#ebola-outbreak

US Infectious diseases centers launched during COVID have lost their funding under Trump.

These researchers would be in Africa fighting ebola—but Trump cut their funding

As news continues to pour in about the devastating outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, it is being reported that more women than men are succumbing to the deadly virus. The Liberian government, for example, has announced that 75 percent of the country’s Ebola deaths have been of women. And the Washington Post  reported last week that when you include Guinea and Sierra Leone along with Liberia, women make up 55 to 60 percent of the deceased.

The biggest driving force behind the gender difference in the death rate comes from cultural aspects of affected communities, according to Pritish K. Tosh, M.D., an infectious disease specialist with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

In West Africa, for instance, “women tend to be the primary caregivers when other family members are ill,” he noted. “These women are more likely to be exposed to vomit or feces of an infected family member, which may explain why we are seeing more women with the infection,” he said, nothing that transmission within the community is related to direct contact with blood and other bodily fluids of people who are acutely ill.

Tosh also emphasized that there is not a biological difference at play, meaning women are not at more risk compared with men, given a specific exposure.

The disproportionate Ebola death rates between men and women shouldn’t come as a surprise in light of past research. “Differences in exposure between males and females have been shown to be important factors in transmission of [Ebola],” according to a 2007 World Health Organization (WHO) document. “Therefore, it is important to understand the gender roles and responsibilities that affect exposure in the local area.” 

By Umaru Fofana

FREETOWN (Reuters) - The head doctor fighting an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Sierra Leone has himself caught the disease, one of a growing list of medical workers infected while battling to halt its spread across West Africa.

Ebola has killed 632 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since an outbreak began in February, putting strain on a string of weak health systems facing one of the world’s deadliest diseases despite waves of international help.

In a sign of the growing frustrations with the failure of region’s governments to tackle the outbreak, a Liberian whose brother died from the disease set fire to the Health Ministry in protest on Wednesday.

A statement from the president’s office said 39-year-old Sheik Umar Khan, a Sierra Leonean virologist credited with treating more than 100 Ebola victims, had been transferred to a treatment ward run by medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.

A source at the ward confirmed that the doctor was alive and receiving treatment, but gave no details of his condition.

Khan has been hailed a “national hero” by the Health Ministry for his efforts to lead the fight against an outbreak that has killed 206 people in the West African nation.

There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola, which can kill up to 90 percent of those infected, although the mortality rate of the current outbreak is around 60 percent.

It was not immediately clear how Khan had caught the virus. His colleagues told Reuters that he was always meticulous with protection, wearing overalls, mask, gloves and special footwear. Three days ago, three nurses working in the same Ebola treatment center alongside Khan died from the disease.

Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, said around 100 health workers had been infected by Ebola in the three countries, with 50 of them dying.

"Personal protection equipment is very hot. But there is a very strict procedure how you wear it, how you take it off, what can be re-used or not," he said.

Earlier this month, Samuel Muhumuza Mutoro, a senior Ugandan doctor working in Liberia died after treated infected patients.

"AFRAID FOR MY LIFE"

The latest WHO figures, released on Saturday, showed that there were 19 new deaths and 67 new cases within the four days since its previous statement.

The Ebola outbreak started in Guinea’s remote southeast and has since spread across the region’s poorly controlled borders. Symptoms of the highly infectious disease are diarrhea, vomiting and internal and external bleeding.

Part of Liberia’s Health Ministry was destroyed on Wednesday when Monrovia resident Edward Deline set fire to the building in protest over the death of his 14-year-old brother from Ebola.

"The health (workers) here are not doing enough to fight this virus. They are taking this to be a money making thing while our people are dying," Deline told journalists after he was arrested by police.

Local and international health workers face a combination of fear, suspicion and local traditions for burying the dead as they try to prevent Ebola spreading further. 

During a Reuters visit to the Kenema treatment center in eastern Sierra Leone in late June, Khan said he had installed a mirror in his office, which he called his “policeman”, to check for holes in his protective clothing before entering an isolation ward. Nevertheless, Khan said he feared Ebola. “I am afraid for my life, I must say, because I cherish my life,” he said in an interview, showing no signs of ill health at the time. “Health workers are prone to the disease because we are the first port of call for somebody who is sickened by disease. Even with the full protective clothing you put on, you are at risk.”

 (Photo by AP Images)

Yahoo News is reporting that two Americans infected with Ebola will be treated in the United States, marking the first time the deadly virus has been treated within U.S. borders. 

The evacuations of Dr. Kent Brantly and missionary Nancy Writebol are being facilitated by the State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Emory University in Atlanta announced at a press conference on Friday that it will be treating two patients with the Ebola virus. 

Related: Health Authorities Confirm Ebola Case in Liberia

As of this week, Ebola virus disease (EVD) has killed more than 700 people, according to the World Health Organization. There is no cure and no vaccine for EVD, which kills between 60 and 90 percent of its victims. The current outbreak — the largest in history — originated in Liberia and has spread to neighboring countries, but it has been contained thus far to West Africa.

The news that people infected with disease will be treated here in the U.S. sparked quite a reaction on social media, inspiring even a certain celebrity billionaire to take to Twitter in protest: 

CDC director Thomas Frieden, M.D., called Ebola “a dreadful, merciless virus” on a press call on Thursday, so it’s understandable that Americans would be concerned. But the chance that someone in the general population will contract Ebola is still extremely small.

"This is a very low-risk situation for the general U.S. population," Diane Griffin, M.D., professor and chair in molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins University, told Yahoo Health. "Emory is a great place for [the patient] to go. They are set up well to handle this type of situation."

Related: Wake-Up Call Quiz Gauges Risk Of Developing Serious Diseases

Ebola is not spread like the cold or the flu, she added. You could be sitting next to someone who is infected and still not contract the virus. “It’s transmitted by very close contact with people who are sick or with their bodily secretions, such as blood, urine, and feces,” said Griffin. “It isn’t spread through the air like most other viruses. It’s usually contracted by people who are taking care of a sick person – either a health care worker in a medical setting or by someone taking care of a sick family member at home.”

Additionally, the infected patient(s) will be treated in what sounds like the Fort Knox of treatment centers. “Emory University Hospital has a specially built isolation unit set up in collaboration with the CDC to treat patients who are exposed to certain serious infectious diseases,” the hospital said in a statement. “It is physically separate from other patient areas and has unique equipment and infrastructure that provide an extraordinarily high level of clinical isolation. It is one of only four such facilities in the country.”

Related: Could You Have Lyme Disease and Not Even Know It?

The hospital says its staff is well equipped to handle the incoming patients safely. “Emory University Hospital physicians, nurses and staff are highly trained in the specific and unique protocols and procedures necessary to treat and care for this type of patient,” the statement continued. “For this specially trained staff, these procedures are practiced on a regular basis throughout the year so we are fully prepared for this type of situation.”

Why Isn’t There an Ebola Vaccine?

According to a Newsweek piece published on Friday, Brantley, the American doctor who was infected with Ebola while treating patients in Liberia, received a blood transfusion this week from a 14-year-old boy who recovered from the disease. Though this procedure has been around for 20 years, its effectiveness against Ebola remains largely unknown.

"This treatment has worked in cases of other hemorrhagic fevers similar to Ebola, because the blood is likely to have antibodies against virus," said Griffin. "There is good data for other similar illnesses that shows you can treat people in this way and improve their chances of recovery. I don’t know of any evidence that it has worked for Ebola, but I’m sure they were pretty desperate, so it’s certainly worth trying."

Related: Vaccines and Travel: What We Can Learn From The Disneyland Measles Outbreak

The National Institutes of Health announced on Thursday that it will be begin human tests for an Ebola vaccine. Both the size and the high-profile nature of the current outbreak have many people wondering why it has taken this long. The main reasons, according to Griffin, are that outbreaks are pretty infrequent and there hasn’t been enough pressure globally to pursue a vaccine. “Even though the past outbreaks in Africa have been tragic, they were quickly contained and large numbers of people have not been at risk, she said. “Developing vaccines is a very expensive process, and there just hasn’t been the driving forces needed to move it beyond the animal testing phase.”

There are several experimental vaccines that have been developed that work in animals, and a few of them have been shown to work in monkeys, said Griffin. “It’s a tricky situation,” she continued. “There is great reluctance to use an experimental vaccine even in desperate times. Not all vaccines are safe, and if it turns out the experimental vaccine does more harm than good, it would be a public health disaster.”