A man in Africa who developed Ebola despite receiving a vaccine recovered but suffered a relapse nearly six months later that led to 91 new cases before he died. The report adds to evidence that the deadly virus can lurk in the body long after symptoms end, and that survivors need monitoring for their own welfare and to prevent spread.Relapses like this one from the 2018-20 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo are thought to be rare. This is the first one clearly shown to have spawned a large cluster of new cases. The New England Journal of Medicine published details on Wednesday.Earlier this month, scientists said a separate outbreak that’s going on now in Guinea seems related to one in West Africa that ended five years ago. A survivor may have silently harbored the virus for years before spreading it.”The most important message is, someone can get the disease, Ebola, twice and the second illness can sometimes be worse than the first one,” said Dr. Placide Mbala-Kingebeni of the University of Kinshasha, who helped research the Congo cases.As more Ebola outbreaks occur, “we are getting more and more survivors” and the risk posed by relapses is growing, he said.Ebola outbreaks usually start when someone gets the virus from wildlife and it then spreads person to person through contact with bodily fluids or contaminated materials. Symptoms can include sudden fever, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash and bleeding. Fatality rates range from 25% to 90%.Relapse, not new infectionThe case in the medical journal involved a 25-year-old motorcycle taxi driver vaccinated in December 2018 because he’d been in contact with someone with Ebola. In June 2019, he developed symptoms and was diagnosed with the disease.For some reason, the man never developed immunity or lost it within six months, said Michael Wiley, a virus expert at Nebraska Medical Center who helped investigate the case.The man was treated and discharged after twice testing negative for Ebola in his blood. However, semen can harbor the virus for more than a year, so men are advised to be tested periodically after recovery. The man had a negative semen test in August but did not return after that.In late November, he again developed symptoms and sought care at a health center and from a traditional healer. After worsening, he was sent to a specialized Ebola treatment unit but died the next day.Gene tests showed the virus from his new illness was nearly identical to his original one, meaning this was a relapse, not a new infection from another person or an animal, Wiley said. Tests showed the man had spread the virus to 29 others and they spread it to 62 more.Previously, two health workers who got Ebola while treating patients in Africa were found to have the virus long after they recovered — a Scottish nurse in her spinal fluid and American physician Ian Crozier in his eyes. But those relapses were discovered quickly and did not spawn new outbreaks.They and the man in Africa all were treated with antibodies during their initial infections. Antibodies are substances the body makes to fight the virus but it can take weeks for the most effective ones to form. Giving them to Ebola patients is thought to boost the immune system, and studies suggest they improve survival. But the relapses have doctors concerned that such patients might not develop a strong enough immune response on their own and might be vulnerable to recurrences once antibodies fade. It’s just a theory at this point, the researchers stressed.Better monitoring for survivorsA few other viruses can lurk for long periods and cause problems later, such as the one responsible for chickenpox, which can reactivate and cause shingles decades after initial infection.The news about latent Ebola tells us “absolutely nothing” about the chance of something similar happening with the bug that causes COVID-19 because “they’re totally different viruses,” Wiley said.Dr. Ibrahima Soce Fall, a World Health Organization scientist, agreed.”We haven’t seen yet this kind of latency from people who survived coronavirus,” he said. Even with Ebola, “after six months, most of the patients completely clear the virus.”The biggest concern is better monitoring for survivors — there are more than 1,100 in the Congo alone, and the WHO recommends monitoring for at least two years.”We need to make sure that survivors are not stigmatized” and get the help they need so any relapses are treated quickly, Fall said.
…
Month: April 2021
Afghan Women Pyrography Artists Challenge Male Counterparts in the Arts Industry
A group of female artists in Afghanistan’s central province of Bamyan has recently opened a small pyrography and engraving studio to promote fine arts in the region. VOA’s Zafar Bamiyani has more from Bamyan in this report narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.
Camera: Zafar Bamiyani Producer: Zafar Bamiyani
…
Missing Teen, Daughter of Woman Killed in Mexican Police Custody, Is Found
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said on Wednesday that a missing teenager had been found, identifying her as the daughter of Victoria Salazar, who died in Mexico after a Mexican female police officer was seen in a video kneeling on her back.The attorney general’s office of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, where Salazar died, said on Tuesday night that an amber alert had been issued for her daughter, Francela Yaritza Salazar Arriaza, 16. Francela was last seen in the Caribbean tourist resort of Tulum, where her mother was killed.”The oldest daughter of Victoria has been found. She is now in the custody of FGE,” Bukele tweeted, referring to the state attorney general’s office. “She is physically well.”Quintana Roo’s attorney general’s office also did not respond to a request for comment.Salazar’s partner was arrested on Tuesday for abuse of her and her daughters, Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquin said.FILE – Rosibel Emerita Arriaza, the mother of Victoria Esperanza Salazar who died in police custody, talks to the press in Antiguo Cuzcatlan, El Salvador, March 29, 2021.Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador this week said Salazar, 36, had been subject to “brutal treatment and murdered” after her detention on Saturday by four police officers. An autopsy showed Salazar’s neck had been broken.Her death had echoes of the case of George Floyd, an African-American man who died in May as a Minneapolis policeman knelt on his neck. It sparked outrage on social media and calls by El Salvador’s president for the officers to be punished.”They used excessive force,” her mother, Rosibel Arriaza, told Mexican television network TV Azteca. She noted that her daughter’s death was similar to that of Floyd.Newly released surveillance camera video, published by Mexican newspaper Reforma, showed Salazar looking frightened and holding on to workers in a convenience store just before police arrived at the scene, apparently in the run-up to her death.The Quintana Roo attorney general’s office has opened a homicide investigation into her death, which has led to the arrest of the four officers seen on videos of the incident.
…
France’s Macron Orders Third Lockdown, Closes Schools
President Emmanuel Macron ordered France into its third national lockdown Wednesday in an effort to slow a third wave of COVID-19 infecting his country.Among the lockdown measures, Macron closed all schools for three weeks beginning next Monday.Macron had hoped to avoid a lockdown and the effect it would have on the economy. However, the country’s death toll is nearing 100,000 and it has struggled with a vaccine rollout that has been slower than hoped for. A rise in cases is crippling intensive care units in areas hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.”We will lose control if we do not move now,” he said in a televised address to the nation.He also announced movement restrictions, beginning Saturday, for the whole country for at least a month.In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday that COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the United States last year, and it boosted the overall U.S. death toll by nearly 16% from the previous year.During the White House COVID-19 Response Team briefing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters the pandemic trailed only heart disease and cancer last year, accounting for about 378,000 fatalities, or 11% of all deaths in the country last year.Walensky said COVID-19 deaths were highest among Hispanic people, and deaths among ethnic and racial minority groups were more than double the death rate of non-Hispanic white people.Also Wednesday, Pfizer said it had produced 120 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for the U.S.The drugmaker is on track to deliver to the U.S. 200 million doses by the end of May and 300 million doses by the end of July, as it had vowed earlier this year.On Monday, Moderna said it had shipped 100 million doses of its vaccine to the United States. While Johnson & Johnson said it had delivered about 20 million shots to the U.S. in March.However, Johnson & Johnson reported Wednesday that a batch of its COVID-19 vaccine made at a facility in Baltimore, Maryland, had failed quality standards and was unusable. The drugmaker did not give details on what happened to the batch or how many doses were lost.Amazon said Wednesday it plans to have its employees return to the Seattle-area office by fall.The Seattle Times reported Tuesday that the company had told employees it is planning a “return to an office-centric culture as our baseline.”Amazon spokesperson Jose Negrete said the company would not require office workers to receive a COVID-19 vaccine before returning to the office. However, he said Amazon is urging employees and contractors to become vaccinated as soon as they are eligible.Elsewhere Wednesday, European Medicines Agency Executive Director Emer Cooke said the organization has found no scientific evidence to support restrictions on using the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.She told a virtual news conference from the drug regulator’s headquarters in Denmark that they stand by the statement they made nearly two weeks ago that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh any risks.The comments come a day after Germany announced it was limiting the vaccine to people 60 years of age and older due to concerns that it may be causing blood clots.Federal and state health authorities cited nearly three dozen cases of blood clots known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis in its decision Tuesday, including nine deaths. The country’s medical regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, said all but two of the cases involved women between the ages of 20 and 63.Canada, France and Spain have made similar decisions regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine.
…
South Africans Construct Award-Winning Zero-Carbon Home
A team of nine South African students and young professionals won a Cape Town competition to create a zero-carbon home, just ahead of Earth Day on April 22.Experts say the house design, which incorporates solar power, passive cooling, rainwater harvesting and a food garden, could help reduce the nation’s carbon footprint.The first My Clean Green Home — a local building and design competition — challenged designers to build a house that produces no carbon emissions, with a budget of $12,000.Sharne Bloem is the architect for the winning team, Mahali, which means “place” in Swahili.”It’s a good way to bring what we believe, what we studied, to the general public,” Bloem said. ”And actually, to share this with the city of Cape Town and the festival and to educate people more about net-zero carbon buildings.” The team built the house from recycled steel containers and pallets. Despite the small size — just 70 square meters — the house’s quality surprised members of the public like Louis Farrow, who were invited to view the winning entry. “Being green is always expensive. So, it can’t be rolled out to everybody. But if this is sustainably, economically viable … [it makes] lots of sense,” Farrow said. Cape Town authorities say buildings consume 38% of the city’s energy and generate 58% of its carbon emissions. They aim to have all new city buildings carbon neutral by 2030. Mary Haw of Cape Town Sustainable Energy Markets Department says the idea is to inspire people. “People can take elements from this home and bring to their own houses if they can think about what a house might be,” Haw said. Net zero means emissions are balanced by absorbing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere. Georgina Smit of the Green Building Council of South Africa says the concept should not be limited to Cape Town. “My Clean Green Home project could definitely be applied nationally. It is an example about a project that is net zero. You can go and see it; it’s been built with materials that we already have available and actually it’s possible,” Smit said. For years, South Africa has suffered rolling power cuts that leave people without electricity for hours at a time. Green building experts say the country’s power problems could, ironically, help drive more South Africans to net-zero buildings.
…