"WHO says more than 5,000 have now died of Ebola" by BABA AHMED and SARAH DiLORENZO, Associated Press November 12, 2014
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — More than 5,000 people have died in the Ebola outbreak that is ravaging West Africa, the World Health Organization reported Wednesday, marking another grisly toll in the epidemic.
This is the largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded, with more than 14,000 people sickened, the vast majority in the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
There are some signs that the rate of new infections may be slowing overall in Guinea and Liberia, but there are still areas of those countries where transmission remains high, and they are surging in Sierra Leone, the health agency said Wednesday. While the response to Ebola is ramping up, it is still insufficient:
Worryingly, the virus has continued to pop up in new places, both within the most affected countries and outside their borders. The most recent example is a new Ebola cluster that Malian authorities reported Wednesday — an alarming setback as the country tries to limit the epidemic ravaging other West African nations.
Then the French ought to get back in there.
A nurse working at a clinic in the Malian capital Bamako died Tuesday, and tests later showed she had Ebola, Communications Minister Mahamadou Camara said Wednesday.
Related: The Dead Doctors of Ebola
Two other people are also believed to have died of Ebola, though no tests were ever done on them to confirm the disease: an imam, whom the nurse treated at the Bamako clinic, and a friend who came to visit the man there.
The announcement of the new cases came just a day after Malian health authorities said there had been no other reported cases — let alone deaths — since a 2-year-old girl who had traveled to Mali from Guinea succumbed to the virus in late October.
At least 75 people are under quarantine following the new cases in Bamako, including patients and staff from the hospital, said Ousmane Doumbia, secretary-general for the Malian health ministry. Several of the patients under quarantine are troops serving in the country’s U.N. peacekeeping force who were being treated for wounds at the clinic, the force said in a statement.
Health officials are also searching the city of about 2 million for those who helped prepare the body of the imam for burial before it was known that the corpse might be highly contagious.
The imam, who lived in a small community near Guinea’s border with Mali, came to the Clinique Pasteur on Oct. 25 late at night. The 70-year-old was so ill he could not speak or give information about his symptoms, according to the head of the clinic.
‘‘His family did not give us all the information that would have led us to suspect Ebola,’’ Dramane Maiga told The Associated Press.
But one of his wives, a son and a brother are all being treated at an Ebola clinic in Gueckedou, Guinea. Two other family members have also died from an ‘‘undiagnosed disease,’’ WHO said.
The nurse, meanwhile, was hospitalized on Saturday though hospital officials did not alert the health ministry until Monday morning. By the time the test results came back on Tuesday, the 25-year-old nurse was already dead, said Maiga.
Because of their close contact with patients, often without the proper protection, health care workers have become infected in large numbers in this outbreak.
And yet we see pictures of unprotected people mingling around such scenes if you scroll far enough and no alarm is raised.
On Wednesday, some health workers at an Ebola treatment center run by Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone briefly went on strike over a dispute with the government about bonuses they had been promised. Although the medical charity employs the staff, the health ministry pays them.
That's where my BG print ended.
Even during the strike, the charity was able to maintain a minimum number of staff to keep the clinic running, Doctors Without Borders said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military has said it is scaling back its planned Ebola response deployments to Liberia from 4,000 troops to 3,000 because there are a greater-than-expected number of contractors available in Liberia to provide support like construction work.
They privati$ed the effort?
--more--"
Related:
"Meanwhile, the Obama administration told Congress on Wednesday that a $6.2 billion emergency aid request to fight Ebola is crucial to tackling it in West Africa and preventing it at home, to continue training of 250,000 US health workers in how to safely handle infected patients who arrive here."
And they still are not doing it, but back to Africa:
"John Hoover, a career diplomat from Massachusetts, was confirmed on Sept. 11, but the bad news is one of the big worries for US Embassy staffers is how they will be treated when they return to the United States. They are worried, Hoover said, about the ‘‘social stigma’’ of coming from an Ebola-afflicted country. He said he is anxious about his own return in January to attend his older son’s wedding."
Well, blame the end of the world propaganda from the pre$$ and government.
"WHO says Ebola transmission ‘intense’ in Sierra Leone" by Clarence Roy-Macaulay, Associated Press November 21, 2014
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — The spread of Ebola remains ‘‘intense’’ in most of Sierra Leone even as the situation has improved somewhat in the two other countries hardest hit, the World Health Organization says.
A WHO report said 168 new confirmed cases emerged in a single week in Sierra Leone’s capital of Freetown recently.
‘‘The numbers are still rising, and the transmission is persistent and widespread,’’ said Amadu Kamara, the UN’s Ebola crisis manager in Sierra Leone. ‘‘Rapid and coordinated responses are needed to overcome the spread of the Ebola disease.’’
The WHO report released late Wednesday said Sierra Leone had the lowest percentage of Ebola patients who had been isolated — only 13 percent. By comparison, that figure was 72 percent in Guinea.
WHO has said that at least 1,250 people, including seven of the country’s doctors, have died in Sierra Leone since the outbreak there began earlier this year.
Ebola is blamed for more than 5,400 deaths in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea.
By comparison, the report said, cases appear ‘‘to have stabilized’’ over the last four weeks in Liberia.
--more--"
Related: Sierra Leone on track to become worst-hit Ebola nation" by Rick Gladstone, New York Times November 27, 2014
So interesting given my print copy:
"Sierra Leone official: Ebola may have reached peak
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, which has been surging in recent weeks, may have reached its peak and could be on the verge of slowing down, Sierra Leone's information minister said Wednesday, but in a reminder of how serious the situation is in Sierra Leone, a ninth doctor became infected Wednesday.
It's mixed messages everywhere you look in the propaganda pre$$!
***********
In all, 15,935 people have been sickened with Ebola in West Africa and other places it has occasionally popped up. Of those, 5,689 have died. The case total includes 600 new cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in just the past week, according to the WHO.
The disease is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids of the sick, putting health workers at particular risk. Nearly 600 health workers have become infected in the West African outbreak, many in the hardest-hit countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — all of which had too few of the workers to begin with.
Still, Alpha Kanu, Sierra Leone's minister of information, told journalists in an online press conference that with the imminent completion of two British-built treatment centers, the worst could be over for the country. "We believe that now that those treatment centers are ready, the transmission of new cases will start reducing," he said.
"At the plateau with a downward trend," I'm told.
*****************
In Liberia a further sign of the country's recovery came when one candidate expressed delight Wednesday at how many supporters turned out for a campaign rally for Senate elections....
Oh, people are voting and ratifying and approving $cum leaders!! All's right with the world!
With the rate of infection slowing, the green light remains on for the Dec. 16 vote. Polling places are supposed to provide buckets of chlorinated water for hand-washing and a clean pen for each voter to fill out his or her ballot.
Some Liberians are concerned that it might still be too soon for electioneering.
"Even if Liberia was declared free of Ebola today, there would still be no need to ... celebrate until Guinea and Sierra Leone are also declared free," said Jerry Filika, a 19-year-old, underscoring that the deadly disease can easily cross borders.
Related: ‘‘As long as there’s one person with Ebola out there, then the crisis isn’t over.’’
--more--"
"Liberian president, citing Ebola gains, ends state of emergency" by Clair MacDougall | New York Times November 14, 2014
MONROVIA, Liberia — A three-month state of emergency was declared in early August, with a 9 p.m. curfew and soldiers and police officers patrolling the streets. Communities were quarantined, including the seaside slum of West Point, home to about 75,000 people.
The community resisted the quarantine and security forces fired on residents, killing a 15-year-old boy and severely wounding a 22-year-old man, according to a report released last week by the Liberian Independent National Commission on Human Rights.
Those who fired the shots have not yet been identified, although the government announced Sunday that five men, including a platoon commander, had been found guilty of “indiscretion” and “indiscipline” by a military inquiry and would be punished.
In announcing an end of the state of emergency, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf also ordered the opening of shopping markets, including those along the border, and directed school authorities to organize youths to renovate and clean school facilities....
Time to go vote!
--more--"
Related:
"Despite these glimmers of hope, Ebola and the outbreak of raw fear that accompanies it continues to prove divisive, but just as domestic abuse in the National Football League has given that issue a much-needed higher profile, a successful Africa Cup of Nations could lower paranoia about Ebola. Sports can be a great convener; after months of bleak news about the epidemic, hopefully another nation will step forward — and courageous doctors and public health officials will continue to beat back a disease that has terrified the world."
This is having all the smell of a staged propaganda effort due to the over-the-top promotion by government and its mouthpiece.
"WHO reports progress in Ebola fight, but disease still spreading" by Sheri Fink, New York Times December 02, 2014
A Liberian health worker sprayed disinfectant on a man suspected of dying of Ebola (Abbas Dulleh/Associated Press/File).
You see something odd in that staged and scripted photo from who knows where?
I mean, I know what we are told by the propaganda pre$$, but you don't expect me to believe that anymore, do you?
GENEVA — Among the biggest challenges now, the World Health Organization’s top official for the Ebola response said, is to track down every person who has potentially been exposed. To do this, the agency plans to nearly double the number of its specialists to assist an army of 20,000 community health workers.
“To get to zero you have to find every case,” the official, Bruce Aylward, assistant director general for polio and emergencies, told reporters at a briefing.
The geography of Ebola has shifted, further complicating the efforts to eradicate it.
Some say they created it.
For instance, in Guinea, Ebola is now thought to be in nearly twice as many districts as it was two months ago, when the United Nations established a mission to coordinate the response. And in Sierra Leone, Ebola is ravaging the western part of the country, while only a handful of new cases are surfacing in previous hot spots.
“We need to move like a shoal of fish or a flock of birds,” said Dr. David Nabarro, the UN secretary general’s special envoy for the Ebola response, speaking by phone from West Africa.
*************
How residents of the worst affected countries are burying their dead also has clearly changed, reflecting new awareness that the corpses of Ebola victims are extremely contagious. In all three countries, more than 70 percent of those known to have died from Ebola are buried safely.
See: Liberia eases up on cremation order for Ebola victims
Sufficient numbers of safe burial teams are now in place, except in certain places where the virus is burgeoning, Aylward said. But he said a few unsafe burials could accelerate the contagion, sending the number of new cases skyrocketing again.
The death toll has so far exceeded 5,600. The vast majority are in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Ebola has most recently been reported in Mali, where six people have died; however, even as donors add treatment capacity, the virus is racing ahead in some places.....
“We are no longer seeing exponential growth.”
--more--"
I'm no longer seeing my way clear to spending attention on another agenda-pushing fraud.
"The Ebola outbreak is stabilizing in Liberia and Guinea, but quickly spreading in Sierra Leone. Unsafe burials are believed responsible for 70 percent of new infections in Sierra Leone, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brima Kargbo told reporters Wednesday. Dr. Michael Mawanda, who, despite taking precautions, came down with Ebola himself and barely survived, said sensitization campaigns have not been widely successful in West Africa, largely because many seem unwilling to break with age-old customs such as communal dining. He saw people eating from the same plate, even as Ebola was claiming victims in the capital. The WHO says saliva may carry some risk, but that ‘‘the science is inconclusive.’’ Mawanda had worked in Sierra Leone since 2011."
"Liberia postpones elections again because of Ebola" by Jonathan Paye-Layleh, Associated Press December 15, 2014
For fear the results would not be credible, as if!!!
MONROVIA, Liberia — While health authorities say the situation has stabilized somewhat in recent weeks, the Liberian Supreme Court had decided last week that the elections could go forward. The court said its role was not to make decisions on political affairs. Two of the five justices dissented, saying the government was not prepared to conduct the elections safely. They also said that holding elections in the current climate violated civil and political rights.
In neighboring Sierra Leone, a top health official confirmed Sunday that one of the country’s most prominent doctors has contracted Ebola. Dr. Victor Willoughby is the 12th Sierra Leonean physician to become infected; 10 have died.
Chief medical officer Dr. Brima Kargbo confirmed Sunday that Willoughby had tested positive for Ebola.
He died.
He died.
Junior doctors in Sierra Leone last week launched a strike to demand better medical treatment for health workers who contract the disease. Kargbo said Sunday that substitutes are aiding the senior doctors.
Nearly 1,800 people have died from Ebola this year in Sierra Leone amid the regional epidemic.
--more--"
Also see: UN says several months needed to control Ebola
"Sierra Leone to search for Ebola cases in capital" Associated Press December 17, 2014
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Sierra Leone is planning a house-to-house search for hidden Ebola cases in the capital and surrounding areas in an effort to stem the disease’s rampant spread, the government said Tuesday.
How can you argue with that excuse for martial law, huh?
The government has periodically restricted movements into and out of hot spots in order to slow Ebola infections. In September, it locked down the entire country to look for sick people. With the disease now spreading fastest in Sierra Leone, authorities are stepping up their response.
In a statement Tuesday, President Ernest Bai Koroma said officials will begin the searches Wednesday for sick people in the Western Area, which includes Freetown.
It was not clear whether people had to stay in their homes and, if so, for how long. More than half of new infections are occurring in the capital and its surrounding areas, the statement said.
--more--"
Related: Sierra Leone area to hold 2-week Ebola ‘lockdown’
"Ebola forces lockdown in Sierra Leone" by Silas Gbandia, Bloomberg News December 26, 2014
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Sierra Leone, the hotspot in the Ebola epidemic, is under virtual lockdown.
President Ernest Koroma — a former insurance executive — has canceled most travel between districts and banned Christmas and New Year festivities. Church ceremonies are largely restricted, as is eating in restaurants, and going to nightclubs and beaches.
On Thursday, a lockdown was ordered in the northern part of the country, closing shops and other public places, and halting all travel not related to the Ebola crisis. The order will be in effect for at least three days, officials said.
Limiting the contact that spreads the disease is the basis of the restrictions announced by Koroma.
Sierra Leone surpassed Liberia this month as the country with the highest number of Ebola cases. The virus has killed more than 7,500 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea.
Christmas is usually marked by Christians and many Muslims with a mass exodus from Sierra Leone’s cities to villages and an equally enthusiastic flight from rural areas to towns, but not this year.
Christians and Muslims celebrating together?
Puh-leeze!
Traditional initiations into Sierra Leone’s secret societies are banned for now....
What an odd non sequitur from the elite pre$$.
--more--"
"Liberia’s UN mission reports 4th Ebola case" Associated Press December 25, 2014
MONROVIA, Liberia — The UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia says one of its staffers has contracted Ebola, bringing to four the number of its members who have come down with the disease during the worst outbreak on record.
A UN spokesman said the ill staffer is from Liberia. The patient was immediately transferred to an Ebola treatment unit, according to a statement from the mission.
The World Health Organization says Liberia has recorded 3,384 deaths during the Ebola outbreak — more than any other country.
Two of the UN staffers who contracted Ebola have died.
In neighboring Sierre Leone, the government has restricted travel during the holidays. People will be allowed to attend church on Christmas Day but ‘‘are requested to return home immediately after church services,’’ President Ernest Bai Koroma has said.
Public gatherings at restaurants, nightclubs and beaches are banned.
Ebola is spreading fastest in Sierra Leone’s Western Area, which includes the capital of Freetown.
--more--"
I can't keep up with it.
"Liberia holds Senate vote amid Ebola fears" by Jonathan Paye-Layleh, Associated Press December 21, 2014
MONROVIA, Liberia — Health employees worked at polling stations across Liberia on Saturday as voters cast their ballots in a twice-delayed Senate election that has been criticized for its potential to spread the deadly Ebola disease.
A total of 1.9 million voters are registered to participate in 15 Senate races across the country contested by 139 candidates. But Jerome Korkoya, chairman of the National Elections Commission, said Saturday afternoon that turnout had been low.
Originally scheduled for October, the vote was postponed to Dec. 16 as Liberia struggled to contain the Ebola epidemic, which has killed nearly 3,300 people. Officials then delayed it four more days until Saturday.
The disease appears to have slowed in recent weeks in Liberia, though critics questioned whether the vote could be conducted safely and credibly.
No such thing as that last one when it comes to elections.
The outbreak has killed more than 7,000 people in total, the World Health Organization reported late Friday, though many of the latest deaths have occurred in Sierra Leone. The three countries hit hardest by Ebola — Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea — have now recorded 7,373 deaths, up from 6,900 Wednesday, the WHO said.
Liberian officials distributed 4,700 thermometers and 10,000 bottles of sanitizer to polling stations in preparation for Saturday’s election.
Last week, Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah warned that anyone with a temperature greater than 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit could be removed from the line and sent for screening. A sudden fever is one of the signs of Ebola infection.
‘‘Let’s fight to the last until the last Ebola case is gone out of this country,’’ Nyenswah said.
On a visit to Liberia Friday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged voters to follow health guidelines ‘‘to protect yourself and your loved ones’’ from the disease, which is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of sick people.
‘‘This election will give Liberia and its people an opportunity to show the world how far it has come,’’ Ban said.
The most high-profile race, in Monrovia’s Montserrado County, pits opposition leader George Weah against Robert Sirleaf, son of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Weah, a former soccer star who won the first round of voting for president in 2005 before losing in a runoff, said Saturday he would ‘‘flog’’ Robert Sirleaf, who he described as ‘‘unpopular.’’
Sirleaf could not be reached Saturday, but he has previously called on Weah ‘‘to debate the issues and not personalities.’’ No debate between the candidates was held.
Election results could come in as early as Sunday, Korkoya said, though they might also be announced next week.
I don't believe I ever saw them in the Globe.
In announcing the new worldwide death toll from the outbreak, the World Health Organization said many of the latest deaths were reported in Sierra Leone.
The new totals include confirmed, probable, and suspected Ebola deaths. The WHO says there have also been six Ebola deaths in Mali, eight in Nigeria and one in the United States.
The total number of cases in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia now stands at 19,031, up from 18,569.
Ban continued his tour of Ebola-affected countries in West Africa on Saturday, with a visit to Mali set for the evening.
Ban arrived in Guinea, where the outbreak’s first cases were confirmed in March, on Saturday after touring Liberia and Sierra Leone on Friday.
Related:
"The first death in the current Ebola outbreak was reported in Guinea. The victim was 2-year-old Emile Ouamouno. Now, the boy’s hometown, Meliandou, Guinea, is notorious as the birthplace and crucible of the most deadly incarnation of the virus to date. Today villagers here are in debt, stigmatized, hungry, and still angry and deeply suspicious about who or what brought the disease that has devastated their lives."
They must be "conspiracy" theorists!
--more--"
Also see: UN Chief Visits Ebola-Ravaged West African Nations
"Malaria killing thousands more than Ebola in West Africa" by Michelle Faul, Associated Press December 29, 2014
GUECKEDOU, Guinea — Malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that is claiming many thousands more lives than Ebola, a ‘‘major failure on the part of everybody involved to have a lot of people die from malaria in the midst of the Ebola epidemic,’’ said Dr. Bernard Nahlen, deputy director of President Obama’s Malaria Initiative, in a telephone interview.
How do people get malaria anyway?
*********
Some 15,000 Guineans died from malaria last year, 14,000 of them children under age 5, according to Nets for Life Africa, a New York-based charity dedicated to providing insecticide-treated mosquito nets to put over beds....
Ebola and malaria have many of the same symptoms, including fever, dizziness, and head and muscle aches. Malaria is caused by bites from infected mosquitoes while Ebola can be contracted only from the body fluids of an infected victim — hence doctors’ fears of drawing blood to do malaria tests.
--more--"
Related:
"Africa bears most of the global burden of malaria today. In 2012, about 627,000 people died of the disease, according to the World Health Organization, and 90 percent of those deaths were in Africa. Malaria kills many more people than Ebola, itself a terrible disease that has caused more than 6,000 deaths this year."
That's because there is NO MONEY in a VACCINE for Malaria, and it fits the plans of the global depopulation people.
Well, I will be reemerging tomorrow morning readers for I am done for the night.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
You know what a blank space means, right?
Also see: UN says several months needed to control Ebola
"Sierra Leone to search for Ebola cases in capital" Associated Press December 17, 2014
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Sierra Leone is planning a house-to-house search for hidden Ebola cases in the capital and surrounding areas in an effort to stem the disease’s rampant spread, the government said Tuesday.
How can you argue with that excuse for martial law, huh?
The government has periodically restricted movements into and out of hot spots in order to slow Ebola infections. In September, it locked down the entire country to look for sick people. With the disease now spreading fastest in Sierra Leone, authorities are stepping up their response.
In a statement Tuesday, President Ernest Bai Koroma said officials will begin the searches Wednesday for sick people in the Western Area, which includes Freetown.
It was not clear whether people had to stay in their homes and, if so, for how long. More than half of new infections are occurring in the capital and its surrounding areas, the statement said.
--more--"
Related: Sierra Leone area to hold 2-week Ebola ‘lockdown’
"Ebola forces lockdown in Sierra Leone" by Silas Gbandia, Bloomberg News December 26, 2014
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Sierra Leone, the hotspot in the Ebola epidemic, is under virtual lockdown.
President Ernest Koroma — a former insurance executive — has canceled most travel between districts and banned Christmas and New Year festivities. Church ceremonies are largely restricted, as is eating in restaurants, and going to nightclubs and beaches.
On Thursday, a lockdown was ordered in the northern part of the country, closing shops and other public places, and halting all travel not related to the Ebola crisis. The order will be in effect for at least three days, officials said.
Limiting the contact that spreads the disease is the basis of the restrictions announced by Koroma.
Sierra Leone surpassed Liberia this month as the country with the highest number of Ebola cases. The virus has killed more than 7,500 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea.
Christmas is usually marked by Christians and many Muslims with a mass exodus from Sierra Leone’s cities to villages and an equally enthusiastic flight from rural areas to towns, but not this year.
Christians and Muslims celebrating together?
Puh-leeze!
Traditional initiations into Sierra Leone’s secret societies are banned for now....
What an odd non sequitur from the elite pre$$.
--more--"
"Liberia’s UN mission reports 4th Ebola case" Associated Press December 25, 2014
MONROVIA, Liberia — The UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia says one of its staffers has contracted Ebola, bringing to four the number of its members who have come down with the disease during the worst outbreak on record.
A UN spokesman said the ill staffer is from Liberia. The patient was immediately transferred to an Ebola treatment unit, according to a statement from the mission.
The World Health Organization says Liberia has recorded 3,384 deaths during the Ebola outbreak — more than any other country.
Two of the UN staffers who contracted Ebola have died.
In neighboring Sierre Leone, the government has restricted travel during the holidays. People will be allowed to attend church on Christmas Day but ‘‘are requested to return home immediately after church services,’’ President Ernest Bai Koroma has said.
Public gatherings at restaurants, nightclubs and beaches are banned.
Ebola is spreading fastest in Sierra Leone’s Western Area, which includes the capital of Freetown.
--more--"
I can't keep up with it.
"Liberia holds Senate vote amid Ebola fears" by Jonathan Paye-Layleh, Associated Press December 21, 2014
MONROVIA, Liberia — Health employees worked at polling stations across Liberia on Saturday as voters cast their ballots in a twice-delayed Senate election that has been criticized for its potential to spread the deadly Ebola disease.
A total of 1.9 million voters are registered to participate in 15 Senate races across the country contested by 139 candidates. But Jerome Korkoya, chairman of the National Elections Commission, said Saturday afternoon that turnout had been low.
Originally scheduled for October, the vote was postponed to Dec. 16 as Liberia struggled to contain the Ebola epidemic, which has killed nearly 3,300 people. Officials then delayed it four more days until Saturday.
The disease appears to have slowed in recent weeks in Liberia, though critics questioned whether the vote could be conducted safely and credibly.
No such thing as that last one when it comes to elections.
The outbreak has killed more than 7,000 people in total, the World Health Organization reported late Friday, though many of the latest deaths have occurred in Sierra Leone. The three countries hit hardest by Ebola — Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea — have now recorded 7,373 deaths, up from 6,900 Wednesday, the WHO said.
Liberian officials distributed 4,700 thermometers and 10,000 bottles of sanitizer to polling stations in preparation for Saturday’s election.
Last week, Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah warned that anyone with a temperature greater than 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit could be removed from the line and sent for screening. A sudden fever is one of the signs of Ebola infection.
‘‘Let’s fight to the last until the last Ebola case is gone out of this country,’’ Nyenswah said.
On a visit to Liberia Friday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged voters to follow health guidelines ‘‘to protect yourself and your loved ones’’ from the disease, which is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of sick people.
‘‘This election will give Liberia and its people an opportunity to show the world how far it has come,’’ Ban said.
The most high-profile race, in Monrovia’s Montserrado County, pits opposition leader George Weah against Robert Sirleaf, son of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Weah, a former soccer star who won the first round of voting for president in 2005 before losing in a runoff, said Saturday he would ‘‘flog’’ Robert Sirleaf, who he described as ‘‘unpopular.’’
Sirleaf could not be reached Saturday, but he has previously called on Weah ‘‘to debate the issues and not personalities.’’ No debate between the candidates was held.
Election results could come in as early as Sunday, Korkoya said, though they might also be announced next week.
I don't believe I ever saw them in the Globe.
In announcing the new worldwide death toll from the outbreak, the World Health Organization said many of the latest deaths were reported in Sierra Leone.
The new totals include confirmed, probable, and suspected Ebola deaths. The WHO says there have also been six Ebola deaths in Mali, eight in Nigeria and one in the United States.
The total number of cases in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia now stands at 19,031, up from 18,569.
Ban continued his tour of Ebola-affected countries in West Africa on Saturday, with a visit to Mali set for the evening.
Ban arrived in Guinea, where the outbreak’s first cases were confirmed in March, on Saturday after touring Liberia and Sierra Leone on Friday.
Related:
"The first death in the current Ebola outbreak was reported in Guinea. The victim was 2-year-old Emile Ouamouno. Now, the boy’s hometown, Meliandou, Guinea, is notorious as the birthplace and crucible of the most deadly incarnation of the virus to date. Today villagers here are in debt, stigmatized, hungry, and still angry and deeply suspicious about who or what brought the disease that has devastated their lives."
They must be "conspiracy" theorists!
--more--"
Also see: UN Chief Visits Ebola-Ravaged West African Nations
"Malaria killing thousands more than Ebola in West Africa" by Michelle Faul, Associated Press December 29, 2014
GUECKEDOU, Guinea — Malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that is claiming many thousands more lives than Ebola, a ‘‘major failure on the part of everybody involved to have a lot of people die from malaria in the midst of the Ebola epidemic,’’ said Dr. Bernard Nahlen, deputy director of President Obama’s Malaria Initiative, in a telephone interview.
How do people get malaria anyway?
*********
Some 15,000 Guineans died from malaria last year, 14,000 of them children under age 5, according to Nets for Life Africa, a New York-based charity dedicated to providing insecticide-treated mosquito nets to put over beds....
Ebola and malaria have many of the same symptoms, including fever, dizziness, and head and muscle aches. Malaria is caused by bites from infected mosquitoes while Ebola can be contracted only from the body fluids of an infected victim — hence doctors’ fears of drawing blood to do malaria tests.
--more--"
Related:
"Africa bears most of the global burden of malaria today. In 2012, about 627,000 people died of the disease, according to the World Health Organization, and 90 percent of those deaths were in Africa. Malaria kills many more people than Ebola, itself a terrible disease that has caused more than 6,000 deaths this year."
That's because there is NO MONEY in a VACCINE for Malaria, and it fits the plans of the global depopulation people.
Well, I will be reemerging tomorrow morning readers for I am done for the night.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
You know what a blank space means, right?
