‘I survived Ebola’: One of Congo’s first victims on how he beat the terrifying virus
A nurse who contracted the virus during the ongoing outbreak has described his traumatic ordeal for the first time Source link
All posts tagged: Ebola
Ebola outbreaks aren’t stopped by vaccines alone. Here’s what else is needed
Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Tensions have recently emerged around the Ebola response in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). These tensions have manifested in a series of incidents, including the burning of an Ebola treatment facility in Mongbwalu, confrontations involving families seeking to reclaim the bodies of relatives who had died from the disease, and reports of police firing warning shots. Against a backdrop of grief, fear, political mistrust and uncertainty, these incidents highlight difficulties that have shaped infectious disease outbreaks throughout history. With hundreds of Ebola cases reported in the DRC, and a growing number of cases identified across the border in Uganda, attention has increasingly focused on vaccines. This focus is understandable. Outbreaks are rarely controlled by vaccines alone (Getty Images) But these events also serve as a reminder that outbreaks are rarely controlled by vaccines alone. While vaccines play an important …
How Ebola Spreads Through Gold Mining
new video loaded: How Ebola Spreads Through Gold Mining Our chief Africa correspondent, Declan Walsh, reports from the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak on how the gold mining industry and the outbreak are linked. By Declan Walsh, Estelle Caswell, Coleman Lowndes and Arlette Bashizi June 5, 2026 Source link
A disease of deforestation: how Ebola is linked to the smartphone in your pocket | Ebola
For decades after the discovery of Ebolavirus in 1976, outbreaks of the disease were relatively small and contained, affecting a few hundred people at most. Not any more. In recent years, outbreaks of Ebola have been much larger, affecting thousands and even tens of thousands of people across multiple countries. The 2014 outbreak of Ebola in west Africa infected more than 28,000 people in 10 countries on three continents. The current eruption, which began in early May and shows no signs of abating, has caused 363 confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has crossed into Uganda. The conventional explanation has to do with the larger and more interconnected human populations that pathogens can access. But there’s a more fundamental driver: the transformation of the underlying ecology of Ebola, which is being remade, in part, by the rising global hunger for minerals to power the hi-tech economy. Most of the time, viruses such as Ebola live quietly in the bodies of their animal hosts, widely understood to be bats, causing them little …
We talked to two scientists racing to find a new Ebola vaccine. Here’s what to know
Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore As health workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continue to battle an ongoing Ebola outbreak, scientists around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against the strain of the virus that’s causing it. Two approved vaccines exist for Ebola, but they target the Zaire strain of the virus, not the Bundibugyo strain causing the 2026 outbreak – which has so far killed 61 people, with 359 confirmed cases in the DRC and neighbouring Uganda. The outbreak is centred in the Ituri province of northeastern DRC, where conflict, displaced people, a large migrant community and poorly resourced health facilities make stopping the spread particularly challenging. In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to two scientists from the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford, Teresa Lambe and Rebecca Makinson, who are developing a vaccine candidate …
DR Congo head to Spain to continue World Cup build-up despite Ebola cancellation
LIEGE, Belgium, June 4 : The Democratic Republic of Congo’s squad were heading to Spain on Thursday to continue their World Cup preparations and still hope to go ahead with their planned friendly against Chile next week, coach Sebastien Desabre said. The Congolese drew 0-0 with Denmark on Wednesday in a World Cup warm-up friendly at the end of a 10-day training camp in Belgium and are looking for an alternative venue for their match against Chile after the Spanish town of La Linea de la Concepcion prohibited the match from taking place there due to the African nation’s Ebola outbreak. The mayor took the decision even though the Congolese team have been preparing for the tournament in Belgium and almost all of their players and staff are based in Europe. “We want to play the game and now we are looking for an alternative which we are confident we will find, even if we have to play the game behind closed doors,” Desabre said. The Congolese Football Federation said on Wednesday its squad was …
America’s wrong and unlawful response to Ebola must pivot
The quarantine center is the latest misstep in the U.S. government’s response to the Ebola outbreak. Source link
Vaccines are in the works for the current Ebola outbreak : NPR
A health worker from the Guinean Ministry of Health prepares to administer an anti-Ebola vaccine in Gueckedou, Guinea, on February 23, 2021, following an outbreak. CArol Valade/AFP/via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption CArol Valade/AFP/via Getty Images The first Ebola vaccine was approved for use in 2019, three years after the horrific outbreak in West Africa that took more than 11,000 lives. That vaccine is designed to target a different species of Ebola than the one that’s rapidly spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Many researchers think the approved vaccine, called Ervebo, won’t work very well against the rarer Bundibugyo species, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments. This week, a pair of global vaccine non-profits are trying to jump start a Bundibugyo vaccine with an infusion of more than $100 million dollars. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, or CEPI, announced a commitment of roughly $62 million to fast-track research and development for three vaccine candidates. And a separate, $40 million dollar commitment from Gavi, a global vaccine alliance, …
Ebola Outbreak: CNN Correspondent Reports From Inside Democratic Republic of Congo
“So on my first day here, I’m sitting in the car and I hear this song,” Clarissa Ward says from Bunia, the capital of the province that’s the epicenter of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s latest Ebola epidemic. “Ebola, Ebola,” the CNN journalist sings, recreating the tune she heard on the radio. “Is this a song about Ebola?” she recalls asking her driver, thrown off by its upbeat sound. The driver explained that the song was a public safety announcement, offering directions for social distancing during the outbreak. The radio, Ward says, is one of the country’s most effective tools for disseminating public health information in a region where about 80% of adults are literate and only 22% have access to the internet. Those limited communication channels are among the many obstacles the DRC faces as it fights its 17th—and potentially largest—Ebola outbreak. USAID has been devastated, the World Health Organization is underfunded, and unlike its predecessor, the Zaire strain, this new Bundibugyo Ebola virus has no vaccine or treatment. Diagnostic testing is now …
Ebola warning notices to be put up at airports
The posters have gone up at Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester airports, as well as St Pancras and Birmingham railway stations Source link