Links to new research on Ebola: March 2016

And part II of my attempts to get up-to-date, research that came out in March.

Therapeutics and Vaccines

• Daouda Sissoko and colleagues analysed the non-randomized JIKI trial of Favipiravir. Experimental Treatment with Favipiravir for Ebola Virus Disease (the JIKI Trial): A Historically Controlled, Single-Arm Proof-of-Concept Trial in Guinea
• Amanda Semper and colleagues presented results of a field trial of GeneXpert in the Port Loko diagnostic lab. Performance of the GeneXpert Ebola Assay for Diagnosis of Ebola Virus Disease in Sierra Leone: A Field Evaluation Study

Epidemiology

• Li-Qun Fang and colleagues provide a comprehensive evaluation of the transmission dynamics of Ebola in Sierra Leone at both the chiefdom and household levels. Transmission dynamics of Ebola virus disease and intervention effectiveness in Sierra Leone
• Rachel Leander and colleagues modelled data from the initial outbreak in Meliandou, Guinea, to highlight the density-dependent nature of infection and the impact of mortality on behaviour. Modelling Ebola within a community
• Kathryn Curran and colleagues presented a case study of a funeral-centred cluster of cases. Cluster of Ebola Virus Disease Linked to a Single Funeral — Moyamba District, Sierra Leone, 2014

Epidemic control strategies

• Kangbai Jia and Koroma Mohamed compared standard sentinel surveillance community cellphone systems for passive case finding in Moyamba, Sierra Leone. Evaluating the use of cell phone messaging for community Ebola syndromic surveillance in high risked settings in Southern Sierra Leone
• Kamalini Lokuge and colleagues analysed how Kailahun district successfully controlled their Ebola outbreak by December 2014. Successful Control of Ebola Virus Disease: Analysis of Service Based Data from Rural Sierra Leone
• Christopher Lee and colleagues compared national and local phone-based systems for passive case finding in Guinea. Evaluation of a National Call Center and a Local Alerts System for Detection of New Cases of Ebola Virus Disease — Guinea, 2014–2015

Health care for Ebola

• Adrienne Strong and colleagues reviewed how healthcare workers interact with pregnant women in normal and crisis times to suggest how to lessen the impact of future Ebola outbreaks on those who are pregnant. Sociocultural aspects of risk to pregnant women during the 2013-2015 multinational ebola virus outbreak in West Africa
• Romain Palich and colleagues described a case report for a child who was successfully discharged from care. A 6-Year-Old Child with Severe Ebola Virus Disease: Laboratory-Guided Clinical Care in an Ebola Treatment Center in Guinea
• Andres Colubri and colleagues presented a method for using Machine Learning to generate prognostic reports on patients, and an app within which it could be deployed. Transforming Clinical Data into Actionable Prognosis Models: Machine-Learning Framework and Field-Deployable App to Predict Outcome of Ebola Patients

Ebola epidemic impact

• Christopher Hands provided a personal view of how the healthcare system in Sierra Leone has been recovering post-Ebola. Healthcare after Ebola
• Diddy Mymin Kahn and colleagues evaluated support provided to those working on the ‘117’ hotline. Evaluation of a support group for Ebola hotline workers in Sierra Leone

Survivors

• Pauline Vetter and colleagues reviewed the existing literature on those surviving Ebola, and suggested areas for research and for focused care. Sequelae of Ebola virus disease: the emergency within the emergency
• Amanda Tiffany and colleagues described clinical results for over 1000 consultations with 166 survivors at a clinic in Freetown. Ebola virus disease complications as experienced by survivors in Sierra Leone

Other items

• Third World Quarterly published a special issue on The international politics of Ebola, considering the outbreak from an International Relations point of view. Their focus was on four themes: (1) allocating responsibility globally; (2) the perception of Ebola as a global crisis; (3) the security-driven approach to global health emergencies; and (4) inequality of gender, resources and power.
• Harris Ali and colleagues presented an overview of socio-political, medical, legal and environmental factors associated with the West African outbreak. The Social and Political Dimensions of the Ebola Response: Global Inequality, Climate Change, and Infectious Disease
• Judy Kuriansky curated a book on a wide range of psychosocial impacts of Ebola. Book: The Psychosocial Aspects of a Deadly Epidemic: What Ebola Has Taught Us
• Jennifer Salerno and colleagues described key issues raised at a symposium on ethics and Ebola at the American Clinical Epidemology 2015 annual meeting. Emergency response in a global health crisis: epidemiology, ethics, and Ebola application