Global Health Now Ebola Round-Up 10/22

EBOLA ROUND-UP


* Within weeks Liberians may have access to serum made from the blood of recovered Ebola patients, says the WHO, though is still unclear how much will become available and whether it could meet demand. ** BBC (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=1b4cd584fc&e=9c1fcebfa3)

* Ebola vaccine trials could start as early as January in West Africa, and more than 20,000 front-line health care workers and others in West Africa could participate in an expanded and accelerated rollout pressed by the WHO. ** Associated Press (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=cf7675c497&e=9c1fcebfa3)

* Ebola could trigger a decades-long food crisis in West Africa, warns Shenggen Fen, MD, director-general of the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), citing farmer deaths, labour shortages, rising transportation costs, and rising food prices in countries already already plagued by undernourishment. ** IPS (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=ad94a2e3e5&e=9c1fcebfa3)
** (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=4aa1883de1&e=9c1fcebfa3)

* Rwanda is screening and monitoring passengers from Americans and Spaniards for Ebola; adding to travel restrictions already in place for other affected countries—but possibly already a rub to a New Jersey school that tried to keep 2 Rwandan exchange students out (despite the fact that Rwanda is far from Ebola-affected West Africa). ** Washington Post (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=908a47aa79&e=9c1fcebfa3)

* Travelers from countries affected by Ebola will have to travel through 5 airports in the US—New York's John F. Kennedy, New Jersey's Newark, Washington Dulles, Atlanta, and Chicago's O'Hare—a step that falls short of the all-out ban demanded by some American law-makers. ** Reuters (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=4cb995d538&e=9c1fcebfa3)



The Secret Weapon Against Ebola
I caught a flash of hope in the fight against Ebola yesterday on Wolf Blitzer’s CNN newscast. As reporter Elizabeth Cohen detailed ** new CDC guidelines for health workers (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=c8ab988c5a&e=9c1fcebfa3)
in the U.S., video rolled of trainees suiting up. (Sorry, I couldn’t find the video on CNN.)

One challenge: How to seal the gloves to the gown? ** Duct tape (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=234cb8f9b9&e=9c1fcebfa3)
.

Yes, one of humanity’s greatest tools is being used to fight one of humanity’s greatest threats. In addition to creating ** wallets, refrigerator shelves and hammocks, removing warts and male chest hair (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=e01030f477&e=9c1fcebfa3)
, the humble duct tape appears to offer some help in virus protection.

** projectc.u.r.e. in Colorado (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=696d291745&e=9c1fcebfa3)
has mounted a “** Stick It to Ebola (http://jhsph.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0a43ad874dbe00d8f0545cfef&id=1674f64c70&e=9c1fcebfa3)
” campaign, noting that "Duct tape helps medical staff seal tents, gowns, masks, gloves, and boots against the spread of the Ebola virus."

In truth, the CDC recommends “selecting gowns or coveralls with thumb hooks to secure sleeves over inner glove.” But when those aren’t available, taping the sleeve to the inner glove is okay.—Brian W. Simpson