An Ebola-infected child’s death in Uganda, and the confirmation of the virus in at least two of his family members who had together traveled from the Democratic Republic of Congo after attending the funeral of a relative who died in the outbreak there, brings reality to fears expressed since the beginning of the current outbreak […]
GENEVA – While international agencies identify violence and community mistrust as the main reasons the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains uncontrolled, here DRC Minister of Health Dr. Oly Ilunga Kalenga identified gaps in communication, data and planning as additional weaknesses preventing effective responses. “We need to emerge from silos,” he […]
A seven-week old infant, less than two weeks old when admitted to a Katwa Ebola treatment center with her fatally ill mother, is the latest “miracle baby,” touted by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s health ministry as owing her survival to a team of recovered and now Ebola-immune patients who nurtured her back to health. […]
Unmeasured factors leave questions, authors note A study retrospectively examining the role of intravenous fluids in preventing deaths of Ebola patients during the 2013-2016 West Africa Ebola crisis concludes the intervention, in itself, did not make a significant difference in chances of surviving during the 28 days following diagnosis. Differences in survival rates during the […]
“Pop-up” vaccination sites, widened eligibility for inoculations, reduced doses, and the addition of a new investigational vaccine candidate are among the strategies a panel of World Health Organization experts has recommended to reverse discouraging trends, including increased cases and continuing security threats confronting responses to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. […]
News of a health worker’s death is the latest to tell us we all have stakes in the DRC Ebola outbreak – Whether officially designated or not, the largest outbreak of Ebola recorded in the country where the virus was identified is of international concern, Dr. Krutika Kuppalli writes here. Dr. Kuppalli, who served as […]
Expressing concern over recent increases in areas, and continued risk of cross border spread, and unprecedented challenges posed by ongoing violence in the affected area, committee chair notes the outbreak still has not entered other countries, “now, over many months” The WHO emergency committee convened to evaluate whether the ongoing spread of Ebola in the […]
Vaccinations against Ebola in a South Sudan city close to the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo where the virus continues to spread, began today, the latest recognition of the potential for the ongoing war-zone outbreak still not officially deemed a Public Health Emergency of International Concern — or PHEIC — to become one. […]
The discovery of active, transmittable Marburg virus in fruit bats caught in three Sierra Leone locations marks the first time the virus has been found in West Africa and has identified a potential public health threat without a single known case of human illness, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control announced today. The Marburg virus, […]
If you don’t subscribe to the Democratic Republic of Congo Health Ministry updates (probably not, right?) here’s a reason to do so. Dr. Daniel Lucey, who volunteered twice to treat patients during the West Africa crisis suggested this way of keeping track of the current outbreak, so Science Speaks does. Often the news it brings is […]
HIV
The goals of controlling HIV sound like a straight forward series of three consecutive steps, one following another, when discussed in global and domestic epidemic-ending plans. […]
Tuberculosis
The announcement Wednesday of U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of pretomanid, a new tuberculosis drug that has been part of a ground-breaking treatment regimen against […]
Research & Development
A randomized, multi-country clinical trial testing a regimen for treating drug-resistant tuberculosis in less than a year against the up to two-year regimen recommended by the […]
Policy
The Ebola Virus is Winning – This comprehensive analysis by J. Stephen Morrison of the Center for Strategic & International Studies explains how with unprecedented advantages […]