Global & Disaster Medicine

Archive for July, 2018

Ebola outbreak in DRC ends

WHO

Ebola outbreak in DRC ends: WHO calls for international efforts to stop other deadly outbreaks in the country

24 July 2018

News Release
KINSHASA/GENEVA

Today marks the end of the ninth outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The World Health Organization (WHO) congratulates the country and all those involved in ending the outbreak, while urging them to extend this success to combatting other diseases in DRC.

WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, joined Minister of Health Dr Oly Ilunga for the announcement in Kinshasa.

“The outbreak was contained due to the tireless efforts of local teams, the support of partners, the generosity of donors, and the effective leadership of the Ministry of Health. That kind of leadership, allied with strong collaboration between partners, saves lives,” said Dr Tedros.

Unlike previous Ebola outbreaks in the country, this one involved four separate locations, including an urban centre with river connections to the capital and to neighbouring countries, as well as remote rainforest villages. There were initial concerns that the disease could spread to other parts of DRC, and to neighbouring countries.

Within hours of the outbreak being declared on 8 May, WHO released US$2 million from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies, deployed a team to augment capacity in the field, and activated an emergency incident management system.

“WHO moved quickly and efficiently,” said Dr Moeti, “We also demonstrated the tremendous capacity of the African region. More than three-quarters of the 360 people deployed to respond came from within the region. Dozens of experts from Guinea spent weeks leading Ebola vaccination efforts here, transferring expertise which will enable the DRC to mount an effective response both within its borders and beyond.”

Dr Tedros urged the DRC Government and the international community to build on the positive momentum generated by the quick containment of the Ebola outbreak.

“This effective response to Ebola should make the Government and partners confident that other major outbreaks affecting the country such as cholera and polio can also be tackled,” said Dr Tedros. “We must continue to work together, investing in strengthened preparedness and access to healthcare for the most vulnerable.”

  • WHO’s rapid response and scale up of operations in the DRC was funded by a total of US$4 million disbursement from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE).
  • WHO and partners appealed for US$57 million to stop the spread of Ebola. The total funds received by all partners, as tracked by OCHA, amount to US$63 million.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières on the declared end of the Ebola epidemic in he Democratic Republic of Congo.

MSF

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Ministry of Health (MoH) declared today the end of a recent Ebola epidemic. Between May and mid-July, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ran a three-month emergency intervention in Equateur Province to aid the MoH and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) response.

Throughout the course of the outbreak, Congolese MoH teams supported by MSF in Bikoro, Itipo, Mbandaka, and Iboko, provided care to 38 confirmed patients, 24 of whom survived and 17 of whom died.

In total, 3,199 people were vaccinated against Ebola with the investigational Ebola vaccine rVSVDG-ZEBOV-GP under WHO’s Expanded Access Framework by teams from MSF, WHO, and the Congolese MoH. MSF teams alone vaccinated some 1,673 people in the Bikoro and Itipo areas, including the contacts of confirmed Ebola patients and their contacts and frontline workers (health workers, burial workers, traditional healers, and motorbike taxi drivers) considered to be most at risk of contracting the virus.

Dr. Micaela Serafini, medical director for MSF in Geneva, said the following about today’s announcement:

“MSF welcomes this announcement and the end of the Ebola epidemic.

“Since the beginning of the outbreak, MSF set up its medical response along with national health authorities, providing care, isolation of patients, and health promotion activities, in addition to participating in epidemiological surveillance and safe burials in Mbandaka, Bikoro, Itipo, and Iboko.

“Along with the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO), MSF also participated in an investigational vaccination to hold off the spread of the virus. The data is still being analyzed, but we are encouraged that this vaccination—as well as the rapid international response and concerted outreach efforts into remote communities—contributed to stemming the spread of this deadly virus. Vaccination provides an additional tool for fighting such epidemics.

“While Ebola remains a threat in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we are heartened by some advances made in the recent response. We also hope that the resources dedicated to this Ebola intervention in Equateur Province will have a long-term positive impact in the future by strengthening the capacity of DRC’s health system.

“MSF continues to respond to other non-Ebola outbreaks elsewhere in the DRC, such as measles and cholera. MSF is also continuing research efforts into potential treatments for Ebola in order to give patients the best possible chance of beating the virus in case of a new epidemic.”


Dengue in pregnancy may increase risk of congenital brain malformations

EID

“….Researchers found that confirmed dengue during pregnancy increased the odds of a neurologic congenital anomaly by 50%, but the results were not statistically significant (95% confidence interval, 0.97-2.27). Congenital malformation of the spinal cord, however, and some congenital brain malformations were more than four times more frequent in dengue-affected births….”

Paixão ES, Teixeira MG, da Conceição N. Costa M, Barreto ML, Rodrigues LC. Enny S. Paixão. Symptomatic dengue during pregnancy and congenital neurologic malformations. Emerg Infect Dis. 2018 Sep [date cited]. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2409.170361


7/24/1915: The steamer Eastland overturns in the Chicago River, drowning between 800 and 850 of its passengers who were heading to a picnic.

History


Dam collapse in Laos: Several dead and hundreds missing


Death toll from Greek wildfires up to at least 49.

  • The bodies of more than 20 people huddled closely together near a beach northeast of Athens.
  • Greece seeking international help
  • Fires on either side of Athens left lines of cars torched, charred farms and forests, and sent hundreds of people racing to beaches to be evacuated by navy vessels, yachts and fishing boats.

What prompted a 29-year old man to fire a handgun into restaurants and cafes in Toronto’s Greektown, killing a 10-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman and wounding 13 others.


“Extreme, potentially dangerous weather is affecting large portions of the U.S. this week, with flooding in the East and heat advisories in effect across the West. “

CBS

 

 


A case of Ebola disease in a Liberian woman in 2015 who had recovered from the disease

The Lancet

Persistence of Ebola virus after the end of widespread transmission in Liberia: an outbreak report

Dokubo, Emily Kainne et al.
The Lancet Infectious Diseases

“…..Based on serology and epidemiological and genomic data, the most plausible scenario is that a female case in the November, 2015, cluster survived Ebola virus disease in 2014, had viral persistence or recurrent disease, and transmitted the virus to three family members a year later...…”


Scandal and mistrust rocks the Chinese vaccine industry

CNBC

“…..The scandal erupted a week ago, after major vaccine maker Changsheng Biotechnology was found to have violated standards in making a rabies vaccine for humans.  Last week, China’s Zhejiang Huaihai Pharmaceutical said it was recalling a heart drug sold in the United States after the European Medicines Agency found that it was tainted with an impurity linked to cancer…….”


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