The World Health Organisation (WHO) has set aside calls from 150 leading scientists and public health officials to postpone or move the Rio Olympics because of the ongoing Zika virus.  In an open letter to the WHO and the International Olympic Committee – both organisation based in Switzerland – the experts are asking for the Games to be held in another location. Professor Amir Attaran, one of the co-authors of […]

Sierra Leoneans were once again allowed to leave their homes Sunday evening after the government announced the end of a three-day nationwide lockdown aimed at preventing a resurgence of the deadly Ebola virus.   During the curfew period — which was ordered by President Ernest Bai Koroma and ran from 0600 GMT on Friday until 1800 GMT Sunday — some 26,000 volunteers went door-to-door to check for sick people and […]

New York: At least 3,600 children have been orphaned due to the Ebola outbreak in West African countries, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) has said. The Unicef said in a report Friday that the number covers those who have lost both their parents in the hardest-hit countries — Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Ebola outbreak that began in December last year has left almost 9,000 children with just a […]

A doctor who had recently returned from Guinea has tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus, The New York Times reported Thursday evening. Dr. Craig Spencer has been placed in isolation at Bellevue Hospital as health workers attempt to find others he may have been in contact recently, The Times reported. Spencer, 33, returned from Guinea ten days ago after a stint working with the group Doctors Without Borders. “It […]

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are donating $25 million to the CDC Foundation to help address the Ebola epidemic. The money will be used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Ebola response effort in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and elsewhere in the world where Ebola is a threat, the foundation said Tuesday. The grant follows a $9 million donation made by Microsoft […]

Washington:  US health care workers are clamouring for hazmat suits and more training with protective gear after a Texas hospital worker was infected with Ebola while caring for a patient. After first blaming the case on a “breach of protocol,” the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vowed on Monday to “rethink” the US approach to Ebola, but didn’t say what might change. Meanwhile, doctors and nurses […]

A healthcare worker in Texas has been diagnosed with Ebola, the first known transmission of the deadly virus in the US. The nurse was involved in the care of Thomas Duncan, a man who arrived in Dallas from Liberia before showing symptoms of the disease. A hospital official said the healthcare worker was “following full CDC precautions,” including a mask, gloves, gown, and face shield while caring for Duncan when […]

  The worst outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in history is threatening to spread out of West Africa and affect countries further afield. The first case was reported in Guinea on March 22. Friday, October 10 16:14 GMT: The UN appeal for $1 billion to respond to the West Africa Ebola outbreak was only 25 percent funded, according to UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson. “Of the $1 billion sought […]

The World Health Organization (WHO) calls it “one of the most virulent diseases known to humankind”. Here’s the lowdown of the disease that can kill up to 90% of the people who are infected: What is Ebola? Ebola is a highly-contagious hemorrhagic virus that breaks down the epithelial cell wall of blood vessels and triggers extensive internal and external bleeding. How do humans catch it? From animals, through close contact […]

Liberia’s government has announced that it is closing down all schools across the country to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. Some communities would be placed under quarantine as well, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said. Non-essential government workers will be sent home for 20 days and the army deployed to enforce the measures. The number of people killed by the virus in West Africa has now reached 672, […]