Haemorrhagic fever / Ebola outbreaks have been reported - accident, natural or bio-weapon?

[Bob]

DR Congo, after the incubation/infection time period has expired, has declared itself now clear of the most recent Ebola strain "Zaire" outbreak.

Democratic Republic of Congo declared its two-month Ebola outbreak officially over on Saturday after 42 days without recording a new case of the disease.

The outbreak in Congo's remote northeastern forests, a record eighth for the country where the disease was first discovered in 1976, killed four out of the eight people infected, Health Minister Oly Ilunga said in a statement.

"I declare on this day, at midnight, the end of the outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever of the Ebola virus in DRC," Ilunga said.

Congolese health authorities approved the use of a new experimental vaccine but ultimately declined to deploy it due to the small scale of the outbreak and logistical challenges.

ref: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKBN19M384

[Bob]

Breakthrough

The key

Switch off enzyme host factor called "PP2A-B56", and the virus' ability to copy itself and produce more infection is never 'switched on'.

The study has been published in the scientific journal Molecular Cell and was conducted by researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Phillips Universität Marburg in Germany.

Inhibiting the PP2A-B56 enzyme and the virus has no ability to replicate.

The structure of Ebola virus is very similar to the other so-called filoviruses, Lloviu virus and Marburg virus. The PP2A-B56 enzyme may stop the others in the FiloVirus family from replicating.

This is a major breakthrough.

ref: https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/...-rie122917.php

from Molecular Cell - PP2A-B56 reference, http://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/p...765(17)30893-6

Double Edge Sword possibly

PP2A isoforms generally act as tumor suppressors; one would want to activate these enzymes rather than suppress them if one is wanting the body to target tumors.

ref: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...14647416300320

[Bob]

Another potential MAJOR virus-proofing protection discovered

Many viruses could be potentially shut down, with an IMMUNITY, guaranteeing 100% protection - here is how it is being attempted:

Now, University of Guelph researchers have shown that an innovative antibody delivery method could offer an effective way to prevent and treat Ebola infection.

"Our goal is to make an antibody-based therapy that can protect against all strains of Ebola, and potentially Marburg virus, as well," says Prof. Sarah Wootton, Department of Pathobiology, who, along with PhD student Laura van Lieshout, found a new way to fight Ebola. "It would be used to stop the spread of the virus in outbreak situations."

Wootton says monoclonal antibody therapies (mAbs) hold promise for the treatment of Ebola virus infections. But mAbs are costly to produce and provide only short-term immunity.

That could change, thanks to a recent discovery by Wootton and van Lieshout. Their findings were published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

The approach delivers a monoclonal antibody gene through a viral vector, something that has been done before, most notably with human immunodeficiency virus. The process bypasses the need for the host to generate a natural immune response, which can take several weeks to occur, and often too late for Ebola victims.

The U of G researchers found that using adeno-associated virus (AAV) to deliver antibodies was remarkably effective at keeping Ebola virus infection at bay in mice. Other researchers have used AAV extensively to treat a variety of genetic disorders. The United States Food and Drug Administration has recently approved an AAV gene therapy to treat a rare retinal disorder.

"If you use an AAV gene therapy vector to deliver the DNA blueprint to a cell, that cell will produce a protective antibody against Ebola virus, which is then secreted into the bloodstream and protects mice from infection," says Wootton.

The approach provided 100-per-cent protection against Ebola infection in mice using two different types of mAb, and 83-per-cent protection with a third. A "cocktail" of two antibodies provided sustained protection against Ebola for up to five months.

Once the antibody gene is delivered, antibodies will be continually produced in the bloodstream, Wootton says. Mice in the laboratory expressed the antibody for more than 300 days.

"We are hoping to use this technology in a post-exposure scenario. Let's say someone has been exposed to Ebola. The idea would be to give them this AAV vector to start producing the antibodies that prevent death."

Her Ebola research was sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and was done in collaboration with rmicrobiologists Xiangguo Qiu and Gary Kobinger at Winnipeg's National Microbiology Lab, Public Health Agency of Canada.

"Developing pan-Ebola or pan-filovirus vaccines and therapeutics has been a goal for all the scientists in the field," said Qiu. "Our preliminary data is really encouraging and we will move forward to develop pan-Ebola/pan-filovirus cocktails."

Wootton is now seeking research funding for human clinical trials from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, formed after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Story Source: University of Guelph

[Bob]

And Another solution to Ebola and other filoviri...

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-...effective.html

Lasa Virus is also treatable by this method and substance

High doses of favipiravir extended survival in non-human primates infected with Ebola virus, according to a new study published this week in PLOS Medicine by Jeremie Guedj of INSERM, France, and colleagues.

Despite repeated outbreaks in recent years, there is no effective treatment validated for patients with Ebola virus disease, which can kill about half of those infected. The antiviral drug favipiravir has been previously tested at lower doses in humans and was well-tolerated but did not show strong antiviral activity. In the current study, researchers infected 26 non-human primates with the 2001 Gabon strain of Ebola virus and followed them for 21 days. Thirteen animals were untreated and 13 were treated, beginning two days before infection, with twice daily doses of favipiravir at 100, 150, or 180 mg/kg.

All animals that were untreated or treated with 100 mg/kg of favipiravir died within 10 days of infection. Two out of 5 (40%) animals treated with 150 mg/kg were still alive at day 21 of the study, and 3 out of 5 animals (60%) treated with 180 mg/kg favipiravir survived to day 21. Moreover, the study showed that the drug inhibited viral replication in a drug concentration-dependent manner. However, applicability to humans is limited by the fact that this model is fully lethal and that treatment initiation in patients is most often initiated several days after infection, when symptoms and high levels of viral replication are already present, rather than before infection.

"These results, together with previous data collected on tolerance and pharmacokinetics in both non-human primates and humans support the evaluation of high doses of favipiravir for future human intervention in particular for contact cases" the authors say.

[Bob]

Often with viri infections there are bacterial infections due to a damaged immune system. I'd like the readers to note this breakthrough and not loose the reference.. I feel it is important to human health worldwide.

A "game changing" new antibiotic which is capable of killing superbugs has been successfully synthesised and used to treat an infection for the first time—and could lead to the first new class of antibiotic drug in 30 years.

The breakthrough is another major step forward on the journey to develop a commercially viable drug version based on teixobactin—a natural antibiotic discovered by US scientists in soil samples in 2015 which has been heralded as a "gamechanger" in the battle against antibiotic resistant pathogens such as MRSA and VRE.

Scientists from the University of Lincoln, UK, have now successfully created a simplified, synthesised form of teixobactin which has been used to treat a bacterial infection in mice, demonstrating the first proof that such simplified versions of its real form could be used to treat real bacterial infection as the basis of a new drug.

The team at Lincoln developed a library of synthetic versions of teixobactin by replacing key amino acids at specific points in the antibiotic's structure to make it easier to recreate. After these simplified synthetic versions were shown to be highly potent against superbug-causing bacteria in vitro - or test tube—experiments, researchers from the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) then used one of the synthetic versions to successfully treat a bacterial infection in mice.

As well as clearing the infection, the synthesised teixobactin also minimised the infection's severity, which was not the case for the clinically-used antibiotic, moxifloxacin, used as a control study. The findings are published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

It has been predicted that by 2050 an additional 10 million people will succumb to drug resistant infections each year. The development of new antibiotics which can be used as a last resort when other drugs are ineffective is therefore a crucial area of study for healthcare researchers around the world.

Dr Ishwar Singh, a specialist in novel drug design and development from the University of Lincoln's School of Pharmacy, said: "Translating our success with these simplified synthetic versions from test tubes to real cases is a quantum jump in the development of new antibiotics, and brings us closer to realising the therapeutic potential of simplified teixobactins.

"When teixobactin was discovered it was groundbreaking in itself as a new antibiotic which kills bacteria without detectable resistance including superbugs such as MRSA, but natural teixobactin was not created for human use.

"A significant amount of work remains in the development of teixobactin as a therapeutic antibiotic for human use—we are probably around six to ten years off a drug that doctors can prescribe to patients—but this is a real step in the right direction and now opens the door for improving our in vivo analogues."

Dr Lakshminarayanan Rajamani from SERI added: "We need sophisticated armour to combat antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Drugs that target the fundamental mechanism of bacterial survival, and also reduce the host's inflammatory responses are the need of the hour. Our preliminary studies suggest that the modified peptide decreases the bacterial burden as well as disease severity, thus potentially enhancing the therapeutic utility."

The work builds on the success of the Lincoln team's pioneering research to tackle antimicrobial resistance over the past 22 months to turn teixobactin into a viable drug. The team will now develop a bigger library of simplified synthetic versions which can be used is a diverse number of applications, advancing the goal of a clinical drug.


More information: Anish Parmar et al, Design and Syntheses of Highly Potent Teixobactin Analogues against Staphylococcus aureus, Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci (VRE) in Vitro and in Vivo, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (2018). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.7b01634

ref: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-...bugs.html#nRlv

[Bob]

A simple chemical inhibits Ebola and other virus replication - breakthru !

Benzoquinoline, showed antiviral activity against Ebola virus and was also active against another deadly filovirus, Marburg virus.

Benzoquinoline was also effective against vesicular stomatitis virus from the rhabdovirus family, which can infect insects, cattle, horses and pigs, and Zika virus, which is spread to humans by mosquitoes.

ATLANTA--An organic chemical compound shows effective antiviral activity against Ebola virus and several other viruses, according to a study led by Georgia State University.

The researchers found benzoquinoline inhibited the ability of Ebola virus to multiply and reproduce in cell culture. The findings are published in the journal Antiviral Research.

Ebola virus, a member of the filovirus family, is an enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus that causes severe disease in humans. The largest outbreak on record for the filovirus family was caused by Ebola virus in West Africa between 2013 and 2016, resulting in more than 28,000 infections and more than 11,000 deaths.

Only experimental treatments were available, and survivors, including health care workers, are at risk for persistent infections from the virus remaining in sites that can tolerate foreign substances without eliciting an inflammatory immune response, such as the eye and testes. There are no approved drugs to treat Ebola virus or other filovirus infections, so there is a critical need for new therapeutic approaches. A potential antiviral target is the viral machinery and activities involved in carrying out RNA synthesis for Ebola virus.

"This work provides a foundation for the development of novel antiviral agents to combat Ebola virus," said Dr. Christopher Basler, director of the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and professor in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Microbial Pathogenesis.

In this study, the researchers screened a library of 200,000 small molecule compounds to identify potential inhibitors of Ebola virus RNA synthesis. They identified 56 hits that inhibited Ebola virus activity by more than 70 percent, while showing less than a 20 percent chance of being toxic to cells. They discovered three chemical structures with potent antiviral activity against Ebola virus in cell culture.

Human lung epithelial cells and human embryonic kidney cells were exposed to several viruses, Ebola virus, Marburg virus, vesicular stomatitis virus and Zika virus, and the antiviral effects of the three chemical structures were observed.

One of these chemical structures, benzoquinoline, showed antiviral activity against Ebola virus and was also active against another deadly filovirus, Marburg virus. Benzoquinoline was also effective against vesicular stomatitis virus from the rhabdovirus family, which can infect insects, cattle, horses and pigs, and Zika virus, which is spread to humans by mosquitoes.

"This study is part of a larger effort to find new therapies to treat highly dangerous Ebola virus infections," said lead author Dr. Priya Luthra of Georgia State.

ref:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0328182455.htm

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...40X?via%3Dihub

[Bob]

Ebola resurfaces in Congo

NW DR Congo, in the area where gold is found, Ebola kills 17.

All the cases were reported from a clinic at Ilkoko Iponge, located about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Bikoro, where treatment capacities are limited.

The health ministry said on Tuesday, describing the fresh outbreak as a "public health emergency with international impact."

"Twenty-one cases of fever with haemorrhagic indications and 17 deaths" have been recorded in Equateur province, it said, citing a notification to the ministry as of May 3.

It is the DRC's ninth known outbreak of Ebola since 1976, when the deady viral disease was first identified in then-Zaire by a Belgian-led team.

In Geneva, the World Health Organization (WHO) said lab tests in the DRC confirmed the presence of Ebola virus in two out of five samples collected from patients.

"WHO is working closely with the government of the DRC to rapidly scale up its operations and mobilize health partners, using the model of a successful response to a similar... outbreak in 2017," it said in a statement.

[Bob]

Nigeria has just re-started it's screening campaign for Ebola symptoms

https://www.thecable.ng/fg-orders-eb...gerias-borders

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has directed the federal ministry of health to step up surveillance at all entry points in the country to prevent the return of Ebola.

Briefing journalists at the end of the council presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday, Isaac Adewole, minister of health, said FEC ordered that steps to be taken to keep the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from coming to Nigeria.

Adewole said that part of the new measures to be taken include screening passengers coming into the country, while stating that that the government is determined to keep the country safe.

FEC has now directed the federal ministry of help to step up emergency surveillance activities at all land and airport borders, so that we can actually keep Nigerians safe.

“What we will do is to set up an emergency operation center which will be chaired by Dr. Babasanya, who actually led our efforts in Liberia and Sierra Leone and Guinea during the outbreak in 2014.

Not only that, we will be screening incoming passengers, particularly passengers from DRC and neighbouring countries.

We will also ensure we step up all activities screening people coming in so that we will not be caught unaware

Uganda has now issued "high alert surveillance" levels

Health workers in the western border districts have been put on high alert to monitor and screen all people coming from DRC after the outbreak was reported in the northwest Equateur Province.

There is no news that DR Congo itself has done anything to screen outgoing travelers from its borders.

[Bob]

Ebola has spread to major city in DR Congo - Mbandaka

A single case of Ebola was confirmed in Mbandaka, a densely populated provincial capital on the Congo River, Congo's Health Minister Oly Ilunga said late Wednesday.

The city is about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Bikoro, the rural area where the outbreak was announced last week.

Late Thursday, Congo's Ministry of Health announced 11 new confirmed Ebola cases and two deaths tied to cases in the country's northwest, including one in a suburb of Mbandaka.

A total of 45 cases of Ebola have now been reported in Congo in this outbreak: 14 confirmed, 21 probable and 10 suspected, the ministry said, after results from lab tests returned Thursday.

There has been one new death in Bikoro, where the first death took place. That new death had epidemiological ties to another case. The other death was a suspected case in Wangata, a suburb of Mbandaka on the Congo River, the ministry said. No details were given on the death's links to the newly confirmed case.

Only one of the 25 dead has been confirmed as Ebola, it said, adding that no new health professionals have been contaminated. One nurse had died, and three others were among suspected cases since the outbreak began.

Medical teams have been rushing to track down anyone thought to have had contact with infected people, while WHO is shipping thousands of doses of an experimental vaccine.

Until now, the outbreak was confined to remote rural areas, where Ebola, which is spread by bodily fluids, travels more slowly.

"We're certainly not trying to cause any panic in the national or international community," Salama said. But "urban Ebola can result in an exponential increase in cases in a way that rural Ebola struggles to do."

Mbandaka, a city of almost 1.2 million, is in a busy travel corridor in Congo's northwest Equateur province and is upstream from the capital, Kinshasa, a city of about 10 million. It is an hour's plane ride from Kinshasa or a four- to seven-day trip by river barge.

Salama also noted Mbandaka's proximity to neighboring countries, including Central African Republic and Republic of Congo.

"The scenario has changed, and it has become most serious and worrying, since the disease is now affecting an urban area," said Henry Gray, emergency coordinator in Mbandaka for Doctors Without Borders.

ref: http://www.wacotrib.com/news/ap_nati...eaf251e43.html

[Cidersomerset]

DR Congo Ebola outbreak 'not global emergency'

2 hours ago...18/5/18


Suspected cases are being treated at isolation hospitals in the Democratic Republic of Congo

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is not yet an international
public health emergency, the World Health Organization has said.

It said there was a "strong reason to believe that the outbreak can be brought under control".

At least 45 people are believed to have been infected in the current outbreak and 25 deaths
are being investigated.Cases emerged in a rural area with one now confirmed in the
north-western city of Mbandaka.The city of about one million people is a transport hub on the
River Congo, prompting fears that the virus could now spread further, threatening the capital
Kinshasa and surrounding countries. Ebola is an infectious illness that causes internal bleeding
and often proves fatal. It can spread rapidly through contact with small amounts of bodily fluid,
and its early flu-like symptoms are not always obvious.

Read More...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-44164027

[Bob]

In perspective, At-the-Moment - "WHO directors say the GLOBAL risk is not high" for the spread.

However what is said is this:

Within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, the risk to public health is very high and the risk is high regionally, WHO advised.

“Nine neighboring countries, including Congo-Brazzaville and Central African Republic, have been advised that they are at high risk of spread and have been supported with equipment and personnel,” WHO said.

Experimental Vaccine to be Deployed

“We have to start in Mbandaka,” Salama told reporters.

He said 8,000 to 10,000 people will be vaccinated to begin with.

“Of course as the epidemic grows, which it may, the numbers will increase,” he said.

WHO has more than 7,000 doses of vaccine, and more than half has arrived in the capital of Kinshasa.

Health workers will use it in a technique called ring vaccination, in which cases of the disease are tracked down and all the people they have been in direct contact with are vaccinated.

Then the contacts of those vaccinated people are tracked down and vaccinated. This method eradicated smallpox at the end of the 1970s.

The vaccine, was developed in Canada and is made by Merck.

“Our biggest concern is that the virus will spread to Kinshasa,” said Katherine Overcamp of Catholic Relief Services, one of several international aid groups working in the country.

Kinshasa, the nation’s capital, has a population of 11 million.

"In a sense, the rivers in northwest DRC are the highways. There are very few paved roads," Salama says. "People use them for transportation so it's quite plausible that the virus could spread down the rivers."

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=UiuCNPJhh_4

The Congo River provides a direct link from Mbandaka to the bustling megacity of Kinshasa, nearly 400 miles downriver, and could also potentially allow the virus to spread throughout central Africa.

"That really would be an extremely difficult scenario for us to be able to cope with," Salama says.

[Bob]

Three new cases in Mbandaka now - Congo’s health minister announced Friday

http://punchng.com/who-ebola-toll-45...irmed-25-dead/

17 confirmed, 21 probable cases, 5 suspected, 25 dead

https://apnews.com/eb5fab0764b64301b75635d7d5c95e6a

Restrict physical contact

A teacher in Mbandaka, 53-year-old Jean Mopono, said they were trying to implement preventative measures by teaching students not to greet each other by shaking hands or kissing.

Vanguard - Nigeria - https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/05/...ges-vigilance/

Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, yesterday urged airlines, especially those operating international and regional flights into the country, to be vigilant and screen their passengers properly to avoid carrying an effected passenger.

This was contained in a circular with ref no. NCAA/DG/AMS/Vol.1/196, dated 11th May, 2018, dispatched to all operating airlines.

According to Mr Sam Adurogboye, General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, in the circular, all airlines were informed of the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease .

[Bob]

Tuesday 22nd May 2018

Two more died from the Ebola infection's tissue and organ damage. Seven new cases confirmed.

At the central market in Mbandaka, where vendors in colorful fabrics hawk smoked monkeys, some residents said they were unmoved by warnings not to consume bush meat since a case of Ebola was discovered in the city.

Consuming 'bushmeat' is considered a way of catching Ebola (and other diseases) from eating the flesh of primates. The primates apparently catch the disease from eating dropped fruit which has been infected by bats. The bats tend to harbour the infection as their immune system protects them from the disease.

The mindset of the people is we are not going to change our ways (come Ebola and/or high water paraphrasing)...

“Despite your Ebola stories, we buy and eat monkey meat,” said one woman named Carine, a mother of eight children. “We have eaten that since forever. That is not going to change today. Ebola, that’s in Bikoro.”

Experts who have studied the Ebola virus since its discovery in 1976 along the Ebola river in Congo, then Zaire, say its suspected origin is forest bats. Links have also been made to the carcasses of freshly slaughtered animals eaten as bush meat.

Seven new confirmed cases were also registered in Bikoro, the ministry said, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 28.

[Bob]

Angola says, the threat is real enough - our borders are closed to DRC

Angolan authorities have shut the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Malanje Province to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus, media confirmed.

Malanje Province is located 383km northeast of Luanda and is a major point of interaction between Angolans and the Congolese.

According to VOA Radio, the border points on the Angolan side would have 12 police officers, 12 immigration personnel, four nurses and four firefighters and civil protection services officials to ensure the Ebola virus was not allowed in.

Veterinary officials

Four officers of the Angolan Forests Development Institute and two veterinary officials have also been deployed to monitor the transfer of water and animal products across the border, according to VOA Radio.

DRC health officials on Saturday said they had detected five fresh suspected cases of Ebola following the outbreak in the northwest of the country.

ref: http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news...xcz/index.html

[Bob]

A bit odd.. Kiryandongo is a town in the Western Region of Uganda. It was the site of a woman dying from a hemorrhagic fever episode, where blood was vacating from every orifice of the body. It was uncertain - Marburg or Ebola?


A woman in Kiryandongo said to have been attacked by Ebola - she has been buried.

KIRYANDONGO – A disease, suspected to be Ebola or Malburg haemorrhagic fever, has broken out in Kiryandongo district.

On Sunday morning, a woman patient identified as Cungi Odoki, a resident of Bweyale town council, was admitted with signs of the two ailments but died shortly after arrival.

According to the district Secretary for Health Rashid Okecha, health officials tried all they could to give her treatment but in vain.

“The woman was admitted at around 8am on Sunday with a severe fever and blood was flowing out of her body passing through every opening,”Okecha said.

He, however said a blood sample has been taken to the Uganda Virus Research Institute.

“After testing, we shall be able to ascertain what the patient was suffering from. The deceased will however be buried today Monday to avoid any chances of contact being made,”Okecha said.

According to Okecha, burial will be carried out by the medical control team.

Efforts to get additional information from the hospital’s medical superintendent were futile as our calls went unanswered.

source - https://www.google.com/search?q=Kiry...hrome&ie=UTF-8

Uganda:

[Bob]

Rift Valley Fever outbreak in Kenya causes an alert to keep an eye out for Ebola-like symptoms

Rift Valley Fever is most usually transmitted to humans through the blood, tissue or organs of livestock that have been infected with the virus through mosquito bites – although mosquitoes can pass the disease to humans directly.

Anyone who is involved in the slaughter of animals, helps to deliver calves or even comes into contact with contaminated blood during the preparation of meat is at risk, officials warned.

The death of a toddler on Sunday will raise fears that the disease is also spread through the consumption of raw milk..

Most patients who contract Rift Valley Fever experience only mild flu-like symptoms. But in some cases it triggers blindness-causing lesions on the eyes, brain swelling and haemorrhagic fever that manifests itself with the vomiting of blood as well as bleeding from the rectum, gums, skin and nose.

At least three of the victims suffered fever and bleeding before they died, according to Wajir County’s chief medical officer, Abdikhakim Billow.

The disease has been identified in a number of herds, with behavioural changes including spontaneous abortions, death and bleeding noted, Mr Billow added.

“We have effected a ban on meat and milk consumption… and an up-scaling of food quality control as a measure to prevent further spread,” he said.

Past experience suggests that such measures are unlikely to be effective.

Implementing the ban, even though it is only meant to be in force for nine days, will be tricky in an under-resourced, sparsely populated area where some may even be unaware of it.

First reported in Kenya in 1931, Rift Valley Fever has seen more than a dozen outbreaks since then across the continent. In 2000 it even spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen, raising concern that even Europe or Asia were vulnerable to contagion.

In February, the UN’s World Health Organisation included Rift Valley Fever in a list of eight diseases, or groups of diseases, that risk sparking a major international public health emergency.

With no specific treatment or effective human vaccine for the disease, the WHO said there was “urgent need” to carry our “accelerated research” on how to respond to the threat Rift Valley Fever poses.

Outbreaks of the disease have usually been associated with the flooding of low-lying grasslands following heavy rains like those which have recently fallen on much of East Africa.

[spade]

I once consulted with a doctor who sat on the board of the CDC, and she told me privately that Ebola WILL NOT HAPPEN in a developed nation, and that it had everything to due with proper sanitation and clean/sanitized medical facilities. These countries reported on have little to no sanitation and badly maintained medical facilities. If they were in place, "Ebola" has "no chance of spreading" she told me.

[Bob]

DR Congo and WHO feels the recent Ebola outbreak originating at Ilkoko Iponge with a small spread to Mbandaka is contained (and/or has burnt itself out).. A few more days remain in the 2 each 21 day cycle periods for no cases..

However, Zambia has quietly scaled UP its screening at border posts.

The article follows:

The Copperbelt Provincial Administration has scaled up screening of people for Ebola at border posts that are entering the country through Kasumbalesa and other border areas on the Copperbelt.

Copperbelt Province Permanent Secretary Bright Nundwe said provincial administration is taking stringent measures to ensure no case of Ebola is recorded in the province.

Mr. Nundwe said health workers have been stationed at border areas and at Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International airport to screen everyone entering the province from the Democratic Republic of Congo where 66 confirmed Ebola cases have been recorded.

He said the epidemic awareness activities are also on going at all border areas.

Mr. Nundwe said this today during a provincial epidemic preparedness committee meeting held in Ndola.

And Provincial Health Director Alex Makupe informed the committee that the province has stocked enough drugs at health facilities in case of any reported case of Ebola disease.

Drugs stocked up?

In this thread various chemicals and drugs have been located and reported on which appear to have anti-viral activity against Ebola and Marburg-like viruses. It is interesting that Zambia is recognizing that certain chemicals and drugs are useful and that they have stocked up on them. It would be interesting to see which ones they chose as effective..

ref: http://www.znbc.co.zm/cb-scales-up-ebola-screening/ It is interesting that the reporting station is from Government Owned media - see below

The Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) is a strategic institution in the country operating as a statutory body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services (MIBS).

The National Public Service Broadcaster established pursuant to section 3 of the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation Act, Chapter 154 of the Laws of Zambia. It is the oldest, widest in coverage and largest radio and television service provider and was transformed from a government department called the Zambia Broadcasting Services under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services into a statutory body by the Act of 1987.

[Bob]

This is a bit worrisome - recall we talked about the speed of mutation of the Ebola virus many posts earlier in this thread.

A new variant called the Bombali species has appeared in northern Sierra Leone.

The species has been found in bats, which are eaten and a warning has been issued, to stop the eating of bats.

ref: http://www.thesierraleonetelegraph.c...try-of-health/

Some backpedaling started happening to downplay the potential disease..

Umaru Fofanah reported: “Minister of Health, Dr Alpha Tejan Wurie told me that the virus – which is yet to be named – “does not have all its gene types similar to Ebola” and stressed that it was “not Ebola”. He said even if it had spread to humans, the virus which was discovered in Bombali District would not have the same effect as the Ebola Virus Disease which killed more than 3,000 people in Sierra Leone in 2014/15. He said the discovery which followed months of research, meant that the country was in a state of readiness and was better equipped to deal with any situation. Dr Wurie, who owns one of the best laboratories in the country, warned the public against panic and to refrain from eating bats.”

This is the type of bat (two species have shown the virus so far)

Quotes:

RNA analysis of the virus revealed that it is “definitely related to other Ebola viruses,” says Tracey Goldstein, a pathologist at University of California, Davis, who is with the virus-hunting PREDICT project. “But [it] was quite different.”

Goldstein and her colleagues confirmed that the Bombali virus can infect human cells, but they still don’t know whether or not it can cause disease in people. “It has the machinery” to enter a human cell, she says, but that doesn’t mean that it can make people sick.

Some species of Ebola, such as the Reston virus, can cause disease in nonhuman primates but do not sicken humans. Other species of the virus however, like the Zaire virus, have been responsible for widespread epidemics, including a recent outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that killed 33 people (SN Online: 5/18/18) and an earlier one responsible for more than 11,000 deaths across West Africa (SN: 1/24/15, p.12).

Stay tuned for any updates

[Bob]

Ebola Zaire strain strikes EASTERN side of DR Congo, right where the extremist militants are. These are the militants who kidnap children to enlist them in the underground terrorist army.

Congolese officials say four cases of Ebola have been confirmed in the eastern part of the country, near the border with Uganda.

At least 20 people have died and workers are trying to determine whether they died of Ebola.

“Already one health worker has died. We know at least two have been infected,” Salama said.

“This is happening in the middle of a huge humanitarian crisis,” Jose Barahona, country director for Congo for the aid organization Oxfam, told NBC News.

“We have more than 4 million people displaced by conflict,” Barahona added. “In the east of Congo, there are more than 100 different armed groups.”

Aid workers will not only have to travel over a large, heavily forested area looking for cases, but also they’ll have to negotiate with militant groups that may control stretches of roads, small mines or entry into towns and villages.

Barahona said aid groups such as his had already been struggling to get food, water and other assistance to people in the area.

This is the 10th outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but the first in a part of the country that is affected by heavily armed conflict.

There are suspected Ebola cases in at least six distinct areas. In these areas armed gangs often hold up aid convoys to rob them, he said. There is a risk that they may kidnap aid workers or seize supplies to hold for ransom.

This complicates tracing the spread. This may be a bad outbreak..

The majority of cases in the cluster are in the Mangina health area about 30 kilometers outside of the city of Beni located in North Kivu, where there is a large amount of movement between the borders of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, due to trade activities, according to WHO. North Kivu hosts over 1 million displaced people.