Disaster Risk Reduction

Detailed description of Médecins Sans Frontières struggle to counter Ebola

NEW YORK TIMES
By SHERI FINK, ADAM NOSSITER and JAMES KANTER.  OCT. 10, 2014

But it, too, has been overwhelmed by the scale of this disaster. In Sierra Leone, it has been strained by the caseload, though it was wary of a decision by other health and government officials on Friday to treat most patients at home because of a shortage of clinic beds. In Guinea the day before, it reported that its two treatment centers were stretched to the limit....

Two overviews of efforts by drug makers to produce Ebola medication.

WASHINGTON POST                 Oct. 10, 014

by Lenny Bernstein and Brady Dennis

WASHINGTON ..."It takes time. You end up with a situation where the companies weren't set up to ramp up productio. You don't just go from that to making 10,000 does overnight."  -- Prof. Thomas Galsbert, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/small-drugmakers-try-to-scale-up-to-meet-ebola-crisis/2014/10/09/a594dec2-4fee-11e4-babe-e91da079cb8a_story.html

SCIENCE INSIDER                                        Oct. 8, 2014

By Jon Cohen and  Kai Kupferschmidt

HOMELAND SECURITY TODAY               Oct. 9, 2014

 By Kylie Bull, Managing Editor

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a dynamic modeling tool called Ebola Response that allows for estimations of projected cases over time in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

 The Ebola Response modeling tool can construct scenarios to illustrate how control and prevention interventions can slow and eventually stop the Ebola epidemic. Importantly, it can help public health and other planners make more informed decisions about emergency response resources to help bring the outbreak under control. The new tool allows input of data reflective of the current situation on the ground in affected countries and communities.

 The Ebola Response modeling tool is intended to help local governments and international responders generate short-term estimates of the Ebola situations in countries, districts and villages. The tool, in the form of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, is to be made freely available online.

Meanwhile, in Liberia, the World Health Organization (WHO) has established a new training program for health workers on Ebola care.

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Over 8,000 people in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have been infected with Ebola, according to new data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The numbers show there were 2,799 new cases in the last 21 days. Of the 8,011 people infected, 3,857 people have died. “The situation in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone continues to deteriorate, with widespread and persistent transmission of [Ebola],” says the WHO in a statement.

The WHO cites problems gathering data in Liberia, and says it should be emphasized that “the reported fall in the number of new cases in Liberia over the past three weeks is unlikely to be genuine. Rather, it reflects a deterioration in the ability of overwhelmed responders to record accurate epidemiological data.”