Guinea - Ebola: Thread documenting initial outbreak - March 2014 +

[Pathfinder]

Re: Guinea - Hemorrhagic fever killed 80 people with 122 suspected cases - Ebola lab confirmed in 24 cases

Guinea Ebola outbreak 'limited geographic area' - WHO

1 hour ago

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is taking "very seriously" the current outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa.

Its spokesman Gregory Hartl stated that it was neither an epidemic, nor "unprecedented" - although medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) used that word on Monday to describe the outbreak.
...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26843741

[Pathfinder]

Re: Guinea - Hemorrhagic fever killed 80 people with 122 suspected cases - Ebola lab confirmed in 24 cases

Translation Google

Guinea : WHO puts the extent of the Ebola outbreak

Posted on 01-04-2014 at 23:50

CONAKRY (Reuters ) - The World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday played down the extent of the Ebola outbreak , even as Doctors Without Borders ( MSF) had estimated that it was unprecedented.

The number of suspected and confirmed cases in Guinea is 122 , including 80 deaths. Some cases have been reported in the capital Conakry. In neighboring Liberia , there were seven suspected or confirmed cases, including four deaths.

Asked if the current epidemic in West Africa was indeed unprecedented , spokesman Gregory Hartl of WHO said that there had been much larger outbreaks in the past in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda.

"It's still relatively small . Larger epidemics are over 400 case," he said at a press conference in Geneva, adding that this was not the first time that cases were reported in a capital, since there had already been in Libreville, Gabon in the 1990s.

" We are facing an epidemic of unprecedented scale in the distribution of cases across the country," had said Monday Mariano Lugli , MSF coordinator in Conakry. " This geographical spread is a concern because it greatly complicates the task of the organization working in the containment of the epidemic," he added.

...

http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/monde/20140401.REU2931/guinee-l-oms-relativise-l-ampleur-de-l-epidemie-de-fievre-ebola.html

[Pathfinder]

Re: Guinea - Hemorrhagic fever killed 80 people with 122 suspected cases - Ebola lab confirmed in 24 cases

Translation Google

Embassy of France in Conakry

Ebola : update April 1

Update on the situation Tuesday, April 1, 2014

1 . 1 new suspected case , who died in Conakry , who had been in contact with sick previously reported. So there is not, to date, a specific new outbreak in the Guinean capital . 4 new suspected cases and 2 deaths within the country : Gu?k?dou (2 suspected cases, 2 deaths ) , Kissidougou (1 case) , Dabola (1 case in connection with the two previous recorded deaths ) .

2 . Overall count : 127 suspected cases, 83 deaths , distributed as follows: Gu?k?dou ( 79 cases , 57 deaths ) , Macenta ( 23 cases , 14 deaths ) , Kissidougou (9 cases, 5 deaths ) Dabola (3 cases , 2 deaths ) , Dinguiraye (1 case , 1 death ) , Conakry (12 cases, 4 deaths ) .

3 . The main focus of the epidemic remains concentrated in three prefectures of Guinea forest in Gu?k?dou mainly Macenta and Kissidougou .
...

http://www.ambafrance-gn.org/Ebola-point-de-situation-au-31

[Pathfinder]

Re: Guinea - Hemorrhagic fever killed 80 people with 122 suspected cases - Ebola lab confirmed in 24 cases

Press release of MSF on 31 March 2014

Mobilisation against an unprecedented Ebola epidemic

http://www.msf.org/article/guinea-mobilisation-against-unprecedented-ebola-epidemic

[Pathfinder]

Re: Guinea - Hemorrhagic fever killed 80 people with 122 suspected cases - Ebola lab confirmed in 24 cases

WHO says Guinea Ebola outbreak small as MSF slams international response

April 2, 2014 8:59am

CONAKRY - The World Health Organization on Tuesday (Wednesday, PHL time) played down the extent of an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus suspected to have killed over 80 in Guinea, a day after medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned of an unprecedented epidemic.
...
Asked if the spread of the disease was unprecedented, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said there had been much larger outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
...
"Ebola already causes enough concern and we need to be very careful about how we characterize something which is up until now an outbreak with sporadic cases," Hartl said.

However, MSF Director General Bruno Jochum said it was remarkable the outbreak had spread to several places and to a city of around two million people, Conakry.

"These two characteristics make it an exceptional event for an Ebola outbreak up until today," Jochum said, adding that given the high mortality rates among identified cases, it should be taken extremely seriously.
...
Jochum said at a separate news conference in Geneva on Tuesday that MSF and other organizations such as the Red Cross and Pasteur Institute had been active on the ground but the response from state authorities and international public health organizations has been minimal.
...
Guinea, the hardest hit by the outbreak, had the lowest ratio of hospital beds per capita in a World Bank survey of 68 nations in 2011, with just 0.3 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

Reuters

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/355089/news/world/who-says-guinea-ebola-outbreak-small-as-msf-slams-international-response

[Pathfinder]

Re: Guinea - Hemorrhagic fever killed 80 people with 122 suspected cases - Ebola lab confirmed in 24 cases

Translation Google

report
Wednesday, April 2, 2014 by ? Agence France- Presse (AFP)

Guinea / Ebola : A Gu?k?dou , patients are waiting for death

Totally isolated in the center of M?decins Sans Fronti?res ( MSF) Gueckedou , one of the most affected by the Ebola outbreak in southern Guinea cities , many patients are waiting only death .

The MSF center , one of the most active organizations in the fight against the epidemic of haemorrhagic fever in part caused by the Ebola virus - highly contagious and often fatal - was installed in the courtyard of the prefectural Direction Health Gu?ck?dou .

Amid several tents , the NGO has mounted two buildings covered with corrugated iron with a total capacity of twenty beds, but can accommodate fifty if necessary. One welcomes the " suspected cases " , the other the "confirmed cases" where two patients died Monday.

In the first building since six days Rose, 12, who has just been confirmed positive for Ebola virus and Tuesday will join her mother and her aunt Elisabeth Christine , in the building next door .

The Ebola virus , fatal in 90% of cases and the origin of some hemorrhagic fevers that killed nearly 80 people in Guinea since January, leaving little chance of survival.

"Rose will perhaps die soon and then it will definitely be my turn ," sobbed Rene, 18, a family member admitted to the center for two days, in the building of suspected cases specialized Europe.

"Rose come out from time to time , requesting coffee with milk and fruit juice ," says Pascal Piguet, MSF logistician .

"The Dilemma ," he says , was to decide to transfer Rose with her mother and aunt in the building confirmed cases where " she will see them die," or to " keep her in acorner, with the risk to infect those who are not declared positive . " But, he added gravely, " you must choose the lesser evil ," the transfer .

- Combinations totally sealed -

On orange chairs installed in the center , sitting members and relatives of patients admitted to one of the two blocks .

" Our staff is already aware that he must respect a safe distance ," says Pascal Piguet , adding: " Once a person rises, it will discreetly spray ( with disinfectant ) to prevent the chair of contaminate others do . "

Thirty people , Guineans and foreigners working in MSF center Gu?k?dou , most dressed in blue or green uniforms, some in civilian clothes.

But those who have direct contact with suspected and confirmed cases to talk to them , care for them , feed them, wash , clean parts, are of completely sealed combinations head to toe with gloves, goggles, masks and boots .

Since Sunday , a mobile laboratory installed in the MSF center is operational. European specialists will carry out tests on samples taken from patients in order to expedite the diagnosis previously established primarily in units .

Another lab is located in Conakry, the capital, where a team from the Institut Pasteur in Dakar came with its own equipment works .

To date , 22 cases of Ebola have been identified in the South and in Conakry on 122 cases of suspected viral haemorrhagic fever, according to the latest report release by the Guinean government .

According to the Government , the virus identified in the country " Zaire type," the most deadly of the five species of the family of retroviruses that cause Ebola . This is the first time that West Africa is affected by an outbreak of the virus.

But other viruses are also present, according to epidemiologists , including Lassa endemic in the region .

http://www.afriscoop.net/journal/spip.php?article10361

[Pathfinder]

Re: Guinea - Hemorrhagic fever killed 80 people with 122 suspected cases - Ebola lab confirmed in 24 cases

Medic tells of horrific scenes in Guinea's fight against Ebola virus
...
By Mike Pflanz, Nairobi
10:09PM BST 01 Apr 2014
...
Naoufel Dridi, who has 13 years' experience working with the charity M?decins Sans Fronti?res said: "I have never had to deal with this many bodies in these few days on any job before."
...
"You can be helping somebody by getting them a juice, or a glass of cold water, or whatever he wants because you know really he has very little chance to survive, and then less than an hour later he is dead.

"Then when you are putting his body in the bag, another one behind you has died. Then another one. One old woman died with very bad external bleeding from her body, the symptoms that are the worst of Ebola. It is very difficult."
...
Moving patients with the virus from open wards where they can infect medical staff or relatives to isolation tents which they have very little chance of leaving alive is "psychologically very hard", he said.
...
Not everyone succumbs, however. "There was a young girl, 12 years old, she was infected but she was looking strong when I left, I hope that she will make it," said Mr Dridi, who helped set up two isolation units in buildings behind a health centre in the southeastern town of Gu?ck?dou that were constructed for an earlier cholera epidemic.

He arrived back to MSF's Swiss headquarters on Tuesday night after 15 days in Guinea.
...

Full text:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/guinea/10738161/Medic-tells-of-horrific-scenes-in-Guineas-fight-against-Ebola-virus.html

[Treyfish]

Re: Guinea - Hemorrhagic fever killed 80 people with 122 suspected cases - Ebola lab confirmed in 24 cases

Five new cases of the deadly Ebola virus have been recorded in Guinea in the past 24 hours, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

The total number of suspected and confirmed cases of one of the deadliest viruses known to man has risen to 127 in the country, with 83 people now known to have died, the UN's public health agency said.
No treatment or vaccine is available for the virus, and the UN agency said the fatality rate in Guinea so far stands at 65 percent, with the virus mainly hitting adults aged 15 to 59.
The WHO said thirty-five cases had now been confirmed by laboratory testing.
In the capital Conakry, 12 people are known to have contracted the disease, four of whom have died.
....
The WHO is working with countries bordering Guinea to put in place "necessary disease surveillance measures", with both Liberia had Sierra Leone reporting suspected Ebola cases and deaths among people who travelled to Guinea before showing symptoms.
Liberia has confirmed two cases and a suspected five more, while Sierra Leone is closely monitoring 15 people who attended a funeral in an area hit by the outbreak, the WHO said.http://www.timeslive.co.za/africa/20...n-24-hours-who

[Pathfinder]

Re: Guinea - Hemorrhagic fever killed 80 people with 122 suspected cases - Ebola lab confirmed in 24 cases


Location of Bok? Prefecture and seat in Guinea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bok%C3%A9_Prefecture

Translation Google

Wed April 2, 2014 , 2:31 p.m.
Posted By Nouhou

A suspected Ebola cases in Kamsar : " The person was isolated health center Kassopo ," we are told

Medical sources , a person suspected of being contaminated with Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus was detected this Wednesday, April 2, 2014 in the mining town of Kamsar , Boke Prefecture .

According to our sources , the suspect was isolated health center Kassopo at Kamsar .

" The samples were taken and sent to Conakry for confirmatory examinations or information " to indicate Guineenews medical sources.

Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus was found in Guinea since January , but has been officially announced by the Guinean authorities on March 21 .

To date , the overall result since January 2014 is 127 suspected cases and 83 deaths , distributed as follows: Gu?k?dou ( 79 cases , 57 deaths ) , Macenta ( 23 cases , 14 deaths ) , Kissidougou (9 cases, 5 deaths ) Dabola (3 cases , 2 deaths ) , Dinguiraye (1 case , 1 death ) , Conakry (12 cases, 4 deaths ) .

In short, the main focus of this epidemic remains concentrated in three prefectures of Guinea forest in Gu?k?dou mainly Macenta and Kissidougou .

http://guineenews.org/2014/04/un-cas-suspect-debola-a-kamsar-linteresse-a-ete-isole-au-centre-de-sante-de-kassopo-nous-dit-on/

[Treyfish]

Re: Guinea - Hemorrhagic fever killed 80 people with 122 suspected cases - Ebola lab confirmed in 24 cases

Irish travel warning over Ebola outbreak



Published Wednesday, 02 April 2014
http://www.u.tv/News/Irish-travel-wa...3-a847873956c9

[Pathfinder]

Re: Guinea - Ebola: 127 suspect/confirmed cases, 83 deaths as of April 2, 2014

Translation Google

Guinea : Ebola fever goes north

02.04.2014 at 13:29 By Haby Niakat?
...
He was a doctor . He worked at the hospital Gueckedou , this great city of Forest Guinea ( South ) near the Liberian border . In early February, he fell suddenly ill and decides to visit a friend , director of the prefectural hospital Macenta , 80 km away. A driver supports . His ex-wife and her unborn child in the back are also part of the trip. They arrived at nightfall , and of course , the friend opens the door . But within hours , and everything is getting worse " it " - the Doctor - dies. Following transport and body wash , then wake when the family and friends attending . " This is where it all started ," said Mamady Drame , representative of the International NGO Plan Macenta .

A few days later , in fact, the ex-wife , baby and the driver suffered the same fate : lightning and unexplained death . For its part, the hospital director friend back to work. Every morning , February 24th , he went there on foot. He does not feel well, vomit . But , like every morning , hold a meeting with his team. Suddenly , he loses consciousness, resumed. Taken to the emergency room for some tests , he quickly falls into a coma and died almost instantly. His son, who was followed in the pediatric succumb too. " At first we did not understand what was happening ," said an exhausted Dr. Savan? voice, who is temporarily acting in the hospital. " At first, many believed in a mystical phenomenon. It took the deaths multiply that people take it seriously ," says Mamady Drame .

The authorities then talk about a " strange fever ." On March 20, more than a month after the first death, the samples of three patients are sent to the Pasteur Institute in Lyon , France. The next day, the verdict : it is the Ebola virus , against which no treatment or vaccine has never been found , and its species (there are five ) most pathogenic species of Zaire , whose rate mortality can reach 90% . The French laboratory immediately warns the Guinean government , the World Health Organization (WHO) and M?decins Sans Fronti?res ( MSF). We must act quickly . The country already has thirty dead . "Detect an Ebola epidemic takes time , especially in a remote area such as forest and Guinea in a country that has never known, explains Marie- Christine F?rir , head of MSF Belgium emergency situations. And the first symptoms resemble those of Lassa fever or malaria . therefore had to make the difference. "
...
According to scientists, the natural reservoirs of the virus are certain species of bats found in Central Africa and West Africa . Carriers of the virus , they report no symptoms but can infect monkeys and men, who , themselves, get sick once there was contact or bite. " The absence of an epidemic in the region so far does not mean that the virus was not there present in certain animal species. Only this time , the conditions have been met, at a time and at a specific location , for there to be transmitted from animals to humans , "said Eric Leroy, Director of the International Centre for Medical Research in Franceville ( Gabon ) , and Director of Research at the Institute of research for Development (IRD ) .
....
A pandemic is possible? For specialists, not really. As the mode of transmission , which is one of its strengths , is also, paradoxically , one of his few weaknesses. " Viruses that cross borders are usually transmitted via the respiratory route , which has not yet been proven in the case of Ebola ," said Eric Leroy, the International Centre for Medical Research in Franceville . Why the number of fatal cases rarely exceeds a few hundred. Well below the flu ( 250 000 to 500 000 deaths per year worldwide ) , measles ( 122,000 ) or even Lassa fever ( 5000 , mainly West Africa ) . For a pandemic to be possible , so it should be that the mode of transmission of Ebola change. An assumption, however, not excluded.

http://www.jeuneafrique.com/Article/JA2777p008.xml0/

[Giuseppe]

Re: Guinea - Ebola: 127 suspect/confirmed cases, 83 deaths as of April 2, 2014

Source: World Health Organization, Regional Office for Africa, full page: http://www.afro.who.int/en/clusters-...pril-2014.html


Ebola virus disease, West Africa (Situation as of 2 April 2014)

2 April 2014


As at 1 April 2014, the Ministry of Health of Guinea has reported a cumulative total of 127 clinically compatible cases of EVD, of which 35 are laboratory confirmed by PCR.

The total number includes 83 deaths (CRF 65%).

These figures correspond to 5 new clinical cases and 3 new deaths since the last update on 31 March; 22 patients remain in isolation.

The current number of clinical cases by place of report is Conakry (12 cases, including 4 deaths), Guekedou (79 cases/57 deaths), Macenta (23 cases/14 deaths), Kissidougou (9 cases/5 deaths), and Dabola and Djingaraye combined (4 cases/3 deaths).

Eleven of the cases in Conakry have been laboratory confirmed for Ebola virus disease (EVD).

Fourteen health care workers have also been laboratory confirmed for EVD, 8 of whom have died.

Case investigation and contact tracing are continuing, with 375 contacts under medical follow-up at present.

The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) of Liberia has reported that the number of suspected and confirmed cases (8 cases) is unchanged since 31 March, with the exception of one additional death in this group (5 deaths).

The number of laboratory confirmed cases remains at 2; both patients are from Lofa County, one of whom has died.

On 31 March, the MOHSW issued a press release reporting that one of the laboratory confirmed cases travelled from Foyah, Lofa Country, to Monrovia, Montserrado Country, and also to Margibi County. She is currently in isolation and her contacts, including the taxi driver who transported her from Foyah to Monrovia and his family, are under medical observation.

A national team headed by the Chief Medical Officer of Liberia visited Lofa County on 1 April to hold meetings with local government officials and other stakeholders in Voinjama and Foyah cities.

Information and education materials on the EVD and its prevention have been distributed and national information hotlines have been established for public inquiries.

Other ongoing efforts include coordination meeting at national and county levels, distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) to hospitals in Montserrado, deployment of response teams to Nimba and Bong Counties to support county efforts, clinician training in case identification, clinical management and infection prevention and control, and social mobilisation to raise community awareness about the disease, the risk of ebolavirus transmission from human and animal sources, and its prevention including the importance of hand washing, food safety, personal protection when caring for the sick, safe burial practices and environmental hygiene.

There has been no change in the situation in Sierra Leone following the deaths of 2 probable cases of EVD in one family who died in Guinea and their bodies repatriated to Sierra Leone.

As this is a rapidly changing situation, the number of reported cases and deaths, contacts under medical observation and the number of laboratory results are subject to change due to enhanced surveillance and contact tracing activities, ongoing laboratory investigations and consolidation of case, contact and laboratory data.

WHO does not recommend that any travel or trade restrictions be applied to Guinea, Liberia or Sierra Leone based on the current information available for this event.


-
------

[Treyfish]

Re: Guinea - Ebola: 127 suspect/confirmed cases, 83 deaths as of April 2, 2014

Foreign mining firms have locked down operations in Guinea and pulled out some international staff, executives said on Wednesday, as the death toll from suspected cases of Ebola there hit 83. Five new suspected infections were reported in the last 24 hours, the U.N.'s World Health Organisation (WHO), bringing the total to 127.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has warned of an unprecedented epidemic that is testing weak health systems across West Africa. Suspected cases of one of the world's most lethal infectious diseases have also been reported in neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The epicentre of Guinea's two-month old outbreak has been in the southeast, close to its main iron ore reserves. The country is also the world's top exporter of bauxite, the raw material used in aluminium production, and has rich deposits gold.

"Everyone is practising precautionary strict hygiene but there has been no real impact on production so far," a senior executive at a mining company told Reuters, asking not to be named. The executive said he had been placed on extended leave, while other companies were preventing people from entering or leaving their mines.

MINERS CONCERNED ABOUT CONAKRY
Firms were more concerned by what was happening in the densely populated capital Conakry than in remote mining sites in the interior, where controls were easier to put in place, he added.

The WHO has reported 12 suspected cases and four deaths in the ocean-front city of 2 million people. WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said all the cases in Conakry were linked to one man who came from the central Guinean town of Dobala, about 300 km (190 miles) away. "Unfortunately, this one person infected both family members and health care workers when he went to Conakry for medical attention and died," Hartl told Reuters in Geneva.

Brazilian iron ore miner Vale said its VBG joint venture with BSG Resources (BSGR) - the mining arm of Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz's business conglomerate - had pulled its six international staff out of Guinea. "The expatriates have been transferred temporarily to their home countries," Vale said i...

The British Foreign Office said on its website on Wednesday there were reports of suspected cases in Gambia.
But Gambia's director of health, promotion and education, Momadou Njai, denied there were any such infections, saying one elderly man had been tested and cleared.http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...0MU2ZT20140402

[Treyfish]

Re: Guinea - Ebola: 127 suspect/confirmed cases, 83 deaths as of April 2, 2014

Ebola outbreak kills at least 87 in Africa

on April 02, 2014 at 9:37 AM


An outbreak of Ebola that has killed at least 87 people in Africa is drawing aid from U.S. disease fighters who will help track the deadly path of a virus with no cure that is fatal in about 90 percent of its cases.
There have been 134 cases in Guinea and Liberia, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.
A five-person team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention arrived Sunday in Guinea, where they?ll help contact anyone who has been in touch with people infected, said Steve Monroe, a CDC official. A second team may soon go to Liberia, he said, and the agency is assessing the need for more laboratory assistance to analyze samples.
Last week, when Canadian officials feared that a severely ill patient who had recently been to Liberia may have been infected with deadly Ebola, the U.S. took notice. It was a ?false alarm,? Monroe said, ?that reminded us that any of these diseases are only a plane ride away.?

The U.S. is well prepared to handle infected patients on its soil with 20 CDC quarantine stations in place at U.S. airports that are designed to deal with anyone who has symptoms of a wide range of infectious illnesses, including Ebola, according to Christine Pearson, an agency spokeswoman. Despite the outbreak, she said, there are no special requests or guidelines to airlines related to Ebola, though the agency has issued a travel alert.

?The time it takes to travel from rural Guinea to anywhere in the U.S. is more than enough time to incubate the virus and be symptomatic,? said Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York who has written two books on emerging infectious disease. ?Even if you could get on an airplane, you?d be carried out on a gurney.?http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...a.html#757Live

[Treyfish]

Re: Guinea - Ebola: 127 suspect/confirmed cases, 83 deaths as of April 2, 2014

Press conference on the situation in Guinea Ebola: Colonel Remy Lamah, Minister of Health, Alhousseny Makan?ra Kake, Minister of Communication and Dr. Sakoba Keita, Division Against Disease Prevention Featured

Wednesday, April 2, 2014 0:00

*

-Alhousseny Makan?ra Kake:'' In relation to this disease that has no drug, lethal weapon; is communication; is communication that will overcome the chain contamination.'' Colonel Remy Lamah:'' It is Conakry people panicked; inside people understood the message''http://guineeinformation.fr/index.ph...tre-la-maladie