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          Officials: Number of New Ebola Cases in W. Africa Declining

   by Zlatica Hoke

   The good news from West Africa began trickling in last week.

   The Ebola coordinator at the Guinean Health Ministry said Tuesday in
   Paris that the numbers of new cases are declining in Sierra Leone,
   Liberia and Guinea.

   Guinean Health Ministry official Aboubakar Sidiki Diakite said, "The
   figures are declining because the number of confirmed cases that we had
   in health care centers, the number also of suspected cases that we had
   in health care centers, these figures are starting to decline - not in
   a very significant way, but we realize that these figures are
   decreasing."

   In Liberia's capital, Monrovia, a United Nations official in charge of
   emergency Ebola response confirmed there has been a significant
   improvement in the fight against the deadly disease.

   Fewer people are getting infected and fewer are dying from it. But the
   battle against Ebola is far from over, warned the U.N. official,
   Anthony Banbury.

   "We need NGOs and others to come in and run these facilities. We are
   putting in place the logistics capabilities. We are building the care
   centers. We are getting the equipment, everything we need to go in
   them," Banbury said.

   "The patients are there in far too great numbers. What we don't have
   are the partners to run the facilities and we need them now," he said.

   Vaccine trial

   U.S. health authorities have expressed hope that a new vaccine will
   bring an end to the outbreak that has killed about 5,000 people and
   infected close to 14,000.

   Lausanne's University Hospital in Switzerland began testing the vaccine
   Tuesday on healthy volunteers.

   "I think the sooner we have a vaccine that works, that is safe, then
   the sooner we can use that vaccine to vaccinate the people in West
   Africa and wherever else the Ebola could spread," said Tina, a medical
   doctor and Ebola vaccine volunteer whose last name was not disclosed.

   Experts said there is no danger of contracting Ebola from the vaccine.

   "What we measure is antibodies to the protein which is produced by the
   vaccine, and we also do some specific and detailed analysis on the
   white blood cells in the blood to ask the question whether the cells
   exposed to vaccine have a different biology than those who have not
   been exposed to the vaccine," said Vincent Mooser with the Lausanne's
   University Hospital.

   If the testing proves effective, it will be done on a larger trial
   basis.

   French researchers are in the pre-production phases of an Ebola test
   that would give results in 15 minutes, compared to about 24 hours it
   takes the current tests. Faster tests also are being developed in the
   United States and Japan.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/officials-number-of-new-ebola-cases-d
   eclining/2508923.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/officials-number-of-new-ebola-cases-declining/2508923.html