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Last Updated: February 05, 2015 00:17 GMT | |
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4 FebruaryWHO: Today's Situation Report advises that the weekly number of new cases has increased in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Case numbers had been declining in Liberia and Sierra Leone until now. Guinea had noted a rise in cases the previous week too. "Continued community resistance, increasing geographical spread in Guinea and widespread transmission in Sierra Leone, and a rise in incidence show that the EVD response still faces significant challenges." The ability to respond to clusters of infection is expected to be even harder once the wet season starts, especially in remote areas where access is already difficult. Authorities have identified an increased risk of spread from Guinea into neighbouring countries of Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, and Senegal and responded with measures to strengthen surveillance. Sierra Leone recorded 80 new cases in the final week of January. Only about one fifth of these new cases occurred in registered contacts of Ebola cases, highlighting that there are undetected chains of transmission. See the individual country pages of this website for more detail.
The latest data available from the World Health Organization shows a total of 22,460 clinical cases with 8,966 deaths in the countries with intense transmission, 126 additional cases since the 2 February report with 45 further deaths.
Sierra Leone: Schools will reopen 30 March following an improvement in the rate of new Ebola cases. Read more...
Treatment : Emory university is conducting a government-sponsored project to test a treatment method using blood products from Ebola survivors.
3 FebruaryMSF update: An Ebola crisis update issued by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) indicates a downward trend of Ebola cases in the affected countries. Collectively, their Ebola management centres housed about 50 cases from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. In Guinea, an uptick of cases was seen in Conakry. A sharp decrease in cases has been observed in Liberia and MSF is limiting its activities. In Sierra Leone, a declining trend has been observed although about 50 Ebola hotspots still persist.
Sierra Leone: Canadian officials have withdrawn a mobile laboratory team from Kailahun since no new cases have been reported in the district in over 42 days. At the epidemic's peak, the staff were testing 150 samples per week. Canadian lab staff remain stationed in Magburaka (in Tonkolili district) and the capital Freetown.
2 FebruaryWHO: The World Health Organization has released a situation summary update, reporting 210 new cases and 92 deaths in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since the previous report on 30 January.
Sierra Leone: New confirmed cases have been reported by health officials. Read more...
Liberia: The Partnership for research on Ebola vaccine in Liberia (PREVAIL) and the Liberia United States Joint Research Partnership have launched an Ebola vaccines trial in Monrovia. The aim is to immunise 30,000 volunteers, including healthcare workers. Two vaccines are being used in the trial, the chimpanzee adenovirus 3 based vaccine (ChAd3-EBO) and the recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus Ebola vaccine (VSV-EBOV) (seeVaccines page for more details). The immune response of the first 600 volunteers will be evaluated and if no major safety issues enrollment will continue. Participants will be followed up for 8 to 12 months.
UK: A second UK military healthcare worker has been flown back to England, following an exposure to the Ebola virus. The Department of Health has issued a statement confirming that the person sustained a needle-stick injury while treating a patient with Ebola in Sierra Leone. The healthcare worker arrived in the UK on 2 February and has been admitted to the Royal Free Hospital for clinical assessment. The patient has not been diagnosed with Ebola and is symptom free.
31 JanuaryUK: A UK Military healthcare worker was flown back to the UK on 31 January following an Ebola exposure while working in Sierra Leone. The Department of Health statement confirms that the person sustained a needle-stick injury and has been admitted to the Royal Free Hospital for clinical assessment. The patient is symptom-free at present and has not been diagnosed with Ebola.
Treatment: A US pharmaceutical company has withdrawn from studies on the use of brincidofovir to treat Ebola. The company, Chimerix Inc., attributed the decision to falling case numbers in Liberia and discussions with the US Food and Drug Administration.
Vaccine: Progress on the ChAd3 vaccine has been reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. From 60 vaccinated volunteers, test results are promising and all those tested mounted an immune response with few side effects. The authors report that although the level of antibody response was less in humans when compared to earlier trials in macaque monkeys, this vaccine has a role for further study in clinical trials in affected West African countries.
30 January
The World Health Organization has released a situation summary update, reporting 44 new cases and 23 deaths in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since the previous report on 28 January.
IFRC: The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has warned that local resistance to containment efforts in Guinea and Sierra Leone is hampering the control of Ebola. A number of people have been found to be sick with no known contact with existing cases. This strongly suggests new chains of transmission and likely undetected spread in the wider community.
28 January
Sierra Leone: The Ministry of Health has reported 9 newly-confirmed cases on 27 January. Read more...
The World Health Organization's situation summary update is making headlines because, for the first time since June 2014, the weekly case count is under 100 infections worldwide. There were a combined total of 99 new cases recorded in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. While the case trend is clearly declining in Liberia and Sierra Leone, there has been a rise and further geographic spread in Guinea. Many of the new cases are not registered contacts of known Ebola cases. This means that some chains of transmission are still undetected. That means the outbreak still has the potential to spread among communities. See the individual country pages for further detail.
Liberia: Authorities have started to decommission the ELWA 3 Ebola Treatment Unit as Ebola activity has lessened. Read more...
Research: Scientists at Institut Pasteur are studying the Ebola virus as they work on vaccines. Headlines today are focusing on 'mutation' detected in the virus. Researchers are examining hundreds of samples from patients in Guinea to learn more about the new variation. The Ebola virus, like other RNA viruses, is expected to change over time. Changes were seen early in the outbreak in viruses collected from Sierra Leone, for example. There is no evidence that the changes have made it more easily contagious.
27 January
Liberia: The Ministry of Health in its report has confirmed decrease in new cases to less than five per day. Read more...
Sierra Leone: Health authorities have confirmed nine new cases. Read more...
25 JanuarySierra Leone: The Ministry of Health reported 19 newly confirmed cases and 16 deaths for the 24 and 25 January. Read more...
United Kingdom: the British nurse who was receiving treatment for Ebola at a hospital in London has been discharged after making a full recovery. She became infected with the disease while working in Sierra Leone.Read more...
WHO: The World Health Organization met to review whether the Ebola situation still meets the criteria for a "public health emergency of international concern". They decided unanimously that it does. They also recommended strongly that the affected countries continue exit screening, and that other nations should "avoid unnecessary interference with international travel and trade". At least 40 countries enacted additional measures for travellers that are more intense than recommended. These are impeding international responders' movements and disrupting economies without added benefit of protection.
24 January
The World Health Organization has released a situation summary update, reporting 14 new cases since the previous report on 22 January.
Sierra Leone: The Ministry of Health reported 14 newly confimed cases and 12 deaths for 23 January. Read more...
The UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) issued an external situation report, the key points included the conclusion by the Davos panel, who met in Switzerland on 22 January, and included President Alpha Conde of Guinea and WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. As well as the continued support of response partners of Liberia's plan to re open schools next month. The response panel highlighted the need to guard against complacency and donor fatigue until zero transmission is reached. They also stressed the need to build resilient public health care systems and infrastructure to better cope with future outbreaks.
23 JanuaryVaccine progress: Vaccine manufacturer GSK announced its experimental vaccine is ready for the next step in human testing. Up to 30,000 volunteers, including healthcare workers will take part in a trial, and a third of them are to receive the vaccine. The trial will start in Liberia.
The World Health Organization has released updated sitaution summary data on case numbers in West Africa; there were 70 new cases and 42 new deaths since the previous report on 21 January.
Sierra Leone: An additional 9 confirmed cases and 8 confirmed deaths were reported for 22 January. Schools are reportedly planned to reopen in March. According to media source, the President lifted all district level movement restrictions 23 January onwards to support economic activity. Only households with known Ebola cases will be quarantined. Read more...
United States: A healthcare worker, who had been under surveillance at Nebraska Medicine Biocontainment Unit, has been discharged from hospital. Following a high-risk exposure in Sierra Leone in early January, the person was evacuated back to the USA for monitoring and did not develop symptoms of Ebola. The 21-day incubation period has now passed.
22 JanuarySierra Leone: The Ministry of Health has reported 11 newly confirmed cases for 21 January. Read more...
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a Situation Report which reveals that the rate of new cases continues to decline rapidly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. In response, the number of treatment beds required to address the outbreak has been significantly reduced in these countries. More districts in Liberia and Guinea have passed 21 days since their last confirmed case. As at 18 January, there were over 21,700 cases and 8,600 deaths worldwide. See the individual country pages for further information.
Drugs to be tested: two experimental treatments will begin late-stage testing in Liberia by early February. One is from GlaxoSmithKline and the other Newlink Genetics Corp., working with Merck & Co. The makers ofZmapp will also start clinical tests of their drug, pending approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Breastmilk and Ebola: A study showed that a breastfeeding mother who was recovering from Ebola no longer had virus in her blood, but did have it in her urine. Her baby became infected with Ebola, possibly by breastfeeding. Ebola can stay in breast milk for some time - at least 15 days in one case - but has not been studied extensively. It's not known at what level it is present, for how long, or how much risk it poses to the baby. The authors highlight the need to test different body fluids from recovering Ebola patients in special circumstances (such as when a woman is breastfeeding).
Sierra Leone / Liberia: The Liberian government has sent three ambulances and a 'Liberia Ebola Response Team' to Sierra Leone, in order to assist in the flight against Ebola. The team consists of contact tracers, ambulance technicians and trainers and will be deployed in Port Loko district.
21 JanuarySierra Leone: The Ministry of Health has confirmed seven new cases. Read more...
The World Health Organization (WHO) convened the fourth Ebola outbreak meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on 20 January. The committee concluded that the outbreak continues to meet the criteria for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, despite the recent downward trend in new case numbers. The Committee state that there are more than 40 countries who have imposed unnecessary measures to travel, transport and trade which are "impeding the recruitment and return of international responders" and "have harmful effects on local populations by increasing stigma and isolation, and by disrupting livelihoods and economies." All previous temporary recommendations continue; Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia should maintain robust exit screening and neighbouring countries should conduct active border surveillance. The emphasis should remain on 'getting to zero' Ebola cases.
20 JanuarySierra Leone: An additional 20 confirmed cases and 13 confirmed deaths have been reported for 19 January.Read more...
Germany: A South Korean healthcare worker has been discharged from a Berlin hospital after passing the 21-day incubation period without developing symptoms. The person was being monitored for signs of Ebola infection after a needle-stick injury occurred in Sierra Leone.
19 JanuarySierra Leone: The Ministry of Health reports 36 newly confirmed cases and 26 confirmed deaths for 17 and 18 January. Read more...
United Kingdom: No one else was infected as a result of the infected healthcare worker returning from Sierra Leone on 28 December. Read more...
The latest situation summary from the World Health Organization reports that as at 17 January, there were over 21,600 cases and almost 8,600 deaths from Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. As Mali has now been declared Ebola-free, the only other currently affected country is the United Kingdom with one confirmed case in a returned healthcare worker.
Liberia: Schools are planned to re-open on 2 February.
18 JanuaryMali: Media sources are reporting that the Ebola outbreak has been declared over in Mali. Read more...
China: A batch of 82 Chinese healthcare workers returning from Liberia will be quarantined for a 21-day period.
17 JanuaryEmergency committee meeting: The World Health Organization will convene its emergency committee meeting to review the Ebola situation on 20 January. This will be the fourth meeting after the last meeting that was held in October 2014.
Guinea: "Zero Ebola in 60 days" campaign and a new Ebola Treatment Center is functional in Coyah. Read more...
Sierra Leone: The Ministry of Health reports six new confirmed cases and 10 deaths for 16 January. Read more...
16 JanuaryWHO: The latest available statistics for 16 January confirm a total of 21,373 cases and 8468 deaths. Data is as 12 or 13 January 2015. See country pages for more details.
Australia/ United Kingdom: An Australian nursing assistant working with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone has had a possible low risk exposure to the virus. She has been evacuated to United Kingdom for monitoring (see the Foreign ministry announcement). According to media sources, the nurse was employed in the Aspen Medical Clinic, an Australian funded ETC.
Sierra Leone: The Ministry of Health reports 16 confirmed cases and 14 confirmed deaths for 15 January. Read more...
Liberia: The country is aiming to reach zero Ebola cases by the end of February, as the number of new cases continues to decrease. Some media sources have reported only three counties have confirmed cases in the past seven days which is encouraging but remains short of the three-week incubation period. Read more...
Research: The European Union has announced eight new research projects on Ebola. These projects will be administered through the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) targeted towards vaccine and diagnostic technology development. A total of €215 million will be spent with funding coming from the European Commission and the European pharmaceutical industry. A total of five projects will work on the development of Ebola vaccines, scaling up their manufacture, and establishing and monitoring compliance with vaccine regimens in the target countries. The remaining three projects are targeted at the development of rapid diagnostic testing for Ebola.
Guinea/ECDC: The European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention will deploy four teams of French-speaking epidemiologists to aid in the surveillance and response in Guinea. The work will support local government initiatives in four prefectures.
15 JanuarySierra Leone: An additional 23 confirmed cases and 16 confirmed deaths were reported on 14 January.
Guinea: Media sources are reporting that schools are set to re-open across the country on Monday 19 January.
The latest World Health Organization (WHO) Situation Report states that newly reported cases for the week to 11 January were the lowest they have been since August 2014. The geographical spread of Ebola facilities and new cases is continuing to impede efforts, particularly in Guinea, with some affected districts remaining remote from contact tracing teams, treatment centre and diagnostic facilities. The case fatality rate is 71% overall, but lower at around 60% for patients who receive treatment in a hospital. 500 healthcare workers’ lives have been claimed of the 843 infected. Community education and engagement continues, through door-to-door campaigns, establishment of community watch committees, and partnering with religious and community leaders throughout the countries. As at 11 January 2015, there have been 21,296 cases and 8,429 deaths worldwide.
In addition, the WHO has published a series of papers on the topic 'Ebola in West Africa: 12 months on.' These papers give an in-depth overview of the evolution of the Ebola outbreak, focusing on the three most affected countries Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. There are insights into the factors which allowed the outbreak to take hold in West Africa, the response of the global community, how preparedness and vigilance played a part in containing outbreaks in neighbouring countries, lessons learned to date and what needs to be done in 2015.
Equatorial Guinea: As a precautionary measure, anyone entering Equatorial Guinea for the African Cup of Nations including visitors and players will be tested for Ebola. The African Cup of Nations will be held from 17 January to 8 February. The country has no reported case of Ebola.
14 JanuarySierra Leone: The Ministry of Health has announced 19 confirmed cases and 5 confirmed deaths for 13 January.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) have released an Ebola crisis update which details that isolation centres, management facilities and laboratories are lacking in new areas where Ebola is spreading. In Guinea, new districts have been reporting their first cases and larger facilities are planned for the capital Conakry, where half the new cases are reported. The decrease of new cases in Liberia has led to several facilities being downsized. Activities have intensified in the west of Sierra Leone, as the outbreak moves away from the originally affected areas. More than 7,700 patients have been admitted to MSF treatment centres to date, with over 2,200 patients surviving and being discharged.
Aid: China has increased its assistance to the Ebola affected countries in West Africa, with the deployment of 232 army medics and a relief shipment containing 800-tonnes of medical equipment.
13 JanuaryThe latest data World Health Organization situation summary shows no new confirmed cases or deaths in Liberia for 6 and 7 January. In Guinea, there were only 15 confirmed cases and 8 confirmed deaths between 8 and 10 January. Meanwhile in Sierra Leone, there were 7 newly confirmed cases and 72 confirmed deaths between 7 and 10 January. The total combined Ebola cases in these three countries is now over 21,100 with more than 8,300 fatalities. See the individual country pages for further information.
Mali: A suspected Ebola case in being investigated by health authorities in Kangaba, near the border with Guinea.
Liberia: The number of cases appears to be declining, with a new study showing the outbreak might be containable by June. Read more....
United Kingdom: The infected nurse being treated at Royal Free Hospital in London has shown signs of improvement and is no longer in a critical condition.
The head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Tom Frieden, said he is "confident" that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa can be brought under control. And that it is essential to achieve that goal. He stressed that efforts must continue as they have been, with international cooperation and attention, and that the situation is “fragile” until every case is eliminated. If low level spread continues, the outbreak could re-ignite at any time. He said “we have to get to zero and stay at zero.”
12 JanuarySierra Leone: The Ministry of Health has reported 81 confirmed cases and 54 confirmed deaths for the period 9 to 11 January. This takes the total number of confirmed cases in Sierra Leone to over 10,000, with more than 3,000 deaths.
11 JanuarySierra Leone: The first area of Sierra Leone has been declared “Ebola free” after 42 days have passed with no new cases. Pujehun, a district in the southeast, has seen two incubation periods pass (21 days each) without any additional Ebola infections. Leaders there believe that market closures and banning social activities (including religious services) slowed the spread of the disease. The nation remains heavily affected by the virus, however – seven of its districts have reported cases within the past day.
10 January
WHO: vaccines ready for testing on the ‘frontlines’ The World Health Organization had a press briefing on their High Level Meeting on Ebola Vaccines Access and Financing. They called the meeting “encouraging”. Two vaccines have already completed initial testing. They were adequately safe and able to produce an immune response. These two vaccines (a chimp adenovirus developed by GSK and a VSV developed by Merck) will move on to Phase 2 and 3 testing concurrently in late January to mid-February. Healthy volunteers will be vaccinated in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to see whether the vaccine is effective at preventing Ebola infections. Some concerns about the vaccine includes the speed at which it could be mass produced and the fact that it needs to be refrigerated at extremely low temperatures, which poses a challenge in areas without reliable equipment and electricity. There is also some speculation that, if Ebola cases continue to slow in affected countries, it will become more difficult to determine if vaccines are effective among the community (since their exposure to Ebola will decrease). |
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