DALLAS (AP) - The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S. has been confirmed in a man who recently traveled from Liberia to Dallas, sending chills through the area's West African community whose leaders urged caution to prevent spreading the virus.
The unidentified man was critically ill and has been in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital since Sunday, federal health officials said Tuesday. They would not reveal his nationality or age.
Authorities have begun tracking down family, friends and anyone else who may have come in close contact with him and could be at risk. Officials said there are no other suspected cases in Texas.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Director Tom Frieden said the man left Liberia on Sept. 19, arrived the next day to visit relatives and started feeling ill four or five days later. Frieden said it was not clear how the man became infected.
"I have no doubt that we'll stop this in its tracks in the U.S. But I also have no doubt that - as long as the outbreak continues in Africa - we need to be on our guard," Frieden said, adding that it was possible someone who has had contact with the man could develop Ebola in the coming weeks.
"But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here," he said.
Stanley Gaye, president of the Liberian Community Association of Dallas-Fort Worth, said the 10,000-strong Liberian population in North Texas is skeptical of the CDC's assurances because Ebola has ravaged their country.
"We've been telling people to try to stay away from social gatherings," Gaye said at a community meeting Tuesday evening. Large get-togethers are a prominent part of Liberian culture.
"We need to know who it is so that they (family members) can all go get tested," Gaye told The Associated Press. "If they are aware, they should let us know."
Ebola symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding, and can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus. The disease is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread.
The association's vice president encouraged all who may have come in contact with the virus to visit a doctor and she warned against alarm in the community.
"We don't want to get a panic going," said vice president Roseline Sayon. "We embrace those people who are coming forward. Don't let the stigma keep you from getting tested."
Frieden said he didn't believe anyone on the same flights as the patient was at risk.
"Ebola doesn't spread before someone gets sick and he didn't get sick until four days after he got off the airplane," Frieden said.
Four American aid workers who became infected in West Africa have been flown back to the U.S. for treatment after they became sick. They were treated in special isolation facilities at hospitals in Atlanta and Nebraska. Three have recovered.
A U.S. doctor exposed to the virus in Sierra Leone is under observation in a similar facility at the National Institutes of Health.
The U.S. has only four such isolation units, but Frieden said there was no need to move the latest patient because virtually any hospital can provide the proper care and infection control.
The man, who arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20, began to develop symptoms last Wednesday and sought care two days later. But he was released. At the time, hospital officials didn't know he had been in West Africa. He returned later as his condition worsened.
Blood tests by Texas health officials and the CDC separately confirmed his Ebola diagnosis on Tuesday.
State health officials described the patient as seriously ill. Goodman said he was able to communicate and was hungry.
The hospital is discussing if experimental treatments would be appropriate, Frieden said.
Since the summer months, U.S. health officials have been preparing for the possibility that an individual traveler could unknowingly arrive with the infection. Health authorities have advised hospitals on how to prevent the virus from spreading within their facilities.
People boarding planes in the outbreak zone are checked for fever, but that does not guarantee that an infected person won't get through.
Liberia is one of the three hardest-hit countries in the epidemic, along with Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Ebola is believed to have sickened more than 6,500 people in West Africa, and more than 3,000 deaths have been linked to the disease, according to the World Health Organization. But even those tolls are probably underestimates, partially because there are not enough labs to test people for Ebola.
Two mobile Ebola labs staffed by American naval researchers arrived this weekend and will be operational this week, according to the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia. The labs will reduce the amount of time it takes to learn if a patient has Ebola from several days to a few hours.
The U.S. military also delivered equipment to build a 25-bed clinic that will be staffed by American health workers and will treat doctors and nurses who have become infected. The U.S. is planning to build 17 other clinics in Liberia and will help train more health workers to staff them.
___
Neergaard reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant in Dallas and Emily Schmall in Fort Worth; Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia; and Francis Kokutse in Accra, Ghana, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Washington - The US military will send more than a thousand troops to Liberia in coming weeks as part of Washington's effort to counter the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
About 700 soldiers from the US Army's 101st Airborne Division and another 700 military engineers are due to deploy to Monrovia around late October, spokesperson Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.
The soldiers will join nearly 200 US military personnel already on the ground, part of a total contingent of 3 000 troops to help train health workers and set up hospitals and other facilities.
President Barack Obama earlier this month unveiled plans to send about 3 000 forces to Liberia to provide logistical and other help for efforts to stem the spread of the virus.
The troops from the 101st Airborne will form a headquarters that will be led by Major General Gary Volesky, who will take over in late October from the current commander of the mission, Major General Darryl Williams.
Kirby said the military was not leading the US government's effort but was in Liberia playing a supporting role to other civilian US agencies fighting the Ebola outbreak.
Military engineers are due to build new Ebola treatment centres in affected areas, with US aid officials due to recruit personnel to work at the units.
The Pentagon has said American troops will not have direct contact with patients with the virus.
The deployment plans were announced as the United States diagnosed its first case of the Ebola virus in a man who became infected in Liberia and travelled to Texas.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has offered to train pro-government forces battling rival armed groups in Libya, stepping up efforts to eradicate what it says is a threat to its own stability from the anarchy engulfing its neighbor.
The offer was the latest sign of intervention by competing Arab powers in Libya - a haven for Islamist militants and close to becoming a failed state - while Western governments are preoccupied with Iraq and Syria.
Egypt is trying to reassert its regional authority on its own terms while also winning back the U.S. military aid suspended after Cairo cracked down on the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
Egyptian military officials and representatives of pro-government Libyan forces have met several times over the past two months in Cairo and the Mediterranean city of Marsa Matrouh, Egyptian security officials said.
An intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "intelligence and training" assistance were on the table. The Egyptian government spokesman declined comment, but Ahmad Buzeyad Al-Missmari, spokesman of the Libyan General Chief of Staff, confirmed Egypt had offered training for troops.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has called for decisive action against militants based in Libya, who Egypt says sneak across the border to help Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis jihadists attack Egyptian security forces in its Sinai desert near Israel.
"Egypt has more intelligence on where they (the Libyan-based militants) are, how many there are, what kinds of weapons they had available," the intelligence official said.
Egyptian security officials have said Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis -- the country's most dangerous militant group -- has contacts with al Qaeda offshoot Islamic State, now targeted by U.S.-led air strikes in Iraq and Syria after it swept through Iraq, executing those who did not declare allegiance.
Sisi, who has publicly backed but not joined the air strikes, said last month any global coalition against Islamic State should tackle an array of extremist groups, making clear his main concern lay closer to home.
Islamists in Libya with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood were hit by air strikes last month that U.S. officials said were staged by Egypt and United Arab Emirates.
The UAE has not formally responded to the allegations and Egypt publicly denied involvement in the bombings, which came against a background of U.S. concern some countries may see the war against Islamic State as a green light for other attacks.
With the influence of the Islamic State spreading among the North Africa-based Islamist militant groups which send jihadi fighters to Syria and Iraq, Libya's western neighbor Algeria also plans to train Libyan forces.
But deeper involvement by Egypt, to its east, brings in one of the biggest armies in the Middle East, seeking to patch up a reputation damaged by its overthrow last year of elected Islamst president Mohamed Mursi after mass protests against him.
In April, Washington restored some of the annual $1.3 billion military aid to Egypt it froze after the military takeover but analysts said human rights concerns meant relations remained cool.
LIBYA DIVIDED
Libya has been torn apart by the worst violence since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
The government and elected parliament have relocated to Tobruk in the far east since losing control of the capital, Tripoli, where a rival administration has been created by mainly Islamist-aligned forces from the western city of Misrata.
The government has accused Sudan and Qatar of seeking to arm groups ranged against it, allegations both states have firmly denied, and at the United Nations on Saturday, it asked the world for weapons to help restore security and rebuild its institutions so it does not have to "face terrorism alone".
An Egyptian national security official who spoke to Reuters said the country would not give arms. "Weapons in Libya are like rice," he said, suggesting they were already abundant.
A new study has revealed that preterm birth complications and pneumonia are the leading causes of death in children who are under 5 years and are together responsible for nearly 2 million deaths in 2013.
Researchers led by Professor Robert Black, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA found that complications from preterm birth were the largest single cause, responsible for 965000 deaths in under-fives, with pneumonia responsible for a further 935000 deaths, and complications from childbirth (intrapartum complications) the next leading cause, responsible for 662 000 deaths.
It was also found that more than half (51.8 percent) of children died from infectious causes, including pneumonia, diarrhoea, and malaria. India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and China had the highest numbers of child deaths, together contributing to around half of all child and neonatal deaths globally in 2013.
The researchers said that millions of children are still dying of preventable causes at a time when we have the means to deliver cost-effective interventions. Through the Millennium Development Goals effort, they have learned that substantial progress can be achieved but is not guaranteed, that good-quality data are crucial for tracking of progress, and that long-term targets are useful not only for planning and coordination, but also for rallying countries and the global heal
Medical officials from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital confirm they are treating a patient with the Ebola virus, the first case found in the US. (Sept. 30
The CDC has confirmed the first diagnosed case of Ebola in the United States. The patient is being treated at a Dallas hospital after traveling earlier this month from Liberia. (Sept. 30)
DALLAS — The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S. has been confirmed in a man who recently traveled from Liberia to Dallas, sending chills through the area's West African community whose leaders urged caution to prevent spreading the virus.
The unidentified man was critically ill and has been in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital since Sunday, federal health officials said Tuesday. They would not reveal his nationality or age.
Authorities have begun tracking down family, friends and anyone else who may have come in close contact with him and could be at risk. Officials said there are no other suspected cases in Texas.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Director Tom Frieden said the man left Liberia on Sept. 19, arrived the next day to visit relatives and started feeling ill four or five days later. Frieden said it was not clear how the man became infected.
"I have no doubt that we'll stop this in its tracks in the U.S. But I also have no doubt that — as long as the outbreak continues in Africa — we need to be on our guard," Frieden said, adding that it was possible someone who has had contact with the man could develop Ebola in the coming weeks.
"But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here," he said.
Stanley Gaye, president of the Liberian Community Association of Dallas-Fort Worth, said the 10,000-strong Liberian population in North Texas is skeptical of the CDC's assurances because Ebola has ravaged their country.
"We've been telling people to try to stay away from social gatherings," Gaye said at a community meeting Tuesday evening. Large get-togethers are a prominent part of Liberian culture.
"We need to know who it is so that they (family members) can all go get tested," Gaye told The Associated Press. "If they are aware, they should let us know."
Ebola symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding, and can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus. The disease is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread.
The association's vice president encouraged all who may have come in contact with the virus to visit a doctor and she warned against alarm in the community.
"We don't want to get a panic going," said vice president Roseline Sayon. "We embrace those people who are coming forward. Don't let the stigma keep you from getting tested."
Frieden said he didn't believe anyone on the same flights as the patient was at risk.
"Ebola doesn't spread before someone gets sick and he didn't get sick until four days after he got off the airplane," Frieden said.
Four American aid workers who became infected in West Africa have been flown back to the U.S. for treatment after they became sick. They were treated in special isolation facilities at hospitals in Atlanta and Nebraska. Three have recovered.
A U.S. doctor exposed to the virus in Sierra Leone is under observation in a similar facility at the National Institutes of Health.
The U.S. has only four such isolation units, but Frieden said there was no need to move the latest patient because virtually any hospital can provide the proper care and infection control.
The man, who arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20, began to develop symptoms last Wednesday and sought care two days later. But he was released. At the time, hospital officials didn't know he had been in West Africa. He returned later as his condition worsened.
Blood tests by Texas health officials and the CDC separately confirmed his Ebola diagnosis on Tuesday.
State health officials described the patient as seriously ill. Goodman said he was able to communicate and was hungry.
The hospital is discussing if experimental treatments would be appropriate, Frieden said.
Since the summer months, U.S. health officials have been preparing for the possibility that an individual traveler could unknowingly arrive with the infection. Health authorities have advised hospitals on how to prevent the virus from spreading within their facilities.
People boarding planes in the outbreak zone are checked for fever, but that does not guarantee that an infected person won't get through.
Liberia is one of the three hardest-hit countries in the epidemic, along with Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Ebola is believed to have sickened more than 6,500 people in West Africa, and more than 3,000 deaths have been linked to the disease, according to the World Health Organization. But even those tolls are probably underestimates, partially because there are not enough labs to test people for Ebola.
Two mobile Ebola labs staffed by American naval researchers arrived this weekend and will be operational this week, according to the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia. The labs will reduce the amount of time it takes to learn if a patient has Ebola from several days to a few hours.
The U.S. military also delivered equipment to build a 25-bed clinic that will be staffed by American health workers and will treat doctors and nurses who have become infected. The U.S. is planning to build 17 other clinics in Liberia and will help train more health workers to staff them.
Neergaard reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant in Dallas and Emily Schmall in Fort Worth; Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia; and Francis Kokutse in Accra, Ghana, contributed to this report.
A police car drives past the entrance to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. A patient in the hospital has tested positive for the Ebola virus and is being kept in strict isolation, hospital officials said Monday. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
DALLAS >> The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S. was confirmed Tuesday in a patient who recently traveled from Liberia to Dallas — a sign of the far-reaching impact of the out-of-control epidemic in West Africa.
The unidentified man was critically ill and has been in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital since Sunday, federal health officials said. They would not reveal his nationality or age.
Authorities have begun tracking down family, friends and anyone else who may have come in close contact with him and could be at risk for becoming ill. But officials said there are no other suspected cases in Texas.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Director Tom Frieden said the man left Liberia on Sept. 19, arrived the next day to visit relatives and started feeling ill four or five days later. He said it was not clear how the patient became infected.
There was no risk to any fellow airline passengers because the man had no symptoms when he was traveling, Frieden said.
Ebola symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding, and can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus. The disease is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread.
“I have no doubt that we’ll stop this in its tracks in the U.S. But I also have no doubt, that as long as the outbreak continues in Africa, we need to be on our guard,” Frieden told reporters.
“It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual, a family member or other individual, could develop Ebola in the coming weeks,” he added. “But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here.”
He said he didn’t believe anyone on the same flights as the patient was at risk.
“Ebola doesn’t spread before someone gets sick and he didn’t get sick until four days after he got off the airplane,” Frieden said.
Frieden briefed President Barack Obama by phone about the diagnosis, the White House said.
Word of the infection alarmed the local Liberian community.
“People have been calling, trying to find out if anybody knows the family,” said Stanley Gaye, president of the Liberian Community Association of Dallas-Fort Worth. “We’ve been telling people to try to stay away from social gatherings.”
Four American aid workers who became infected in West Africa have been flown back to the U.S. for treatment after they became sick. They were cared for in special isolation facilities at hospitals in Atlanta and Nebraska. Three have recovered.
Also, a U.S. doctor exposed to the virus in Sierra Leone is under observation in a similar facility at the National Institutes of Health.
The U.S. has only four such isolation units. Asked whether the Texas patient would be moved to one of those specialty facilities, Frieden said there was no need and virtually any hospital can provide the proper care and infection control.
Dr. Edward Goodman, an epidemiologist at the hospital, said the U.S. was much better prepared to handle the disease than African hospitals, which are often short of doctors, gloves, gowns and masks.
“We don’t have those problems. So we’re perfectly capable of taking care of this patient with no risk to other people,” Goodman said.
After arriving in the U.S. on Sept. 20, the man began to develop symptoms last Wednesday and initially sought care two days later. But he was released. At the time, hospital officials did not know he had been in West Africa. He returned later as his condition worsened.
Blood tests by Texas health officials and the CDC separately confirmed an Ebola diagnosis on Tuesday.
State health officials described the patient as seriously ill. Goodman said he was able to communicate and was hungry.
The hospital is discussing if experimental treatments would be appropriate, Frieden said.
Since the summer months, U.S. health officials have been preparing for the possibility that an individual traveler could unknowingly arrive with the infection. Health authorities have advised hospitals on how to prevent the virus from spreading within their facilities.
People boarding planes in the outbreak zone are checked for fever, but that does not guarantee that an infected person won’t get through.
Liberia is one of the three hardest-hit countries in the epidemic, along with Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Ebola is believed to have sickened more than 6,500 people in West Africa, and more than 3,000 deaths have been linked to the disease, according to the World Health Organization. But even those tolls are probably underestimates, partially because there are not enough labs to test people for Ebola.
Two mobile Ebola labs staffed by American naval researchers arrived this weekend and will be operational this week, according to the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia. The labs will reduce the amount of time it takes to learn if a patient has Ebola from several days to a few hours.
The U.S. military also delivered equipment to build a field hospital, originally designed to treat troops in combat zones. The 25-bed clinic will be staffed by American health workers and will treat doctors and nurses who have become infected. The U.S. is planning to build 17 other clinics in Liberia and will help train more health workers to staff them.
___
Neergaard reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant in Dallas and Emily Schmall in Fort Worth; Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia; and Francis Kokutse in Accra, Ghana, contributed to this report.
The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S. has been confirmed in a man who recently traveled from Liberia to Dallas, sending chills through the area's West African community whose leaders urged caution to prevent spreading the virus.
The unidentified man was critically ill and has been in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital since Sunday, federal health officials said Tuesday. They would not reveal his nationality or age.
Authorities have begun tracking down family, friends and anyone else who may have come in close contact with him and could be at risk. Officials said there are no other suspected cases in Texas.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Director Tom Frieden said the man left Liberia on Sept. 19, arrived the next day to visit relatives and started feeling ill four or five days later. Frieden said it was not clear how the man became infected.
"I have no doubt that we'll stop this in its tracks in the U.S. But I also have no doubt that — as long as the outbreak continues in Africa — we need to be on our guard," Frieden said, adding that it was possible someone who has had contact with the man could develop Ebola in the coming weeks.
"But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here," he said.
Stanley Gaye, president of the Liberian Community Association of Dallas-Fort Worth, said the 10,000-strong Liberian population in North Texas is skeptical of the CDC's assurances because Ebola has ravaged their country.
"We've been telling people to try to stay away from social gatherings," Gaye said at a community meeting Tuesday evening. Large get-togethers are a prominent part of Liberian culture.
"We need to know who it is so that they (family members) can all go get tested," Gaye told The Associated Press. "If they are aware, they should let us know."
Ebola symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding, and can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus. The disease is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread.
The association's vice president encouraged all who may have come in contact with the virus to visit a doctor and she warned against alarm in the community.
"We don't want to get a panic going," said vice president Roseline Sayon. "We embrace those people who are coming forward. Don't let the stigma keep you from getting tested."
Frieden said he didn't believe anyone on the same flights as the patient was at risk.
"Ebola doesn't spread before someone gets sick and he didn't get sick until four days after he got off the airplane," Frieden said.
Four American aid workers who became infected in West Africa have been flown back to the U.S. for treatment after they became sick. They were treated in special isolation facilities at hospitals in Atlanta and Nebraska. Three have recovered.
A U.S. doctor exposed to the virus in Sierra Leone is under observation in a similar facility at the National Institutes of Health.
The U.S. has only four such isolation units, but Frieden said there was no need to move the latest patient because virtually any hospital can provide the proper care and infection control.
The man, who arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20, began to develop symptoms last Wednesday and sought care two days later. But he was released. At the time, hospital officials didn't know he had been in West Africa. He returned later as his condition worsened.
Blood tests by Texas health officials and the CDC separately confirmed his Ebola diagnosis on Tuesday.
State health officials described the patient as seriously ill. Goodman said he was able to communicate and was hungry.
The hospital is discussing if experimental treatments would be appropriate, Frieden said.
Since the summer months, U.S. health officials have been preparing for the possibility that an individual traveler could unknowingly arrive with the infection. Health authorities have advised hospitals on how to prevent the virus from spreading within their facilities.
People boarding planes in the outbreak zone are checked for fever, but that does not guarantee that an infected person won't get through.
Liberia is one of the three hardest-hit countries in the epidemic, along with Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Ebola is believed to have sickened more than 6,500 people in West Africa, and more than 3,000 deaths have been linked to the disease, according to the World Health Organization. But even those tolls are probably underestimates, partially because there are not enough labs to test people for Ebola.
Two mobile Ebola labs staffed by American naval researchers arrived this weekend and will be operational this week, according to the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia. The labs will reduce the amount of time it takes to learn if a patient has Ebola from several days to a few hours.
The U.S. military also delivered equipment to build a 25-bed clinic that will be staffed by American health workers and will treat doctors and nurses who have become infected. The U.S. is planning to build 17 other clinics in Liberia and will help train more health workers to staff them.
DALLAS (AP) - The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S. was confirmed Tuesday in a patient who recently traveled from Liberia to Dallas - a sign of the far-reaching impact of the out-of-control epidemic in West Africa.
The unidentified man was critically ill and has been in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital since Sunday, federal health officials said. They would not reveal his nationality or age.
Authorities have begun tracking down family, friends and anyone else who may have come in close contact with him and could be at risk for becoming ill. But officials said there are no other suspected cases in Texas.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Director Tom Frieden said the man left Liberia on Sept. 19, arrived the next day to visit relatives and started feeling ill four or five days later. He said it was not clear how the patient became infected.
There was no risk to any fellow airline passengers because the man had no symptoms when he was traveling, Frieden said.
Ebola symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding, and can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus. The disease is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread.
"I have no doubt that we'll stop this in its tracks in the U.S. But I also have no doubt, that as long as the outbreak continues in Africa, we need to be on our guard," Frieden told reporters.
"It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual, a family member or other individual, could develop Ebola in the coming weeks," he added. "But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here."
He said he didn't believe anyone on the same flights as the patient was at risk.
"Ebola doesn't spread before someone gets sick and he didn't get sick until four days after he got off the airplane," Frieden said.
Frieden briefed President Barack Obama by phone about the diagnosis, the White House said.
Word of the infection alarmed the local Liberian community.
"People have been calling, trying to find out if anybody knows the family," said Stanley Gaye, president of the Liberian Community Association of Dallas-Fort Worth. "We've been telling people to try to stay away from social gatherings."
Four American aid workers who became infected in West Africa have been flown back to the U.S. for treatment after they became sick. They were cared for in special isolation facilities at hospitals in Atlanta and Nebraska. Three have recovered.
Also, a U.S. doctor exposed to the virus in Sierra Leone is under observation in a similar facility at the National Institutes of Health.
The U.S. has only four such isolation units. Asked whether the Texas patient would be moved to one of those specialty facilities, Frieden said there was no need and virtually any hospital can provide the proper care and infection control.
Dr. Edward Goodman, an epidemiologist at the hospital, said the U.S. was much better prepared to handle the disease than African hospitals, which are often short of doctors, gloves, gowns and masks.
"We don't have those problems. So we're perfectly capable of taking care of this patient with no risk to other people," Goodman said.
After arriving in the U.S. on Sept. 20, the man began to develop symptoms last Wednesday and initially sought care two days later. But he was released. At the time, hospital officials did not know he had been in West Africa. He returned later as his condition worsened.
Blood tests by Texas health officials and the CDC separately confirmed an Ebola diagnosis on Tuesday.
State health officials described the patient as seriously ill. Goodman said he was able to communicate and was hungry.
The hospital is discussing if experimental treatments would be appropriate, Frieden said.
Since the summer months, U.S. health officials have been preparing for the possibility that an individual traveler could unknowingly arrive with the infection. Health authorities have advised hospitals on how to prevent the virus from spreading within their facilities.
People boarding planes in the outbreak zone are checked for fever, but that does not guarantee that an infected person won't get through.
Liberia is one of the three hardest-hit countries in the epidemic, along with Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Ebola is believed to have sickened more than 6,500 people in West Africa, and more than 3,000 deaths have been linked to the disease, according to the World Health Organization. But even those tolls are probably underestimates, partially because there are not enough labs to test people for Ebola.
Two mobile Ebola labs staffed by American naval researchers arrived this weekend and will be operational this week, according to the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia. The labs will reduce the amount of time it takes to learn if a patient has Ebola from several days to a few hours.
The U.S. military also delivered equipment to build a field hospital, originally designed to treat troops in combat zones. The 25-bed clinic will be staffed by American health workers and will treat doctors and nurses who have become infected. The U.S. is planning to build 17 other clinics in Liberia and will help train more health workers to staff them.
___
Neergaard reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant in Dallas and Emily Schmall in Fort Worth; Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia; and Francis Kokutse in Accra, Ghana, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
In describing the present economic conditions in the country, the government uses the word ‘challenging’.
But the opposition referred to it as a ‘crisis’. However, generally, the mass of the people believe that the country’s economy is in turmoil and that is a fact, no matter the word used to describe it.
One of the main triggers for the state of the country’s economy has is the cedi depreciation against the major foreign currencies, particularly the United States Dollar and the British Pound.
The free fall of the cedi has been attributed to the country’s heavy dependence on foreign goods. From toothpick to cooking utensils; from vehicle parts to crude oil, everything is being imported, swelling the country’s import bill out of proportion.
The currency, within the last eight months alone, dropped against the US dollar by about 40 per cent according to currency analysts. In the last couple of weeks, for instance, the US dollar was traded for between GH¢3.5 and GH¢3.8 at the interbank and ‘black’ markets, respectively.
A Bloomberg report in July quoted Moody’s Investors Service as saying that the slide in the currency is pushing the price of everything from sugar to fuel in a nation that relies on imports to feed an economy that grew by 6.7 per cent in the first quarter.
BoG directive
In its quest to help stem the tide, the Bank of Ghana issued what many described as ad hoc directives to halt the free fall.
In February, this year, it acted by directing that all local transactions should be done in the local currency to stop the Ghana Cedi from further depreciating against major currencies.
It also placed a limit on how much forex could be withdrawn at the counter, among other things.
A week before the directive was given, one dollar was bought at GH¢2.50 and sold for GH¢2.60; One pound was bought at GH¢4.50, and sold for GH¢4.60, while one Euro was bought at GH¢3.70, and sold for GH¢3.80.
However, while the directive was in force, the Ghana Cedi’s situation worsened as it fell by up to 40 per cent within the first half of the year.
The situation forced the central bank to review its directives, following strong agitation by the public, including actors in the business sector, because of the negative impact on businesses, in particular, and the economy generally.
Cedi regains strength
Days after the central bank’s review of its directives on the use of foreign exchange (forex) to save the free fall, the latest euro bond and inflows from the cocoa syndicated loan, the Ghana cedi is fast regaining its strength.
Checks by the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on inter-bank rates in Accra last week established that on the average, one dollar was bought at GH¢ 3.1, and sold for GH¢3.45; One pound was bought at GH¢5.2, and sold for GH¢5.6, while an Euro was also bought at GH¢4.1, and sold for GH¢4.4 .
On the black market, one dollar was bought at GH¢ 3.2, and sold for GH¢3.4; One pound was bought at GH¢5.0, and sold for GH¢5.1 while an Euro was also bought at GH¢3.9, and sold for GH¢3.94.
However at the forex bureaux, on the average, one dollar was bought at GH¢ 3.1, and sold for GH¢3.7; One pound was bought at GH¢5.6, and sold for GH¢ 6, while an Euro was also bought at GH¢ 3.9, and sold for GH¢4.6.
Views of a currency analyst
Explaining the phenomenon, currency analyst, Mr Kofi Ampah, told the paper in an interview that the recent floating of the country’s third Eurobond, which had brought an additional $1 billion into the system; the cocoa syndicated loan which fetched about $1.7 billion has helped to fix the supply shortage of the dollar in the system.
In the currency market, the level of demand and supply is a key factor in determining the value of a currency.
Besides the market forces, investor confidence is one of the critical factors. Following the talks with IMF by the government, investors are very hopeful of a brighter tomorrow for the economy, and that has stopped them from moving their funds from Ghana.
In the last few months, Ghana’s currency suffered a major setback with demand for the US dollar far outstripping supply because that currency was the major currency used by many importers.
According to Mr Ampah, the withdrawal of the directives was also a factor in the Ghana Cedi regaining some strength and coupled with the huge inflows of the dollar, the cedi would end the year at GH¢3.1.
Why it’s a blessing
The strengthening of the Ghana Cedi will have a positive impact on businesses and companies that heavily rely on imports.
It will also have an impact on the importation of crude oil, to the extent that should the prices of crude oil continue to fall on the international market, the prices of petroleum products in the country will be forced down.
The downstream petroleum industry regulator, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), in gazetting its recent petroleum prices, indicated that the prices were forced up largely to recover exchange losses and not the result of price of crude oil, which is actually falling.
Traders at Abosey Okai, the hub of vehicle spare parts in Accra, were also elated about the drop in the dollar rate and expressed the hope that the trend would continue to enable more people to buy from them.
Cedi strength a curse
Ghana is import dependent and, therefore, for many decades, it has not attained a positive balance of trade position although there are signs of s decrease in imports.
For instance, according to the Monetary Policy Committee report released a couple of weeks ago, total imports for the review period fell significantly to US$9.5 billion from US$11.7 billion in 2013. Oil imports fell by 10 per cent to US$2.3 billion while non-oil imports declined by 22 per cent to US$7.2 billion. These developments resulted in a provisional trade deficit of US$495 million compared to a deficit of US$2.2 billion a year ago.
The report also revealed that for the first half of the year, the overall balance of payments recorded a deficit of US$1.5 billion compared to a deficit of US$677 million in the same period last year. The current account deficit narrowed to US$2.3 billion in the same period of 2013. This was a result of an improvement in trade deficit and net private transfers.
The Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance, Mr Ken Thompson, earlier this year, sparked a debate when he argued in favour of a free fall of the local currency.
Among his arguments was the need for the country to begin depending on its locally manufactured products or home grown food to reduce the heavy dependence on imports. To him, a weak cedi will discourage imports and rather encourage exports to improve the country’s balance of payment position.
From the arguments, it is clear that a strong cedi will hurt the economy in the short term because the people’s appetite for imports will begin to rise again and the country’s cedi will fall.
However, in the medium to long term, the country will be better off.
Since this is inevitable, Mr Ampah believes that there is the need to discourage imports and encourage exports to improve the country’s balance of trade.
Presently, efforts are underway to revive the poultry sector; reduce rice imports, among many other initiatives to get Ghanaians to rely on locally produced goods. The move seems to be working gradually because of the behaviour of the cedi and its impact on imported products.
There is, therefore, the fear that, once the trend reverses, the people will go back to their old taste.
Some suggestions
According to Mr Ampah, the cedi’s strength is short-term adding that by the close of the year, the inflows would have been exhausted.
“In January and February, the cedi may slide again because it will be about the time when the importers would be going for new stocks and will require a lot more dollars”, he said.
To him, it will be imperative for the central bank to float another bond during the period to have more United States Dollars in the system to meet demand to avoid another cedi free fall.
He was also of the believe the restoration of the confidence in the economy was key to attract more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and could also have a positive impact on coupon price should the government move to float another Eorubond.
There is the need for the government to remain focused in ensuring that local industries are revived to produce for the local market and for exports.
The revival of the sugar and shoe factories in the country; the support for poultry, cashew and rice farmers should not be stopped while efforts to discourage imports of pirated textiles must be intensified.
According to MPC report, the growth outlook is generally positive based on expected high cocoa and oil output. In addition, the gas production which is expected to come on stream from the latter part of the year will help address some of the challenges in the energy sector.
Obviously, the road to making the strong cedi a blessing may not be smooth. What seems to make the cedi a curse should be turned into a blessing by whipping up people’s appetite for locally produced goods. Should the country be able to overturn its trade deficits, the better for all because the lessons from the recent shock should serve as a lesson to do what is right.
In describing the present economic conditions in the country, the government uses the word ‘challenging’.
But the opposition referred to it as a ‘crisis’. However, generally, the mass of the people believe that the country’s economy is in turmoil and that is a fact, no matter the word used to describe it.
One of the main triggers for the state of the country’s economy has is the cedi depreciation against the major foreign currencies, particularly the United States Dollar and the British Pound.
The free fall of the cedi has been attributed to the country’s heavy dependence on foreign goods. From toothpick to cooking utensils; from vehicle parts to crude oil, everything is being imported, swelling the country’s import bill out of proportion.
The currency, within the last eight months alone, dropped against the US dollar by about 40 per cent according to currency analysts. In the last couple of weeks, for instance, the US dollar was traded for between GH¢3.5 and GH¢3.8 at the interbank and ‘black’ markets, respectively.
A Bloomberg report in July quoted Moody’s Investors Service as saying that the slide in the currency is pushing the price of everything from sugar to fuel in a nation that relies on imports to feed an economy that grew by 6.7 per cent in the first quarter.
BoG directive
In its quest to help stem the tide, the Bank of Ghana issued what many described as ad hoc directives to halt the free fall.
In February, this year, it acted by directing that all local transactions should be done in the local currency to stop the Ghana Cedi from further depreciating against major currencies.
It also placed a limit on how much forex could be withdrawn at the counter, among other things.
A week before the directive was given, one dollar was bought at GH¢2.50 and sold for GH¢2.60; One pound was bought at GH¢4.50, and sold for GH¢4.60, while one Euro was bought at GH¢3.70, and sold for GH¢3.80.
However, while the directive was in force, the Ghana Cedi’s situation worsened as it fell by up to 40 per cent within the first half of the year.
The situation forced the central bank to review its directives, following strong agitation by the public, including actors in the business sector, because of the negative impact on businesses, in particular, and the economy generally.
Cedi regains strength
Days after the central bank’s review of its directives on the use of foreign exchange (forex) to save the free fall, the latest euro bond and inflows from the cocoa syndicated loan, the Ghana cedi is fast regaining its strength.
Checks by the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on inter-bank rates in Accra last week established that on the average, one dollar was bought at GH¢ 3.1, and sold for GH¢3.45; One pound was bought at GH¢5.2, and sold for GH¢5.6, while an Euro was also bought at GH¢4.1, and sold for GH¢4.4 .
On the black market, one dollar was bought at GH¢ 3.2, and sold for GH¢3.4; One pound was bought at GH¢5.0, and sold for GH¢5.1 while an Euro was also bought at GH¢3.9, and sold for GH¢3.94.
However at the forex bureaux, on the average, one dollar was bought at GH¢ 3.1, and sold for GH¢3.7; One pound was bought at GH¢5.6, and sold for GH¢ 6, while an Euro was also bought at GH¢ 3.9, and sold for GH¢4.6.
Views of a currency analyst
Explaining the phenomenon, currency analyst, Mr Kofi Ampah, told the paper in an interview that the recent floating of the country’s third Eurobond, which had brought an additional $1 billion into the system; the cocoa syndicated loan which fetched about $1.7 billion has helped to fix the supply shortage of the dollar in the system.
In the currency market, the level of demand and supply is a key factor in determining the value of a currency.
Besides the market forces, investor confidence is one of the critical factors. Following the talks with IMF by the government, investors are very hopeful of a brighter tomorrow for the economy, and that has stopped them from moving their funds from Ghana.
In the last few months, Ghana’s currency suffered a major setback with demand for the US dollar far outstripping supply because that currency was the major currency used by many importers.
According to Mr Ampah, the withdrawal of the directives was also a factor in the Ghana Cedi regaining some strength and coupled with the huge inflows of the dollar, the cedi would end the year at GH¢3.1.
Why it’s a blessing
The strengthening of the Ghana Cedi will have a positive impact on businesses and companies that heavily rely on imports.
It will also have an impact on the importation of crude oil, to the extent that should the prices of crude oil continue to fall on the international market, the prices of petroleum products in the country will be forced down.
The downstream petroleum industry regulator, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), in gazetting its recent petroleum prices, indicated that the prices were forced up largely to recover exchange losses and not the result of price of crude oil, which is actually falling.
Traders at Abosey Okai, the hub of vehicle spare parts in Accra, were also elated about the drop in the dollar rate and expressed the hope that the trend would continue to enable more people to buy from them.
Cedi strength a curse
Ghana is import dependent and, therefore, for many decades, it has not attained a positive balance of trade position although there are signs of s decrease in imports.
For instance, according to the Monetary Policy Committee report released a couple of weeks ago, total imports for the review period fell significantly to US$9.5 billion from US$11.7 billion in 2013. Oil imports fell by 10 per cent to US$2.3 billion while non-oil imports declined by 22 per cent to US$7.2 billion. These developments resulted in a provisional trade deficit of US$495 million compared to a deficit of US$2.2 billion a year ago.
The report also revealed that for the first half of the year, the overall balance of payments recorded a deficit of US$1.5 billion compared to a deficit of US$677 million in the same period last year. The current account deficit narrowed to US$2.3 billion in the same period of 2013. This was a result of an improvement in trade deficit and net private transfers.
The Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance, Mr Ken Thompson, earlier this year, sparked a debate when he argued in favour of a free fall of the local currency.
Among his arguments was the need for the country to begin depending on its locally manufactured products or home grown food to reduce the heavy dependence on imports. To him, a weak cedi will discourage imports and rather encourage exports to improve the country’s balance of payment position.
From the arguments, it is clear that a strong cedi will hurt the economy in the short term because the people’s appetite for imports will begin to rise again and the country’s cedi will fall.
However, in the medium to long term, the country will be better off.
Since this is inevitable, Mr Ampah believes that there is the need to discourage imports and encourage exports to improve the country’s balance of trade.
Presently, efforts are underway to revive the poultry sector; reduce rice imports, among many other initiatives to get Ghanaians to rely on locally produced goods. The move seems to be working gradually because of the behaviour of the cedi and its impact on imported products.
There is, therefore, the fear that, once the trend reverses, the people will go back to their old taste.
Some suggestions
According to Mr Ampah, the cedi’s strength is short-term adding that by the close of the year, the inflows would have been exhausted.
“In January and February, the cedi may slide again because it will be about the time when the importers would be going for new stocks and will require a lot more dollars”, he said.
To him, it will be imperative for the central bank to float another bond during the period to have more United States Dollars in the system to meet demand to avoid another cedi free fall.
He was also of the believe the restoration of the confidence in the economy was key to attract more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and could also have a positive impact on coupon price should the government move to float another Eorubond.
There is the need for the government to remain focused in ensuring that local industries are revived to produce for the local market and for exports.
The revival of the sugar and shoe factories in the country; the support for poultry, cashew and rice farmers should not be stopped while efforts to discourage imports of pirated textiles must be intensified.
According to MPC report, the growth outlook is generally positive based on expected high cocoa and oil output. In addition, the gas production which is expected to come on stream from the latter part of the year will help address some of the challenges in the energy sector.
Obviously, the road to making the strong cedi a blessing may not be smooth. What seems to make the cedi a curse should be turned into a blessing by whipping up people’s appetite for locally produced goods. Should the country be able to overturn its trade deficits, the better for all because the lessons from the recent shock should serve as a lesson to do what is right.
A police car drives past the entrance to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. A patient in the hospital has tested positive for the Ebola virus and is being kept in strict isolation, hospital officials said Monday. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
DALLAS >> The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S. was confirmed Tuesday in a patient who recently traveled from Liberia to Dallas — a sign of the far-reaching impact of the out-of-control epidemic in West Africa.
The unidentified man was critically ill and has been in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital since Sunday, federal health officials said. They would not reveal his nationality or age.
Authorities have begun tracking down family, friends and anyone else who may have come in close contact with him and could be at risk for becoming ill. But officials said there are no other suspected cases in Texas.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Director Tom Frieden said the man left Liberia on Sept. 19, arrived the next day to visit relatives and started feeling ill four or five days later. He said it was not clear how the patient became infected.
There was no risk to any fellow airline passengers because the man had no symptoms when he was traveling, Frieden said.
Ebola symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding, and can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus. The disease is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread.
“I have no doubt that we’ll stop this in its tracks in the U.S. But I also have no doubt, that as long as the outbreak continues in Africa, we need to be on our guard,” Frieden told reporters.
“It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual, a family member or other individual, could develop Ebola in the coming weeks,” he added. “But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here.”
He said he didn’t believe anyone on the same flights as the patient was at risk.
“Ebola doesn’t spread before someone gets sick and he didn’t get sick until four days after he got off the airplane,” Frieden said.
Frieden briefed President Barack Obama by phone about the diagnosis, the White House said.
Word of the infection alarmed the local Liberian community.
“People have been calling, trying to find out if anybody knows the family,” said Stanley Gaye, president of the Liberian Community Association of Dallas-Fort Worth. “We’ve been telling people to try to stay away from social gatherings.”
Four American aid workers who became infected in West Africa have been flown back to the U.S. for treatment after they became sick. They were cared for in special isolation facilities at hospitals in Atlanta and Nebraska. Three have recovered.
Also, a U.S. doctor exposed to the virus in Sierra Leone is under observation in a similar facility at the National Institutes of Health.
The U.S. has only four such isolation units. Asked whether the Texas patient would be moved to one of those specialty facilities, Frieden said there was no need and virtually any hospital can provide the proper care and infection control.
Dr. Edward Goodman, an epidemiologist at the hospital, said the U.S. was much better prepared to handle the disease than African hospitals, which are often short of doctors, gloves, gowns and masks.
“We don’t have those problems. So we’re perfectly capable of taking care of this patient with no risk to other people,” Goodman said.
After arriving in the U.S. on Sept. 20, the man began to develop symptoms last Wednesday and initially sought care two days later. But he was released. At the time, hospital officials did not know he had been in West Africa. He returned later as his condition worsened.
Blood tests by Texas health officials and the CDC separately confirmed an Ebola diagnosis on Tuesday.
State health officials described the patient as seriously ill. Goodman said he was able to communicate and was hungry.
The hospital is discussing if experimental treatments would be appropriate, Frieden said.
Since the summer months, U.S. health officials have been preparing for the possibility that an individual traveler could unknowingly arrive with the infection. Health authorities have advised hospitals on how to prevent the virus from spreading within their facilities.
People boarding planes in the outbreak zone are checked for fever, but that does not guarantee that an infected person won’t get through.
Liberia is one of the three hardest-hit countries in the epidemic, along with Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Ebola is believed to have sickened more than 6,500 people in West Africa, and more than 3,000 deaths have been linked to the disease, according to the World Health Organization. But even those tolls are probably underestimates, partially because there are not enough labs to test people for Ebola.
Two mobile Ebola labs staffed by American naval researchers arrived this weekend and will be operational this week, according to the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia. The labs will reduce the amount of time it takes to learn if a patient has Ebola from several days to a few hours.
The U.S. military also delivered equipment to build a field hospital, originally designed to treat troops in combat zones. The 25-bed clinic will be staffed by American health workers and will treat doctors and nurses who have become infected. The U.S. is planning to build 17 other clinics in Liberia and will help train more health workers to staff them.
___
Neergaard reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant in Dallas and Emily Schmall in Fort Worth; Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia; and Francis Kokutse in Accra, Ghana, contributed to this report.
A police car drives past the entrance to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. A patient in the hospital has tested positive for the Ebola virus and is being kept in strict isolation, hospital officials said Monday. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
DALLAS >> The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S. was confirmed Tuesday in a patient who recently traveled from Liberia to Dallas — a sign of the far-reaching impact of the out-of-control epidemic in West Africa.
The unidentified man was critically ill and has been in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital since Sunday, federal health officials said. They would not reveal his nationality or age.
Authorities have begun tracking down family, friends and anyone else who may have come in close contact with him and could be at risk for becoming ill. But officials said there are no other suspected cases in Texas.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Director Tom Frieden said the man left Liberia on Sept. 19, arrived the next day to visit relatives and started feeling ill four or five days later. He said it was not clear how the patient became infected.
There was no risk to any fellow airline passengers because the man had no symptoms when he was traveling, Frieden said.
Ebola symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding, and can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus. The disease is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread.
“I have no doubt that we’ll stop this in its tracks in the U.S. But I also have no doubt, that as long as the outbreak continues in Africa, we need to be on our guard,” Frieden told reporters.
“It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual, a family member or other individual, could develop Ebola in the coming weeks,” he added. “But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here.”
He said he didn’t believe anyone on the same flights as the patient was at risk.
“Ebola doesn’t spread before someone gets sick and he didn’t get sick until four days after he got off the airplane,” Frieden said.
Frieden briefed President Barack Obama by phone about the diagnosis, the White House said.
Word of the infection alarmed the local Liberian community.
“People have been calling, trying to find out if anybody knows the family,” said Stanley Gaye, president of the Liberian Community Association of Dallas-Fort Worth. “We’ve been telling people to try to stay away from social gatherings.”
Four American aid workers who became infected in West Africa have been flown back to the U.S. for treatment after they became sick. They were cared for in special isolation facilities at hospitals in Atlanta and Nebraska. Three have recovered.
Also, a U.S. doctor exposed to the virus in Sierra Leone is under observation in a similar facility at the National Institutes of Health.
The U.S. has only four such isolation units. Asked whether the Texas patient would be moved to one of those specialty facilities, Frieden said there was no need and virtually any hospital can provide the proper care and infection control.
Dr. Edward Goodman, an epidemiologist at the hospital, said the U.S. was much better prepared to handle the disease than African hospitals, which are often short of doctors, gloves, gowns and masks.
“We don’t have those problems. So we’re perfectly capable of taking care of this patient with no risk to other people,” Goodman said.
After arriving in the U.S. on Sept. 20, the man began to develop symptoms last Wednesday and initially sought care two days later. But he was released. At the time, hospital officials did not know he had been in West Africa. He returned later as his condition worsened.
Blood tests by Texas health officials and the CDC separately confirmed an Ebola diagnosis on Tuesday.
State health officials described the patient as seriously ill. Goodman said he was able to communicate and was hungry.
The hospital is discussing if experimental treatments would be appropriate, Frieden said.
Since the summer months, U.S. health officials have been preparing for the possibility that an individual traveler could unknowingly arrive with the infection. Health authorities have advised hospitals on how to prevent the virus from spreading within their facilities.
People boarding planes in the outbreak zone are checked for fever, but that does not guarantee that an infected person won’t get through.
Liberia is one of the three hardest-hit countries in the epidemic, along with Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Ebola is believed to have sickened more than 6,500 people in West Africa, and more than 3,000 deaths have been linked to the disease, according to the World Health Organization. But even those tolls are probably underestimates, partially because there are not enough labs to test people for Ebola.
Two mobile Ebola labs staffed by American naval researchers arrived this weekend and will be operational this week, according to the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia. The labs will reduce the amount of time it takes to learn if a patient has Ebola from several days to a few hours.
The U.S. military also delivered equipment to build a field hospital, originally designed to treat troops in combat zones. The 25-bed clinic will be staffed by American health workers and will treat doctors and nurses who have become infected. The U.S. is planning to build 17 other clinics in Liberia and will help train more health workers to staff them.
___
Neergaard reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant in Dallas and Emily Schmall in Fort Worth; Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia; and Francis Kokutse in Accra, Ghana, contributed to this report.
To respond to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, which has taken more than 3,000 lives, the World Council of Churches (WCC) has brought to the table representatives of Christian aid organizations and United Nations agencies to learn from each other and to escalate their efforts.
The WCC consultation, held on 29 September 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland, affirmed a greater role for the churches and faith-based organizations in helping to stop the epidemic.
The Ebola crisis in West Africa is the largest of its kind since the 1976 outbreak. More than 6,200 people have been infected with the virus in severely affected countries such as Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to World Health Organization (WHO) reports. It estimates that numbers of infected persons could top 1 million by January 2015.
A recent UN meeting in New York has strongly urged stepped-up efforts to stop Ebola, naming it a “public health crisis” and a “threat to peace and security.”
Dr Pierre Formenty, an epidemiologist and the coordinator of the WHO’s campaign against Ebola, while addressing the WCC consultation, explained how the Ebola virus appeared for the first time in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “Even with a good response the number of affected people has increased on the statistical graph,” he said.
“This is a situation where everyone needs to work together: politicians, media, communities, faith organizations. We all have to do something. If one fails, everybody will fail,” said Formenty.
In this situation, he said, “Faith organizations in Africa have a huge role to play.”
Participants stressed that churches and other religious communities not only have a constant and influential reach to the grassroots populations to offer practical advice about hygiene and safe funeral practices but can also directly address the deeper cultural and religious roots of widespread stigma and discrimination that have accompanied the epidemic.
Dr Gisela Schneider from the German Institute for Medical Mission, who was in Liberia a few weeks ago, shared observations from her visit. “Christian hospitals are highly vulnerable,” she said. “This is why ‘keep safe, keep working’ is an important slogan we promote for the health workers serving Christian hospitals. She said that “people working on the ground need a great amount of encouragement, training, mentorship and support.”
Schneider added that while it is important to increase health facilities that reach the household level, it is “crucial to empower local communities to take care of themselves.”
Dr David Nabarro, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Ebola, joined the consultation via Skype from New York City. He shared details of the UN strategy and actions in addressing the Ebola crisis in collaboration with local governments and international bodies.
Nabarro also mentioned an increase in efforts from the Security Council and engagement from the African Union in dealing with the impact of Ebola.
Nabarro added that the “struggle is not just to prevent the virus, but to take into consideration the long-term effects risking stability of the economy and communities.” In many areas farming and agricultural activities have come to a halt due to the fear of Ebola.
Nabarro argued that to formulate an effective response it is important to empower women, traditional healers and health workers without putting them at a risk. He said churches and faith-based organizations have a massive role to play in dealing with emotional, psychological and spiritual aspects of people’s lives, engaging them on questions of life and death.
Christoph Benn from the Global Fund said the “WCC, churches and ecumenical organizations need to take full responsibility in not only helping to curb the disease but in communicating the right message, in raising awareness and challenging the stigma attached to Ebola.”
Benn is former advisor to the WCC for its programme on health and healing.
The consultation also highlighted the sanctity and dignity of the dead during burial rituals, an occasion which poses high risks of spreading the disease. The speakers said that while it is necessary to prevent the spread of the virus, support to families and communities is also essential.
It was stressed that women should be empowered in their response to Ebola. The impact of virus especially on children and women was discussed at length at the event. The statistics shared at the consultation showed that 4.5 million children under the age of five are living in areas affected by the Ebola virus. Children and women constitute 75 percent of survivors and victims. Based on this information, ideas on further collaboration between the WCC and women’s ecumenical organizations were shared.
WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in his remarks said that the WCC will facilitate its member churches and faith-based organizations in communicating vital information and “life-affirming messages” while being sensitive to the local culture and traditions.
“Churches and faith communities have a vibrant role to play in addressing stigma issues, promoting preventative messages and compassionate alternative burial ceremonies and rituals.” He said churches should provide psychosocial and pastoral counselling to the traumatized family members as well as support the over-stretched health-care providers.
Tveit added, “Christian health services need to be strengthened through accompaniment and more resources in the support and services so that they are able to function in feasible and practical ways under such circumstances.”
The WCC consultation brought together participants from a number of organizations, including the WHO, UNICEF, UNAIDS, the ACT Alliance, the Lutheran World Federation, Caritas Internationalis, Global Fund, International Organization for Migration, the World Student Christian Federation, the World YWCA and the International Labour Organization.
Falko, left, a wire-haired vizsla, and Luna, a coton de tulear, sit on stage with their owners, Anton Sagh, of Montreal, Quebec, and Adrianne Dering, of Morgantown, W.Va., during a news conference, Tuesday in New York. The Westminster Kennel Club announced that the two breeds will be eligible to compete for the first time in the New York show next February.Associated Press
ByASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: 10:09 PM - 09/30/14
Last updated: 10:12 PM - 09/30/14
NEW YORK — One is a rugged, versatile hunter conditioned to withstand frosty Hungarian winters. The other is a happy-go-lucky companion from the island of Madagascar. Both will join the pack at the Westminster Kennel Club show next year.
The wirehaired viszla and the coton de tulear are the latest breeds to be added to the nation's premier canine competition, set for Feb. 16-17. The club's leaders — and Luna the coton de tulear and Falko the wirehaired viszla — looked ahead to the show at a news conference Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.
Luna stood politely as organizers discussed plans for the first Westminster show to include her small-but-sturdy breed, dubbed the "royal dog of Madagascar" and known for its flowing, cotton-like coat and chipper disposition.
"I say they're a big dog in a small dog's boots," Luna's breeder and co-owner, Adrianne Dering of Morgantown, West Virginia, said afterward. The breed initially developed on its own in the island nation off southeastern Africa, then became popular with Madagascar's aristocracy and later with French colonists, according to the United States of America Coton de Tulear (pronounced koh-TOHN' du TOO'-lay-ahr) Club.
"They're just very adaptable, and they like everybody," Dering said. Prospective owners need to be prepared to brush the dogs' long coats a few times a week, unless they're kept in a shorter cut.
The wirehaired viszla (pronounced VEEZ'-shlah) was bred to be a hardy, all-weather hunting aide in the rough terrain of northern Hungary, with a brushy coat and somewhat heavier build than its cousin the viszla. But the wirehaired hunters know how to be low-key: Falko, owned by Anton Sagh of Montreal, Canada, relaxed on the floor before his star turn Tuesday.
"They're just phenomenal in the field," but "really easygoing to live with," though they do benefit from a yard to run in or a few-mile walk each day, Wirehaired Vizsla Club of America President Jean Schroeder of Wanatah, Indiana, said by phone.
Breeds are added to the show after the American Kennel Club recognizes them, which requires having several hundred dogs of the breed nationwide, among other criteria. There are now 180 AKC-recognized breeds.
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Monrovia - American mobile Ebola labs should be up and running in Liberia this week, and US troops have broken ground for a field hospital, as the international community races to increase the ability to care for the spiralling number of people infected with the disease.
Liberia is the hardest hit in the Ebola outbreak, which has touched four other West African countries. More than 3 000 deaths have been linked to the disease across the region in the largest outbreak ever, according to the World Health Organisation.
But even that toll is likely an underestimate, partially because there aren't enough labs to test people for Ebola. The numbers for Liberia, in particular, have lagged behind reality because it takes so long to get test results, WHO has warned.
In the worst affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the disease has whipped through entire communities, killing whole families because there are too few doctors and nurses and not enough beds to isolate and treat the sick. At least 3 700 children have lost a parent in the outbreak, the UN children's agency said on Tuesday, and fear of infection has made it difficult to find people to care for them.
In response to the accelerating outbreak, the United Nations has created its first ever mission for a public health emergency.
"The risk of expansion is dramatic and the number of affected people is doubling," Anthony Banbury, the head of the UN mission, told reporters Tuesday in Ghana, where the mission is based.
Over the next month, the mission will work on getting the necessary infrastructure, including treatment centres, into the field, he said.
Aid agencies and many countries are also pouring in supplies and equipment.
Two mobile Ebola labs staffed by US Naval researchers arrived this weekend and will be operational this week, the US Embassy in Monrovia said in a statement on Monday. The labs will reduce the amount of time it takes to learn if a patient has Ebola from several days to a few hours.
Combat Hospital
The US military also delivered equipment to build a field hospital, originally designed to treat troops in combat zones. The 25-bed clinic will be staffed by American health workers from the US Public Health Service and will treat doctors and nurses who have become infected.
Ebola is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, so health care workers are at high risk of infection. They have become sick at an alarming rate in this outbreak, WHO says, with 375 infected so far.
The US is planning to build 17 other clinics in Liberia and will help to train more health workers to staff them. Britain has promised to help set up 700 treatment beds in Sierra Leone, and its military will build and staff a hospital in that country. France is sending a field hospital and doctors to Guinea.
But the needs remain enormous. The World Food Programme said on Tuesday it only has about 40% of the $93 million it needs to deliver food to people who are struggling to feed themselves because their neighbourhoods have been quarantined or they've lost the heads of their households.
Around 1 500 treatment beds have been built or are in the works, but that still leaves a gap of more than 2 100 beds, says WHO. Between 1 000 and 2 000 international health care workers are needed, according to the agency.
TODAY Wednesday, October 1, 2014, marks the 54th anniversary of our independence from our colonial genitors, Great Britain. It is a moment of triumph for both countries.
The United Kingdom has just survived a referendum that would have seen the separation of Scotland from the rest of the country if the “ayes” had had it.
And for Nigeria, we are gradually reasserting our territorial integrity after the second bid by separatists to dismember the country and create a new identity out of a nation born exactly one century ago.
The gallant armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have started rolling back the threat of Islamist insurgency group, Boko Haram, which seized several towns in Adamawa and Borno States and claimed them as part of their putative “Islamic Caliphate”.
With victory imminent and in sight, Nigeria will demonstrate, once again, its ability to hold its own against internal insurrection and external aggression.
This is what nations that are viable and will be great can do. And this is a further incentive for Nigerians to rededicate themselves to the unity of our country, knowing that only a united Nigeria can protect Nigerians and provide them the security they need to actualise their individual and collective aspirations.
As we celebrate today, let us pause and reflect on some of the challenges that have stymied our growth and hampered our emergence to a solid economic and continental behemoth in spite of our natural and human endowments. We have held numerous constitutional and national conferences, the last being the recently-concluded edition in July this year. These conferences were meant as avenues to seek solutions to our problems, which are mainly ethnicity, sectionalism, regionalism and politicisation of our religious faiths rather than using them as means of seeking the face of God our Creator and doing His will.
For the original Nigerian dream for which our founding fathers struggled to free us from colonial bondage to be realised, we must cast aside these unwholesome forces of disunity.
We must see one another as people of one indivisible country bound by common destiny. This country belongs to all of us equally, and our constitution has given us all the right to aspire to the highest endeavours.
We must all go with the spirit and letters of our national charter and give to ourselves and our future generations a nation we can all feel at home in, and be proud of.
The whole world knows that the Federal Republic of Nigeria stands on the threshold of economic emergence. We must henceforth play our politics to ensure that we realise the good things that lie in store for this nation.
The United States warned South Sudan's president and rebel leader on Tuesday to engage in serious peace talks to end nearly a year of violence in the world's newest state or face United Nations sanctions.
Fighting erupted in December in South Sudan - which declared independence from Sudan in 2011 - after months of political tension between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy and political rival, Riek Machar. Peace talks brokered by African regional bloc IGAD resumed last week.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power warned Kiir and Machar that if a peace deal could not be reached during current talks in Ethiopia then long-threatened sanctions were likely to be imposed by the UN Security Council. "(IGAD) are now sitting down with the parties and making very clear that if this round of talks ... do not succeed then IGAD and the (Security) Council are going to need to move out on these long-threatened sanctions," she said.
Kiir raised concerns on Saturday at the United Nations about UN peacekeepers now focusing on protecting civilians instead of state-building in South Sudan.
"I would urge President Kiir to engage in the talks with heightened seriousness and urgency if he wants to see the UN presence on the ground again move through this phase and back to the kind of functions that they performed previously," Power told reporters.
The UN Security Council authorised peacekeepers in May to give priority to the protection of civilians. The council doubled the number of peacekeepers in late December to 12,500 troops when fighting broke out.
Ethnic divisions have also fueled the violence, pitting Kiir's Dinka people against Machar's Nuer.
During his speech at the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Kiir complained that the United Nations mission to South Sudan was no longer helping with capacity building, security sector reforms and development.
"Unfortunately because the president of South Sudan and opposition leader Riek Machar have not yet shown the spirit of compromise that is needed, we can't even begin to get to the conversation of when we start reverting to supporting government institutions," Power said.
She said civilians in South Sudan had been placed in grave peril because of attacks by government troops and rebel forces as well as the denial of humanitarian aid access.
The conflict has killed more than 10,000 people, caused over 1 million to flee and driven the country of 11 million closer to famine. By year-end, a third of the people could face the threat of starvation, the United Nations said.
Kiir also failed to attend a Thursday meeting on the humanitarian crisis organised by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "This is something I raised with him personally," Power said. "He said he was informed this was a ministerial meeting and was not aware head of state attendance was required. I leave it to everyone else to draw their own conclusions on that."
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is proposing that the constitution be amended to limit the powers of the President.
The committee has been holding consultations across the country seeking for inputs from Ghanaians in replacing the current winner takes all system of governance.
Vice Chair of the committee, Justice Emile Short in addressing the media on Tuesday said the current system only serves the interest of political parties.
Short added that most of the appointments are done to benefit party supporters thereby overlooking competence.
“Under various articles of the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the President has the power to make several appointments, even though in some case this is done in consultation or with the advice or approval of some other bodies, particularly the council of State, whose independence has been questioned.”
In addressing this, the IEA-Winner-Takes All Advisory committee also recommended that parliament is involved in the appointment of heads of the Electoral Commission, the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) the Chief Justice, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, the Auditor General, and the Economic and Organised Crime Office etc.
“Appointment of heads of the key constitutional bodies and governance institutions should be made by the president with the approval of two-thirds majority of Parliament.
Furthermore, the committee recommended that the appointment of Members of Parliament as part of the Executive be stopped.
The Executive Director of the IEA, Mrs Jean Mensa said the Institute began in 2006 taking measures to ensure the consolidation of Ghana's democracy.
"The reform of the Winner-Takes-All syndrome did not begin today...the winner-takes-all practice of governance has been identified as one of the main factors responsible for the growing polarization of the Ghanaian society and politicization of issues of national importance."
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is proposing that the constitution be amended to limit the powers of the President.
The committee has been holding consultations across the country seeking for inputs from Ghanaians in replacing the current winner takes all system of governance.
Vice Chair of the committee, Justice Emile Short in addressing the media on Tuesday said the current system only serves the interest of political parties.
Short added that most of the appointments are done to benefit party supporters thereby overlooking competence.
“Under various articles of the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the President has the power to make several appointments, even though in some case this is done in consultation or with the advice or approval of some other bodies, particularly the council of State, whose independence has been questioned.”
In addressing this, the IEA-Winner-Takes All Advisory committee also recommended that parliament is involved in the appointment of heads of the Electoral Commission, the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) the Chief Justice, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, the Auditor General, and the Economic and Organised Crime Office etc.
“Appointment of heads of the key constitutional bodies and governance institutions should be made by the president with the approval of two-thirds majority of Parliament.
Furthermore, the committee recommended that the appointment of Members of Parliament as part of the Executive be stopped.
The Executive Director of the IEA, Mrs Jean Mensa said the Institute began in 2006 taking measures to ensure the consolidation of Ghana's democracy.
"The reform of the Winner-Takes-All syndrome did not begin today...the winner-takes-all practice of governance has been identified as one of the main factors responsible for the growing polarization of the Ghanaian society and politicization of issues of national importance."