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More
than 28,000 people have been infected by Ebola in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra
Leone since December 2013. (Image source: BBC)
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Liberia is to be declared
Ebola-free by the World Health Organization (WHO), effectively putting an end
to the world's worst outbreak of the disease.
BBC
News report continues:
The
"end of active transmission" will be declared, after 42 days without
a new case in Liberia.
It
joins Guinea and Sierra Leone, which earned the status last year.
However,
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has warned that West Africa may see flare-ups of the
virus. It has killed more than 11,000 people since December 2013.
'Most critical' months
A
country is considered free of human-to-human transmission once two 21-day
incubation periods have passed since the last known case tested negative for a
second time.
However,
the end of active transmission of Ebola has been declared twice before in
Liberia - only for the infection to re-emerge.
This
is why the expected declaration by WHO later on Thursday will be marked with
caution.
On
Wednesday, Mr Ban warned that "we can anticipate future flare-ups of Ebola
in the coming year".
"But
we also expect the potential and frequency of those flare-ups to decrease over
time," he added.
Meanwhile,
WHO chief Margaret Chan said the virus could persist in some Ebola survivors
even after their full recovery.
"By
the end of this year, we expect that all survivors will have cleared the virus
from their bodies," Ms Chan was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
She also described the next
three months as "the most critical" for the three West African
nations.
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| © James Giahyue / Reuters |
Russia Registers
Most Effective Drug For Ebola – Puti
RT
reports that Russia has registered a new Ebola drug that appears to be more
effective than all of the other medicines currently being used to treat the
disease, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced during a meeting with the
Cabinet.
“We
have registered a medicine for the Ebola fever that, after a series of tests,
demonstrates high effectiveness. Its effectiveness is higher than that of those
remedies that are used in the world up to now,” the Russian president said, as
quoted by TASS.
Russia
has developed and registered two separate Ebola vaccines, both of which surpass
their counterparts in effectiveness, with one of the medicines designed
specifically for people with immunodeficiency, Russian Health Minister Veronika
Skvortsova said during the meeting.
“In
December, Russia registered two Ebola fever vaccines, which were developed by
the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian
Academy of Medical Sciences and tested in cooperation with the Health and
Defense ministries,” Skvotsova said, as quoted by TASS.
“One
of the vaccines is absolutely unique and has no analogues in the world. It
provides 100 percent immunity to the disease,” she added, stressing that the
second vaccine for people with immunodeficiency also surpasses its British
counterpart in efficiency.
According
to the minister, the west-African country of Guinea, where the latest outbreak
of the disease took place, has already addressed Russia, asking for its help in
dispensing the new medicines on its territory “in the coming months.”
Vladimir
Putin has already authorized the health and foreign ministries to begin work
with the African side. He also expressed gratitude to “the scientists and all
specialists that worked on the project” and congratulated them on their
success, calling it “a major step forward in fighting infectious diseases,” as
reported by TASS.
The
registration documents for the new vaccine were filed in late December as the
cure was passing the final stages of clinical testing. Olga Golodets, Deputy
Prime Minister for Social Policy, announced earlier that the new Ebola medicine
had been successfully tested on people.
In
the meantime, several other Ebola vaccines have been developed and tested in
countries affected by the epidemic. One of them was created by the Merck, a US
company, and tested by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Guinea last year,
with preliminary results demonstrating a high rate of effectiveness after
testing more than 4000 patients, ABC News reported.
Another
vaccine designed for people with immunodeficiency has been developed in the UK.
An
outbreak of the Ebola fever started in December of 2013, spreading from Guinea
to neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone. The epidemic claimed the lives of
11,000 people in these three countries, with 28,000 infected with the deadly
virus.
The WHO is soon expected to
declare an end to Africa’s Ebola epidemic, as it has been 42 days since the
region’s last registered Ebola case, which is longer than the virus’ 21-day
incubation period, ABC News reports.
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