GoKawiilLessons from past epidemics could help to contain the current spread of Ebola. Plus, what a rocket explosion means for NASA's Moon plans and whether ‘obesity’ should be split into two diagnoses.
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A health worker at a hospital in Ituri Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo asks for help in receiving a person suspected of having Ebola.Credit: Glody Murhabazi/AFP via Getty
The tally of people with suspected and confirmed cases of Ebola in central Africa is rocketing upwards with shocking speed, but specialists say that we have the tools to control it thanks to hard-won expertise gained during previous Ebola epidemics. They recommend:
• Ramping up testing and contact tracing — a challenge in regions with limited testing capacity and other public-health resources.
• Providing supportive care, such as keeping people hydrated, which can drastically increase the chance of surviving even the Bundibugyo species of ebolavirus, for which there is no vaccine or targeted treatment.
• Building trust with communities to implement preventive measures that can sometimes clash with cultural traditions, such as washing or touching a body before burial.
Nature | 8 min read
Source: WHO and WHO disease outbreak news reports/Resolve to Save Lives
A clinically dead 53-year-old man has become the first person to receive two kidneys and a liver from a genetically modified pig. The man’s organ function was sustained for almost five days with consent from his family, and there were no signs that the organs were being rejected in the first 24 hours. The procedure marks the first time that a whole pig liver has been transplanted into a person, and the first time a pig liver and kidneys have been transplanted into a human at the same time.
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