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Now there's going to be a new Band Aid charity song to fight Ebola. If it's as bad as the last version it won't stand a chance, assuming the disease is a music lover.
 
Desmond shits his guts out in the market place
Molly is the girl who lends a hand
Desmond says to Molly "girl I like your face"
And Molly says this as she takes him to the band . . .

Eb-o-la, Eb-o-lu, life just stops bra . . .







Well it needs a bit of work . . . :?
 
Measures taken in the current Ebola outbreak may hold some clues for how to handle samples brought back to Earth from Mars, a place that could potentially host extraterrestrial microbes.

The 1971 sci-fi film "The Andromeda Strain" dramatized the idea of alien organisms infecting the Earth. Based on a novel by Michael Crichton, the film depicts the spread of an alien germ brought back to Earth by a satellite. An elite team of specialists responds, relying on protective hazmat suits, decontamination and disinfection safety levels, and a secret, high-tech underground facility named Wildfire to study and deal with the deadly extraterrestrial organism.

NASA officials have wanted to build and launch a robotic lander that scoops up some Martian samples and returns them to Earth. Similarly, a human expedition to Mars would surely hunt for past or present evidence of life on the Red Planet. Hauling back Martian samples means potentially dealing with biological "hot property," as well as public concern about creepy crawlers from Mars eating away at Earth's biosphere. ...

http://www.space.com/27599-ebola-outbre ... ssons.html
 
gncxx said:
Now there's going to be a new Band Aid charity song to fight Ebola. If it's as bad as the last version it won't stand a chance, assuming the disease is a music lover.

On a side note which is probably of no interest to anyone, I have just now, reading the above post, realised that the Band Aid name is a play on words. I have heard that name for almost 30 years and not once did I associate it with a sticking plaster.

I had the same type of revelation regarding Olive Oil only last year. I suddenly realised that it came from olives. I'm not sure where I thought it came from but there you go. I suppose I just call things what they are and not really think about it.

Carry on.
 
Ringo_ said:
I had the same type of revelation regarding Olive Oil only last year. I suddenly realised that it came from olives. I'm not sure where I thought it came from but there you go. I suppose I just call things what they are and not really think about it.

Did you think it was produced from glands on Popeye's girlfriend? :D
 
Dr Martin Salia, a surgeon who contracted the Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone, has died at a hospital in Nebraska from the virus.

The 44 year-old was taken to hospital in Omaha on Saturday, but passed away on Monday according to hospital officials.

"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 hospital said in a statement, which was reported by AFP. The other two patients who were treated at the facility were given clean bills of health. ...

http://rt.com/usa/206215-ebola-doctor-nebraska-dies/
 
Roadside bandits in Guinea stole a cooler containing blood samples that are believed to have ebola, officials said, warning of the risks and vowing tighter security measures for transport of potentially contagious cargo.

The vehicle was transporting test tubes containing blood when the roadside robbery took place on the route from Kankan prefecture in central Guinea to a test site in Gueckedou, in the south, national health officials said.

The bandits held up the minibus taxi carrying the samples from a suspected ebola patient on Wednesday, said Guinea Red Cross press officer Faya Etienne Tolno. Why they took the blood samples is unknown.

Officials appealed on national radio for the thieves to return the samples. ...

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/guin ... 99068.html
 
Cornwall based helicopter sent to Sierra Leone in Ebola fight

Royal Navy helicopters from Culdrose in Cornwall have been sent to help fight Ebola in Sierra Leone.
The Merlin helicopter will airlift supplies to a community care centre that is not accessible by road.
The 28-bed facility is in a mountainous area in Kumala for the care of Ebola patients including young children under five years old.
Lt Roger Angliss said it was the first time they had been asked to complete a mission of this type.

Sierra Leone is one of the countries worst affected by this year's Ebola outbreak, with more than 1,200 deaths.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-30202316
 
Policies advocated by the IMF have contributed to under-funded, insufficiently staffed, and poorly prepared health systems in the countries with ebola outbreaks in west Africa, academics said yesterday. Researchers from Cambridge University’s department of sociology, joined by colleagues from Oxford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, examined links between the IMF and the rapid spread of the disease.

They said IMF programmes over the years have imposed heavy constraints on the development of effective health systems in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone the cradle of the ebola outbreak that has killed more than 6,800 since March. Economic policy reforms advocated by the IMF have undermined the capacity of health systems in these three nations — systems already fragile from legacies of conflict and state failure — to cope with infectious disease outbreaks and other such emergencies, they added. ...

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/imf-policies-criticised-over-ebola-outbreaks-303730.html
 
Patient tested for Ebola at the Royal Cornwall Hospital
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The patient is understood to have recently returned from a country affected by Ebola

A patient is being tested for Ebola in Cornwall.
The Royal Cornwall Hospital said a patient had been admitted and is currently undergoing a series of tests, one of which is for Ebola.
A spokesman said the results were not expected for 24 hours and the patient was being looked after in isolation.
It is understood the patient recently returned from a country affected by an outbreak of the virus.
The spokesman said: "Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has been following national guidance around Ebola and made plans in line with advice from NHS England."

Meanwhile, a health worker who was diagnosed with Ebola after returning to Scotland from Sierra Leone has arrived at a specialist treatment centre in London.
The Ebola virus has claimed more than 5,000 lives during the current epidemic in West Africa, the largest outbreak since the virus was discovered nearly 40 years ago.
People can be infected when they have direct contact through broken skin, or the mouth and nose, with the blood, vomit, faeces or bodily fluids of someone with Ebola.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-30630543
 
A bad taste comment tweeted by a moron. But criminal?

Police in Scotland are making inquiries following complaints over a Twitter outburst about ebola from controversial TV personality Katie Hopkins.

Hopkins was berated online after she wrote on the site about “little sweaty jocks”, adding: “Sending us ebola bombs in the form of sweaty Glaswegians just isn’t cricket.”

In a separate message, she tweeted: “Glaswegian ebola patient moved to London’s Royal Free Hospital. Not so independent when it matters most are we jocksville?”

Police Scotland confirmed that they are looking into complaints that they have received but they did not reveal how many had been made.

Detective Inspector Glyn Roberts said: “We have received a number of complaints regarding remarks made on Twitter.

“Inquiries are ongoing into the nature of these tweets and to establish any potential criminality. Police Scotland will thoroughly investigate any reports of offensive or criminal behaviour online and anyone found to be responsible will be robustly dealt with.” ...

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/police-probe-hopkins-ebola-tweets-304723.html
 
She's a nobody who is an attention whore - just trying to keep in the public eye.
 
Ebola has been the number one health buzzword throughout 2014. As this year draws to a close, are we any closer to gaining insight into the origin of this devastating, deadly virus? Researchers from the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, Germany, may have finally located the source: free-tailed bats.

Have researchers finally located the source of Ebola as free-tailed bats?
As of December 24th, Ebola outbreak case counts have skyrocketed to numbers totaling 19,497 cases, 12,418 laboratory-confirmed cases and 7,588 deaths. The US has experienced four of these cases, with one death.

Experimental vaccines and treatments for Ebola are under development, but where did Ebola virus come from and how did it transmit to humans?

Ebola virus disease is of zoonotic origin, meaning a disease that has been transmitted to human populations from animals, through two possible infection routes:

  1. Contact with larger wildlife, or
  2. Direct contact with the infected animal itself.
The second infection route appears more plausible, as direct contact with bats is usual in the affected region.

The animal - in which a zoonosis lives its existence, over the long term, and without causing symptoms - is called a reservoir host.

The study, published in EMBO Molecular Medicine, suggests the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease occurring in West Africa may have originated from contact between humans and virus-infected bats. The insectivorous free-tailed bats in particular have been identified as plausible reservoir hosts. ...

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/287483.php
 
The woman in hospital in Truro with suspected Ebola has been given the all-clear.

But things are not so good for the other British case:

UK Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey 'in critical condition'

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A British nurse who was diagnosed with Ebola after returning from Sierra Leone is now in a critical condition, the London hospital treating her has said.
The Royal Free Hospital said it was "sorry to announce that the condition of Pauline Cafferkey has gradually deteriorated over the past two days".
Ms Cafferkey, from South Lanarkshire, was given an experimental anti-viral drug and blood from disease survivors.

Meanwhile a patient in Swindon is currently being tested for Ebola.
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust confirmed it was testing an individual with a history of travel to west Africa as a "precautionary measure" - but said those using the hospital should not be concerned.
Ms Cafferkey, a public health nurse, was diagnosed with Ebola in December after volunteering with Save the Children in Sierra Leone.
On Saturday Prime Minister David Cameron said on Twitter: "My thoughts and prayers are with nurse Pauline Cafferkey who is in a critical condition with Ebola."
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt also expressed his concern, adding: "I know Dr Mike Jacobs and his team at the Royal Free Hospital are working tirelessly to provide her with the best possible care."
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: "My thoughts are with Pauline & her family at this extremely difficult time. Thanks to all who are caring for her."

Ms Cafferkey had travelled home via Casablanca, Morocco, and London's Heathrow Airport.
She was screened for the disease at Heathrow where she told officials she believed a fever might be developing.
Her temperature was taken seven times in total, six of which were within 30 minutes, and was normal each time, so she was allowed to fly home to Scotland.

The government's chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, has said the case raises questions about airport screening procedures.

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Ms Cafferkey was part of a group of up to 50 NHS healthcare workers who volunteered in Sierra Leone

Ms Cafferkey was later placed in an isolation unit at Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital after becoming feverish, before being transferred by RAF Hercules plane to London and on to the Royal Free's specialist treatment centre.

Officials from Health Protection Scotland have spoken to all 71 people aboard the British Airways flight from Heathrow to Glasgow that Ms Cafferkey took - a Public Health England (PHE) spokeswoman has said.
And all 101 UK-based passengers and crew aboard the Royal Air Maroc flight from Casablanca to Heathrow have been contacted by PHE officials.
The remaining 31 international passengers on the flight were being traced by international health authorities, the spokeswoman added.

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30666265
 
The aftermath of the slaughter of the health workers.

The lecture about the dangers of Ebola had just begun, but the village had heard enough. A group of women started chanting, to warn the others against the visitors, “They are coming to kill you.” A mob of men masked their faces, waved machetes and rushed toward the speakers. Stones began to fly.

On a September day in a peaceful Guinean farming village, a simple presentation turned into a slaughter. Two days later, authorities uncovered the bodies of eight people in a ditch used for human waste. The dead, who had come to the village of Womey to teach about Ebola, were local officials, doctors, journalists and a popular pastor. Several had their throats slit.

The killings shocked a world already in a frenzy about the growing Ebola crisis.

“Why? Why? Why?” asked Jacques Mamy, the oldest son of the slain pastor, Moise Mamy. “Why do people act like this? . . . Why do people kill a good man?”

The Womey killings show, on an extreme level, the problems that health workers across West Africa face when they enter communities that have little to no education, along with no understanding of the realities of Ebola and how it spreads. ...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...—-and-a-whole-village-was-punished/ar-BBi69mD
 
UK female military health worker has Ebola

A female British military healthcare worker in Sierra Leone has tested positive for Ebola.
She is currently being treated in the Kerry Town treatment unit in the country and her next of kin have been informed.
Public Health England said that medical experts were making sure appropriate care was being delivered.
A decision on whether she will be evacuated to the UK for treatment has not yet been made.
The Ministry of Defence said between 600 and 700 of their personnel were currently working in Sierra Leone in connection with the Ebola crisis.
The MOD said: "Despite there being stringent procedures and controls in place to safeguard UK service personnel, there is always a level of risk in deployments on operations of this type."

...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31841432
 
Ebola: RAF sends plane to help UK military worker
A British military healthcare worker who tested positive for the Ebola virus is being flown to the UK for treatment, the Ministry of Defence says.
The woman, who has not been named, was assessed by experts prior to the decision being made to transfer her to the UK for further medical attention.
Her next of kin have been informed.
The MoD said an RAF C17 aircraft had flown to Africa with an Ebola expert from the Royal Free Hospital in London on board.

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31845947
 
The disruption of the Ebola virus may be wreaking havoc on the measles vaccination programs in the three affected nations, and such secondary effects are potentially "as devastating in terms of loss of life as the disease itself," says Justin Lessler, PhD, leader of a study that models the knock-on impact.

The study, published today in Science, is a warning, says Dr. Lessler - an assistant professor in epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health - that:

"While the downstream effects of Ebola are many, we can actually do something about measles relatively cheaply and easily, saving many lives by restarting derailed vaccination campaigns." ...

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/290815.php
 
Breaking news
RFA Argus on way back from Sierra Leone

First published 12:21 Friday 27 March 2015

RFA Argus has been honoured by the Defence Secretary as she heads home after supporting the fight against Ebola.
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship was deployed to Sierra Leone from Falmouth in September, tasked with providing vital aviation support and medical capability in the fight against Ebola.
The ship’s three Merlin helicopters from 820 Naval Air Squadron and detachment of Royal Marines from 1 Assault Group Royal Marines helped deliver equipment, supplies and food packages to remote areas of Sierra Leone over six months.
In recognition of her contribution to operations in Sierra Leone and deployments spanning back to 1982, the Defence Secretary and Chairman of the Admiralty Board, Michael Fallon MP, has awarded Argus an Admiralty Board Letter of Commendation.

The commendation is extremely rare. The last similar award was made in 1939 to the family of Captain Edward Kennedy, who was killed when his ship HMS Rawalpindi was sunk following heroic action against the German Battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. It is believed that this is the first time this award has been granted to an operational unit.

Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, said: During her deployment to Sierra Leone Argus has made a significant contribution to the UK’s effort to halt the spread of Ebola. She has helped to establish the crucial medical treatment centres and has provided vital transport capability allowing medical workers to reach the areas most affected by the disease and by providing medical reassurance to the British personnel deployed to the region.

...

While Argus departs Sierra Leone, the UK mission is far from over. The UK remains committed to the fight against Ebola and with the return of RFA Argus, the number of military personnel in Sierra Leone will be at around 300. This contribution is made up of command and control, logisticians, planners and medics. Argus’ capabilities have been transferred to other agencies which are well placed to take on the roles.

Brigadier Andrew Hughes, Commander of UK Ebola Task Force, said: RFA Argus arrived in Sierra Leone during the difficult days when cases of Ebola were rising and above 500 cases per week. Speed was of the essence in building the capacity of the country to deal with the outbreak. This included the building of Ebola Treatment Centres and importantly Command and Control functions. The ability of RFA Argus to move people and equipment by helicopter and boat has been very important to achieving this and it has enabled development of the operation both nationally and in the districts.

etc...

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/fpfalmouth/11885220.RFA_Argus_on_way_back_from_Sierra_Leone/

A couple of hours ago, Argus was off Guinea-Bissau. No destination is given, but presumably it will be Falmouth, unless she makes another call in to Gib first.
 
An experimental drug has cured monkeys infected with the Ebola virus, US-based scientists have said.

The treatment, known as TKM-Ebola-Guinea, targets the Makona strain of the virus, which caused the current deadly outbreak in West Africa.

All three monkeys receiving the treatment were healthy when the trial ended after 28 days; three untreated monkeys died within nine days.

Scientists cautioned that the drug's efficacy has not been proven in humans. ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-32424145
 
In West Africa, humans have eaten rats, monkeys, and bats for millennia—especially when other food sources are scarce. Yet this “bush meat” can make people sick, particularly when what’s for dinner is smoked bat. The winged creatures host more than 65 known human pathogens, including the Ebola virus, coronavirus (which causes SARS), and rabies, among others. Little is known, however, about how the various diseases, known as zoonoses, jump from bats to people, in part because how often, how, and why the two interact with each other is not well understood. Now, a new study suggests that they come in contact with one another frequently and for a variety of reasons. In three rural towns in Ghana between 2011 and 2012, researchers surveyed about 1270 people to learn more about their interactions with bats. They found that about 65% of respondents reported some contact with the creatures. About 37% said they’d been bitten or scratched by the animals or exposed to their urine—all possible routes of exposure to the viruses

http://news.sciencemag.org/health/2...isk-spreading-infectious-diseases-west-africa
 
Ebola vaccine works, offering 100% protection in African trial

A highly unusual clinical trial in Guinea has shown for the first time that an Ebola vaccine protects people from the deadly virus. The study, published online today by The Lancet, shows that the injection offered contacts of Ebola cases 100% protection starting 10 days after they received a single shot of the vaccine, which is produced by Merck. Scientists say the vaccine could help to finally bring an end to the epidemic in West Africa, now more than 18 months old.

"This will go down in history as one of those hallmark public health efforts," says Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy in Twin Cities, Minnesota, who wasn't involved in the study. "We will teach about this in public health schools."

"It's a wonderful result and a fantastic illustration of how vaccines can be developed very quickly and can be used in an outbreak situation to control the disease," says Adrian Hill, a vaccine researcher at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, also not involved in the work.

http://news.sciencemag.org/health/2...witter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twitter
 
Nearly 1,000 people in Sierra Leone have been put under quarantine following the death of a 67-year-old woman who tested positive for Ebola.

It comes five days into a six-week countdown for the country to be officially declared Ebola-free.

The quarantine will last for three weeks, provided no new cases are recorded.

More than 11,000 people have died since the start of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34151494
 
Thought it had gone too quiet....
 
A treatment administered to monkeys 3 days after being infected with Ebola virus resulted in 100% survival of the monkeys, according to research findings presented this week at the IDWeek conference in San Diego, CA.

The new compound offers hope of a cure for ebola.
The results of the tests could lead to the development of the compound, known as GS-5734, as a treatment for the deadly virus.

Ebola virus causes severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates, with high fatality rates. The largest outbreak to date occurred recently in West Africa, where the World Health Organization (WHO) reported over 11,000 deaths and 28,000 confirmed cases.

There is currently no licensed vaccine or therapy against Ebola virus.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/300864.php
 
A 15-year-old boy has died of Ebola in Liberia less than three months after the country was declared free of the virus, officials have told the BBC.

He tested positive last week and died late on Monday at a treatment centre near the capital, Monrovia, Francis Kateh, the chief medical officer, said.

His father and brother are being treated for Ebola at the centre.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34909949
 
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