MARVELLED BLOG

Friday, September 5, 2014

Doctors Without Borders in Port Harcout to help fight Ebola

Nigeria's Minister of Health Professor Chukwu arrived Port Harcourt this morning to visit the Ebola Isolation & Emergency Operation Centre. Pictured above are doctors from humanitarian group 'Doctors Without Borders' who are currently in Port Harcourt to help fight the deadly disease. More pics after the cut...

A health worker dressed in personal protective equipment at d #Ebola centre

#Ebola isolation centre in Emuoha LGA Rivers State

Minister of Health inspects UPTH Port Harcourt

Minister of Health inspects NCDC lab for # Ebola diagnosis at UPTH PH

Health workers at d #Ebola isolation centre gives '#Ebola greeting' to d minister,

3rd American Ebola patient arrives U.S for treatment

The third American doctor to be diagnosed with the Ebola virus arrived Nebraska about an hour to begin his treatment. Dr Richard Sacra (pictured above) contracted the deadly virus while working in Liberia. Dr Sacra wasn't treating Ebola patients when he was infected.

He was today flown to the Nebraska Medical Center's biocontainment patient care unit, one of the four facilities in America designed specifically to treat patients exposed to extremely dangerous infectious organisms.

Two other Americans were recently treated of the deadly virus using the experimental drug, ZMapp.

WHO holds urgent talks on Ebola treatments

World health experts meet in Geneva for talks on fast-tracking experimental drugs, as death toll rises in west Africa.

A WHO spokesman said the official death toll from Ebola was likely a gross underestimate [File pic]

World health experts are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland for the second day of urgent talks on fast-tracking experimental Ebola drugs, as doctors in the worst-hit African countries pleaded to be given the serums.
With no fully tested treatments for Ebola, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has endorsed potential cures like ZMapp to be rushed out.
"Everybody keeps asking why isn't this medication made available to our people out there?" Samuel Kargbo, from Sierra Leone's ministry of health, told the AFP news agency.
ZMapp has been given to about 10 health workers who contracted the virus, including Americans and Europeans, three of whom recovered.

Info

Its stocks have been exhausted, but the WHO said a few hundred doses could potentially be ready by the end of the year.
"Our doctors who have been treating patients are also dying, and it's not made available," Kargbo said.
The two-day closed-door meeting of about 200 health experts in Geneva is discussing eight potential therapies, as well as two experimental vaccines.
'None clinically proven'
"None are clinically proven," the WHO stressed in a working document for the meeting, adding that "while extraordinary measures are now in place to accelerate the pace of clinical trials, new treatments or vaccines are not expected for widespread use before the end of 2014".
The agency warned that the death toll in the epidemic, which is centred on Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, was still growing fast.
"The outbreak is rising," WHO chief Margaret Chan told reporters in Washington on Wednesday, putting the death toll at "more than 1,900".
"The current west African Ebola outbreak is unprecedented in size, complexity and the strain it has imposed on health systems," the WHO said in a statement, acknowledging the "intense" public demand for a treatment.
The race to ready experimental drugs comes as affected countries are struggling to contain the outbreak, which was first detected in Guinea at the start of the year.
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said the official death toll was likely a gross underestimate.
"Many deaths are in the community and are not being reported. It is estimated that there are two to four times as many people infected with Ebola as reported," he told AFP by email.
At least 30 more people have died in a separate outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
US doctor treated
In hardest-hit Liberia, which counts a 871 deaths out of 1,698 cases, medical sources said on Thursday that US doctor Rick Sacra, who was infected while working at the ELWA hospital in Monrovia, was en route to the airport to be repatriated.
Sacra, the third US aid worker to contract the virus, is expected to arrive on Friday at a Nebraska hospital for treatment in a special isolation unit.
He had opted to head to Liberia after hearing that two other missionaries were sick. He served with the North Carolina-based charity SIM.
Bruce Johnson, SIM's president, said Sacra had been receiving excellent care at a centre in Liberia, but that the Nebraska facility provides advanced monitoring equipment and has a wider availability of treatment options.

Britney Spears Is Back In The Studio And We’re Crying Tears Of Joy

The Queen is back in the studio!

Britney Spears shared a photo Thursday night (September 4) of herself sidled up to a recording mic, tossing out a signature peace sign and sporting an ear-to-ear grin. “Studio today! Yay!” the pop star wrote.

“Yay!” is probably the understatement of the year. It’s more like “OMFG YASSS BISH YASSS!” With the underperformance and lackluster reviews of Britney Jean, the “Work Bitch” singer is due for a musical resurgence.

As for the theme of the album? Well, a dirty-dog cheating boyfriend sounds like the perfect material for a fierce new anthem. Britney’s back to single and ready to mingle, addressing the infidelity at her Las Vegas show on Sunday (September 1).

“Well, by now everyone knows my boyfriend cheated on me. But the best part of breaking up,” the singer continued as she leaped forward toward the front of the stage, “is going on first dates. OMG, OMG, I need a hot guy. Where are the hot guys here tonight?”

Spears’ studio session comes perfectly timed for an end-of-residency celebration next year, when the Vegas performer will wrap up her stay at Planet Hollywood in February 2015. It’ll be a happy New Year after all!

jessica hyndman

life

by caitlin white 7 hours ago

Taylor Swift‘s brand new single—and second-ever No. 1 song—”Shake It Off” has the singer bumbling her way through a variety of different dance routines, but the gist of the song is to just be yourself no matter what.

Which is something that this little girl seems to have down pat. In fact, in the Instagram videothat her mother shot of her, she’s got moves that rival Swift’s own!

Tay Tay herself took to Twitter to point out just how free and joyful her dancing was:

Yes, this is definitely a deeper level than the rest of us. Sometimes it takes a child to really reveal the beauty in life.

Watch the moves yourself to experience the full-on perfection of her carefree dancing. Ahhh, to be young! Never change girly, never change.

She’d probably do a great job choreographing the 1989 tour to be honest! Considering Taylor’shistory with fan responses, something just might come of this after all.

Rebuilding Gaza could 'cost at least $7.8bn'

Palestinian Authority says reconstruction work in Gaza bombed by Israel could take up to five years to complete.

LISTEN

The PA says rebuilding whole neighbourhoods and vital infrastructure could take up to five years [Reuters]

Palestinian experts say rebuilding Gaza could cost at least $7.8bn, in the most comprehensive assessment of the damage from the seven-week conflict with Israel.
The Palestinian Authority said on Thursday that the process of rebuilding whole neighbourhoods and vital infrastructure would take "five years if Israel removed its blockade over Gaza entirely".
"The attack on Gaza this time had no precedent, Gaza has been hit with a catastrophe and it needs immediate help," Palestinian economist, Mohammed Shtayyeh, told the Reuters.

Gaza has been hit with a catastrophe and it needs immediate help

Mohammed Shtayyeh,Palestinian economist

Shtayyeh of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction, who published the report, said it would cost $2.5bn to rebuild 17,000 Gazan homes razed by Israeli bombings.
The report also said the energy sector would need $250m after Gaza's only power plant was destroyed, and the Palestinian Strip's education sector would need around $143m to get back on its feet.
About half a million children have been unable to return to their schools due to damage or because the buildings are being used to house refugees, and over 106,000 Gazans have been displaced to UN shelters and host families, according to the UN.
The assessment also earmarked $670m for an airport and sea port, a key demand by Hamas, the group that governs Gaza.
The remaining cost was allocated to the financial, health, agriculture, and transportation sectors, all of which suffered widespread damage during the war.
The Gaza strip, home to 1.8 million people and bordered by Israel and Egypt, was ravaged between July 8 and August 26 in its third war in six years.
The conflict cost the lives of more than 2,140 Gazans, destroyed thousands of homes, severely damaged the enclave's sole power plant and burnt dozens of factories.

Source:

Agencies

Twin boys stabbed to death by their brother who then killed himself

9 year old twin brothers Patrick and Thomas O'Driscoll were stabbed to death yesterday September 4th by their older half brother Jonathan, 20, who then killed himself about an hour later. Read the full story below...

Nine-year-old Patrick and Thomas O’Driscoll were dressed in their school uniforms when found dead in separate bedrooms by their younger brothers, aged three and five.

Their half-sibling Jonathan, 20, sped from the scene in Charleville, Co Cork, and was discovered hanged 15km away.

The tragic boys’ parents Tom and Ellen were shopping in nearby Kilmallock, Limerick, at the time.A security source told the Irish Mirror : “It was a frenzied attack, the boys were stabbed multiple times. It’s understood there are psychological issues involved.”

Other sources last night claimed Jonathan was adopted before the O’Driscolls later went on to have the twins.

The nine-year-olds, who were being minded by older sibling Jonathan, died in separate bedrooms hours after he collected them from school.

Their bloodied bodies were found shortly before 5pm by their younger brothers, aged three and five.

The toddlers then raced from the home and began screaming for help through a neighbour’s hedge. As a major emergency operation swung into action, Jonathan, 20, fled the scene.

He was found hanged from a tree by a riverbank in nearby Buttevant, an hour later.

The scene at the family home was last night described as horrific.

One source said: “Those poor little boys suffered a shocking death.”

Last night, the events leading to the shocking double killing remained unclear – but sources said the killer must have “just snapped”.

A next-door neighbour who raised the alarm said: “We were at home at about 5pm and the two young lads came over to the hedge.

“They were screaming at the top of their voices. They were roaring for my dad. We rang the [police] straight away.”

Schoolboys Patrick and Thomas – members of the settled Traveller community – were described by a neighbour as “a pair of rascals”.

Relatives were too distraught to comment last night.

Jonathan was minding the two boys while their parents were six miles away in Kilmallock, Co Limerick, and had collected them from Bawnogue school.

A car was seen driving away from the house after the attack in Deerpark, and just over an hour later Jonathan was found dead.

He was discovered by three children – a 10-year-old and two 14-year-olds.

HSE Air Corps air ambulance, based at Costume Barracks, Athlone, was dispatched to the family home to take the boys to hospital, however it was quickly stood down when it became clear the twins were already dead.

Ambulance crews from Mallow were met by the horrific bloody scene.

Around 30 grieving family members and friends gathered outside the small cottage, which was sealed off last night.

Local priest Fr Tom Naughton said the tragedy had shaken the entire community.

He added: “I am shocked, I know the family myself. I have prayed with the family before. Obviously any family who would have experienced a tragedy of this nature would be devastated.
“This it is deeply upsetting for any community, especially for one as close-knit as we are. We will offer our support to them, the whole community will be behind them at this very difficult time.”
Friends of the family took to Facebook last night to pay their respects, with one saying: “God it’s a sin what happened them two twins today, may God help the family that lost two beautiful children, may God give them a good bed in heaven.”
Another posted: “RIP to the two twins TomTom & Paddy that were stabbed to death, so sad two innocent children.”
A distant relative of the two boys said: “It really is a sin. God only knows what pain Thomas and Ellen are going through waiting years for their twin boys to only have nine years and their lives were taken.”

Police confirmed in a statement last night: “Officers in Charleville, Co Cork are investigating all the circumstances following the discovery of the bodies of two young boys in a house in Deerpark, Charleville shortly before 5pm on September 4.

“They were pronounced dead at the scene. The bodies remain at the scene and the area has been sealed off for technical examination, diversions are in place.

“The office of the State Pathologist has been notified and post mortemsare expected to be carried out."

Source UK Mirror