Health

WHO to Begin Large-Scale Testing of Ebola Vaccine in Guinea

Published

9 years ago

March 5, 2015

In this Monday, Jan. 19, 2015 file photo, a health care worker, right, takes the temperatures of school children for signs of the Ebola virus before they enter their school in the city of Conakry, Guinea. (AP Photo/Youssouf Bah, File)

MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization will start large-scale testing of an experimental Ebola vaccine in Guinea on Saturday to see how effective it might be in preventing future outbreaks of the deadly virus.

The West African nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have been hardest hit in the yearlong Ebola outbreak, which is estimated to have left more than 9,800 people dead. In a statement Thursday, the U.N. health agency said the vaccine study will focus on Basse Guinee, the region that has Guinea’s most Ebola cases.

The health agency’s vaccination strategy in Guinea aims to create a buffer zone around an Ebola case to prevent its further spread — an approach used to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. Officials will vaccinate people who have already been exposed to Ebola cases and are at risk of developing the disease.

The vaccine being tested — VSV-EBOV — was developed by Canada and is now licensed to Merck. A second vaccine — one developed by U.S. National Institutes of Health and GlaxoSmithKline — will be tested in a separate study as supplies become available. The Guinea trial is being conducted with other health partners including Doctors Without Borders, Epicentre, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the Guinean government.

“If a vaccine is found effective, it will be the first preventive tool against Ebola in history,” WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan said in a statement.

Bertrand Draguez, medical director of Doctors Without Borders, applauded the move, which he called long overdue.

“For more than a year, we have been racing around the clock to stop the epidemic from spreading further,” he noted.

Authorities in Liberia discharged the country’s last Ebola patient on Thursday. It will take 42 days of no new cases for Liberia to be declared Ebola-free by WHO standards.

WHO on Wednesday reported 132 new Ebola cases last week, an increase from the 99 cases reported the previous week. The agency said the spread of Ebola remains “widespread” in Sierra Leone and noted that cases have jumped both there and in Guinea.

WHO said only about half of new Ebola patients in Guinea are connected to known cases, meaning that health officials are unable to track where the disease is spreading in the other half of cases. WHO also said unsafe traditional burials — a high-risk factor for Ebola transmission — continue to occur in both Guinea and Sierra Leone, and health workers in those countries are still being attacked by those wary of their efforts.

Officials also said the number of Ebola deaths taking place outside of hospitals still remains high in Guinea and Sierra Leone, “suggesting that the need for early isolation and treatment is not yet understood, accepted or acted upon.”

WHO had previously set a goal of isolating all Ebola cases and ensuring all burials were safe by January 1.

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East Bay Regional Park District Issues Rattlesnake Advisory

The East Bay Regional Park District released an advisory today on rattlesnakes, which emerge from winter hibernation in early spring and become more active. Warm weather can bring more potential for rattlesnake encounters with humans and dogs, particularly along trails and roads.

Published

13 mins ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

The Northern Pacific rattlesnake is the species found in East Bay Regional Parks. Courtesy photo.

The Richmond Standard

The East Bay Regional Park District released an advisory today on rattlesnakes, which emerge from winter hibernation in early spring and become more active.

Warm weather can bring more potential for rattlesnake encounters with humans and dogs, particularly along trails and roads.

Visitors are encouraged to avoid hiking alone in case of an emergency, to scan the ground ahead as they walk, jog or ride, stay on trails avoiding tall grass, and to look carefully around and under logs and rocks before sitting down. Keep your dog on your leash to be extra safe, park officials said.

If you encounter a rattlesnake, leave it alone – it is unlawful to capture or harm one. Move carefully and slowly away or around it and give it plenty of space, park officials said.

Those who are bitten by a rattlesnake are instructed to stay calm by lying down with the affected limb lower than the heart, then having someone call 911.

Getting medical attention is critical.

Those bitten should not use tourniquets, “sucking,” or snake bite kits. If you are by yourself, walk calmly to the nearest source of help to dial 911, do not run.

If bitten by any other type of snake, wash the wound with soap and water or an antiseptic and seek medical attention.

Not sure what bit you? Check the bite for two puncture marks (in rare cases one) associated with intense, burning pain, which is typical of a rattlesnake bite. Other snakebites can leave marks without associated burning pain.

The Northern Pacific rattlesnake is the species found in East Bay Regional Parks. Snakes are important to the natural environment, helping to control rodents and other reptile populations. But enjoy them from afar.

For more information, download the Park District’s Common Snakes brochure or watch our Gopher Snake or Rattlesnake video to learn how to tell the difference between rattlesnakes and gopher snakes. Additional information is available at ebparks.org/safety/wildlife-encounters.

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Alameda County

A Safe Place, Bay Area Domestic Violence Community Organization, Opens New Service Center in Oakland

Oakland-Bay Area non-profit, A Safe Place, announces the grand opening of its newly purchased building in Oakland that will be a service center for families that have suffered from domestic violence. The new, two-story building has over six new service rooms for counseling, mental health support groups, legal services, children’s treatment, safe space for community engagement, and partnership activities.

Published

2 hours ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Façade of the new community center for A Safe Place opening on May 10 in Oakland. Courtesy photo.

By Courtney Slocum Riley

Special to The Post

Oakland-Bay Area non-profit, A Safe Place, announces the grand opening of its newly purchased building in Oakland that will be a service center for families that have suffered from domestic violence.

The new, two-story building has over six new service rooms for counseling, mental health support groups, legal services, children’s treatment, safe space for community engagement, and partnership activities.

Domestic violence occurrences and offenses account for a considerable amount of all violent crimes in Alameda County. A Safe Place is attempting to provide a safe place for families to heal. A Safe Place is the only comprehensive domestic violence assistance program including a safehouse, in Oakland.

The grand opening celebration will also serve as a fundraiser to build out healing, therapeutic spaces for children and adult victims and survivors and survivors of domestic violence (male and female).

The new service center will expand the work of the organization, founded in 1976 when a group of women working in San Francisco came together to address the urgent need for a shelter in the East Bay. A year later, they founded A Safe Place (ASP) in Oakland. Run solely by volunteers, they set up a crisis line to offer crisis counseling and information to battered women and their children.

The organization serves over 500 adults and children annually through a host of services including crisis counseling via 24-hour crisis line, emergency motel and safehouse sheltering, mental health services (counseling and support groups).

Under the leadership of Executive Director, Carolyn Russell, the organization has grown from a single program into the comprehensive domestic violence and assistance program. ASP strives to meet the growing and diverse needs of our growing community.

The organization hopes to complete all the upgrades and therapeutic room improvements by August 2024. The public is invited to donate to the effort by using the website at www.asafeplace.org/donate. The organization also accepts in-kind gifts as well as items from the organization’s Amazon Wishlist.