on Ebola quarantined area, on #BBCNewsday
http://bbc.in/VHxNjg






Clair MacDougall ‏@ClairMacD 18m
Journalists no longer allowed to enter the quarantine zone in West Point. #Liberia #Ebola #Monrovia

UNICEF Liberia ‏@UNICEF_Liberia 2h
68 tons of emergency supplies are being airlifted by @UNICEFSupply to Monrovia tonight
http://twitter.com/austen_cg/status/502768650726563841/photo/1pic.twitter.com/l1F2BNCdD8

[PyratePrincess]

Posted for fair use:

"MANO RIVER" is the confirmed name of the "new ebola" virus.

http://sunsetinparadise.net/?p=80

Started the day with this this tweet by Dr. Ian M Mckay which states the variant of Ebola Virus (EBOV) discovered by the late Dr. Sheik H Khan et al in this scientific paper has been formally named the Mano River variant.

(No pics here cause I don't know how this new forum works...simple cut and paste gives nada)...


In that paper the authors also state that EBOV is endemic in the region and predicted the likelihood of an epidemic outbreak. I learnt that Dr. Khan did pass this concern up the chain of command a few years ago. Why this outbreak took the respective nations completely by surprise is a puzzle to me and I’m sure many other people.

This variant is responsible for the current epidemic and has been isolated in all 4 currently affected countries. In other words this isn’t your daddy’s Zaire Ebola virus strain back in ’76 (Awesome Mix tape 1 plays in background).

As I’ve previously stated we cannot make assumptions on the behavior of this variant based on that of the Zaire strain, neither can we rule out a higher predilection for airborne droplet spread. For the difference between Ebola strain, vs variant vs isolate you can decipher this here, once again courtesy of Dr. Ian M. McKay. After resulting headache feel free to relax at this beach:

(IMAGINE A LOVELY BEACH PIC)

Evening Palms at Lumley, Freetown Sierra Leone 2012 © SATejan-Sie



As many have speculated-there are not one, but at least two strains of the virus out there. Would explain many of the people who are dying with no reported "bleeding out the orifices".

Winding the tinfoil a little tighter....the "experimental" zmapp given to the 2 americans AND the spanish priest-but NOT the good (late) Dr. Khan who discovered this variant. Perhaps someone wanted to keep this quiet as long as possible....?

[Godwit]

Kelly Hills ‏@rocza Aug 21
Looks like @MackayIM stumbled across confirmation the current #Ebola outbreak is a new EBOV variant, Mano River:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/KM2330


Ian M Mackay, PhD ‏@MackayIM Aug 21
Dr. Sheik H. Khan’s discovery of Mano River variant of #Ebola virus confirmed
http://sunsetinparadise.net/?p=80
[Cool!] @AhmedTejanSie

[grower]

As many have speculated-there are not one, but at least two strains of the virus out there. Would explain many of the people who are dying with no reported "bleeding out the orifices".

Then maybe those most recent cases that were described as "hemorrhagic, but not Ebola" are likely to be Ebola -- just this new variant.

[grower]

[Godwit]

CBC News ‏@CBCNews 2h
Ebola outbreak: Canadian company says its vaccine looks promising
http://cbc.sh/8sPUnMl


Helen Branswell ‏@HelenBranswell 55m
.@TheFebrileMuse @Laurie_Garrett @davidkroll @deborahblum For now it's 4-2, but too little is known to guess at #ZMapp's efficacy. 1/2

Helen Branswell ‏@HelenBranswell 53m
.@TheFebrileMuse @Laurie_Garrett @davidkroll @deborahblum Don't know where people were in disease when they got drug. 2 late could skew 2/3

Helen Branswell ‏@HelenBranswell 52m
.@TheFebrileMuse @Laurie_Garrett @davidkroll @deborahblum Also, not everyone got a full treatment course (3 infusions). Spanish priest=no.

[Godwit]

Ian M Mackay, PhD ‏@MackayIM 2m
For new followers. #Ebola is not airborne. But wet droplets can be an infection risk. See if this makes sense of it..
http://virologydownunder.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/ebola-virus-may-be-spread-by-droplets.html …

[grower]

Liberia

3h Liberian information minister says doctor who got experimental Ebola drug has died - @AP

Democratic Republic of Congo

2h World Health Organization: Since Democratic Republic of Congo has declared an Ebola outbreak, 'we are treating it as such' - @Reuters
End of alert

[Shacknasty Shagrat]

A little more on the failure of the experimental Ebola drug.
SS
'Liberia: Doctor given experimental Ebola drug dies

By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH and ROB GILLIES
Associated Press

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- A Liberian doctor who received one of the last known doses of an experimental Ebola drug has died, officials said Monday, as Canada said it has yet to send out doses of a potential vaccine that the government is donating.

Ebola has left more than 1,400 people dead across West Africa, underscoring the urgency for developing potential ways to stop and treat the disease. However, health experts warn these options have not undergone the rigorous testing that usually takes place before drugs and vaccines are approved.

The experimental vaccines are at still at a Canadian laboratory,.....
Only six people in the world are known to have received the untested drug known as ZMapp. The small supply is now said to be exhausted and it is expected to be months before more can be produced by its U.S. maker....
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT
SS

[Shacknasty Shagrat]

Things happen quickly.
'Dr. Tom Frieden ‏@DrFriedenCDC 23h
Headed to Africa to hear directly from people there what can be done better & faster to stop #Ebola
http://fxn.ws/1zd69rm @fxnopinion'

followed by

'Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was supposed to fly to West Africa on Monday to gauge the effects of the world’s worst Ebola outbreak.

Then his flight was canceled.

Brussels Airlines was forced to halt flights to the affected region after Senegal’s refusal this weekend to allow the Belgium-based carrier to touch down in Dakar, the capital, for crew changes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...0c_story.html?
SS