My own battle with Ebola began with a slight body ache on Oct. 1. For weeks, any small pain had made me uneasy, but I had chosen to trust the precautions that I was taking. I wore gloves and knee-high rubber boots and regularly sprayed them with chlorinated water, and I checked my temperature twice a day.

One night, I felt an unusual ache and stopped at my apartment for a quick check: I watched the thermometer tick upward and eventually stop at 101.3. With no other discernible symptoms, I knew that the most likely explanation for a fever that high was Ebola. Fear enveloped me.

Read the full article

http://online.wsj.com/articles/i-got-ebola-and-survived-1415894355

The Ebola epidemic has finally captured international attention. Coverage of Ebola was minimal when the disease was confined to West Africa, but a small number of recent cases in the US and Europe have sparked frantic, hysterical reporting from western media outlets and subsequent public panic. In light of this, it’s important to keep the threat in perspective. For example, the above chart shows the number of confirmed and suspected cases in every country touched by the virus.

This World Health Organization data, provided by the Humanitarian Data Exchange and visualized using analysis tools we’re developing at CrisisNET, confirms statements by the Centers for Disease Control reassuring people in the US and Europe that their chances of contracting Ebola are vanishingly small (in fact, to date all known cases outside of West Africa have been health workers directly involved in treating Ebola patients).
 

Read the full article

http://reliefweb.int/report/liberia/tracking-ebola-crisisnet-and-ushahidi-platform

PDF Presentation

http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Tracking%20Ebola%20with%20CrisisNET%20and%20the%20Ushahidi%20Platform%20-%20Ushahidi%20-%20Ushahidi.pdf

Website

http://crisis.net/

International response must adapt to changing epidemic pattern.

Published on MSF’s website, November 10, 2014

Photo: Martin Zinggl/MSF The incredible story of 6 young survivors, all coming from the same village (Nyokotahun).

Monrovia – While the number of new Ebola cases reported in Liberia has declined in recent weeks, the outbreak is far from over and new hotspots continue to emerge across the country, the international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today, warning that the international aid response must rapidly adapt to this new phase of the epidemic, or risk undermining progress made against Ebola.

Unlike in neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone, where cases are on the rise, MSF teams in Liberia are witnessing a decline in the number of Ebola patients admitted to case management centres (CMCs) for the first time since the beginning of the Ebola epidemic. At present, MSF’s 250-bed ELWA3 CMC in Monrovia is treating around 50 patients. In Foya, in northern Liberia, the number of patients reached zero on October 30, with no confirmed cases since that date. Case numbers could again rise, as they have in Guinea, where, following two significant dips in admissions to MSF facilities, patient numbers are again increasing.

 

Full article

http://www.msf.org/article/ebola-hard-won-gains-liberia-must-not-be-undermined

After leaving Freetown, capital of Ebola-plagued Sierra Leone, for the airport by hydrofoil, I reflected on how I felt when undertaking this route at the start of my journey. It was night, and there was no electricity. We were disorientated by sensory overload: while trying to become accustomed to the darkness and warm, humid air, we were also contemplating getting used to frequent hand-washing and keeping a distance between ourselves, not touching each other or objects if at all possible.

The excitement was tangible, in the roar of the hydrofoil and the bellowing wind, but at the same time, laced with some fear – of the unknown, and of the invisible threat of Ebola.

Over the weeks in Kailahun, Ebola became visible.

Not in the ubiquitous laboratory slide photo we’ve all seen, nor in any apparent spattering on the yellow hazmat suits – which as a non-clinician, I didn’t get to wear. It might have been easier if it had presented in that way.

Source

http://eboladigest.blogspot.fr/

Full article

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20141107095524531

Taps data and citizen engagement against the spread of disease

FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE; LAGOS, NIGERIA – 27 Oct 2014: IBM (NYSE: IBM) has launched several initiatives to help curb the spread of Ebola in West Africa.

They include a citizen engagement and analytics system in Sierra Leone that enables communities affected by Ebola to communicate their issues and concerns directly to the government; a donation of IBM Connections technology in Nigeria to strengthen the Lagos State government’s preparedness for future disease outbreaks; and a global platform for sharing Ebola-related open data.

The efforts combine expertise from IBM’s global network of research labs with the company’s years of experience in humanitarian disaster response by applying mobile technology, data analytics and cloud computing to help governments and relief agencies as they seek to contain the deadly disease.

The work benefits from contributions from a number of partners including Sierra Leone’s Open Government Initiative, Cambridge University’s Africa’s Voices project, Airtel and Kenya’s Echo Mobile.

Full article

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/45214.wss

In what’s being hailed as a “spectacular success story,” the World Health Organization has declared Nigeria free of the Ebola virus transmission, with public health agencies and government officials citing a mobile health initiative as largely responsible for the triumph.

Shortly after the WHO declared Africa’s most populous country Ebola-free for 42 days Oct. 20, Nigerian Minister of Communication Technology Omobola Johnson credited a social media campaign and a real-time reporting Android app used during the outbreak as integral in containing the deadly virus.

Published in Healthcare IT News, by Erin McCann, October 23, 2014.

Full article: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/mhealth-takes-ebola-nigeria

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/ng-interactive/2014/oct/15/visualised-how-ebola-compares-to-other-infectious-diseases

Google Document

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kHCEWY-d9HXlWrft9jjRQ2xf6WHQlmwyrXel6wjxkW8/edit#gid=0

Full article

http://somatosphere.net/2014/10/web-roundup-ebola-update.html

Ebola – La coalition mondiale de l’inaction by msf

Avec près de 9000 cas et 4492 morts (source : OMS, au 16 octobre 2014), l’épidémie d’Ebola en cours en Afrique de l’Ouest est la plus importante jamais enregistrée depuis l’identification de la maladie, en 1976.

Dès les premières semaines qui ont suivi l’apparition des cas en Guinée, au mois de mars, MSF a démarré une intervention visant à prendre en charge les patients et à limiter la propagation de l’épidémie.

Au 10 octobre 2014, plus de 3 000 Médecins Sans Frontières étaient présents en Guinée, en Sierra Leone et au Libéria, dont plus de 200 expatriés internationaux.