Month: August 2014

Doctor, Missionary Still Fighting Ebola

By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – International development banks on Monday committed $260 million in emergency loans for three West African countries hit by the deadly Ebola virus as nearly 50 African leaders gathered in Washington for a U.S.-hosted summit focusing on the region. The World Bank said it would provide as much as $200 million in emergency funding to help Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. “I am very worried that many more lives are at risk unless we can stop this Ebola epidemic in its tracks,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement. “The international community needs to act fast to contain and stop this Ebola outbreak,” he added.

By Umaru Fofana and Clair MacDougall FREETOWN/MONROVIA (Reuters) – Hundreds of troops deployed in Sierra Leone and Liberia on Monday to quarantine communities hit by the deadly Ebola virus, as the death toll from the worst-ever outbreak reached 887 and three new cases were reported in Nigeria. With healthcare systems in the West Africa nations overrun by the epidemic, the African Development Bank and World Bank said they would immediately disburse $260 million to the three countries worst affected – Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. The World Health Organization, which warned last week of catastrophic consequences if the disease were not controlled, reported 61 new deaths in the two days to Aug. 1 as the disease continues to spread. The toll there continues to rise, but the epicenter has since shifted to neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone.

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Hepatitis C may become a “rare” disease in the U.S. in about 20 years, according to a new computer model. About one in 100 people are currently infected with the hepatitis C virus in the U.S. but that may drop to about one in 1,500 people by 2036 thanks to new medicines and increased screening regimens, researchers suggest. “We were pleasantly surprised that in the next 22 years we could make this a rare disease,” said Jagpreet Chhatwal, the study’s senior author from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Hepatitis C is a viral infection of the liver that is typically transmitted when the blood of an infected person enters the body of a healthy person.

By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Physical therapy and steroid injections work equally well for shoulder pain, according to a new study. Researchers compared the treatments for people with shoulder impingement syndrome, a common type of persistent pain that can be caused by tendonitis, bursitis or other inflammation in the shoulder joint. “Interestingly, there is not standardized treatment for this and it can vary,” said lead author Daniel I. Rhon, a physical therapist at the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, Texas. “I think there is a strong consensus that exercises can help, and patients may also get a referral to physical therapy for this condition,” Rhon told Reuters Health in an email.

I’d say no,” said educational psychologist Jane M. Healy, author of “Your Child’s Growing Mind” and other books. “For older kids, it can be planning ahead, having a goal, outlining the steps to get to that goal.” And Ellen Delap, a certified professional organizer and spokesperson for the National Association of Professional Organizers, told Reuters Health that an organized room can help prevent kids from becoming frustrated, anxious, and overwhelmed.

The World Bank on Monday announced up to $200 million in emergency assistance to help Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea contain the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. The funding will also help the countries improve their public health systems and cope with the economic impact of the crisis, the Washington-based lender said in a statement. Guinea's economic growth could fall a full percentage point to 3.5 percent due to the epidemic, according to the World Bank and IMF's initial assessment.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Toledo, Ohio, and nearby southeastern Michigan were unable to use tap water from Saturday until Monday morning because of unsafe levels of a contaminant called microcystin in Lake Erie. Here are questions and answers about the situation: