Year: 2014

By Diadie Ba and Saliou Samb DAKAR/CONAKRY (Reuters) – The West African state of Senegal became the fifth country to be hit by the world's worst Ebola outbreak on Friday, while riots broke out in neighboring Guinea's remote southeast where infection rates are rising fast. In the latest sign that the outbreak of the virus, which has already killed at least 1,550 people, is spinning out of control, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Ebola cases rose last week at the fastest pace since the epidemic began in West Africa in March. The epidemic has defied efforts by governments to control it, prompting the leading charity fighting the outbreak, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), to call for the U.N. Security Council to take charge of efforts to stop it. Including the fatalities, more than 3,000 have been infected since the virus was detected in the remote jungles of southeastern Guinea in March and quickly spread across the border to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

An experimental Ebola drug healed all 18 monkeys infected with the deadly virus in a study, boosting hopes that the treatment might help fight the outbreak raging through West Africa — once more of it can be made.

Dr. Philip Ireland Will Go Back to Treating Patients

By Ronnie Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Mothers who give birth in areas with higher concentrations of African-Americans are less likely to get breastfeeding support on maternity wards than mothers in other communities, a new study shows. The study of 2,727 American hospitals and birth centers sought to uncover the reasons for the racial disparities. “What this study suggests is that hospital practices, not just women’s choices, beliefs or values, contribute to the observed racial disparities in infant feeding,” sociologist Elizabeth Armstrong told Reuters Health in an email.

Dr. Richard Besser reports on the growing outbreak from Monrovia, Liberia.

FREETOWN (Reuters) – Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma dismissed his Health Minister Miatta Kargbo on Friday over her handling of the Ebola epidemic that has killed more than 400 people in the West African country. A presidency statement said that Kargbo was removed “to create a conducive environment for efficient and effective handling of the Ebola outbreak”. She will be replaced by her deputy Dr Abubakarr Fofanah, the statement said. (Reporting by Umaru Fofana; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Alison Williams)

Countless diets have tried to upset the dietary balance in order to achieve weight loss. Certain diets suggest lowering carbohydrates to unhealthy …