Liberian officials confirmed today a woman has died in Monrovia from the Ebola virus.
The death makes the sixth confirmed case of the virus since it re-emerged last month following a seven week period without any new cases.
“There is one new case. This time, the response area is Montserrado county. The person died in Monrovia,” Liberia’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Francis Ketteh told Reuters.
A report on the case stated the woman died just hours after being admitted to the hospital and showed a failure in the government’s process of surveillance of those who had contacts with other Ebola patients is not effective.
Doctors are speculating the virus was lying dormant during the seven week period with no infections and that it passed from a disease survivor to another person through sexual contact.
Ebola has killed over 11,200 people since the beginning of the outbreak in December 2013. Liberia had been declared “Ebola free” by the World Health Organization on May 9th.
Liberian officials confirmed a third case of Ebola on Thursday, two months after the country had declared itself Ebola free.
A case management leader for the country’s Ebola Task Force says that the three villagers with the disease “have a history of having had dog meat together.” Dog meat is common in the diet of Liberians.
The first confirmed case, a 17-year-old boy, died Sunday about 30 miles from the capital city of Monrovia. The other two cases are in the same village as the dead teen.
“The two (latest) live cases are 24 years old and 27 years old. They are stable,” Deputy Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah said on Thursday.
Scientists say that there is no proof yet that dogs can carry the Ebola virus. Humans have been infected in past outbreaks by eating contaminated monkey meat.
“There is no need to panic. Our health team is on top of it. It will be contained,” Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told Reuters.
At least 175 people are being monitored because of contact with the three confirmed cases.
The World Health Organization has declared Liberia to finally be free of Ebola.
The death toll from the virus was listed as 4,700 by WHO officials.
“The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Liberia is over,” WHO representative Dr. Alex Gasasira said at a press conference in the capital city of Monrovia on Saturday, reading his group’s statement.
The announcement comes 42 days after the last reported case of the virus. The standard for declaring a nation free of a virus is twice the cycle of infection which is 21 days for Ebola.
“Interruption of transmission is a monumental achievement for a country that reported the highest number of deaths in the largest, longest, and most complex outbreak since Ebola first emerged in 1976,” WHO said in the statement.
The peak of the virus was August and September 2014 where 300 to 400 cases were being confirmed each week.
“During those 2 months, the capital city Monrovia was the setting for some of the most tragic scenes from West Africa’s outbreak: gates locked at overflowing treatment centers, patients dying on the hospital grounds, and bodies that were sometimes not collected for days,” WHO said. “Flights were cancelled. Fuel and food ran low. Schools, businesses, borders, markets, and most health facilities were closed. Fear and uncertainty about the future, for families, communities, and the country and its economy, dominated the national mood.”
Officials with the WHO have previously admitted the death toll could be much higher than the official toll because of families that would bury their dead and not report relatives who succumbed to the virus.
An American doctor who had been treated in Atlanta for Ebola and declared free of the virus by his doctors has now been found to have the virus in his eye two months after his release.
Dr. Ian Crozier was experiencing horrific pain in his left eye according to the New York Times. The pressure in his eye kept increasing while vision decreased and the hue of his eye changed from blue to green.
Tests showed the virus was still living in his eye.
“It felt almost personal that the virus could be in my eye without me knowing it,” Crozier said.
The 44-year-old doctor contracted the disease while working at a hospital in Sierra Leone. The doctors at Emory University Hospital called Crozier “the sickest of all the four Ebola patients” who they had treated.
Emory University has updated the treatment protocols for victims of the virus.
“Following recovery from Ebola virus disease, patients should be followed for the development of eye symptoms including pain, redness, light sensitivity and blurred vision, which may be signs of uveitis,” said Steven Yeh, associate professor of ophthalmology at Emory University School of Medicine.
Emory said in a statement that they did not find the virus in tears and the outer membranes of the eyes.
“These findings have implications for the thousands of Ebola virus disease survivors in West Africa and also for health care providers who have been evacuated to their home countries for ongoing care,” Jay Varkey, assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine said. “Surveillance for the development of eye disease in the post-Ebola period is needed.”
A Canadian pastor is missing in North Korea.
Rev. Hyeon Soo Lim, the head of the 3,000 member Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, was scheduled to return home from a visit to North Korea one month ago. No one has heard from the pastor since that time.
“[Lim] left Toronto on Jan. 27 for Seoul, then flew to China and crossed over the northern border of North Korea into the Rajin region,” explained Lisa Pak, official spokesperson for both the family of Rev. Lim and Light Korean Presbyterian, told The Christian Post. “[He] traveled to the Rajin region to continue support for the on-going ministry of orphanages, nursery and nursing homes.”
Pak said that Rev. Lim had traveled to North Korea many times previously and knew how to deal with the political situation in the region.
The Associated Press noted that the country had just lifted travel restrictions due to Ebola.
“Pak said they are not sure why they haven’t heard from him, but noted North Korea just lifted severe restrictions on foreign travel imposed last year to keep the Ebola virus from crossing its borders,” reported the AP.
“The already isolated country virtually closed its borders to foreigners last October, halting all non-essential visas and requiring those few foreigners allowed in to undergo three weeks of quarantine.”
President Obama announced the progress against the Ebola outbreak in West Africa allows U.S. troops to come home.
“We have risen to the challenge,” he said at the White House. “Our focus now is getting to zero.”
Around 1,500 troops have already returned and 2,700 more will return by April 30th. Only 100 military officials will stay in Liberia after that date to provide advice on containment.
The President said the way Ebola has been brought under control shows that calls for travel restrictions and harsh measures were not necessary.
“People were understandably afraid,” Obama said. “Some stoked those fears.”
The President praised charitable groups that took the initiative to go and help the victims of the outbreak.
Health officials fighting the outbreak of Ebola in Liberia have confirmed that a new wave of the virus has broken out near the Sierra Leone border.
Authorities say that dozens of new cases have been rushing into health centers and marks a huge setback to the nation, which had thought they were bringing the viral outbreak under control.
Assistant Health minister Tolbert Nyenswah said that the new cases could be connected to people traveling across the Sierra Leone border and returning home. Sierra Leone has passed Liberia for the total number of Ebola cases.
Liberia has reported close to 3,400 deaths from Ebola and over 8,000 cases. The World Health Organization says that Sierra Leone has now passed Liberia with 9,000 cases of the deadly virus.
Liberian officials did not say if they would take steps to block border crossings.
Government officials in Sierra Leone announced the country’s leading doctor died from Ebola Thursday just hours after the arrival of experimental drugs to treat him.
Dr. Victor Willoughby contracted the virus after working on a patient that came in complaining of pain in his organs. The patient, a senior banker in the nation, was later confirmed to have had Ebola after his death.
Sierra Leone Chief Medical Officer Brima Kargbo said that the experimental drug ZMapp was flown into the country in a frozen form but had not thawed when Dr. Willoughby’s health declined to the point of death.
His death makes the 11th doctor in Sierra Leone to die from Ebola during the massive outbreak out of 12 infected. In addition to the doctors, 109 of 142 health care workers infected with the virus have died.
“We’ve lost personal friends and colleagues we’ve worked with. It’s extremely depressing and frustrating. You can talk to someone today and tomorrow they are Ebola-infected,” Dr M’Baimba Baryoh said. “The tension, the depression, it’s a lot of pressure. You start having nightmares because of Ebola.”
The epidemic’s official death toll continues to rise toward a gruesome new mark, closing in on 7,000 total deaths. Officials admit that the death toll is likely much higher than the official count as many families in rural areas have buried victims without seeking government assistance.
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.
TIME Magazine surprised many by naming the doctors fighting Ebola as their “Person of the Year” including Christian doctor Kent Brantly.
“From the community health care volunteers in Liberia, to the dedicated staff of organizations like Samaritan’s Purse and MSF, to the doctors and nurses at Emory University Hospital, Ebola Fighters are mostly anonymous heroes whose diverse faces are largely unknown even to their patients as they wage this war in head-to-toe protective gear,” Dr. Brantly said. “It is these nameless champions that TIME has recognized today.”
The magazine also honored other Christians such as Dr. Jerry Brown of the Christian mission Eternal Love Winning Africa Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia.
“Well, of course, turning the chapel into an Ebola unit was not welcomed by the staff of the institution. The bulk of them said, ‘Why should we turn the house of God into a place where we put people with such a deadly disease?’ And some said, ‘Where will you provide for us to worship in the morning?'” Brown recalled.
The story also focused on other stories of survival of virus including SIM missionary Nancy Writebol.
Several Christian organizations have hailed TIME for making this choice instead of something political. One of those praising the choice was Samaritan’s Purse head Franklin Graham.
“This battle for life is far from over, and Samaritan’s Purse will continue our work in this huge effort. We pray for each one of these heroes on the frontline and those suffering from Ebola. May God bring healing and comfort to them all,” Graham said.
