International Medical Corps Responding Following Ebola Outbreak in West Africa

Aug 1, 2014 – Los Angeles, Calif. - An unprecedented outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa has spread to 4 countries claiming at least 729 lives among 1,323 reported cases (WHO). To date, cases of Ebola have been confirmed in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone where International Medical Corps has been delivering humanitarian support since 1999. In addition, the Ministry of Health of Nigeria has reported the first probable case of Ebola in the country last week.

The National Ministry of Health and partners in Sierra Leone believe that vulnerable communities in the country stand a high risk of contracting the disease given the prevalence of cross border activities between Sierra Leone and Guinea. What’s more, a lack of information or education on Ebola among vulnerable populations is leading to the increased risk of infected people not seeking critical health services to treat and prevent the spread of the disease.

In response, International Medical Corps is providing house-to-house Ebola sensitization in vulnerable communities alongside the Kailahun District Health Management Team and other partners. We are also actively participating in Ebola Task force meetings with WHO and other partners and providing logistical support to the Ministry of Health for health education and awareness raising. Our local team remains in contact with district health authorities, and is in close communication with the Emergency Health Coordinator on additional preparedness and response measures, initially in Sierra Leone and potentially in Liberia. In addition, as part of our potential scale-up efforts, International Medical Corps is looking to incorporate specific training for health care providers and provision of personal protective equipment.

There has been a lack of funding for the Ebola response, both for treatment and prevention. This needs to change because International Medical Corps believes this should not be seen as a West African issue but a global issue.

The state of emergency declared by the Sierra Leone government on July 31, 2014 has the potential to change the operational context of the country and International Medical Corps staff continue to evaluate how to tailor our response in order to best meet the needs of affected populations.

EBOLA*

Ebola is a severe acute viral illness often characterized by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.

Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. Ebola then
spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids.

No vaccine for Ebola is available. Several vaccines are being tested, but none are available for clinical use. Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care. Patients are frequently dehydrated and require oral rehydration with solutions containing electrolytes or intravenous fluids.

https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/imc/_pressreleases/2014_7_28_pr_sierra-leone_ebola-update?gclid=COOMyJql9L8CFRYPjgod-4wAyA#.U9yy1uOSy1U

This is a sweat pore. In this scanning electron micrograph it seems like our sweat comes from veeeery deep below  There are two types of sweat glands: The eccrine and the apocrine sweat gland. The eccrine sweat gland, which is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, regulates body temperature. When internal temperature rises, the eccrine glands secrete water to the skin surface, where heat is removed by evaporation. If eccrine glands are active over most of the body (as in horses, bears, and humans), they are major thermoregulatory devices. In other animals (dogs, cats, cattle, and sheep), they are active only on the pads of the paws or along the lip margins and may be entirely absent over the rest of the body; such animals often depend on panting for effective temperature control. Smaller mammals, such as rodents, cannot endure dehydration and hence possess no eccrine glands at all. Apocrine sweat glands, which are usually associated with hair follicles, continuously secrete a fatty sweat into the gland tubule. Emotional stress causes the tubule wall to contract, expelling the fatty secretion to the skin, where local bacteria break it down into odorous fatty acids. In human beings, apocrine glands are concentrated in the underarm and in genital regions; the glands are inactive until they are stimulated by hormonal changes in puberty. In other mammals, apocrine glands are more numerous. Certain specialized glands, such as mammary glands, wax-secreting glands of the ear canal, and many mammalian scent glands, probably developed from modified apocrine glands. SEM by Dr. Jeremy Burgesshttp://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/sweat-pore-sem-dr-jeremy-burgess.jpg

mostly used drug for the treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis  are resistant 

Salmonella infection

World's first lab-grown burger is eaten in London

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23576143

gene

According to microbiology report all human beings are similar by 99.9%,only they differ by 0.1%

Actually u have misunderstood the concept... Know some facts about this which will clear ur doubts...

1) TC is total count or the number of WBCs/ white blood cells per cubic mm of blood

2) DC is differential count, which expresses the configuration or contitution of the WBCs in the blood like.. There are 5 different types of WBCs ----> Neutrophils, Eosinophils, Basophils, Lymphocytes, Monocytes.. The composition is expressed in terms of percentage like N60%, L35%, E3%, M2%, B0%... This is DC

3) Both the tests require just a drop of blood.. Actually any blood test when done as a single test requires just a drop of blood.. But when asked in a bulk, we have to draw the blood from the vein..

4) There is nothing like, the TC, DC should be done in the finger prick blood and Others in the venous blood.. All the tests can be done in either way.. Unless there are certain exceptions where we require a large amount of blood which cannot be done with finger pricked blood...

5) Just a little more about TC and DC. For DC, its done after preparing a blood smear on a slide, which requires just a small drop of blood.. If excess is taken it cannot be done...

And Tc, now in most of the labs, automated counters are available which just takes a few miclo litres of blood for estimation

Hope u are clarified of ur doubt...