today’s holiday: Liberia Flag Day

Liberia Flag Day

The Liberian flag bears a striking resemblance to the American flag, a reminder of the historical ties between this West African country and the United States. Eleven horizontal stripes represent the signers of the Liberian Declaration of Independence, while the single white star signifies Liberia‘s former position as the sole free black state in Africa. Flag Day, a patriotic day paying homage to Liberia’s national emblem, is an official public holiday. Citizens and public buildings display their flags, and parades often feature schoolchildren and military units. More… Discuss

today’s holiday/celebration: Liberia National Unification Day

Liberia National Unification Day This annual observance in Liberia draws attention to the animosity between the Americo-Liberian elite and the indigenous majority. Under the leadership of President William V. S. Tubman, who led from 1944 to 1971, the divide between these two groups was diminished. Tubman introduced the National Unification Policy, which featured among other things an extension of the vote to women and the country’s indigenous people. The anniversary emerged as a means to draw support for the policy. The day reminds Liberians to remember what they hold in common and not to dwell on how they diverge. More… Discuss

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Healtth-Ebola: Ebola virus lingers in patient’s eyeball even after recovery| -ABC News

Ebola virus lingers in patient‘s eyeball even after recovery, study says: http://t.co/HyU4Ry5UIm pic.twitter.com/C5GFlD5O5W

— ABC News (@ABC) May 8, 2015

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today’s holiday: Joseph Jenkins Roberts’s Birthday (2015)

Joseph Jenkins Roberts’s Birthday (2015)

Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1809-1876), Liberia‘s first and seventh president, led the movement for an independent Liberia, established in 1848. This day (also known as J. J. Roberts Day) is also an occasion to pay homage to Liberia’s historical role as Africa’s oldest republic. In many respects, Roberts’s birthday stands apart from other holidays that recognize Liberian notables because he was a member of the established Americo-Liberian elite, a group historically criticized for wielding control over the country’s indigenous population for more than a century. More… Discuss

this pressed for your right to know: Timeline: The Tortured History of the Senate’s Torture Report|ProPublica

via

Timeline: The Tortured History of the Senate’s Torture Report.|ProPublica

‘Why I Came To Help Fight Ebola’ – World Food Programme Uploaded on Nov 26, 2014

‘Why I Came To Help Fight Ebola’

World Food Programme

Uploaded on Nov 26, 2014

Moses Komakech, a warehouse manager from Uganda, recently arrived in Sierra Leone to help with WFP’s Ebola response. In this very personal interview, he explains his role and his reasons for coming to an Ebola-hit country and leaving his home behind. Although he misses his family, he says he is happy to be part of WFP’s operations.

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this pressed: 10 Shocking Things About Ebola : Discovery News

Early symptoms of Ebola can appear harmless — fever, headache, aches, chills and sore throat. They could be the stuff of a normal illness.

But as the virus progresses, victims will experience nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, rash, chest pain and cough, weight loss and bleeding. In some cases, organs will shut down and cause unstoppable bleeding.

In the last stages of the disease, in a process known as a cytokine storm, the immune system goes haywire and inflammatory molecules called cytokines attack the body’s own tissue. Technically, then, it’s not the virus that kills people but instead their own immune systems ultimately turn against them.

Show here is Dr. Kent Brantly, a doctor who treated patients in Liberia before contracting the virus himself. Fortunately, he survived.

Samaritan’s Purse

via 10 Shocking Things About Ebola : Discovery News.

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This Pressed: Army major general speaks to CNN from inside Ebola quarantine | Follow Ebola

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

American troops who helped fight Ebola in West Africa are under “controlled monitoring” in Italy
The Italian government expressed concern about the troops when they returned to Italy from Liberia
CNN spoke with Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams via a military video conferencing system

Washington (CNN) — They’re just back from the Ebola hot zone, they can’t have any physical contact with family or loved ones and their plastic forks are being burned after each use.

But American troops quarantined in Italy have good morale and are proud of their work against the “silent enemy” of Ebola, according to Major General Darryl Williams, who is being isolated alongside his men at the Army base in Vicenza.

via  Army major general speaks to CNN from inside Ebola quarantine | Follow Ebola.

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from National Geographic – Inside an Ebola Clinic in West Africa

Inside an Ebola Clinic in West Africa

National Geographic

Get an inside look at a Doctors Without Borders Ebola clinic in Monrovia, Liberia. Physician Daniel Chertow takes us through the clinic and shares his thoughts on what it’s like to be volunteering in the midst of an epidemic like no other.

Read a Q&A with photojournalist Neil Brandvold about what it’s like to cover an Ebola outbreak:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ne…

More about Doctors Without Borders
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

More about Plan International
http://plan-international.org/

PRODUCER/VIDEOGRAPHER: Neil Brandvold
SENIOR PRODUCER: Jeff Hertrick
EDITOR: Neil Brandvold
SPECIAL THANKS: Plan International

this pressed for your peace of mind: Travelers entering the U.S. from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia to be monitored for 21 days starting Monday| Lucy Westcott (@lvzwestcott)

Travelers entering the U.S. from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia to be monitored for 21 days starting Monday http://t.co/Prl0vZv1bZ

— Lucy Westcott (@lvzwestcott) October 22, 2014

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Experts say Ebola virus unlikely to spread to North America | CTV Calgary News

Kathy Mueller, a former CTV news anchor, recently returned to Canada from Sierra Leone where she assisted the Red Cross dead body management team.

“While we were laying one person to rest, the grave next to them was being dug,” said Mueller. “It was a constant conveyor belt of burials.”

More than 1,200 people have contracted the Ebola virus in Liberia and the virus has claimed the lives of nearly 700 people.

Read more: http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/experts-say-ebola-virus-unlikely-to-spread-to-north-america-1.1939632#ixzz3Gf0oCpT5

via Experts say Ebola virus unlikely to spread to North America | CTV Calgary News.

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this pressed for your right to know: Battle Over Ebola Travel Ban: Health Officials Call It a Big Mistake – NBC News.com

A Washington Post-ABC News Poll said that 67 percent of Americans support restricting entry to the U.S. to travelers who have been in Ebola-affected countries.

Other countries — most recently including Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, and St.Lucia — have already taken steps to ban travelers from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone or restrict entry until after a 21-day quarantine. Nigeria, Senegal and Democratic Republic of Congo are also on some of the banned lists.

Battle Over Ebola Travel Ban: Health Officials Call It a Big Mistake – NBC News.com.

this pressed for your right to know: Obama Says Ebola Travel Bans Could Make Things Worse – NBC News.com

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Saturday urged Americans to avoid hysteria over Ebola, and played down the idea of travel bans from Ebola-ravaged countries in West Africa, explaining that restrictions could make things worse. Lawmakers this week urged Obama to bar people from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea from entering the United States. Obama has said he is not philosophically opposed to travel bans, but in his weekly address made it clear that he is not leaning toward them.

“We can’t just cut ourselves off from West Africa,” Obama said, explaining it would make it harder to move health workers and supplies into the region, and would motivate people trying to get out the region to evade screening, making it harder to track cases. “Trying to seal off an entire region of the world – if that were even possible – could actually make the situation worse,” he said.

via Obama Says Ebola Travel Bans Could Make Things Worse – NBC News.com.

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this pressed – for your right to know: Cases of Ebola outside of West Africa and other Ebola facts | The New York Times

Cases of Ebola outside of West Africa and other Ebola facts http://t.co/xhqSQ5G6Uw pic.twitter.com/JceGlKe1Hd

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 15, 2014

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Le Liberia apprend à vivre avec le virus Ebola http://t.co/rG63x00kNS pic.twitter.com/hIuApC1RQn — RFI (@RFI)

Le Liberia apprend à vivre avec le virus Ebola http://t.co/rG63x00kNS pic.twitter.com/hIuApC1RQn

— RFI (@RFI) October 14, 2014

this pressed-pay per page media? yes: Ebola Screenings Begin at New York’s JFK Airport – WSJ

Ebola screenings began on Saturday at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport for travelers coming from the most-affected West African countries, in an effort to curb the spread of the disease in the U.S.About two dozen flights with some passengers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea were expected to land at JFK on Saturday, according to officials with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the…

Ebola screenings began on Saturday at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport for travelers coming from the most-affected West African countries, in an effort to curb the spread of the disease in the U.S.

About two dozen flights with some passengers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea were expected to land at JFK on Saturday, according to officials with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the…

via Ebola Screenings Begin at New York’s JFK Airport – WSJ.

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this pressed: Liberians describe likely Ebola infection of Dallas man

Liberians describe likely Ebola infection of Dallas man.

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news: Ebola Makes Its Way to US

Ebola Makes Its Way to US

A man who arrived in the US from Liberia on September 20 has become the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the US. He is currently being treated in a Texas hospital, and healthcare workers are trying to track down and place under observation anyone he had contact with and may have exposed. Meanwhile, experts are trying to understand why emergency room doctors sent the man home with antibiotics the first time he sought treatment and only admitted and isolated him when he returned by ambulance two days later, a decision that could have deadly consequences for those he came in contact with in the intervening days. More… Discuss

this pressed from THe Washington Post: Ebola virus has mutated during course of outbreak – The Washington Post

Community portrait of Yambuku, Zaire — 1976 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Ebola virus virion. Created by CDC microbiologist Cynthia Goldsmith, this colorized transmission electron micrograph (TEM) revealed some of the ultrastructural morphology displayed by an Ebola virus virion. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ebola virus has mutated during course of outbreak – The Washington Post.

 

 

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WHO Mulling Experimental Ebola Treatments

With the death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa still rapidly rising, the World Health Organization (WHO) is exploring the ethical implications of using an experimental drug to combat the virus. Currently, there are no approved vaccines or medications for Ebola, but a number are under development. One experimental drug has already been used to treat two US aid workers infected in the outbreak, and some of the world’s leading Ebola experts are calling for experimental treatments to be made more widely available given the current crisis. The WHO is to convene a meeting of medical ethicists to examine this issue next week. More… Discuss

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Ebola Crisis Deepens

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has claimed 729 lives in four countries thus far, making it the deadliest and widest ranging such outbreak the world has ever seen. Dozens of healthcare workers have fallen victim, complicating efforts to combat it. Though the disease is outpacing current efforts to contain its spread, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) still believes that the “unprecedented” outbreak could be stopped if proper steps are taken at both the national and international levels. To this end, a new, $100 million (75 million euro) Ebola response plan is being launched to combat the disease. More… Discuss

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this day in the yesteryear: Liberia Gains Independence (1847)

Liberia Gains Independence (1847)

Situated on the west coast of Africa, Liberia was founded by the American Colonization Society (ACS), a controversial group of white Americans—including both slaveholders and abolitionists—who aimed to colonize Africa with freed slaves. ACS officials obtained Cape Mesurado in 1821, and the first African-American immigrants arrived a year later. By the 1840s, however, the ACS was facing bankruptcy, and Liberia became independent in 1847. What African country had Britain settled similarly? More… Discuss

health: “Drastic Action” Needed to Contain Ebola Outbreak in West Africa

“Drastic Action” Needed to Contain Ebola Outbreak in West Africa

The World Health Organization is calling for “drastic action” to contain the outbreak of Ebola currently raging in West Africa. Since the outbreak began four months ago, it has spread from Guinea to nearby Sierra Leone and Liberia, infected more than 600 people, and claimed nearly 400 lives, making it the largest Ebola outbreak in terms of cases, deaths, and geographical spread. Despite the presence of 150 experts, the number of reported cases and deaths is still rising daily, threatening the entire region and beyond. The charity Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, says the outbreak is out of control. More… Discuss