A worried world watches as Ebola death toll rises; Spain to treat priest

By Holly Yan and Josh Levs

A nurse in Nigeria. A businessman in Saudi Arabia. A Spanish priest in Liberia.

With the World Health Organization announcing Wednesday that 932 deaths had been reported or confirmed as a result of Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Saudi Arabia joined the list of countries with suspected cases.
“This is the biggest and most complex Ebola outbreak in history,” Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said.
Nearly all of those deaths have been in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, where more than 1,700 cases have been reported, according to WHO. The agency said 108 new cases were reported between Saturday and Monday in those countries and Nigeria.
But concerns about the spread of the deadly virus escalated with Saudi Arabia reporting that a man died, apparently of the virus, after a trip to Sierra Leone, and Nigeria reported that a nurse died after treating someone believed to have contracted Ebola in Liberia.
Photos: Ebola outbreak in West Africa Photos: Ebola outbreak in West Africa
CDC raises Ebola response to level 1
New fears Ebola virus is spreading
WHO did not immediately confirm the deaths, and its count of Ebola cases does not include the two.
The Saudi man died Wednesday at a specialized hospital in Jeddah, the Saudi Ministry of Health said.
He had been in intensive care since late Monday “after exhibiting symptoms of viral hemorrhagic fever following a business trip to Sierra Leone,” the ministry said in a statement.
The nurse in Nigeria had helped care for Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American man, who died in Nigeria after traveling there from Liberia, Nigeria’s Ministry of Health said Wednesday.
Read more about Patrick Sawyer’s death
The news of the nurse’s death came the same day that Nigeria confirmed another five cases of Ebola, the Health Ministry said.
Meanwhile, a Spanish priest who contracted the disease in Liberia will be flown to Madrid and become Europe’s first patient from this outbreak, according to the Spanish government.
Spain’s Ministry of Defense is using a medically equipped Airbus A310 to bring Brother Miguel Pajares to Madrid, where he will be treated at Madrid’s La Paz hospital, Spanish officials said.
In the United States, two patients are being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta: American doctor Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who had been in Liberia. Emory is one of four U.S. institutions capable of providing such treatment.
Writebol arrived in Atlanta on Tuesday, just days after Brantly arrived.
“We were able to spend a few minutes with her to encourage her and be encouraged by her condition,” Writebol’s son, Jeremy, said in a statement.
A male patient at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York has tested negative for Ebola, the hospital announced Wednesday. The patient, who had a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms, is improving and is listed in stable condition, the hospital said in a written statement.
The man became ill after recently traveling to West Africa. A specimen from the patient was delivered Tuesday to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which confirmed he didn’t have Ebola.

Is experimental drug helping?
Both Brantly and Writebol have been given the experimental drug ZMapp, which had not been tested on humans nor has it undergone any clinical trials.
Doctors say it’s too early to tell whether ZMapp is effective or whether the two American patients are improving the standard treatment for Ebola.
The CDC says it’s not likely the drug will become available for patients in West Africa.
“The product is still in an experimental stage, and the manufacturer reports that there is a very limited supply, so it cannot be purchased and is not available for general use,” the CDC said.
President Barack Obama said Wednesday that “we’ve got to let the science guide us” on whether to make the experimental drug more widely available. “I don’t think all the information is in on whether this drug is helpful,” he added during a news conference at the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit in Washington.

CNN

Posted by admin on Aug 20 2014. Filed under African News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry