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THE Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed its first two cases this year of Ebola but claimed they were unrelated to the epidemic ravaging West Africa. “The results are positive. The Ebola virus is confirmed in DRC,” Health Minister Felix Kabange Numbi said, referring to tests undertaken on people after an unidentified fever killed 13 in the northwest Equateur province this month. He said the confirmation marked the seventh outbreak of Ebola in DR Congo, where the virus was first identified in 1976 near the Ebola River. The two new cases had “no link to (the epidemic) raging in West...

Ebola outbreak will not be contained this year – WHO More than 1,300 people have died this year from the virus in the worst ever outbreak and WHO has faced criticism, including from medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), that it has done too little too late to fight the disease. "WHO is working on an Ebola road map document, it's really an operational document how to fight Ebola," WHO spokesperson Fadela Chaib said at a news briefing. "It details the strategy for WHO and health partners for six to nine months to come." Chaib, asked whether the timeline meant...

Sierra Leone News: No health worker will die of Ebola again-WHO Coordinator The WHO Coordinator in Kenema district has declared that no health worker will die in the country again because of Ebola infection. Dr. Jackson Amone said his declaration comes against the backdrop of modalities being put in place to protect health workers. “We are sure of their protection this time round; we have educated them adequately on what to do which is insurance for them,” the Ugandan born doctor stated. Dr. Amone was addressing the media at a press briefing held at the Unicef regional office in Kenema....

Cases in West Africa's Ebola outbreak this year have risen to 2,240, including 1,229 deaths, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday, reporting the toll in four countries, including Nigeria. While Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and No. 1 oil producer, appears to be containing its smaller outbreak, Liberia and Sierra Leone are struggling to halt the spread of the deadly Ebola virus among their populations. On Friday, these small two West African nations and a medical charity chided the WHO for its slow response, saying more action was needed to save victims threatened by the disease and hunger.

Ebola virus disease, West Africa – update 19 August 2014 Epidemiology and surveillance Between 14 and 16 August 2014, a total of 113 new cases of Ebola virus disease (laboratory-confirmed, probable, and suspect cases) as well as 84 deaths were reported from Guinea, Liberia*, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. Health sector response The response of WHO and other partners to the Ebola Virus outbreak is continuing to grow in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. To reduce the likelihood that those who are infected will carry the disease outside their communities, the governments have set up quarantine zones in areas of...

WHO Media Centre Press Release regarding Ebola epidemic. ________________________________________ [Note the portion that deals with so-called remedies being published on various West African web Forums. Among these "cures" are bitter cola nuts, salt water ingestion, nano silver and even stranger stuff.] ________________________________________ WHO news release The scale, duration, and lethality of the Ebola outbreak have generated a high level of public fear and anxiety, which extends well beyond west Africa. Such reactions are understandable, given the high fatality rate and the absence of a vaccine or cure. Recent intense media coverage of experimental medicines and vaccines is creating some unrealistic...

From the HOME PAGE of the World Health Organization website (http://www.who.int/en/): The World Health Organization (WHO) today reiterated its position that the risk of transmission of Ebola virus disease during air travel remains low... WHO is therefore advising against travel bans to and from affected countries...

The World Health Organisation has warned that the deadly Ebola epidemic in West Africa has been 'vastly' underestimated and extraordinary measures are needed to contain the disease. The warning comes as the United States ordered the evacuation of diplomats’ families from Sierra Leone, one of the countries at the epicentre of the outbreak. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2725754/Ebola-vastly-worse-thought-warns-World-Health-Organisation-America-evacuates-diplomatic-families-affected-country.html#ixzz3AT4ss8x0 Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Dakar - Beds in Ebola treatment centres are filling up faster than they can be provided, evidence that an outbreak in West Africa is far more severe than the numbers show, an official with the World Health Organization said Friday. The outbreak sweeping Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria is already the largest and deadliest ever. But the World Health Organisation said on Thursday that official counts of the dead and infected may still "vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak." The flood of patients into every newly opened treatment centre is evidence that the numbers aren't keeping up, Gregory...

West Africa’s deadly Ebola epidemic is probably much worse than the world realizes, with health centers on the front lines warning that the actual numbers of deaths and illnesses are significantly higher than the official estimates, the World Health Organization said. So far, 2,127 cases of the disease and 1,145 deaths have been reported in four nations — Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone — the W.H.O announced Friday. But the organization has also warned that the actual number is almost certainly higher, perhaps by a very considerable margin. “Staff at the outbreak sites see evidence that the numbers of...

The medical charity MSF has warned that western Africa's Ebola crisis is "moving faster" than medics can cope with. Its warning follows a WHO admission that the epidemic requires "extraordinary measures." The head of Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Joanne Liu -- fresh from a visit to western Africa -- said in Geneva on Friday that more experts were needed in the hard-hit region. "It is deteriorating faster, and moving faster, than we can respond to," Liu told reporters. "Like in a war time, we have a total collapse of infrastructure," she added. Lui said the world community needed to get...

Staff with the World Health Organisation battling an Ebola outbreak in West Africa see evidence the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimates the scale of the outbreak, the U.N. agency said on its website on Thursday. The death toll from the world's worst outbreak of Ebola stood on Wednesday at 1,069 from 1,975 confirmed, probable and suspected cases, the agency said. The majority were in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, while four people have died in Nigeria. The agency's apparent acknowledgement the situation is worse than previously thought could spur governments and aid organisations to take stronger measures...

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday reported 128 new Ebola cases and 56 deaths in West Africa in the two days to August 11, raising the death toll from the worst ever outbreak of the disease to 1,069.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified Kenya as a "high-risk" country for the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. Kenya was vulnerable because it was a major transport hub, with many flights from West Africa, a WHO official said. This is the most serious warning to date by the WHO that Ebola could spread to East Africa.

(Reuters) - Canada will donate a small quantity of an experimental Ebola vaccine developed in its government lab to the World Health Organization for use in Africa, the country's health minister said on Tuesday. The decision to donate the vaccine came after the WHO said on Tuesday that it was ethical to offer untested drugs to people infected by the virus. The Canadian government will donate between 800 to 1,000 doses of the vaccine, with the final number given dependent on how much Canada holds back for research and clinical trials. The government will also keep a small supply in...

The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in west Africa continues to evolve in alarming ways, with no immediate end in sight. Many barriers stand in the way of rapid containment. The most severely affected countries, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, have only recently returned to political stability following years of civil war and conflict, which left health systems largely destroyed or severely disabled. Lack of capacity makes infection control difficult This lack of capacity makes standard containment measures, such as early detection and isolation of cases, contact tracing and monitoring, and rigorous procedures for infection control, difficult to implement. Though...

Guinea has closed its borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone to contain the spread of Ebola, which has killed 959 people in the three countries. The latest outbreak is thought to have begun in Guinea, but Liberia and Sierra Leone are currently facing the highest frequency of new cases. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday the spread of the virus was a global health emergency.

Epidemiology and surveillance Between 5 and 6 August 2014, a total of 68 new cases of Ebola virus disease (laboratory-confirmed, probable, and suspect cases) as well as 29 deaths were reported from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. Health sector response On Wednesday, 6 August and Thursday, 7 August, an Emergency Committee was held via teleconference to determine whether the current outbreak constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. After discussion and deliberation on the information provided, the Committee advised that: the Ebola outbreak in West Africa constitutes an ‘extraordinary event’ and a public health risk to other States;the...

It’s time to ditch the woolly scarves, bow ties, and comic sexual tension, Doctor Who is back and he’s not messing around. Peter Capaldi took his bow at the London premiere of the new season on Thursday and his incarnation of the Time Lord is the darkest yet. Deep Breath, the feature-length first episode, sees the Doctor and his sidekick, Clara, struggling to come to terms with his tough new image. “Where did he get that face?” she wonders, mourning the boyish charm of Matt Smith, Capaldi’s predecessor.

"This is the biggest and most complex Ebola outbreak in history," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement. "It will take many months, and it won't be easy, but Ebola can be stopped," he said. "We know what needs to be done." Ebola spreads through contact with organs and bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, urine and other secretions of infected people. It has no known cure.