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EBOLA

Denmark adds to its Ebola contributions

Denmark will contribute ten million kroner to help Ghana serve as a regional leader in the fight to contain the Ebola outbreak in west Africa.

Denmark adds to its Ebola contributions
Development Minister Mogens Jensen (right) announced the new contribution after meeting with Ghanaian President John Mahama (left) in Copenhagen. Photo: Keld Navntoft/Scanpix
The development and trade minister, Mogens Jensen, announced on Tuesday that Denmark will contribute an additional ten million kroner ($1.7 million) to Ghana to combat the Ebola virus. 
 
Jensen made the announcement after a meeting with Ghanaian President John Mahama at the Global Green Growth Forum in Copenhagen. 
 
“We are strengthening Ghana’s emergency health services so that we can contain the spread of Ebola more effectively, Jensen said in a press release. 
 
“The Ebola epidemic in west Africa is the largest outbreak in the history of the disease. The situation is developing day by day. We have to attack from all angles in order to get the epidemic under control as quickly as possible,” he added. 
 
With the new contribution, Denmark has donated a total of 74 million kroner toward the efforts to contain Ebola, including a total of 20 million kroner to Ghana alone. Ghana has thus had no recorded infections of Ebola but the country serves as a vital hub for regional efforts. 
 
Mahama is the head of the regional bloc Ecowas Commission, which is taking a leading role in the outbreak. ON Tuesday, he told the BBC that vital supplies have started to reach Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three countries worst hit by the Ebola epidemic. 
 
“Vehicles, motorcycles and other means of transport are going in there. There's more protective clothing being provided. But there's no need for us to duplicate each other and have more treatment centres when we do not have volunteers and health workers to treat the people in the treatment centres,” Mahama said. 
 
The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 4,500 people, primarily in the three west African countries. 
 
Denmark has had a handful of recent Ebola scares, but all have proven to be false alarms. 

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EBOLA

Ebola tests sold to Denmark recalled

The US Food and Drug Administration said that Ebola kits sent to Denmark and other countries could result in "life-threatening" false positives.

Ebola tests sold to Denmark recalled
Photo: Colourbox
US regulators have issued an international recall for a 10-minute Ebola blood test made by a California-based company, saying it has not been proven to work and could put lives at risk.
 
"A recall has been issued for the LuSys Laboratories, Inc., Ebola Virus One-Step Test Kits because the FDA has not cleared or approved the kits for use or sale," said the Food and Drug Administration in a statement emailed to reporters on Thursday.
 
"The results obtained from these test kits have not demonstrated to be accurate and should not be used as in vitro diagnostic tests for Ebola infection."
 
The recall was initially issued in mid-March and applies to test kits exported to Denmark, Sierra Leone and Canada between October 2014 and January 2015.
 
The FDA did not say how many tests were sent out.
 
The recall is described as a Class I, "the most serious type of recall and involve(s) situations in which there is a reasonable probability that use of these products will cause serious adverse health consequences or death," the FDA said.
 
"A false positive result may be life-threatening by potentially placing the patient in an isolation cohort with Ebola-infected patients."
 
Contacted by AFP, a company representative in San Diego said early trials have shown the test to be 86 percent accurate.
 
The problem with the FDA came down to a labeling error, he said. The equipment had not been properly labeled "for research purposes only."
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