Disease

OVERVIEW OF DEVELOPMENTS DURING PAST DAY

WASHINGTON POST                            Oct. 30, 2014
By Lena H. Sun, Brady Dennis and Joel Achenbach
New Ebola infections in virus-ravaged Liberia appear to be declining for the first time in months, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

Until now, officials have been suspicious of this encouraging trend, thinking it might be an artifact of poor data collection, a symptom of chaos in countries that were overwhelmed by the crisis. But Bruce Aylward, a top WHO official, said Wednesday that the decline in new cases “is real,” measured by scores of empty beds in Ebola clinics, fewer cases confirmed by laboratory tests and a drop in burials by specially trained teams.

Still, the WHO and other officials remain wary because the nature of this outbreak has been one of unpredictable surges and declines.

“It’s like saying your pet tiger is under control,” Aylward said. “This is a very, very dangerous disease.”

Meanwhile President Obama continued to criticize the calls for mandatory quarantines for returning volunteers

THE GUARDIAN                                                                                Oct. 28, 2014
By Sarah Boseley

West Africa, now in the throes of a calamitous Ebola epidemic, missed out on significant health investment over the past decade or more because it had low rates of HIV, a detailed survey of the changing health of Africa and Asia reveals.

The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power (centre), visits an ebola emergency response centre in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Healthcare in west Africa now has the world’s attention. Photograph: Reuters

A major project called Indepth, which has looked at the causes of death of more than 110,000 people in 13 countries shows that health improved generally in those given substantial international aid to try to turn around the HIV and Aids epidemic. But west Africa, with severe poverty and low healthcare standards but relatively little HIV, did not benefit.

LEAKED MEMO SAYS STATE DEPARTMENT CONSIDERING TREATING NON-AMERICAN HEALTH WORKERS BUT AN OFFICIAL SAYS DISCUSSIONS WERE SHELVED

THE WASHINGTON TIMES                         Oct. 29, 2014
By Stephen Dinan- The Washington Times - Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Y YETNEWS                                        Oct. 27, 2014
Udi Etsion
An Israel icompany has developed and installed in Guinea special inflatable isolation tents to be used to house and isolate Ebola patients.

Special inflatable tent being used to fight Ebola

The inflatable tents have also been purchased for the treatment of Ebola patients by other countries on the continent, according to the Israeli company SYS Technologies, which specializes in the development of clean-air systems and mobile operating theaters. The company said the units can be constructed and shipped within two weels.

The units use a positive pressure technology to create an absolute clear and isolated environment and maintain the structure. The company has also developed an incubator-like stretcher for the safe transfer of patients to the isolation tents.

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