News on Ebola


This website is a service from ESCMID presenting news and helpful links dealing with Ebola.

European national websites with Ebola guidelines

Members of the ESCMID Study Group for Infections in Travellers and Migrants (ESGITM) and the UEMS Section of Infectious Diseases (UEMS-ID) have compiled a list of national Ebola guideline websites from round Europe.

Download the list here

Editorial on guidelines for treatment of Ebola in the IJID

An editorial on guidelines for treatment of Ebola written by Eskild Petersen and Boubacar Maiga is now available in the IJID (International Journal of Infectious Diseases).

Click here for the online version.

Clinical review on Ebola virus disease availabe in the BMJ

A downloadable review summarising the more extensive online monograph below was published in the BMJ by Nick Beeching and colleagues in December 2014. For more information, please click here

Online monograph in the BMJ Best Practice series

A summary of the more extensive online monograph is now available in the BMJ Best Practice series, updated each month as new data are presented. More information can be found here.

Summary “Meeting with health and other professions likely to enter into contact with Ebola patients”

During the meeting held in Luxembourg on 13 November 2014 specialists from different fields such as nursing, general practice and pharmacy addressed an array of issues. A follow-up meeting is planned.

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Open Letter of ESCMID to urge Europe to harmonise Ebola infection control protocols

Besides reinforcing its efforts to successfully fight Ebola in the countries, where the epidemic is raging, Europe needs also to commit the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to harmonise infection control protocols and requirements within Europe. The recently founded European Committee for Infection Control (EUCIC) of ESCMID is ready to help.

Read full letter

ESCMID Study Group for Critically Ill Patients calls for team work in the ICU

On the basis of a NEJM report (22 October 2014) on the real challenges in the management of EVD and how to address them in the ICU, the leadership of the ESCMID Study Group for Critically Ill Patients (ESGCIP) calls for improved team work in tackling Ebola disease.

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Substantial information on Ebola by WHO & WHO-Europe

The World Health Organization (WHO) has an extensive collection of information on Ebola both on their international website and the one of the Regional Office Europe. Detailed situation reports and informative maps are especially helpful. Currently, WHO has updated its personal protective equipment (PPE) guidelines for healthcare workers in the context of the current Ebola outbreak. WHO also welcomes approval of a second Ebola vaccine trial in Switzerland.

News from Ebola in Europe

Here we want to share with you experiences of European countries confronted with Ebola cases in their domestic health care systems.

Ebola in Spain

Late Breaker Session on Ebola at HIS 2014

Key speakers in the Ebola session at the 9th Healthcare Infection Society International Conference, Lyon, France, 16 November 2014 - 18 November 2014 are Dilys Morgan (PHE, UK), who will talk about her experiences in Sierra Leone; Paul Dickens (NHS, UK), who will discuss establishing surge isolation capacity in the UK; and Andy Green (RCDM, UK), who will be talking about setting up a treatment centre in Sierra Leone.

NEJM special on the Ebola outbreak

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) publishes latest news on Ebola on their Infectious Diseases news page - latest articles and an Ebola healthmap.

ECDC data on Ebola

Epidemiological updates and risk assessments as well as information for health professionals and travellers are published and regularly updated on a dedicated website of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Substantial information on Ebola by US CDC

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publish and update extensive data on Ebola including practical checklists and clinical guidance.

Highlighted Ebola articles

  • Open access editorial summarising key aspects of epidemiology and preparation needed for possible cases imported to the UK or other European countries, aimed at non-specialists.
    On 11 August 2014, Tom E Fletcher, Timothy J G Brooks, Nicholas J Beeching published this editorial in the British Medical Journal
    BMJ 2014;349:g5079
  • Reversion of advanced Ebola virus disease in nonhuman primates with ZMapp. Xiangguo Qiu et al. Nature (2014) (published online 29 August 2014)
    doi:10.1038/nature13777
    In this article the authors show that a combination of monoclonal antibodies (ZMapp) is able to rescue rhesus macaques when treatment is initiated up to 5 days post-challenge. ZMapp exceeds the efficacy of any other therapeutics described so far.
  • Genomic surveillance elucidates Ebola virus origin and transmission during the 2014 outbreak. Stephen K. Gire et al. Science (2014) (published online 28 August 2014)
    doi:10.1126/science.1259657
    Ongoing epidemiological and genomic surveillance is imperative to identify viral determinants of transmission dynamics, monitor viral changes and adaptation, ensure accurate diagnosis, guide research on therapeutic targets, and refine public-health strategies. It is our hope that this work will aid the multidisciplinary, international efforts to understand and contain this expanding epidemic.

Updated documents on Ebola virus and other viral haemorrhagic fevers and recently revised guidelines of the UK Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens, with extensive appendices

This information has been compiled by Public Health England (PHE), a UK executive agency, sponsored by the Department of Health.

WHO expert Dr Thomas Fletcher talking about Ebola at ECCMID

This webcast by Dr Thomas Fletcher, Infectious Disease Physician at WHO, covers clinical and epidemiological aspects of Ebola with a focus on the epidemic in West Africa. The presentation was part of ESCMID's Virus Hot Topic session at ECCMID in May 2014.

Promed Mail announcements on Ebola cases

ProMED-mail - the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases - is an Internet-based reporting system dedicated to rapid global dissemination of information on outbreaks of infectious diseases for early warning and monitoring outbreaks. Ebola is currently listed among their "Hot Topics" posts.

MSF President urges UN General Assembly to act NOW

Remarks by Dr Joanne Liu, international president, Médecins Sans Frontières on a high-level meeting on response to the Ebola disease outbreak.

Read the full article