Ebola

Deadly Ebola Virus Spreads Beyond Guinea Borders, Suspected In Mali

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– Deadly Ebola virus spreads beyond Guinea borders, suspected in Mali (RT, April 4, 2014):

Mali authorities have reported of three suspected cases of fatal Ebola virus. Liberia is now also believed to have witnessed the outbreak, which has killed at least 84people in Guinea and alarmed the world.

“Three suspected cases of hemorrhagic fever have been detected in the country. Samples have been taken and sent abroad for analysis,” said Ousmane Kone, Health Minister of Mali, West Africa, according to AFP.

The samples of the virus were sent to scientists to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now Mali authorities are waiting for the results, which will be made public as soon as they are known.

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Guinea Battles To Contain Ebola As Senegal Closes Its Border

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– Guinea battles to contain Ebola as Senegal closes its border (AFP, March 30, 2014):

Guinea is racing to contain a deadly Ebola epidemic spreading from its southern forests to the capital Conakry, as neighbouring Senegal closes its border.

The European Union pledged 500,000 euros ($690,000) to fight the contagion, while the Senegalese interior ministry said border crossings to Guinea would be closed “until further notice”.

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Ebola Virus Outbreak Spreads To Canada

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– Ebola Virus Outbreak Spreads To Canada (ZeroHedge, March 25, 2014):

The last few days has seen a sudden jump in the news headlines about one of the deadliest viruses known to man. Ebola haemorrhagic fever has prung up in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone but now, as BBC reports, a man is in hospital in Canada with symptoms of a haemorrhagic fever resembling the Ebola virus, a health official has said.

“Ebola” is in the news again…

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Terrifying Ebola Outbreak In West Africa Kills At Least 59 People And Is Spreading Fast

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This scanning electron micrograph, SEM, depicts a number of Ebola virions
This scanning electron micrograph, SEM, depicts a number of Ebola virions

– A Terrifying Ebola Outbreak in West Africa Is Spreading Fast (TIME, March 24, 2014)

There are no known treatments or vaccines for the hemorrhagic fever, which kills up to 90 percent of those who become infected.

– Ebola in Guinea Threatens 3-Nation Spread as Unicef Responds (Businessweek, March 24, 2014):

Africa’s biggest Ebola outbreak in seven years threatens to spread from Guinea to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia, the United Nations said.

Suspected cases of the lethal hemorrhagic disease are being investigated in southeast border areas, the World Health Organization said yesterday. At least 80 cases and 59 deaths have been recorded across the West African country, the United Nations Childrenâ??s Fund said on March 22. The capital, Conakry hasn’t been affected, government spokesman Albert Damantang Camara said today, after Unicef said the outbreak had spread there.

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– At least 59 people dead in Guinea Ebola outbreak (CNN, March 23, 2014)

– Deadly Ebola outbreak spreads in West Africa (Fox News, March 24, 2014)

 

Winnipeg researcher charged with smuggling Ebola material into U.S.

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A former researcher at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg is facing charges in the United States after allegedly trying to smuggle genetic material from the Ebola virus across the Manitoba-North Dakota border.

U.S. authorities allege Konan Michel Yao had 22 vials of the substance in the trunk of his car when he tried to cross the border on May 5. He is charged with smuggling merchandise, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 US.

Related video: Scientist attempts to smuggle 22 vials of Ebola into US

U.S. customs officers allegedly found the vials wrapped in aluminum foil inside a glove and packaged in a plastic bag, along with electrical wires.

In his affidavit, the 42-year-old researcher said he was hired by the Public Health Agency of Canada to work as a PhD fellow at the Winnipeg facility. Yao told officers he was working on a vaccine for the Ebola virus and HIV.

On Jan. 21, his last day at the lab, he said he stole 22 vials, which he described as research vectors, according to the affidavit.

Yao told officers he was taking the vials to his new job with the National Institutes of Health at the Biodefense Research Laboratory in Bethesda, Md., because he didn’t want to start from scratch in his research.

Read moreWinnipeg researcher charged with smuggling Ebola material into U.S.