Ebola

Ebola: WHO declares outbreak in DR Congo

At least one person has died after contracting the virus in the country's north-east, the WHO says.

The Congolese health ministry had notified the WHO of a "lab-confirmed case" of Ebola, it added on Twitter.

More than 11,000 people died in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014-2015, mainly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The last outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo was in 2014 and killed more than 40 people.

Vaccines for three deadly viruses fast-tracked

A coalition of governments and charities has committed $460m to speed up vaccine development for Mers, Lassa fever and Nipah virus.

They are asking funders at the World Economic Forum Davos for another $500m.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi) aims to have two new experimental vaccines ready for each disease within five years.

New vaccines usually take about a decade to develop and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Ebola adapted to easily infect people

Two studies, in the journal Cell, found a mutation increased the virus' ability to infect human cells fourfold.

Scientists have argued the mutation may have been "pivotal" in the outbreak becoming the largest in recorded history.

There were 28,616 Ebola cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

And 11,310 people died during the outbreak.

Researchers at the University of Nottingham and the University of Massachusetts analysed the genetic code of nearly 2,000 Ebola virus samples.

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Fever rising: How an illustrator's images helped the fight against Ebola

When the Ebola crisis hit Liberia two years ago, the artist was among those called upon by Unicef to develop posters on how the public could protect themselves.

"There was a need to educate the people ..." he explains."You needed a lot of images, drawings, that illustrated how to keep oneself protected from the virus."

"We were grateful that we were able to do something that people were able to use to save so many lives."

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UN Ebola response now planned to continue into 2016

The news comes as health officials struggle to contain a resurgence of cases in both Sierra Leone and Guinea largely because of problems tracing patients.

The World Health Organization and its humanitarian partners indicated Wednesday that Phase Three of their Ebola response would continue into 2016. Those activities include stopping transmission of Ebola, indicating more cases are anticipated.

New Ebola death reported in northern Sierra Leone

The announcement marked another setback in ending Ebola transmission in Sierra Leone, which has totaled nearly 4,000 Ebola deaths during the worst outbreak ever recorded.

In August, Sierra Leone's last known Ebola patient was released from a hospital after recovering, a milestone that allowed the West African nation to begin a 42-day countdown toward being declared free of Ebola transmission.

Sierra Leone officials confirm 3 new cases of Ebola

Alfred Palo Conteh said Tuesday that three new cases were confirmed Monday. He said now four people are in treatment after another case was confirmed Sept. 5.

Palo Conteh said the new cases were in contact with the woman who died in the northern Kambia district on Aug. 28. Samples from her body came back positive less than a week after the country's last known patient was discharged from the hospital.

Samoa PM says athletes safety from Ebola a priority

The Commonwealth Games Federation rejected a proposal by Ghana to issue sanctions against Samoa, for denying Sierra Leone entry, at this weeks General Assembly in Auckland.

Tuila'epa says it's the responsibility of his government to put safety first for the up to 2,000 athletes participating in the fifth Commonwealth Youth games.

He says he supports the decision because his country was the worst affected by the Spanish flu, which had killed 25 percent of Samoa's population back in 1918.

Ebola transmissions over in Liberia, enters 90-day watch

More than 4,800 people have died in Liberia since the outbreak began in West Africa in late 2013. The country celebrated what it thought was the end of Ebola in May, but then six more cases emerged the following month.

That started the clock over — 42 days or two incubation periods of 21 days — before Liberia could return to being free of transmission. On Thursday, officials announced they had made it without any more cases.

UN official: Ebola epidemic could be defeated by end of 2015

Dr. Margaret Chan told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that there have been no new cases in Liberia, and only three new cases in Sierra Leone and Guinea, in each of the last two weeks, the lowest numbers in well over a year.

She says fears that the Ebola virus could be permanently established in humans in the region have also been defeated, which is "very good news."

But Chan also cautions against "a false sense of security."