Experimental Ebola Cure ~ Antibodies from Ebola patients

[Peter1469]

They are tying a new experimental vaccine.

Looks like another case of a promising cure or treatment that just drops off the radar

[waltky]

WHO mulling health emergency over Congo Ebola outbreak...

WHO mulling health emergency over Congo Ebola outbreak
May 17, 2018 -- An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has spread to a major city -- Mbandaka, with a population of about 1 million people -- officials said.

The country's health minister said authorities are intensifying work to identify those who have been in contact with suspected cases. Another concern is the disease could be spread through commerce, as the city is a major trade thoroughfare on the banks of the Congo River. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization said Ebola vaccines have been delivered to help stem the crisis. "A first batch of 4000 #Ebola vaccine doses just arrived to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Additional doses should be deployed in the coming days to #DRC. There are ongoing preparations to start the ring vaccination as soon as possible," the WHO tweeted.

Despite a rapid response by authorities, there are fears the outbreak has not been contained. The WHO will hold an emergency meeting Friday to decide whether to declare an official health emergency, which would allow for more resources. So far, 23 have died and until Thursday, the more than 40 confirmed cases were all located in the area around Bikoro, about 95 miles from the provincial capital Mbandaka. "This is a concerning development, but we now have better tools than ever before to combat Ebola," said," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola spread to the northwest in Mbandaka, the World Health Organization said.

The health organization is working with Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, and other partners to increase the capacity of health facilities to treat Ebola patients in isolation wards. WHO is also working with the Congolese Ministry of Health on prevention, treatment and reporting new cases. "We are entering a new phase of the Ebola outbreak that is now affecting three health zones, including an urban health zone," Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga said. "Since the announcement of the alert in Mbandaka, our epidemiologists are working in the field to identify people who have been in contact with suspected cases."

The WHO also said there have been 27 cases of fever with hemorrhagic signs, including 17 deaths, since the start of April. This is the ninth outbreak since the discovery of the Ebola virus in the country in 1976. In 2014, an outbreak that began in West Africa left more than 11,000 dead across six countries and was not declared officially over until the beginning of 2016.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...&utm_medium=17

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WHO says DR Congo faces ‘very high’ risk from Ebola
Sat, May 19, 2018 - The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) faces a “very high” public health risk from Ebola after the disease was confirmed in one patient in a major city, the WHO said yesterday, raising its assessment from “high.”

The risk to countries in the region was increased to “high,” raised from “moderate,” but the global risk remained “low.” The reassessment came after the first confirmed case in Mbandaka, a city of about 1.5 million. Previous reports of the disease had all been in remote areas where Ebola might spread more slowly. “The confirmed case in Mbandaka, a large urban center located on major national and international river, road and domestic air routes increases the risk of spread within the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to neighboring countries,” the WHO said.

WHO Deputy Director-General for Emergency Preparedness and Response Peter Salama on Thursday had told reporters that the risk assessment was being reviewed. “We’re certainly not trying to cause any panic in the national or international community,” Salama said. “What we’re saying, though, is that urban Ebola is very different phenomenon to rural Ebola, because we know that people in urban areas can have far more contacts, so that means that urban Ebola can result in an exponential increase in cases in a way that rural Ebola struggles to do,” he said.

The WHO was later yesterday to convene an emergency committee of experts to advise on the international response to the outbreak and decide whether it constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern.” The nightmare scenario is an outbreak in Kinshasa, a crowded city where millions live in unsanitary slums not connected to a sewer system. There had been 21 suspected, 20 probable and three confirmed cases of Ebola from April 4 to Tuesday, a total of 44 cases, including 15 deaths, the WHO statement said.

The DR Congo yesterday confirmed 11 new cases of Ebola in the northwestern town of Bikoro. The WHO is sending 7,540 doses of an experimental vaccine to try to stop the outbreak in its tracks, and 4,300 doses have already arrived in Kinshasa. It would be used to protect health workers and “rings” of contacts around each case. The vaccine supplies would be enough to vaccinate 50 rings of 150 people, the WHO said. As of Tuesday, 527 contacts had been identified and were being followed up and monitored, it said.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worl.../19/2003693357