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IT major <keyword id="10862" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="wipro" source="Orion">Wipro</keyword> stated on Wednesday that its campus in <keyword id="3764951" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="doddakannelli" source="Orion">Doddakannelli</keyword> locality of the city has been constructed as per the sanctioned plan. The response comes after its name figured in the list of alleged encroachers, prepared by the city civic authority, the BBMP. Several high profile developers, IT majors, and hospitals, are named as encroachers allegedly responsible for choking almost 700 storm water drains (<keyword id="265021" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="swd" source="Orion">SWD</keyword>), as per an internal note of the BBMP tasked with clearing up the mess. Dated August 17, the city civic authorities' note names 15 encroachments by various developers and firms like IT firms, hospitals, and educational institutions. The BBMP list includes entities like Prestige, Bagmane Tech Park, <keyword id="178491" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="columbia-asia-hospital" source="Orion">Columbia Asia Hospital</keyword>, Eco Space, Gopalan, Salarpuria, Wipro and <keyword id="1575" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="congress" source="Orion">Congress</keyword> leader <keyword id="6325738" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="haris-nalapad" source="Orion">Haris Nalapad</keyword>. However, Wipro has set the record straight with its statement on Wednesday. The company indicated that its campus mentioned in the BBMP list is as per sanctioned plans. "Wipro abides by the laws of every jurisdiction where it does business and adheres to the highest standards of integrity. The Wipro campus in Doddakannelli is as per sanctioned plan. We have not received any notice from BBMP." Over the past two days, civic authorities have embarked on a demolition drive of the alleged encroachments which are said to have led to blocking of storm water drains which ultimately resulted in massive flooding and water logging of several localities in the Magadevapura zone of the city. The area is hub of tech companies. SEE ALSO : <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/sensex-snaps-four-session-winning-streak-with-a-224-point-fall/articleshow/94200945.cms">Sensex snaps four-session winning streak with a 224 point fall</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/housing-finance-companies-aum-to-grow-10-12-in-fy23-crisil/articleshow/94200773.cms">Housing finance companies' AUM to grow 10-12% in FY23: CRISIL</a>

Wipro clears air on Doddakannelli campus after it makes it to an encroachment list

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Laura and Scott Van Doormaal spent months fundraising to afford a life-saving treatment for their daughter, Lucy. </li><li>Lucy has <keyword id="1955667" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="spinal-muscular-atrophy">spinal muscular atrophy</keyword>, and was not expected to live past two without treatment. </li><li>The Van Doormaal family lives in Canada, where the treatment is not yet approved, but was able to get access through a program offered by the drug maker.</li></ul>Earlier this year, Laura and Scott Van Doormaal turned to the internet to help <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CDzWGcXB07C/">save their daughter's life</a>,<a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/lucyvandoormaal"> raising</a> $2.5 million on GoFundMe for a drug infusion that could save her. But then luck intervened, and Lucy Van Doormaal, who was born with the rare genetic condition spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), got the treatment for free. "In an incredible turn of events, we found out Lucy was randomly selected by the drug company, Novartis/AveXis, to receive treatment through the managed access program," the Van Doormaals <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/lucyvandoormaal">shared</a> on GoFundMe back in August. The program is meant to help children in countries where the treatment — Zolgensma — isn't yet approved for use. That includes Canada, where the family lives. The program was just launched this year and will provide treatment to 100 children, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/25/us/baby-sma-2-million-treatment-life-for-lucy-health-trnd/index.html">the company told CNN</a>. "While we aren't providing specific numbers at this time, we can confirm that already the program has enabled children across Asia, Australia, Europe and North America (including Canada) to receive treatment who may not have otherwise had access to the therapy," a Novartis Gene Therapies company spokesperson<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/25/us/baby-sma-2-million-treatment-life-for-lucy-health-trnd/index.html"> said</a>.<h2>Immediate results from a life-saving treatment</h2>Lucy received the infusion on September 9 at British Columbia Children's Hospital in Vancouver, according to the family's GoFundMe campaign."It was a day charged with emotions as we finally took a deep breath of relief," her parents wrote on GoFundMe. Right away, they noticed some improvements in Lucy's muscle control. "We noticed an immediate difference," Laura Van Doormaal told CNN. "The biggest changes are her head control, really quickly after the treatment she was able to hold her head up which is something she's never done before."Although it's not clear what the future holds for Lucy, that quick progress has left the Doormaal family hopeful. "She can sit with some support and hopefully one day she'll crawl," Van Doormaal said. "Maybe one day she'll even walk. That's really an optimistic dream, I know, but we like to have high expectations and we don't want to hold her back."Since Lucy received treatment for free, many people asked what would happen to the $2.5 million that the family raised from people around the world. In early October, the family posted to GoFundMe, explaining their intentions for the funds and allowing anyone to request a refund of their donation. Although the update didn't go into specifics, it said that a "large portion" of the funds would be donated to seven other Canadian babies who have the same condition as Lucy. For at least one of the babies, Eva Batista, that will mean that she's able to access treatment. Funds will also be donated to Muscular Dystrophy Canada and the hospital where Lucy received her infusion. Finally, some money will be set aside for "Lucy's future and complex medical needs." Now that treatment has been administered, the family is scaling back from GoFundMe to focus on Lucy's care, they wrote on Sept. 17."Our quest for Zolgensma was exhausting yet uplifting. In many ways it changed us as parents, bringing us to extremely dark places but also showing us the amazing strength of human kindness and community. We feel so fortunate to have reached our goal of providing this treatment for Lucy. You are all a huge part of this success."

Parents raised $2 million for their baby's life-saving medical treatment, and then got the treatment for free

New Delhi, June 20 (IANSlife) Just because your a dad it doesn't mean you don't have to focus on your health and fitness. Father's over the age of 40 should give extra care to their minds and bodies. This is the time when men are more prone to lifestyle diseases like obesity, hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular ailments. A man's hectic schedule, unhealthy habits, irregular healthcare patterns and spiraling stress are the reason behind such life-threatening conditions. But, children can play a vital role in keeping their fathers healthy. "Children can help their fathers in being aware of these diseases like cataract, prostate, diabetes, hypertension, obesity etc and work towards their prevention. The gift of time, for exercising together, going for a walk or a swim or a cycling trip together could be the best gift the children could give their fathers. They could also nudge them to visit their doctor for a regular checkup to take preventive steps against the development of these diseases before they flare up," Dr Shuchin Bajaj, Internal Medicine, Ujala Cygnus Orthocare Hospital, New Delhi told IANSlife in an email. Today's generation is under a lot of stress and that is taking a toll on their health. The scenario is completely changed as compared to a decade or two ago. Work hours have been extended and the usage of phone and laptops has also increased. As a result all these factors have been affecting the overall health of fathers, who are in 40s. The most prominent ones being vision problem and hairfall problem. Their sedentary lifestyle have contributed to health conditions like obesity, diabetes and hypertension, notes Dr. P Venkata Krishna, Internal medicine, Paras hospital Gurugram. "All these diseases used to hit people above 60 but now we are seeing them in 40s. A decade ago, in my OPD, I used to have probably two patients who have early onset of hypertension but now I am getting five to seven easily. Hypertension also leads to many fatty liver diseases and heart diseases," the doctor said. Father's Day gives us a chance to bring back focus to men's health, especially as they age. "Children can utilize Father's Day to make their parents and other male members of the family what risk age poses to their health. They can motivate them to take up regular health screenings that are now available as packages with many, or accompany them during their exercise or jogging time. They can also dish out quick and easy healthy food for their fathers to inculcate a habit of eating healthy and living healthy by quitting alcohol and tobacco of all forms" said Dr Manjeetha Nath Das, Internal Medicines, Columbia Asia Hospital, Gurugram. "We would ask children to talk to their parents and other male members of the family about the health risks that come with age and motivate them to opt for health screenings at regular intervals. Health screenings are the best way to detect diabetes and cancers and are now available as packages with many. Children can also encourage them to stick to their exercise routine and accompany them -- it's a great way for personal bonding too that reduces stress to a great extent," Dr Rakesh Pandit, Senior Consultant &amp; HOD, Internal Medicine, Aakash Healthcare told IANSlife. Happy heath to all fathers! (Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in) --IANS sj/tb/

Father's Day: Focusing on men's health after 40

New data revealed by <keyword id="195728" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gilead-Sciences">Gilead Sciences</keyword> has shown that its antiviral drug <keyword id="8775508" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="remdesivir">remdesivir</keyword> reduces death risk of severe Covid-19 patients by as much as 62 per cent when compared with standard care alone. This is an important finding that requires confirmation in prospective clinical trials, Gilead said on Friday about the results presented at the virtual COVID-19 conference as part of the 23rd International AIDS Conference. The analysis included 312 patients treated in the Phase-3 SIMPLE-Severe study and a separate real-world retrospective cohort of 818 patients with similar baseline characteristics and disease severity who received standard of care treatment in the same time period as the SIMPLE-Severe study. Patients were primarily located in North America (92 per cent, remdesivir cohort vs. 91 per cent, standard-of-care cohort), Europe (5 per cent vs. 7 per cent) and Asia (3 per cent vs. 2 per cent). The analysis demonstrated that remdesivir treatment was associated with significantly improved clinical recovery and a 62 percent reduction in the risk of mortality compared to standard of care. Findings from the comparative analysis showed that 74.4 per cent of remdesivir-treated patients recovered by Day 14 versus 59 per cent of patients receiving standard of care. The mortality rate for patients treated with remdesivir in the analysis was 7.6 per cent at Day 14 compared with 12.5 per cent among patients not taking remdesivir. "This comparative analysis provides valuable additional information regarding the benefit of remdesivir compared with standard of care alone," Susan Olender of Columbia University Irving Medical Center said in a statement. "While not as vigorous as a randomized controlled trial, this analysis importantly draws from a real-world setting and serves as an important adjunct to clinical trial data, adding to our collective understanding of this virus and reflecting the extraordinary pace of the ongoing pandemic." The results of this comparative analysis add to the previously presented National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in hospitalized patients with COVID-19, which showed that remdesivir shortened time to recovery by an average of four days as compared to placebo -- 11 vs. 15 days. In the NIAID study, patients taking remdesivir trended toward lower mortality compared with those in the placebo group, but this result did not reach statistical significance --7.1 percent vs. 11.9 per cent. Due to the current public health emergency, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an Emergency Use Authorization for remdesivir for the treatment of hospitalised patients with severe Covid-19. "These data presented at the Virtual COVID-19 Conference shed additional light on the use of remdesivir in specific patient populations, including those that may be susceptible to higher rates of COVID-19 infection, as well as others that are particularly vulnerable, including children and pregnant and postpartum women," said Merdad Parsey, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, Gilead Sciences. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/drug-regulator-okays-psoriasis-injection-for-limited-use-in-treating-covid-19-patients/articleshow/76903758.cms">Itolizumab approved for emergency use on COVID-19 patients</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/checkout-covid-19-quarantine-guidelines-for-airline-passengers-in-every-indian-state/articleshow/76407383.cms">COVID-19 quarantine guidelines for airline passengers in every Indian state</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/day-to-day-symptoms-of-how-coronavirus-progresses/articleshow/74906463.cms">Day to day symptoms of how coronavirus progresses</a>

Remdesivir linked to reduced risk of death in severe Covid-19 patients

<ul><li>The World Health Organisation advises people to eat a range of fruits and unprocessed foods every day to get sufficient vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre, protein and antioxidants. </li><li>Business Insider India reached out to dietitians, and <keyword id="52652" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="nutrition">nutrition</keyword> experts to get some nutrition advice. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/">Check out the latest news and updates on Business Insider. </a> </li></ul>The coronavirus pandemic has turned our life upside down. With the lockdown affecting day to day activities, and curbs on social activities, people are finding newer ways to cope with the stress. While it has given rise to a whole section of people turning health and fitness conscious, the others continue to binge eat and binge watch shows. While we get through the pandemic, we must focus on nutrition as the need for a healthy body is now more than ever. According to Minal Shah, Senior Nutrition Therapist at Fortis Hospital Mulund intake of protein, micronutrient (Vitamin D), Vitamin C, anti-inflammatory, and water are amongst the most important things people should keep in mind to keep their nutrition level at par. Shah also suggests preferring fresh juices and meals over processed ones, especially for Vitamin C. Moreover, consuming at least 100 ml of water every hour will help people flush the toxins out of their body. The World Health Organisation advises people to eat a range of fruits and unprocessed foods every day to get sufficient vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre, protein and antioxidants required in our body. WHO further suggests people keep themselves hydrated. Apart from this people <a href="http://www.emro.who.int/nutrition/nutrition-infocus/nutrition-advice-for-adults-during-the-covid-19-outbreak.html#:~:text=So%20you%20should%20eat%20a,and%20certain%20types%20of%20cancer.">should also avoid sugar, fat and salt</a> “to significantly lower risk of overweight, obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and certain types of cancer.” Business Insider India reached out to dietitians, and nutrition experts to get some nutrition advice — Exploring a plant-based diet According to dietitians, people should put in extra emphasis on the food they eat. “In the times of coronavirus pandemic, moving to a plant-based diet is an intelligent move because it is a powerful way to live longer, help the environment, and reduce our risk of getting sick. Therefore, a diet plays a crucial role in maintaining your overall wellbeing and nutrition especially when we are fighting with COVID-19 pandemic,” said Neha Pathania, Chief- Dietitian, Paras Hospital Gurugram. A plant-based diet involves minimally processed vegetables, fruits, whole grains, seeds, herbs, spices and does not contain any animal product including red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy products. Pathania says a plant-based diet also helps in lowering down the body mass index (BMI), cholesterol levels and a reduced incidence of chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even protection from some cancers including prostate and breast cancer Avoid ready-to-eat and focus on fresh home-cooked food Another nutrition tip from dietitians is to eat fresh, home-made food, as much as possible. “We should focus more on fresh, home-cooked food and avoid ready-to-eat food as much as we can because they have additives and preservatives to prolong shelf life. Read the labels carefully before purchasing any such product and do not consume beyond expiry or 'best before' date. Eating fresh-cooked with less spice, oil or fat also helps in avoiding intake of harmful components such as saturated fats and extra salt or sugar. says, Shalini Garwin Bliss, HOD- Dietitian, Columbia Asia Hospital WHO too recommends eating at home so as to reduce the rate of contact with other people during COVID-19 times. No saturated fats, trans fats People should reduce their intake for saturated fats, trans fats, salt and sugar. “Regular intake of saturated and trans fats, salt and sugar not only increases the risk of non-communicable diseases but also slows down the process of conceiving. Binging on junk food increases your body's weight. Problems with your weight can lead to fertility problems. Therefore, it’s essential that we take food which is full of nutrients and can boost our sexual health. A balanced and nutritious diet one should consider to get rid of the infertility issues,” said Dr Aswati Nair, Fertility Consultant, Nova IVF, New Delhi. Keep yourself hydrated Experts suggest at least 8-10 cups of water every day. “Water is essential for life. It transports nutrients and compounds in blood, regulates your body temperature, gets rid of waste, and lubricates and cushions joints.Water is the best choice, but you can also consume other drinks, fruits and vegetables that contain water, for example, lemon juice (diluted in water and unsweetened), tea and coffee. But be careful not to consume too much caffeine, and avoid sweetened fruit juices, syrups, fruit juice concentrates, fizzy and still drinks as they all contain sugar, <a href="http://www.emro.who.int/nutrition/nutrition-infocus/nutrition-advice-for-adults-during-the-covid-19-outbreak.html#:~:text=So%20you%20should%20eat%20a,and%20certain%20types%20of%20cancer.">WHO wrote. </a> SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/ambani-vs-damani-indias-635-billion-retail-ring-will-see-the-countrys-two-richest-men-battle-with-different-strategies/articleshow/77846555.cms">Ambani vs Damani ⁠— India’s $635 billion retail ring will see the country’s two richest men⁠ battle with different strategies</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/latest-hr-job-vacancies-at-moodys-morgan-stanley-ibm-johnson-amp-johnson-and-other-companies-in-india/slidelist/77868800.cms">Latest HR job vacancies at Moody’s, Morgan Stanley, IBM, Johnson &amp; Johnson and other companies in India</a>

National Nutrition Week: Here are some nutrition tips to keep you healthy, according to experts

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Business Insider brings back the Senior Director of NYC <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">Health</keyword> + Hospitals System-wide Special Pathogens Program and a professor of <keyword id="172940" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Epidemiology">epidemiology</keyword> at Columbia University to debunk 14 new common <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-myths-debunked-wuhan-china-2020-2">coronavirus myths</a>.</li><li>They talk about the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/face-masks-social-distancing-curb-spread-coronavirus-research-2020-6">effectiveness of masks</a> and how they don't cause CO2 poisoning.</li><li>They also explain what it'll take to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/should-schools-reopen-coronavirus-spread-us-2020-7">reopen schools</a> in the United States and keep them open. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-show-schools-reopening-around-the-world-coronavirus-2020-4#schools-are-reopening-in-parts-of-europe-and-asia-with-some-dropping-social-distancing-measures-that-limit-full-time-schooling-like-scattered-attendance-the-washington-post-reported-1">Schools in other countries</a> started off with achieving a low number of cases, reducing classroom sizes, having children sitting further apart, and wearing masks.</li><li>For the latest case total, death toll, and travel information, see <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-virus-everything-we-know-deadly-2019-ncov-wuhan-spread-2020-1">Business Insider's live updates here</a>.</li></ul>Following is a transcript of the <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>.Morse: Hi, I'm Stephen Morse, professor of epidemiology.Madad: My name is Dr. Syra Madad, and I'm an infectious disease epidemiologist here in New York City. Morse: In the past, we have debunked a number of myths. But new myths keep coming up, and the same old ones keep coming back. So let's get to work debunking more myths today.Madad: "Wearing a mask doesn't do anything."Morse: And there are people who believe that. And one reason is that until recently, we weren't really recommending masks because we didn't know that they actually do a lot of good. There's a recent study from Hong Kong that was published in Nature that proves that even surgical masks can prevent infected people from passing on the infection to others.Madad: We have seen that in states that didn't have a mask mandate, once they had that mask mandate, over a period of time, you did see the number of cases go down. So it's important to continue to wash your hands and keep your distance while also wearing a mask.Morse: "Wearing a mask is dangerous because you'll get carbon dioxide poisoning."But it takes a lot of carbon dioxide to do it, and all of that actually goes through the mask quite readily. So it doesn't build up in the mask. And we know that even when people are wearing masks, their oxygen levels in the blood are perfectly normal if they're not sick. So part of it is really getting used to it, the way we get used to wearing a necktie, for example.Madad: Looking at those healthcare workers that do wear it for an extended period of time, that's a great model to show you that it does not cause carbon dioxide poisoning or toxicity.Morse: "All schools should reopen because kids can't get <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword>."Once the schools reopen, we're gonna see a situation where there are a lot of kids together and the possibility of transmission becomes much greater.Madad: And on top of that, it's not also just the kids, it's also the teachers and the adults that are in these schools that are also at risk. And so we wanna protect everybody. There are countries in Asia that have reopened schools successfully and have been able to remain open. They started off with having low number of cases, and they also had contingency plans in place where you have smaller classroom sizes, children sitting further apart, wearing masks. You also have countries that have shown that they opened schools too early, and then they had to close down multiple times. And so we wanna make sure we're in a position that we have the upper hand when it comes to this virus.Madad: "Asymptomatic people aren't contagious."Morse: Asymptomatic people, people who feel and look perfectly well, are contagious to others. And we worry about them because they may not know what they're spreading.Madad: In fact, during the early days, that is when you are most infectious.Morse: The reality is we have to assume that anyone who could have it, indeed could have it, and they could pass it on to others. This is why we're making recommendations that everybody should wear a mask, even if they're feeling well, because we don't know and they themselves may not know that they could be infected and able to infect others.Madad: "Young, healthy people won't die from COVID-19."We have seen cases where you have individuals that have no medical condition still unfortunately die from COVID-19.Morse: It may be a very small proportion, but when you have a very large number of infected people, those numbers add up very quickly.Madad: We are seeing, based on certain data that is coming out, is that even with young people, if they don't have a severe case of COVID-19, they are at increased risk, for example, of strokes and other types of ailments. And so looking at the death rate in the young is a false sense of security.Morse: "You cannot get COVID-19 twice."Madad: We still don't know what long-term immunity looks like, and so in the immediate future, can you get reinfected with COVID-19 in a short period of time? The likelihood is no. Individuals that have been tested positive again for COVID-19 likely just have residual virus in their body or in their bodily fluids. But in terms of long term, can you get COVID-19 a year after or two years after? That is something that we still don't know yet, and it's one of those things that time will tell.Morse: If you get it again, will it be less bad, will it be worse, will it be the same? We don't know.Madad: "You won't get the virus if you hold your breath when someone sneezes or coughs."But what we know about these virus particles is that they can still land on your mucus membrane even if you're not breathing. So, for example, if you're touching a high-touch surface and then you're touching your mucus membrane, you obviously are able to transmit the virus through that indirect means, if you will.Morse: So, we have alternatives. We have masks, we have good hand hygiene, and social distancing to make sure that you won't be in the line of fire when somebody coughs or sneezes. That's a lot safer than holding your breath.Madad: "Consuming disinfectants will kill the virus."Bleach and other types of disinfectants are not to be used for ingesting or injecting or to put on skin. These are corrosive chemicals. They can actually cause death and disability.Morse: Use it on your floors. Use it on your countertops. That's where it really does the work, and that's what really helps.Morse: "Cleaning your fruits and vegetables with bleach is effective."Madad: That is completely false. If you're going to be putting chemicals on fruit and vegetables that you are then going to ingest, you're putting yourself more in harm's way. So, washing your fruit and vegetables is very similar to how you were washing your fruit and vegetables before COVID-19 existed. Washing it under water and making sure that you're cleaning any fruit and vegetable. These are just basic good practices. 'Cause it's not just COVID-19 that obviously you wanna make sure that you are preventing, but it's also all the other microbes that can cause illnesses.Madad: "Warm weather will stop the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword>."Morse: Well, here we are at the end of July, and if anyone still believes that myth, I think we have plenty of proof.Madad: There's an epidemiological potential significance to warmer weather because people are going outside, but in terms of the weather itself and the effect on the virus, it has not shown to have impact.Morse: So, until we find something like a vaccine that's effective or something else that's going to stop it, this virus, given the opportunity to infect, will continue to infect.Morse: "99% of cases aren't dangerous."Yes, it is true that probably only about 1% of those people who get infected and get sick are going to die, but many of the others will get very sick, and some of the others will get so sick that they may be affected for life.Madad: Our indicator should not be the death rate, because you can have individuals that may have survived the infection of COVID-19 but then go on to suffer a stroke because of the long-term effects of COVID-19.Morse: So a lot of these cases really are dangerous.Madad: "The United States has one of the lowest mortality rates."Taking the mortality at its face value is a huge disservice because it's not painting the full picture in terms of the whole effect that COVID-19 has on an individual.Morse: Unfortunately, when you think about the entire population on mortality rate, it's actually unbelievably high. We don't really want to measure this by the number of people who get saved at the last minute. What we wanna aim for is really a low infection rate, because the infection is gonna be there. Mortality rate proves you're just getting better at treating the severe cases.Madad: "5G technology is spreading COVID-19."COVID-19 is spread by respiratory droplets when somebody coughs, sneezes, or talks. 5G towers and technology do not have an influence on your ability to get infected with COVID-19.Morse: The reality is the two are totally unrelated. You can spread computer viruses through technology on the internet, but real viruses requires human contact.Morse: "The media is blowing the pandemic out of proportion."I really wish this were true. And I think it depends a lot on which media you're listening to. By talking about conspiracy theories and "no big deal," to say that it's all a hoax, these things help the virus. The virus doesn't care. The reality is it's here, it's real, it will infect given the opportunity.Madad: It is <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword>, and it is evidence, and it is <keyword id="6364896" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="public-health">public health</keyword> that will save lives. It's not politicians, it's not conspiracy theories, it's not misinformation. And as we continue to learn together, the public-health guidance will change, because we wanna go with what we know to be effective in terms of keeping everybody safe.Morse: Stay safe, stay well, and...Madad: Stay tuned and stay informed, and that's very important.

Epidemiologists debunk the 14 biggest coronavirus myths

The number of <keyword id="3306965" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="healthcare-start-ups">healthcare start-ups</keyword> to have come up in India in the recent past are making sure that India’s healthcare sector has a bright future. This is also required so that quality healthcare can be made accessible to India’s billion plus population. 
 A joint study by <keyword id="6355001" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="FICCI">FICCI</keyword> and <keyword id="50041" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="KPMG">KPMG</keyword> in India, called ‘Indian healthcare start-ups – An inside look into funding’, which was launched today at FICCI’s flagship annual healthcare conference – FICCI HEAL 2016. The knowledge paper was meant to evaluate the role and need for Indian healthcare <keyword id="1603536" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="start-ups-in-India">start-ups in India</keyword>, their evolution, funding, future, and challenges. 
 
Dr. Nandakumar Jairam, Chair, FICCI Health Services Committee; Chairman, NABH and Chairman and Group Medical Director, Columbia Asia Hospitals India said, “What we need today is a unified approach for long-term solutions that would help in optimizing disease-care to preventive and promotive care as well as patient centricity though data - driven efficient technologies. Fostering Start-ups and Entrepreneurship will provide the requisite innovative approach for achieving these reforms.” 
 
Vishal Bali Chair, FICCI HEAL 2016 Organizing Committee; Co-Chair, FICCI Health Services Committee &amp; Co-founder &amp; Chairman, Medwell Ventures said, "Start-ups are already disrupting the way healthcare is delivered in India. According to the NASSCOM Start-up Ecosystem Report 2015, India serves as the fastest growing start-up-base worldwide and 6-8% of the recent B2C Start-ups in India have been in the Health-tech sector. This means that the sector has already secured ample traction from investors owing to its huge potential." 
 
 
Nilaya Varma, Partner and Head, Government and Healthcare, KPMG in India, said, “Healthcare start-ups in India have potential to emerge as new enabler of accessible and affordable healthcare services. Many start-ups have moved away from traditional healthcare delivery models to asset light, technology based and enabling platforms for patients &amp; healthcare providers. However, start-up continue to face some encounters in terms of funding, incubation and regulatory environment. The government’s Start-up India initiative intends to bridge some of the challenges and provides encouraging ecosystem for start-ups. In the recent past increasing number of HNIs, seed funds, incubators and other private investors have extended support to start-ups. The creation of conducive ecosystem for healthcare start-ups will be boon for the healthcare sector” 
 
India has a poor doctor-patient ratio of 1:1700 (in proportion to the total population), and rural areas, with a low medically insured population, are yet to get proper healthcare facilities. These all reasons provide healthcare start-ups a huge potential. 
 
When we talk of Indian start-ups, healthcare start-ups are yet to receive a steady stream of funding which can help them in supporting their ventures with capital as low as USD27 million in the first four months of 2016. They are not able to get funds, which has stopped multiple of their projects. 
 
The money that is required to boost the change in Indian healthcare sector can’t alone be done by private sector investments, which is why the government also needs to take some responsibility, so that Indian healthcare system can be of a global standard. 
 
Other key finding presented in the knowledge paper are as follows: 
• Start-ups can act as a much needed facilitator to help approximately 70 per cent of the rural population with limited or no access to hospitals or clinics. 
 
• Mobile and internet platforms can be one of the means to address India’s deficient healthcare facilities, via innovation in technology and telemedicine. This could result in better diagnosis by doctors making the history of patients available on cloud platforms. 
 
• The start-up domain is struggling to rope in the right investors and arrange for adequate funding, which could largely be attributed to the slow pace of growth in the sector. It takes anywhere between 10 to 15 years to introduce a new product in the market with very few prevalent business models to compare with. 
 
• India’s public spending on the healthcare sector comprises of only 1.4 per cent of the GDP and is amongst the lowest in the world. 
 
• Private sector stakeholders could play a crucial hand in the growth and development of healthcare start-ups, by investing in high-risk which could enable entrepreneurs to bring medical advancements and generate higher returns for them. 
 
Healthcare start-ups have the power to change the future of Indian healthcare sector by lessening the gap between supply and demand, especially in the rural parts of India, using smartphones and digitization of healthcare practices. 
 
<a href="http://orlandotech.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mend.jpg">Image source</a>

6 to 8% of B2C start-up investments are in the healthcare sector, as per FICCI and KPMG

<ul class="summary-list"><li>As fears over the deadly coronavirus from China grow, so are racist and xenophobic incidents against Asian communities in the US, Canada, and Europe.</li><li>People of Asian descent have described to Business Insider and other outlets being discriminated at work, Costco, and a university campus.</li><li>In larger-scale incidents, customers from mainland China were banned from businesses in Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam, and more than 126,000 people in Singapore called for Chinese nationals to be banned from the country. </li><li>"We tend to exist in social silos where we're surrounded by people who look like us, think like us, and act like us, and we are innately suspicious of folk that we don't have contact with and we don't understand," Robert Fullilove, a professor of sociomedical sciences told Business Insider.</li><li>He also said it's "almost impossible to contain stories" of misinformation and xenophobia when news moves so quickly in the media.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>The novel coronavirus from Wuhan, China, has killed more than 304 people in less than two months after its first case.Authorities in China have quarantined more than ten cities, and the US, UK, and several other countries are quarantining all travelers who have recently visited China.Yet some of the virus' unexpected victims are those who have never even been anywhere near Wuhan.Members of the Asian diaspora living in the US, Canada, Britain, and Italy have in recent days described, to Business Insider and other outlets, multiple incidents of being racially discriminated and isolated at school, work, and other public places.Here's a roundup of apparently racist and xenophobic incidents, inflicted on Asian residents in foreign countries, in the past two weeks alone: <ul><li>An eight-year-old boy - whose mother is Korean-American, and father is a mix of ethnic backgrounds including Filipino, Mexican, Chinese, Native American, and white - wearing a face mask was told by a Costco sample-stand worker to "get away because he may be 'from China.'" <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-kid-turned-away-food-samples-at-costco-2020-1">Business Insider's Sara Al-Arshani has the full story.</a></li><li>Students of east Asian descent at Arizona State University <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asian-students-asu-claim-different-treatment-because-of-wuhan-virus-2020-1">told Business Insider's Bryan Pietsch</a> their peers have started moving away from them and staring at them "a second longer" whenever they cough or sneeze.</li><li>Peter Akman, a reporter at Canada's CTV broadcaster, <a href="https://twitter.com/stephanie_ip/status/1221536862243827714">tweeted</a> an image of his Asian barber and said: "Hopefully ALL I got today was a haircut." He has since deleted the post, <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterAkman/status/1221543374492225538">apologized</a>, and <a href="https://www.straight.com/news/1354031/journalist-peter-akman-no-longer-works-ctv-after-infamous-coronavirus-tweet">been fired</a>.</li><li>The director of Rome's prestigious Santa Cecilia music conservatory, Roberto Giuliani, suspended the lessons of all "oriental students (Chinese, Korean, Japanese etc.)" due to the epidemic, <a href="https://roma.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/01/29/news/roma_conservatorio_di_santa_cecilia-247107490/?refresh_ce">La Repubblica reported</a>. Most of these students are second-generation Italian immigrants who have no relationship to the countries of origin, the newspaper said.</li><li>Le Courrier Picard, a daily regional newspaper in northern France, described the coronavirus as a "yellow alert" in a <a href="https://twitter.com/GillesKLEIN/status/1222084973638885379">front-page headline</a> last Sunday. It has since apologized, and French Asians have protested on social media under the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23JeNeSuisPasUnVirus">#JeNeSuisPasUnVirus</a> ("I am not a virus").</li><li>Sam Phan, a British-Chinese Masters student at the University of Manchester, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/27/coronavirus-panic-uk-hostile-environment-east-asians">described in The Guardian</a> overhearing people fearing going to London's Chinatown, and seeing people physically move away from them in public areas.</li><li>A woman of Cambodian origin <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2020/01/29/coronavirus-le-racisme-antiasiatique-se-propage-en-france_6027701_3244.html">told Le Monde</a> that her manager at a Paris bag store told her, "laughing: 'I hope that your family hasn't brought the virus back.'"</li><li>Frank Ye, a Chinese-Canadian student at the University of Toronto, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-jan-28-2020-1.5442819/chinese-canadians-speak-out-against-racism-misinformation-in-wake-of-coronavirus-1.5442824">told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation</a> his Asian Canadian friends had been told to move away or cover their mouths. "[It's] this idea of 'yellow peril,' of this Chinese horde coming to destroy Western civilization," he said.</li><li>Instagram users commented on a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B7zC8vplAo7/">photo of a Chinese restaurant</a> in Toronto, saying things like "No eating bats please!! That's how coronavirus started in China!!" and "I ain't tryna catch no virus."</li></ul>In more large-scale incidents, businesses in <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3047144/no-chinese-allowed-japanese-shop-criticised">Japan</a>, South Korea, and Vietnam have posted signs banning customers from mainland China; the hashtag #ChineseDon'tComeToJapan trended in Japan; and more than 126,000 people have signed a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/immigrations-checkpoint-authority-of-singapore-stop-china-mainlands-from-entering-singapore">Singaporean petition</a> calling for Chinese nationals to be banned from their country.Some of the conspiracy theories and misinformation circulating about the coronavirus also have tinges of racism and xenophobia.A video appearing to show a young Chinese woman eating a raw bat with chopsticks has gone viral in recent weeks, with thousands of social media users - and <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/coronavirus-woman-eats-whole-bat-21349468">some</a> <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7920573/Revolting-footage-shows-Chinese-woman-eating-bat-scientists-link-coronavirus-animal.html">media</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZsFHu-AaGQ">outlets</a> - claiming that the footage was taken in Wuhan, and suggesting that this is part of the normal Chinese diet.(The video was actually taken in Palau, the Pacific Island country, in 2016 and was part of an online travel show about eating unusual local delicacies. Earlier this week she <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3047683/sorry-about-tasty-bat-chinese-online-host-apologises-travel-show">apologized for eating the food</a>, saying she had "no idea during filming that there was such a virus.")The bat has since spurred multiple memes mocking what users think are Chinese eating habits, like "bats and bamboo and rats and s---," and linking them to the disease.Other misinformation surrounding the virus include theories that it can be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-coronavirus-wuhan-cure-qanon-mms-bleach-conspiracy-2020-1">cured with toxic bleach</a> or <a href="https://www.insider.com/coronavirus-wuhan-memes-social-media-is-responding-to-the-illness-2020-1">oregano oil</a>, or that it stems from a leak from China's <a href="https://twitter.com/NarangVipin/status/1220905405141913600">bioweapons program</a> or <a href="https://fullfact.org/online/wuhan-5g-coronavirus/">5G network</a>.The Wuhan coronavirus is spread from human to human, and has now <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-virus-everything-we-know-deadly-2019-ncov-wuhan-spread-2020-1">spread to more than 20 countries</a>. It is believed to have jumped from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-sars-bats-animals-to-humans-2020-1">bats to snakes to humans</a>.The virus doesn't seem to be as deadly as the SARS coronavirus - which, at current comparison levels, had a higher mortality rate - with experts <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-unnecessary-panic-experts-say-2020-1">telling Business Insider's Holly Secon</a> that global panic over the Wuhan virus is unproductive and unwarranted.<h2>Blaming 'the other'</h2>Many people of Asian descent faced <a href="https://www.thestar.com/life/opinion/2020/01/28/i-experienced-anti-chinese-racism-during-sars-but-with-coronavirus-scare-social-media-makes-it-so-much-worse.html">racist and xenophobic comments</a> during the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3047964/those-asian-people-wearing-face-masks-amid-coronavirus-fears-they-arent">SARS epidemic</a> too. SARS, like the Wuhan coronavirus, also originated from China.Robert Fullilove, a professor of sociomedical sciences at the Columbia University Medical Center, told Business Insider the xenophobic fear surrounding coronarvirus is similar to the reaction toward HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, when there were no clear answers as to what caused the virus.He said at the time, people blamed anyone but themselves - or "the other" - for AIDS, which was becoming rapidly deadly in communities of Haitians, intravenous drug users, and gay men.This sort of reaction isn't new, either. It dates as far back as Bubonic Plague in the 1300s, when there were false notions that Jewish people were poisoning peoples' water to spread the infection, Fullilove said. The accusations led to the destruction of Jewish communities, and in parts of France and Switzerland, some Jews were banned from <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-well-poisoning-180971471/">consuming food and drinks meant for Christians</a>, while <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/world/middleeast/mahmoud-abbas-claims-rabbis-urged-israel-to-poison-palestinians-water.html">others were burned alive</a>."We tend to exist in social silos where we're surrounded by people who look like us, think like us, and act like us, and we are innately suspicious of folk that we don't have contact with and we don't understand," he said of why xenophobic views spread in times of panic, adding that people use others as scapegoats. Fullilove said the best way to stop misinformation, especially when it comes to blaming a specific person or race, can be to make sure people have a clear idea of what's happening with the virus.Because of how quickly news spreads today on the internet, it becomes "almost impossible to contain stories" of misinformation and xenophobia, Fullilove said."Xenophobia works at its worst if people decide that the only thing they have to do is stay away from folk who are from China," he said."There will come a point when it's much more diverse in terms of who's impacted, and if we're unable to get people a clear message about what they have to do to protect themselves, not only will we not do the things that will help us stay reasonably safe, we'll also create a lot of social damage that it will be very difficult to clean up."John C. Yang, president of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice civil-rights group, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/coronavirus-spreads-so-does-concern-over-xenophobia-n1125441">told NBC News</a> that when people play off stereotypes to come to conclusions about the virus, they are "going for a simplistic and completely misinformed and frankly, ignorant answer."With the coronavirus, people have focused on stereotypes about Chinese people when coming to conclusions about the virus, he said."Unfortunately, there are definitely those people that still believe that somehow, Chinese culture generally, it's backwards and foods are considered 'exotic,'" Yang told NBC News. "That certainly leads to misperception and, even worse, misinformation or disinformation about what actually happens and what is the source of the coronavirus."The stigma appears to have become so prevalent that the medical officer of Toronto Public Health, Dr. Eileen de Villa, had to warn in a <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/955d-MOH-Statement_Novel-Coronavirus_29January2020.pdf">Wednesday statement</a>: "Inaccurate information continues to spread and this is creating unnecessary stigma against members of our community ... Discrimination is not acceptable."<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-kid-turned-away-food-samples-at-costco-2020-1">A Costco sample stand worker turned away a kid wearing a face mask because she thought he was 'from China' and could give her coronavirus</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-wuhan-memes-social-media-is-responding-to-the-illness-2020-1">People are spreading memes and fake news online as the deadly coronavirus spreads across the globe</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uc-berkeley-called-out-anti-chinese-xenophobia-normal-reaction-coronavirus-2020-1">UC Berkeley is getting called out for saying anti-Chinese xenophobia is a 'normal reaction' to the coronavirus</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-wuhan-coronavirus-china-completes-emergency-hospital-eight-days-2020-2">China just completed work on the emergency hospital it set up to tackle the Wuhan coronavirus, and it took just 8 days to do it</a></li></ul>

The Wuhan coronavirus is causing increased incidents of racism and xenophobia at college, work, and supermarkets, according to Asian people

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - On the outside, the metal box looks like an oversized bread container. But what's inside could save an abandoned newborn's life.The box is actually a newborn incubator, or baby box, and it could be showing up soon at Indiana hospitals, fire stations, churches and selected nonprofits under legislation that would give mothers in crisis a way to surrender their children safely and anonymously.Indiana could be the first state to allow use of the baby boxes on a broad scale to prevent dangerous abandonments of infants if the bill, which unanimously passed the House this week, clears the state Senate. Republican state Rep. Casey Cox and child-safety advocates say they're unaware of any other states that have considered the issue at the level Indiana has.Cox says his bill is a natural progression of the "safe haven" laws that exist in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Those give parents a legal way to surrender newborns at hospitals, police stations and other facilities without fear of prosecution so long as the child hasn't been harmed.Many children, however, never make it that far. Dawn Geras, president of the Save the Abandoned Babies Foundation in Chicago, said safe haven laws have resulted in more than 2,800 safe surrenders since 1999. But more than 1,400 other children have been found illegally abandoned, nearly two-thirds of whom died.Cox said his proposal draws on a centuries-old concept to help "those children that are left in the woods, those children that are abandoned in dangerous places."Baby boxes, known in some countries as baby hatches or angel cradles, originated in medieval times, when convents were equipped with revolving doors known as "foundling wheels." Unwanted infants were placed in compartments in the doors, which were then rotated to get the infant inside.Hundreds of children have been surrendered in modern-day versions in place in Europe and Asia. The devices are even the subject of a new documentary titled "The Drop Box," which chronicles the efforts of a pastor in Seoul, South Korea, to address child abandonment.Supporters contend the boxes can save lives by offering women who can't face relinquishing a child in person a safe and anonymous alternative to abandonment or infanticide.But critics say the boxes make it easier to abandon a child without exploring other options and contend they do nothing to address poverty and other societal issues that contribute to unwanted babies. Some baby hatches in China have been so overwhelmed by abandonments in recent years that local officials have restricted their use or closed them.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has called for a ban on the boxes in Europe and has urged countries to provide family planning and other support to address the root causes of abandonments, according to spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell.Whether the U.S. is ready for the boxes is a matter of debate. Geras said many parents who surrender their children at safe haven sites need medical care that they won't get if they leave the baby in a box. Handing the child to a trained professional also provides an opportunity to determine whether the mother simply needs financial support or other help to develop a parenting plan."If you use a baby box, you have stripped away that option," Geras said. "There's a lot of things that need to be done to improve safe haven laws throughout the country, but that's not one of them."A better approach, she said, is for states to spend more money to promote their existing laws.Monica Kelsey, a Woodburn, Indiana, firefighter and medic who is president of Safe Haven Baby Boxes Inc., said the boxes aren't meant to circumvent the laws that already exist. Instead, they're part of a broader approach that includes increasing awareness about the laws and other options available to new mothers in crisis."If these boxes are the answer, great," she said. "We're trying to come at it from all angles."Kelsey, who was abandoned in a hospital shortly after her birth because her mother's pregnancy was the result of rape, suggested the boxes to Cox and has formed a nonprofit that is working with a Fort Wayne, Indiana, company to develop a prototype. It would be about 2 feet long and be equipped with heating or cooling pads and sensors that would set off alarms when the box is opened and again when a weight is detected inside.The boxes also would include a silent alarm that mothers could activate themselves by pushing a button."We're giving her the power to do what's right," Kelsey said. "We're hoping that these girls know that once they push that button, their baby will be saved."She stressed that the boxes should be viewed as a "last resort" and would include a toll-free number staffed 24 hours a day by a counselor who would first ask the caller to surrender the baby to a person.The state health department would regulate the boxes. Cox's bill, which covers children up to 31 days old, also would create a public registry listing box locations.Kelsey said the bill expands safe haven locations to include churches and established nonprofits that deal with child-welfare issues to ensure that everyone has access."We want these locations to be able to accept a child if somebody ... thinks this is the only thing they can do," she said.<div class="nc_footer">Copyright (2015) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.</div> This article was written by JENI O'MALLEY from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-headphones-tricks-2015-2">14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="o2OGM3czpWcydnvhjbkDBd6feXPuExiD" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Indiana is close to allowing 'baby boxes' for people to surrender their newborns

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>IN EASTERN Sierra Leone the roads are unusually quiet. Checkpoints manned by heavily armed soldiers have blocked all movement to and from the districts of Kailahun and Kenema. 
The main road to Freetown, the capital, is travelled by just a few motorbikes and cars carrying supplies. In Kenema, a usually heaving taxi rank is all but deserted; its cabs have nowhere to go.
Ebola has hit this region hard, and not just because of the deaths it has caused. The federal government's quarantines have taken their own toll. Businesses are suffering and villagers have complained of shortages.
But, even after having declared a state of emergency, the government's precautions are patchy.
At the public hospital in Kenema, which treats Ebola patients, visitors pass in and out as they like. There are few safeguards to prevent them from catching and spreading the disease.
It has been more than nine months since Ebola claimed a two-year-old boy in a village in Guinea--"patient zero" in the current outbreak. But rather than petering out, the virus seems to be ramping up. It has infected nearly 2,000 people in west Africa. Over 1,000 of them have died, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
That is probably an underestimate. Some families, distrustful of outsiders and authorities, are concealing sick relatives. Unlike previous outbreaks, this one has travelled to cities, including crowded Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, which could become a transmission hotspot. On August 8th, for only the third time, the WHO declared a "public health emergency of <keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> concern".
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>Despite the alarm, Ebola is unlikely to become a pandemic. The virus is caught only by direct contact with bodily fluids, such as vomit and blood. It is less contagious than airborne diseases, such as influenza.
Each Ebola victim usually infects just one or two others, whereas a case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), first reported in Asia in 2003, generates three more. Compared with other infectious diseases in Africa, Ebola is a small-scale killer (see chart). But the virus is devastating for the region nonetheless.
The frightful nature of the disease, which can cause vomiting, diarrhoea and uncontrollable bleeding, and the lack of a cure have led to panic and fear. Ebola sufferers have overwhelmed hospitals, impairing their ability to treat other patients.
Quarantines are necessary, but threaten local economies (see "The economic impact of Ebola: Panicking only makes it worse"). The virus has showed how hard it can be to stop an outbreak and how, despite some progress, the world is still ill-prepared for a formidable new pathogen.
Ebola is not the first epidemic to catch the world off-guard. Advances in vaccines and antibiotics in the 20th century led some health experts to discount the threat of infectious disease. The devastating arrival of AIDS, SARS, H5N1 (a strain of bird flu) and H1N1 (commonly dubbed swine flu) exposed that as wishful thinking.
In the past two years a type of influenza called H7N9 was found in humans for the first time. A new disease caused by a virus from the same family as SARS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), emerged in Saudi Arabia and has continued to fester.
In response the world has got better at spotting and dealing with troubling viruses. SARS and H5N1, in particular, jolted scientists, companies and governments into action. ProMED and HealthMap, two online reporting systems run by the International Society for Infectious Diseases and Boston Children's Hospital, use a variety of sources to provide quick information on possible outbreaks.
Epidemiologists now understand that most dangerous new viruses jump from animals to men, mutating along the way. So America's government is paying independent groups, such as the EcoHealth Alliance, to search for pathogens in places where such viral hopscotch is likely--often where rapid development disrupts animals' natural habitats. New tools for studying a virus's genes make it easier to identify different strains.
The goal is to spot viruses early so that the damage they do can be contained. To that end, members of the WHO passed new rules for reporting and responding to outbreaks in 2005. China's handling of H7N9 was a sign of progress. A decade earlier, Chinese officials had concealed information about SARS, allowing that virus to spread. But last year China's government promptly shared samples of H7N9 with laboratories around the world and published its own findings in the New England Journal of Medicine.
<h3>How to stop a killer</h3>
The Ebola outbreak is a grisly reminder of how much work remains to be done. The virus first emerged in 1976 in a remote part of Sudan and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, near the Ebola river. But even though epidemiologists were familiar with the disease, it quietly killed Guineans for four months starting last December.
Its symptoms resemble those of more common ailments, such as malaria, which helped to conceal its presence. Apart from a small outbreak in Cote d'Ivoire, this is also the first time that Ebola has appeared in west Africa.
Having revealed a failure in surveillance, Ebola is now exposing how hard it is to contain an outbreak, particularly in poor countries. Stopping Ebola should, in theory, be straightforward. There is no cure, but there are ways to treat victims that will maximise their chance of survival and help prevent transmission.
Patients should be isolated and kept hydrated, their blood pressure monitored and secondary infections treated. Those who have come into contact with the infected should be watched to see if symptoms develop. If none emerge within 21 days, the person can be deemed virus-free.
But all this is labour-intensive. "You still have to have a cadre of people who at the end of the day are able to go out there," explains Ian Lipkin of Columbia University. That depends on strong health systems or substantial international help. In this case, there was neither.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>The outbreak began in three of the world's poorest countries. Guinea spends $62 per person on health each year, compared with $3,364 in Britain.
Sierra Leone has two doctors per 100,000 people, compared with 245 in America (see chart). Such health workers as are available in the countries affected by Ebola are under severe strain.
About 150 have been infected and 80 have died, the WHO said on August 8th. Médecins Sans Frontières, a non-profit organisation that has 680 health workers in the region, now says that its staff "simply cannot do more".
Decades of civil war in these countries have made matters worse. Many villagers distrust the government and foreign health workers in particular--they fear that doctors and nurses carry the virus. This has undermined efforts to isolate infected patients and stop the chain of transmission.
Education is especially crucial. No family wants to leave a sick loved one or deny him the embraces common in a traditional burial. Yet if the virus is to be stopped, that is what must be done.
In the face of such problems, the WHO's power is limited. It has laid out steps that governments should take, including ensuring health workers' security, but all it can do is make recommendations. The agency is already overstretched from dealing with humanitarian crises in the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Syria, as well the ongoing challenge posed by H7N9 and MERS.
Its budget for outbreaks and crises has declined by 35% since 2010, though it can seek extra money in emergencies. Last month the WHO said $103m was needed to continue the fight against Ebola; it faces a gap of $79m.
Other groups are trying to help. The World Bank says it will devote up to $200m to fight Ebola, though some of these funds were already allocated to the affected countries. America's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention now has over 50 health experts in west Africa. How much difference this will make is unclear, however--many more doctors and nurses are needed.
In the long term, several things will be needed to prevent a repetition of the chaos of this outbreak. The World Bank will direct some of its funding towards improving west Africa's teetering health systems.
As African countries get richer, they should invest more in their own health systems, too. Properly staffed, well-supplied clinics would help countries handle not just outbreaks of Ebola, but more common diseases such as malaria and HIV.
Nigeria's health system is hardly a model--its response to Ebola has been hampered by a strike of government health workers--but it provides a glimpse of how countries might cope with outbreaks in future. The health ministry has been sending text messages detailing symptoms to watch for, protective measures and hotlines to ring to seek care.
New vaccines and drugs to treat Ebola will also be needed. Some are already being developed, including one called ZMapp, which was given to two infected American health workers. Much has been made of these experimental medications, but none has been properly tested in humans.
Nevertheless, on August 12th a WHO committee of scientists and ethicists recommended that their use be allowed in west Africa, subject to certain conditions. Also on that day Canada's government said it would donate up to 1,000 doses of a new Ebola vaccine to the WHO.
Whether it works or how it will be distributed is still unclear. Of the experimental treatments, ZMapp has attracted the most attention. But given the early stage of the drug's development, there is as yet no system for manufacturing it in bulk, even if it were to prove effective.
The toll from this outbreak looks set to rise. But at least the severity of the disease is recognised. At a Kenema coffee shop made of corrugated iron, patrons used to doubt that the virus was real. "Ebola no dae," they would declare, in the local krio language. The mood now is different. "Ebola is there," announced one elderly tea-drinker. "It is worse than the war."
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