No new Ebola cases in Liberia for more than two weeks – WHO

No new case of the deadly Ebola virus has been registered in Liberia since February 19, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, also hailing positive signs in Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Liberia, long the hardest-hit country in the Ebola epidemic that has killed nearly 10,000 people in west Africa, “has now gone well over two weeks without a new reported case,” said Bruce Aylward, who heads WHO’s Ebola response.

Sierra Leone doctor dies of Ebola at Us Hospital

A surgeon from Sierra Leone who was being treated for Ebola in the US died this morning November 17th in a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, aged 44.
Late Dr Martin Salia who had US residency and was married to an American, arrived for treatment in the state on Saturday November 15th in a critical condition after leaving Freetown by air ambulance.
    "We are extremely sorry to announce that the third patient we've cared for with the Ebola virus, Dr Martin Salia, has passed away as a result of the advanced symptoms of the disease." the Nebraska Medical Center said in a statement.

Security guard banned from work over ebola fears after he went to Nigeria

A security guard has been told not to go to work over fears he may have ebola because he visited Africa.

Sam Ogunnoiki, 46, went to Nigeria – 2,000 miles away from the nearest country with the disease – but faces a three-week quarantine.

He was told by bosses at Stout Security Ltd that he needs to get the all-clear from a British doctor before he can go back to work.

Ebola Scare: Pregnant passenger vomits blood, rejected by 3 hospitals in Lagos

The prompt intervention of Chisco transport officials has saved a pregnant wom­an, who after alighting from one of the company’s buses at its terminal, Jibowu, Lagos, started vomiting blood through her mouth and nose.

The bus, with registration number KJA 950 XR, was said to have arrived from Abuja at about 10am on the fate­ful day when the incident occurred. Scared by the development, other passengers were said to have taken to their heels as one of the passengers screamed that the pregnant woman was displaying Ebola symptoms.

Nigerian drug smuggler left to die at Madrid airport over Ebola fears

A Nigerian drug smuggler was left to his death at Madrid’s main airport after several bags of cocaine burst in his stomach. He spent 50 minutes without any medical attention as he was deemed an Ebola risk after he started shaking on the floor.

New York records first case of Ebola

Another case of Ebola Virus Disease has been diagnosed in the US, the first in its largest city; New York. Dr Craig Spencer, a doctor who worked in Guinea, West Africa with Ebola patients has tested positive to the virus, he's now been placed in an isolation unit. 

The 33 year-old doctor was taken to Bellevue Hospital six days after returning from Guinea. 3 people, including his fiancée who had close contact with him are being quarantined for observation. His apartment has been sealed off and will later be decontaminated.

Nigeria declared Ebola-free as virus runs rampant in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea

Nigeria and Senegal have been declared free of Ebola – but in neighbouring Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia the virus is ‘out of control’.

Emergency food supplies are being distributed in Sierra Leone, and Liberia is described as being ‘at a standstill’ as the virus takes hold, with more than 2,000 dead.

Colombia Places Travel Ban On Nigeria Because Of Ebola

Colombia's Foreign Ministry issued a brief statement saying the country was barring entry by any travellers requiring visas who have been in five African nations with Ebola outbreaks -- Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. It said the step was being taken at the recommendation of Colombia's National Institute of Health.

Fresh Fear As Arik Air Passenger Dies In His Seat After Vomiting Profusely

There was serious Ebola scare among passengers when a  63-year-old United States citizen flying from Lagos died of a heart attack about an hour before the Arik Air plane landed at Kennedy Airport on Thursday, October 17, 2014.Daily Mail reports said the man boarded the JFK-bound flight filled with about 145 passengers on board on the night of Wednesday, October 16, 2014, but died before arriving New York.

Facebook Owner Zuckerberg pledges $25 million to help fight Ebola

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has pledged $25 million (£15.7m) to help fight Ebola.

He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are donating the sum to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Foundation and it will be used to fight the virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and elsewhere in the world where Ebola is a threat.

UN worker dies of Ebola in Germany

A United Nation Aids worker who was being treated for Ebola at the St George clinic in Leipzig, Germany has died. 

The unidentified UN worker who was flown back to Germany from Liberia  last week after contracting the deadly virus, died in the early hours of today, October 14th. A statement from the hospital read; 

UK airports start Ebola screening over fears disease is just days away

Enhanced screening for Ebola will begin at Britain’s biggest airport today after the Health Secretary revealed the deadly virus is expected to reach the UK.

Jeremy Hunt said checks would begin at Heathrow’s Terminal 1 before they are expanded to cover Gatwick airport and Eurostar rail terminals by the end of next week, as the death toll in west Africa reached more than 4,000 people.

He told MPs it was ‘likely’ that Ebola will be seen in the UK and a ‘handful’ of cases could be confirmed in the next three months.

Photo: Michael Essien denies he has contracted Ebola

Michael Essien has taken to his Twitter account, to refute reports that surfaced on Sunday evening, claiming that he had contracted the deadly Ebola virus.

He wrote: “No truth in internet rumours that I have contracted Ebola.i m very well & I’m doing very gud & will be training as usual tomorrow. #falsenews”

The Ghanaian midfielder currently plays for AC Milan in the Italian Serie A, having previously featured for Chelsea in the Premier League.

100 People In Texas Believed To Have Had Contact With Ebola Patient

Four members of 42-year-old Thomas Eric Duncan’s family have been legally ordered to stay home in Dallas, Texas as a precaution even though they are not showing symptoms.

Up to 100 people in Texas are believed to have had contact with Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan. 

U.S. Records First Case Of Ebola

The CDC just confirmed the first case of Ebola in the United States, according to Reuters. The patient was placed in "strict isolation" at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas earlier today.

A patient in a Dallas hospital has been confirmed to have the Ebola virus, News 8 has learned.

Doctor 'Successfully' Treats Ebola with HIV Drug in Liberia

A doctor in rural Liberia inundated with Ebola patients says he's had good results with a treatment he tried out of sheer desperation: an HIV drug.

According to CNN:

Dr. Gobee Logan had given the drug, lamivudine, to 15 Ebola patients, and all but two survived. That's a 7% mortality rate. Across West Africa, the virus has killed 70% of its victims.


Outside Logan's Ebola center in Tubmanburg, four of his recovering patients walk the grounds, always staying inside the fence that separates the Ebola patients from everyone else.
  
"My stomach was hurting; I was feeling weak; I was vomiting," Elizabeth Kundu, 23, says of her 
bout with the virus. "They gave me medicine, and I'm feeling fine. We take it, and we can eat -- we're feeling fine in our bodies."

Kundu and the other 12 patients who took the lamivudine and survived, received the drug in the first five days or so of their illness. The two patients who died received it between days five and eight.

"I'm sure that when [patients] present early, this medicine can help," Logan said. "I've proven it right in my center."

Logan is mindful that lamivudine can cause liver and other problems, but he says it's worth the risk since Ebola is so deadly. He also knows American researchers will say only a real study can prove effectiveness. That would involve taking a much larger patient population and giving half of them lamivudine and the other half a placebo.

"Our people are dying and you're taking about studies?" he said. "It's a matter of doing all that I can do as a doctor to save some people's lives."

Logan said he got the idea to try lamivudine when he read in scientific journals that HIV and Ebola replicate inside the body in much the same way.

"Ebola is a brainchild of HIV," he said. "It's a destructive strain of HIV."

At first he tried an HIV drug called acyclovir, but it didn't seem to be effective. Then he tried lamivudine on a healthcare worker who'd become ill, and within a day or two he showed signs of improvement and survived. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says that theoretically, Logan's approach has some merit. Lamivudine is a nucleocide analog, and other drugs in this class are being studied to treat Ebola.

Panic in Liberia as two Ebola victims 'rise from the dead'

There's currently panic, fear and confusion in two villages in Nimba County in Liberia after reports that two female Ebola victims have risen from the dead.

According to local reports:
44 year old Dorris Quoi who lived in Hope Village Community and a 67 year old woman identified as Ma Kebeh, died of the Ebola virus and were about to be taken for burial when they resurrected and are now walking among the living.

Nigeria is free from Ebola – Health Ministry

Nigeria has cleared all patients being monitored for the Ebola virus, the federal health ministry said on Wednesday, but doctors said they would have to wait to declare the outbreak over.

“There is nobody under surveillance for the Ebola virus in any part of Nigeria,” health ministry spokesman Dan Nwomeh told AFP.

“All those under surveillance have completed their mandatory 21-day period stipulated by the WHO (World Health Organization).”

8 Ebola aid workers reportedly killed 'in cold blood' by villagers in Guinea

The team of health officials accompanied by journalists came to the village to educate people about how to avoid contracting Ebola. Instead, a group of local residents turned on their would-be benefactors, attacking them with knives and rocks and killing eight of them, witnesses say.

Guinea’s government said in a statement Friday that six people have been arrested in connection with the attack earlier this week on the health and government officials who were doing disinfection and education on prevention methods.

British Ebola survivor to return to Sierra Leone

The first Briton to be infected with the deadly Ebola virus has revealed he is going back to Sierra Leone to try and help with the struggle to control the disease.

William Pooley, a British nurse, survived Ebola after he was evacuated to Britain from Sierra Leone in an RAF fighter jet and successfully treated with the experimental drug ZMapp.

Despite initially assuring his parents he would not return, the 29-year-old has revealed he plans to go back to Sierra Leone, where hundreds of people have died from Ebola. He has called on David Cameron to do more to ensure an international effort is being made to get the epidemic in Africa under control.