The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified Kenya as a “high-risk” country for the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.<\/p>\n
Kenya was vulnerable because it was a major transport hub, with many flights from West Africa, a WHO official said.<\/p>\n
This is the most serious warning to date by the WHO that Ebola could spread to East Africa.<\/p>\n
The number of people killed by Ebola in West Africa has risen to 1,069, the WHO said in its latest update.<\/p>\n
Fifty-six deaths and 128 new cases were reported in the region in the two days to 11 August, it added.<\/p>\n
Canada said it would donate up to 1,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine to help fight the outbreak.<\/p>\n
Airport health checks<\/p>\n
In Sierra Leone, a doctor who treated patients infected with Ebola has died, reports the BBC’s Umaru Fofana from the capital, Freetown.<\/p>\n
Dr Modupeh Cole is the second Sierra Leonean doctor to die of the disease.<\/p>\n
In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous state, a third Ebola-related death was reported on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
In other developments:<\/p>\n
Germany has ordered all its citizens, except health workers, to leave Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the three states where the outbreak has been the deadliest.<\/p>\n
Guinea-Bissau has decided to shut its border with Guinea, Reuters news agency reports.<\/p>\n
Ghana has delayed the opening of universities and colleges by at least two weeks to put in place measures to screen students arriving from Ebola-hit countries.<\/p>\n
The African Union has pledged $1m (\u00a3600,000) to help fight the disease.<\/p>\n
The WHO’s country director for Kenya, Custodia Mandlhate, said the East African state was “classified in group two; at high risk of transmission”.<\/p>\n
Health checks at the main airport in the capital, Nairobi, have been stepped up in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
‘Global resource’<\/p>\n
The Kenyan government said it would not ban flights from the four countries hit by Ebola.<\/p>\n
“We do not recommend ban of flights because of porous borders,” health cabinet secretary James Macharia said.<\/p>\n
Kenya receives more than 70 flights a week from West Africa.<\/p>\n
The West African regional body, Ecowas, said one of its officials, Jatto Asihu Abdulqudir, had died of Ebola in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old had been in contact with Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian government employee who was the first to be killed by the virus in Nigeria on 25 July, Ecowas said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Mr Sawyer had flown in from Liberia, when he was diagnosed with Ebola after collapsing at the airport in Lagos, the biggest city in sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n
What drugs exist currently?<\/p>\n
There are a handful of drugs that have been shown to work well in animals.<\/p>\n
One is Zmapp – the drug requested by the Liberian government. This contains a cocktail of antibodies that attack proteins on the surface of the virus.<\/p>\n
Only one drug has moved on to early safety testing in humans. Known as TKM-Ebola, this interrupts the genetic code of the virus and prevents it from making disease-causing proteins.<\/p>\n
The drug was trialled in healthy volunteers at the beginning of 2014 but the American medicines regulator asked for further safety information. The manufacturer says human studies may soon resume.<\/p>\n
Another option would be to use serum from individuals who have survived the virus – this is a part of the blood that may contain particles able to neutralise the virus.<\/p>\n
Vaccines to protect against acquiring the disease have also been shown to work in primates. American authorities are considering fast-tracking their development and say they could be in use in 2016. Trials are likely to start soon, according to the WHO.<\/p>\n
But experts warn that ultimately the only way to be sure a drug or vaccine is effective is to see if it works in countries affected by Ebola.<\/p>\n
EMapping the outbreak<\/p>\n
Ebola virus disease (EVD)<\/p>\n
Coloured transmission electron micro graph of a single Ebola virus, the cause of Ebola fever<\/p>\n
Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage<\/p>\n
Fatality rate can reach 90% – but the current outbreak is about 55%<\/p>\n
Incubation period is two to 21 days<\/p>\n
There is no vaccine or cure<\/p>\n
Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery<\/p>\n
Fruit bats are considered to be virus’ natural host<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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