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Study of Liberia Ebola flare-up shows need for longer vigilance

A study of a cluster of Ebola cases that appeared in Liberia last year, months after the country was declared Ebola-free, has found that the virus re-emerged after lying dormant in a female survivor. The results suggest Liberia and the other African countries at the centre of the outbreak should maintain high levels of vigilance for longer than thought to contain any future flare-ups of the deadly haemorrhagic fever. World Health Organization data show West Africa's Ebola epidemic killed more than 11,300 people and infected some 28,600 as it swept through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia from 2013 in the world's worst outbreak of the disease.

Guinea govt says two people have died from Ebola

Two people from the same family have died from Ebola in Guinea, the government said Thursday, as the WHO declared a flare-up of the virus in neighbouring Sierra Leone over. The cases are the first in Guinea since the country was declared Ebola free at the end of last year, and the UN health agency warned that a recurrence of the tropical disease — which has claimed 11,300 lives since December 2013 — remained a possibility. WHO declared that flare-up officially over on Thursday after no new cases were seen for 42 days — the length of two Ebola incubation cycles.

Fears over abandoned Ebola orphans allayed: UNICEF

Almost every child who has lost parents to Ebola is being cared for in their community, UNICEF said on Friday — allaying fears that thousands would be shunned by relatives and neighbours. “Since overcoming their initial fears and misconceptions about Ebola, families have been showing incredible support, providing care and protection for children whose parents have died,” UNICEF regional director Manuel Fontaine said in a statement. UNICEF said the outlook was particularly good in Guinea, where all 773 children who lost both parents had been placed with their extended families. The outbreak has claimed almost 9,000 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, leaving a similar number of children with just a single parent and some 3,600 orphaned.

Mali traces over 200 contacts in second Ebola wave

BAMAKO/GENEVA (Reuters) – Mali is tracing at least 200 contacts linked to confirmed and probable Ebola victims as it seeks to control its second Ebola outbreak, health officials said on Friday. An initial batch of contacts linked to a 2-year-old from Guinea who died of Ebola last month were close to finishing their 21-day quarantine period when Mali confirmed its second case this week. At least four more suspected Ebola deaths have occurred, all linked to an imam who entered Mali from neighbouring Guinea and died late last month with Ebola-like symptoms that were not recognised. …

Worst Ebola outbreak on record tests global response

(Reuters) – Global health authorities are struggling to contain the world’s worst Ebola epidemic since the disease was identified in 1976. The virus has killed at least 5,160 people. Here is a timeline of the outbreak: March 22: Guinea confirms a hemorrhagic fever that killed more than 50 people is Ebola. March 30: Liberia reports two cases; Ebola suspected in Sierra Leone. April 1: Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warns Ebola’s spread is “unprecedented.” A World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman calls it “relatively small still. …