Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
PHOTO GALLERY

EBOLA

IN PICTURES: Danish PM visits Sierra Leone

On Helle Thorning-Schmidt's landmark trip to an Ebola treatment centre in Sierra Leone, she met with Danish workers and Ebola survivors.

Published: 20 January 2015 09:53 CET
IN PICTURES: Danish PM visits Sierra Leone
PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt at an Ebola treatment centre. Photo: Nils Meilvang/Scanpix
Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt arrived in Sierra Leone on Monday as the first Western leader to visit the country since it was hit by a deadly Ebola outbreak.
 
Thorning-Schmidt met with Danish health workers in the town of Port Loko and paid a visit to a Danish transport ship used to bring UN vehicles into Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
 
During her time at the Ebola treatment centre, the Danish PM had to undergo compulsory temperature checks and wear a full-body protective suit to guard her from the virus. 
 
 
“On Monday I was in Sierra Leone to visit our workers in the fight against Ebola. They are on a dangerous assignment. Therefore it is so great that the efforts of our nurses, doctors, bio-analysts and emergency personnel is working. We should be proud of them,” Thorning-Schmidt wrote on Facebook.
 
“When you put on their special security uniform, you get an understanding for how hard it must be to work in it,” she added.
 

The PM also met with at least one local Ebola survivor. 
 
“I also met 16-year-old Isatu, who survived Ebola. Now she is waiting to begin school,” horning-Schmidt wrote on Facebook, where she posted a picture of herself with the Sierra Leone teen.

 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.

Published: 24 April 2015 08:07 CEST
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."
SHOW COMMENTS