Officials in Sierra Leone were forced to admit a major Ebola outbreak went largely unreported to international health officials after the World Health Organization found dozens of Ebola victims’ bodies stacked in a pile at a hospital.
The WHO says a response team has been sent into the Kono district are a reported spike in Ebola cases.
“They uncovered a grim scene,” the U.N. health agency said in a statement. “In 11 days, two teams buried 87 bodies, including a nurse, an ambulance driver, and a janitor drafted into removing bodies as they piled up.”
The WHO team found that Ebola had hit 8 of the 15 chiefdoms in the area and it had not been reported to officials.
“We are only seeing the ears of the hippo,” Dr. Amara Jambai, Sierra Leone’s Director of Disease Prevention and Control told Fox News.
Sierra Leone has seen a significant rise in reported cases of Ebola and has overtaken neighbor Liberia for total number of cases. Liberia, however, has 1,400 more deaths listed in the official death toll.
However, Sierra Leone officials admitted they had only been counting deaths of patients with laboratory confirmed cases of Ebola, so many had died without being tested and confirmed to have the virus.
The CDC is confirming that California is in the midst of a whooping cough outbreak.
Doctors say that the outbreak is the worst in 70 years and there is over 1,000 more cases than the last major outbreak in 2010. Over 9,900 cases have been reported and confirmed as of November 26th.
The disease, known as pertussis, is caused by bacteria and is known to run on a 3 to 5 year peak cycle.
“The last time a series of outbreaks occurred across the country, California started the parade,” said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told ABC News. “And so this is a harbinger we are fearful of.”
The CDC says that 50 percent of children under a year old who catch the disease need to be hospitalized and up to 2 percent die.
The CDC is requesting that all pregnant women be injected with the whooping couch vaccine with the hope that the injection will pass the protection from mother to child.
A new study at Johns Hopkins says a virus that infects human brains has been discovered and the virus lowers human intelligence.
The algae virus impacts cognitive functions including visual process and special awareness according to a report in the Independent UK newspaper.
The study by scientists at Johns Hopkins and the University of Nebraska started completely by accident during an investigation into throat microbes. The DNA of virus that infects green algae was found in the throats of healthy individuals.
“This is a striking example showing that the ‘innocuous’ microorganisms we carry can affect behavior and cognition,” Dr. Robert Yolken told the Independent.
In the study, 40 people in 90 tested positive for the algae virus. All 40 of the positive subjects scored lower on tests to measure speed and accuracy of visual processing. They also had lower attention spans.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A new study on the Ebola virus says that if temperatures are close to freezing such as in the winter months the virus can live for two months outside of the body.
The study showed the virus lived over seven weeks on glass surfaces at temperatures around 39 degrees. The UK’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory found the Zaire strain of the virus could live 50 days on glass surfaces.
The tests were reportedly carried out before the current outbreak, in 2010, but the results had not been released to the public.
‘This study has demonstrated that filoviruses are able to survive and remain infectious, for extended periods when suspended within liquid and dried onto surfaces,’ explained the researchers to the Daily Mail. ‘Data from this study extend the knowledge on the survival of filoviruses under different conditions and provide a basis with which to inform risk assessments and manage exposure.’
The CDC has said the virus can live for hours on doorknobs or other dry surfaces and they reiterated the importance of using an alcohol based hand sanitizer and to not touch any surface that may have come in contact with someone who has Ebola.
Nina Pham, the first of the two Dallas nurses to contract Ebola from Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, has been declared virus free and has left the hospital where she had been treated.
The 26-year-old Pham was released Friday morning from the National Institutes of Health hospital near Washington.
“I am fortunate and blessed to be standing here today,” Pham told reporters as she left the hospital. “I would first and foremost like to thank God, my family and friends. Throughout this ordeal I have put my trust in God and my medical team.”
She thanked Dr. Kent Brantly for donations of plasma to help her strengthen her body’s response to the virus.
“I believe in the power of prayer because I know so many people all over the world have been praying for me,” Pham said. “I do now know how I can thank everyone enough for their prayers and expressions of concern, hope and love.”
Pham said she’s looking forward to going home and hugging her dog Bentley.
The United States will force all flights from countries that have Ebola outbreaks to five airports to allow more through screening for the virus.
Anyone flying into the U.S. from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea will now have to travel through JFK in New York, Newark in New Jersey, Dulles in Washington, D.C., Atlanta or Chicago. The move goes into effect immediately according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“We are working closely with the airlines to implement these restrictions with minimal travel disruption,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement. “If not already handled by the airlines, the few impacted travelers should contact the airlines for rebooking, as needed.”
Johnson said that 94% of passengers from those areas reportedly already come through those airports, so it should have minimal impact on the worldwide airline flight schedules.
“We currently have in place measures to identify and screen anyone at all land, sea and air ports of entry into the United States who we have reason to believe has been present in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea in the preceding 21 days,” Johnson said.
A Washington-based travel group told Reuters that an average of 150 per day come into the U.S. from those countries.
The long fight against the Ebola virus received very good news Tuesday when two African nations were declared free of the virus.
Nigeria and Senegal, who both combined had 20 cases of the virus and 7 deaths (all in Nigeria), have been free of any new cases for six weeks.
“This is a spectacular success story,” World Health Organization Representative Rui Gama Vaz told Reuters. “It shows that Ebola can be contained, but we must be clear that we have only won a battle, the war will only end when West Africa is also declared free of Ebola.”
The government of Nigeria was given praise considering the virus was discovered in Lagos, a city of 21 million where tracing contacts of residents can be almost impossible.
“Nigeria was not really prepared for the outbreak, but the swift response from the federal government, state governments (and) international organizations … was essential,” said Samuel Matoka, IFRC Ebola operations manager for Lagos. “The swiftness and fastness of the reaction from all parties, helped to contain Ebola in Nigeria.”
The World Health Organization says Nigeria could be a model for nations around the world in dealing with Ebola.
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The mosquito that transmits yellow fever has been found in two locations in Los Angeles County California.
The aggressive mosquito is known for biting in the daytime and was found October 7th and 8th in Commerce and Pico Rivera.
The species, Aedes aegypti, transmits yellow fever along with others such as dengue fever and chikungunya.
“While these debilitating viruses, so far, aren’t locally transmitted in L.A. County, the mosquitoes that can transmit them are now here,” Susanne Kluh, the district’s director of scientific-technical services, said in a statement quoted by the LA Times. “Infected travelers can bring these viruses to Los Angeles County.”
The yellow fever mosquito thrives in urban environments and usually uses small, man-made containers to lay eggs.
Officials speculate the mosquitoes arrived in California through eggs on imported tires or plants.
A second nurse who treated Thomas Eric Duncan has Ebola.
The Centers for Disease Control says that not only does Amber Vinson, 26, have the virus, but that she also traveled on an airplane Monday just before she reported having symptoms.
Vinson had been monitoring herself after treating Duncan and self-reported a fever Tuesday morning. She was immediately placed into isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
She is the second of 77 healthcare workers who have been self-monitoring to watch for signs of Ebola.
The CDC says that Vinson lived alone and had no pets. Her home is being sanitized along with all her furniture, bedding and clothing incinerated.
The first nurse to show infection, Nina Pham, worked a different shift than Vinson and the two reportedly had no contact.
