Ebola outbreak: Infected aid workers flying to Atlanta for treatment

Two American aid workers seriously ill with Ebola will be brought from West Africa to Atlanta for treatment in one of the most tightly sealed isolation units in the country, officials said Friday.

One is expected to arrive Saturday, and the other a few days later, according to Atlanta's Emory University Hospital, where they will be treated. They are due to arrive in a private jet outfitted with a special, portable tent designed for transporting patients with highly infectious diseases.

It will be the first time anyone infected with the disease is brought into the country. U.S. officials are confident the patients can be treated without putting the public in any danger.

Risk in Canada remains low

Canada's health minister reminded residents Friday that risk in Canada remains low. 

"There are no confirmed cases of Ebola in Canada," said Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose. "The Ebola virus itself does not spread easily from person to person. It is not like the flu. All points of entry into Canada are routinely monitored and travellers showing symptoms would be referred to quarantine officers, who have the authority to implement public health measures under the Quarantine Act to protect Canadians." 

Ebola is spread through direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids from an infected person, not through the air.

The two Americans — Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol — worked for U.S. missionary groups in Liberia at a hospital that treated Ebola patients. The State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are assisting the groups in their transfer.

The government is working to ensure that any Ebola-related evacuations "are carried out safely, thereby protecting the patient and the American public," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement released Friday.

A U.S. Department of Defence spokesman said Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia, will be used for the transfer.

Jet fitted with specialized tent

The aircraft is a Gulfstream jet fitted with what essentially is a specialized, collapsible clear tent designed to house a single patient and stop any infectious germs from escaping. It was built to transfer CDC employees exposed to contagious diseases for treatment. The CDC said the private jet can only accommodate one patient at a time.

Brantly and Writebol are in serious condition and were still in Liberia on Friday, according to the North Carolina-based charity Samaritan's Purse, which is paying for their transfer and medical care.

An Emory emergency medical team in Liberia has evaluated the two aid workers, and deemed both stable enough for the trip to Atlanta, said Emory's Dr. Bruce Ribner. Hospital spokesman Vincent Dollard said the first patient was scheduled to arrive Saturday.

Brantly, 33, works for Samaritan's Purse while Writebol works for another U.S. mission group called SIM. Late last week, Samaritan's Purse officials said Brantly had tested positive for the virus. Shortly after that announcement, Writebol's infection was disclosed.

Liberia is one of the three West African countries involved in the Ebola outbreak, the largest since the virus was first identified in 1976.

The two-bed Emory isolation unit opened 12 years ago. It was designed to handle workers from the CDC if they became infected while working on a dangerous, infectious germ.

It is one of about four such units around the country for testing and treating people who may have been exposed to very dangerous viruses, said Dr. Eileen Farnon, a Temple University doctor who formerly worked at the Atlanta-based CDC and led teams investigating past Ebola outbreaks in Africa.

There is no specific treatment for disease, although Writebol has received an experimental treatment, according to the mission groups.

"If there's any modern therapy that can be done," such as better monitoring of fluids, electrolytes and vital signs, workers will be able to do it better in this safe environment, said Dr. Philip Brachman, an Emory University public health specialist who for many years headed the CDC's disease detectives program.

"That's all we can do for such a patient. We can make them feel comfortable" and let the body try to beat back the virus, he said.

He was echoed by Emory's Ribner, one of the doctors who will be seeing the Ebola patients. He stressed that safety precautions will be taken by staff in the unit.

"I have no concerns about even my personal health or the health of the other health care workers who will be working in that area," Ribner said.

The unit has its own laboratory equipment so samples don't have to be sent to the main hospital lab. Located on the ground floor, it's carefully separated from other patient areas, Farnon said.

Health experts say a specialized isolation unit is not even necessary for treating an Ebola patient. The virus does not spread through the air, so standard, rigorous infection control measures should work.

The current outbreak in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone has sickened more than 1,300 people and killed more than 700 this year.

WHO says outbreak moving fast

Also on Friday, the head of the World Health Organization said the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is out of control but can be stopped.

"This outbreak is moving faster than our efforts to control it," Margaret Chan told the presidents of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone at a meeting in Guinea's capital Conakry.

"If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socioeconomic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries," she said, according to a WHO transcript.

Experience showed that the outbreak could be stopped and the general public was not at high risk of infection, but it would be "extremely unwise" to let the virus circulate widely over a long period of time, Chan said.

"Constant mutation and adaptation are the survival mechanisms of viruses and other microbes. We must not give this virus opportunities to deliver more surprises."

WHO officials will hold an emergency meeting next week in Geneva, looking at whether the outbreak constitutes "a public health emergency of international concern."

The agency said that if the meeting does reach that decision, it would "recommend appropriate temporary measures to reduce international spread." The WHO statement did not elaborate on what those measures might be.

New vaccine to be tested on humans

The U.S. National Institutes of Health plans in mid-September to begin testing an experimental Ebola vaccine on people after seeing encouraging results in preclinical trials on monkeys, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH's allergy and infectious diseases unit, said in an email.

In its final stages, Ebola causes external and internal bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea. About 60 per cent of people infected in the current outbreak are dying from the illness.

Writebol, 59, received an experimental drug doctors hope will improve her health, SIM said. Brantly, 33, received a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who survived Ebola with the help of Brantly's medical care, said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse.

In Washington, meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama said "appropriate precautions" are also being taken ahead of the arrival in the U.S. capital next week of 50 leaders from Africa for a 3-day summit.

"Folks who are from these countries that have even a marginal risk, or an infinitesimal risk of having been exposed in some fashion, we're making sure we're doing screening." 

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Ebola virus: What you need to know to protect yourself

A Toronto doctor who specializes in the treatment of tropical diseases says it's unlikely a recent outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa could spread to North America.

Dr. Jay Keystone, who works in the tropical diseases unit of Toronto General Hospital, was interviewed Wednesday on CBC Radio's Metro Morning.

A woman puts on a protective mask to protect against SARS at a wash station at the entrance to North York General Hospital in Toronto in May 2003. (Kevin Frayer/Canadian Press)

He said the SARS outbreak in 2003 that killed more than 40 people in Toronto helped improve how we identify, treat and contain infectious diseases. He said such measures are lacking in countries affected by the current Ebola outbreak: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone

As of July 23, the number of Ebola cases in West Africa reached 1,201, with 672 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

As of July 27, there were more than 1,300 cases of the Ebola virus in the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria and as many as 729 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. 

The fast-acting Ebola virus, which first appeared in 1976, produces a violent hemorrhagic fever that leads to internal and external bleeding. The infection is transmitted by direct contact with blood, bodily fluids, and tissues of infected people or animals.

Though there is no vaccine and no specific treatment for Ebola, Keystone said there are a number of measures travellers to the region can take to protect themselves.

Here's what Keystone told Metro Morning guest host David Common:

How does a person contract Ebola?

"They usually acquire it from close contact with blood and body fluids, and that means someone coughs in your face, you handle a body or you look after someone and don't have ideal infection-control methods. You get the virus on your hands, you touch your nose, your mouth."

What symptoms do Ebola patients show?

"It looks like the flu: fever, headache, sore throat, muscle aches and pains. That's in the first few days. And then vomiting, diarrhea and the really serious part of the illness — that is the hemorrhage part — really doesn't occur until toward the end of the first week."

Once a patient is hemorrhaging, can he or she be saved?

"It all depends on the quality of medical care. Most Ebola outbreaks have occurred in villages, in mission hospitals where essentially they have a very poor level of health care and very poor infection control methods. The mortality rate in this outbreak ... is about 60 per cent. So you can survive. The better the care, more likely you are to survive but there's no antibiotic or anti-viral agent to treat this disease."

Why has this outbreak been so bad?

"First, there's a lot of cross-border travel. Whereas most other outbreaks have been isolated in the middle of virtually nowhere. Also, people in these countries don't trust the government. They don't believe in the infection. They hide their cases. If someone dies, they take [the body] home. And unfortunately the funeral procedures where you touch the body, and handle the body, markedly increases your risk. These cases are now more in central areas, cities rather than tiny villages. All of those reasons I think have compounded to make this a much greater outbreak."

Doctors treating patients in Africa have died. Foreign doctors have been infected. Should we be worried about Ebola making its way to Canada?

"I don't think we need to be worried. Health-care providers, paramedics, the people who deal with the situation first-hand, I think we're the ones who have greatest risk. You have to remember since 1976 when this virus was first described, there are less than a handful of cases of [patients] who've gone to North American or European countries and very rarely is there secondary transmission. And that's because we have much better public health, infrastructure and certainly better methods of isolating [patients]. SARS was a perfect wake-up call and Ebola is following that ... our health-care system improved dramatically after SARS."

What do doctors in West Africa need to do to control the outbreak now?

"Mostly it's case finding. And that's the biggest problem. Someone comes in ill, they go back to their village and other people are infected but no one knows about it. The problem is they don't have enough personnel to follow up carefully and also people are hiding cases. It's all about case finding, surveillance, making the diagnosis, isolating the individuals and using appropriate isolation procedures. That will help, but it's going to take a long time given what's going on there.

What should people travelling to West Africa know and do to protect themselves?

"The most important thing is to try and stay away from people who are ill. You won't get Ebola unless the individual you're in contact with is sick. So if someone is well, you're not going to get it. So you just need to have a heightened awareness that this is going on and wash your hands frequently, certainly before meals. [Ebola is spread through] direct contact, it's not someone walking into a room with someone with Ebola and getting the infection. Ebola generally is not aerosolized, meaning it doesn't go well into the air."

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Soccer goal death of Ontario teen adds to calls for tip-proof nets

At first it sounds like a freak accident: A soccer net topples, killing a young person on a playing field, a place where kids are supposed to be safe.

But accidents involving soccer goals like the one that killed a 15-year-old girl Wednesday afternoon in Bradford, Ont., north of Toronto have happened before.

The girl was playing on the field with a friend when she became trapped under the crossbar of an overturned soccer net, according to South Simcoe police. Friends and teachers have identifed the girl as Jaime Palm.

Unable to lift the heavy net, her friend called 911. Palm was rushed to hospital, where she died.

Police are investigating what caused the net to tip over but other — almost identical — accidents have prompted a push in some jurisdictions for laws requiring that soccer nets be anchored to the ground or switched out in favour of safer, tip-proof designs.

Soccer nets are often made of metal and can weigh a few hundred pounds, and their design often makes them top heavy and prone to falling forward onto the field of play.

This soccer goal killed a five-year-old girl in Watson Lake, Yukon in 2012. (CBC)

In July 2012, a five-year-old girl died in Watson Lake, Yukon, when a soccer net tipped over on her as her parents stood nearby.

A CBC.ca story about the Watson Lake accident quoted Toronto-based neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Tator, founder of Think First Canada, a brain and spinal cord prevention agency.

"It's been recognized for a long period of time that goal posts that are improperly anchored can cause injury, and in fact there are several recorded fatalities from falling goal posts," he said.

A coroner's report into the Watson Lake death found that the net was in poor condition at the time of the accident.

In Montreal 2001, a 14-year-old boy was killed after an unsecured soccer net fell on him causing a fatal head wound. The Quebec coroner's inquest recommended all park soccer nets be anchored to the ground.

In October 2003, six-year-old Zachary Tran died when a goal fell on him during soccer practice in the north Chicago suburb of Vernon Hills, Ill. The 180-pound net tipped forward, striking Zachary on the back of the head. He died of cardiac arrest caused by massive head injuries.

Six-year-old Zachary Tran died in 2003 when a soccer net fell on him during a practice. His death prompted his parents to raise awareness about the dangers posed by unsecured soccer nets. (Tran Family)

Tran's parents made it their mission to raise awareness about the dangers of soccer goals and to prevent similar deaths. They pushed for an Illinois law — which passed in 2011 is named after their son — that bans the manufacture or sale of new movable soccer goals that are not tip-resistant. Older goals in Illinois must be properly anchored to the field and schools and soccer organizations in the state are required to have safety plans for movable goals.

Zachary's parents also started a website called Anchored for Safety, which chronicles soccer-net deaths. According to statistics compiled on their website, soccer nets have caused 38 deaths since 1979. Each incident is listed here.

Through the website, the family argues that in the short term, all soccer goals should be secured to the ground so they can't tip over. A long-term goal is to promote tip-proof designs for soccer nets.

The Tran family says other jurisdictions, including Canada, have not passed similar legislation, and that thousands of unsafe soccer goals remain in use across North America.

A YouTube video, posted on the channel of the family's law firm, tells Zachary's story.

In the video, Zachary's mother Michelle Tran said that when her son's accident happened, she was shocked to learn that his death was the 27th time someone in the U.S. was killed by a soccer goal that tips over.

"We didn't know that these structures were unsafe," she said.

Zachary's father Jayson Tran said parents should be on the lookout for any soccer goal that is not anchored to the ground.

"Keep your children away from it or make sure that it is properly secured," he says on the video.

"We want parents to know that an unanchored soccer goal is ... dangerous. When parents see a soccer goal … they need to check it. To make sure that goals are properly anchored. Parents need to report an unanchored goal to whoever owns that goal."

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More time driving increases obesity risk, study suggests

A study out of the University of Calgary suggests drivers who spend more time behind the wheel are more likely to be overweight.

Researchers conducted a review of 10 studies done in different countries, including one in Calgary.

A review of 10 studies done by University of Calgary researchers suggests the more people drive, the greater their risk of obesity or becoming overweight. (Kim Johnson Flodin/ Associated Press)

Eight of those suggest there is a link between the amount of time or distance travelled in a vehicle and extra pounds on the scale — something that caught the attention of the review's co-author Gavin McCormack.

 "Much of the results were sort of what we would expect because we know that sedentary behaviour by itself — sitting — is associated negatively with health and also increased risk of overweight and obesity," said the public health researcher. 

"We sort of expected that driving behaviour would see a similar relationship but the fact that we saw a consistent relationship across different cities, different countries — with eight of the 10 of our studies showing there was a relationship — that's sort of not so much surprising but alarming."

The overall findings didn't suggest a specific amount of driving that puts drivers at an increased obesity risk.

"But a study that was undertaken in Calgary in 2007 and 2008, that was included in the review, showed that by driving more than 30 minutes a day increased your risk of overweight and obesity than those who drove for less than 30 minutes a day," said McCormack.

Gavin McCormack is a public health researcher at the University of Calgary. (CBC)

The research also found more driving can lead to frequent visits to drive-thru restaurants, meaning more fast food — another factor for weight gain. 

His suggestion is to choose healthier and more active transportation alternatives, such as walking and cycling. McCormack says it is important information for policy makers and urban planners to keep in mind for new construction around the city.

"We've got to try and get adults to drive less," said McCormack.

"I think simply just telling people to be more active or to use the transit or to walk or to cycle isn't going to be enough by itself, and there needs to be infrastructure changes, design changes that can facilitate making walking and cycling an easy option and driving a less convenient option."

Adam Brown, a fitness instructor who drives to work, is not surprised by the findings.  

"When I go through rush hour once in a blue moon it's so annoying. It's frustrating sitting in traffic for 45 minutes, an hour, barely going anywhere," he said.

Brown thinks the findings of the study are so interesting he may suggest his clients avoid driving for long periods of time in the future.

Read the full report below. On mobile? Click here.

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Put down that pop, junior — it could affect your memory

If former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg had waited just a bit longer to wage his public health battle against soda drinks, he could have had more ammunition.

Bloomberg had cited the well-known risks of obesity and diabetes that are associated with excess consumption of sugary drinks when he tried to ban oversized soda pop from being sold at some venues in the city. 

But new research indicates drinking too much pop could also negatively affect the brain, especially for teenagers.

Researchers at the University of Southern California found that drinking beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup or sucrose (that is, soda pop) every day can impair the ability to learn and remember information.

The research will be presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior in Seattle this week. 

"It's no secret that refined carbohydrates, particularly when consumed in soft drinks and other beverages, can lead to metabolic disturbances," said Dr. Scott Kanoski, the lead author of the study, in a release.

"However, our findings reveal that consuming sugar-sweetened drinks is also interfering with our brain's ability to function normally and remember critical information about our environment, at least when consumed in excess before adulthood."

The researchers gave adult and adolescent rats daily access to sweetened beverages that matched the sugar content found in common soda drinks for 30 days.

At the end of the month, the researchers tested the rats on their cognitive functions using mazes.

They noticed that the adolescent rats had trouble with their spatial learning, which has to do with navigating the surrounding environment. The drinks also led to a glucose intolerance.

Adult rats, on the other hand, performed the tests normally.

Researchers discovered that when the teen rats drank those sugary beverages every day, it led to inflammation of the hippocampus part of their brains. The hippocampus controls memory and spatial sense. The inflammation is seen to be the reason behind the rats' learning impairment, according to the researchers.

"In many ways this region is a canary in the coal mine, as it is particularly sensitive to insult by various environmental factors, including eating foods that are high in saturated fat and processed sugar," said Kanoski.

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Soccer goal death of Ontario teen adds to calls for tip-proof nets

At first it sounds like a freak accident: A soccer net topples, killing a young person on a playing field, a place where kids are supposed to be safe.

But accidents involving soccer goals like the one that killed a 15-year-old girl Wednesday afternoon in Bradford, Ont., north of Toronto have happened before.

The girl was playing on the field with a friend when she became trapped under the crossbar of an overturned soccer net, according to South Simcoe police. Friends and teachers have identifed the girl as Jaime Palm.

Unable to lift the heavy net, her friend called 911. Palm was rushed to hospital, where she died.

Police are investigating what caused the net to tip over but other — almost identical — accidents have prompted a push in some jurisdictions for laws requiring that soccer nets be anchored to the ground or switched out in favour of safer, tip-proof designs.

Soccer nets are often made of metal and can weigh a few hundred pounds, and their design often makes them top heavy and prone to falling forward onto the field of play.

This soccer goal killed a five-year-old girl in Watson Lake, Yukon in 2012. (CBC)

In July 2012, a five-year-old girl died in Watson Lake, Yukon, when a soccer net tipped over on her as her parents stood nearby.

A CBC.ca story about the Watson Lake accident quoted Toronto-based neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Tator, founder of Think First Canada, a brain and spinal cord prevention agency.

"It's been recognized for a long period of time that goal posts that are improperly anchored can cause injury, and in fact there are several recorded fatalities from falling goal posts," he said.

A coroner's report into the Watson Lake death found that the net was in poor condition at the time of the accident.

In Montreal 2001, a 14-year-old boy was killed after an unsecured soccer net fell on him causing a fatal head wound. The Quebec coroner's inquest recommended all park soccer nets be anchored to the ground.

In October 2003, six-year-old Zachary Tran died when a goal fell on him during soccer practice in the north Chicago suburb of Vernon Hills, Ill. The 180-pound net tipped forward, striking Zachary on the back of the head. He died of cardiac arrest caused by massive head injuries.

Six-year-old Zachary Tran died in 2003 when a soccer net fell on him during a practice. His death prompted his parents to raise awareness about the dangers posed by unsecured soccer nets. (Tran Family)

Tran's parents made it their mission to raise awareness about the dangers of soccer goals and to prevent similar deaths. They pushed for an Illinois law — which passed in 2011 is named after their son — that bans the manufacture or sale of new movable soccer goals that are not tip-resistant. Older goals in Illinois must be properly anchored to the field and schools and soccer organizations in the state are required to have safety plans for movable goals.

Zachary's parents also started a website called Anchored for Safety, which chronicles soccer-net deaths. According to statistics compiled on their website, soccer nets have caused 38 deaths since 1979. Each incident is listed here.

Through the website, the family argues that in the short term, all soccer goals should be secured to the ground so they can't tip over. A long-term goal is to promote tip-proof designs for soccer nets.

The Tran family says other jurisdictions, including Canada, have not passed similar legislation, and that thousands of unsafe soccer goals remain in use across North America.

A YouTube video, posted on the channel of the family's law firm, tells Zachary's story.

In the video, Zachary's mother Michelle Tran said that when her son's accident happened, she was shocked to learn that his death was the 27th time someone in the U.S. was killed by a soccer goal that tips over.

"We didn't know that these structures were unsafe," she said.

Zachary's father Jayson Tran said parents should be on the lookout for any soccer goal that is not anchored to the ground.

"Keep your children away from it or make sure that it is properly secured," he says on the video.

"We want parents to know that an unanchored soccer goal is ... dangerous. When parents see a soccer goal … they need to check it. To make sure that goals are properly anchored. Parents need to report an unanchored goal to whoever owns that goal."

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Ebola virus: What you need to know to protect yourself

A Toronto doctor who specializes in the treatment of tropical diseases says it's unlikely a recent outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa could spread to North America.

Dr. Jay Keystone, who works in the tropical diseases unit of Toronto General Hospital, was interviewed Wednesday on CBC Radio's Metro Morning.

A woman puts on a protective mask to protect against SARS at a wash station at the entrance to North York General Hospital in Toronto in May 2003. (Kevin Frayer/Canadian Press)

He said the SARS outbreak in 2003 that killed more than 40 people in Toronto helped improve how we identify, treat and contain infectious diseases. He said such measures are lacking in countries affected by the current Ebola outbreak: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone

As of July 23, the number of Ebola cases in West Africa reached 1,201, with 672 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

As of July 27, there were more than 1,300 cases of the Ebola virus in the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria and as many as 729 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. 

The fast-acting Ebola virus, which first appeared in 1976, produces a violent hemorrhagic fever that leads to internal and external bleeding. The infection is transmitted by direct contact with blood, bodily fluids, and tissues of infected people or animals.

Though there is no vaccine and no specific treatment for Ebola, Keystone said there are a number of measures travellers to the region can take to protect themselves.

Here's what Keystone told Metro Morning guest host David Common:

How does a person contract Ebola?

"They usually acquire it from close contact with blood and body fluids, and that means someone coughs in your face, you handle a body or you look after someone and don't have ideal infection-control methods. You get the virus on your hands, you touch your nose, your mouth."

What symptoms do Ebola patients show?

"It looks like the flu: fever, headache, sore throat, muscle aches and pains. That's in the first few days. And then vomiting, diarrhea and the really serious part of the illness — that is the hemorrhage part — really doesn't occur until toward the end of the first week."

Once a patient is hemorrhaging, can he or she be saved?

"It all depends on the quality of medical care. Most Ebola outbreaks have occurred in villages, in mission hospitals where essentially they have a very poor level of health care and very poor infection control methods. The mortality rate in this outbreak ... is about 60 per cent. So you can survive. The better the care, more likely you are to survive but there's no antibiotic or anti-viral agent to treat this disease."

Why has this outbreak been so bad?

"First, there's a lot of cross-border travel. Whereas most other outbreaks have been isolated in the middle of virtually nowhere. Also, people in these countries don't trust the government. They don't believe in the infection. They hide their cases. If someone dies, they take [the body] home. And unfortunately the funeral procedures where you touch the body, and handle the body, markedly increases your risk. These cases are now more in central areas, cities rather than tiny villages. All of those reasons I think have compounded to make this a much greater outbreak."

Doctors treating patients in Africa have died. Foreign doctors have been infected. Should we be worried about Ebola making its way to Canada?

"I don't think we need to be worried. Health-care providers, paramedics, the people who deal with the situation first-hand, I think we're the ones who have greatest risk. You have to remember since 1976 when this virus was first described, there are less than a handful of cases of [patients] who've gone to North American or European countries and very rarely is there secondary transmission. And that's because we have much better public health, infrastructure and certainly better methods of isolating [patients]. SARS was a perfect wake-up call and Ebola is following that ... our health-care system improved dramatically after SARS."

What do doctors in West Africa need to do to control the outbreak now?

"Mostly it's case finding. And that's the biggest problem. Someone comes in ill, they go back to their village and other people are infected but no one knows about it. The problem is they don't have enough personnel to follow up carefully and also people are hiding cases. It's all about case finding, surveillance, making the diagnosis, isolating the individuals and using appropriate isolation procedures. That will help, but it's going to take a long time given what's going on there.

What should people travelling to West Africa know and do to protect themselves?

"The most important thing is to try and stay away from people who are ill. You won't get Ebola unless the individual you're in contact with is sick. So if someone is well, you're not going to get it. So you just need to have a heightened awareness that this is going on and wash your hands frequently, certainly before meals. [Ebola is spread through] direct contact, it's not someone walking into a room with someone with Ebola and getting the infection. Ebola generally is not aerosolized, meaning it doesn't go well into the air."

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American aid worker with Ebola to be brought to U.S. for treatment

A U.S. aid worker who was infected with the deadly Ebola virus while working in West Africa will be flown to the United States to be treated in a high-security ward at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, hospital officials said on Thursday.

The aid worker, whose name has not been released, will be moved in the next several days to a special isolation unit at Emory. The unit was set up in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said her agency is working with the U.S. State Department to facilitate the transfer.

Reynolds said the CDC is not aware of any Ebola patient ever being treated in the United States, but five people in the past decade have entered the country with either Lassa Fever or Marburg Fever, hemorrhagic fevers similar to Ebola.

U.S. aid workers in 'stable but grave' condition

News of the transfer follows reports of the declining health of two infected U.S. aid workers, Dr. Kent Brantly and missionary Nancy Writebol, who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia on behalf of North Carolina-based Christian relief groups Samaritan's Purse and SIM.

The death toll from Ebola in West Africa has topped 700. The U.S. State Department said Thursday an infected aid worker, who has been identified, will be flown to Atlanta for treatment in the coming days. (Tommy Trenchard/Reuters)

"I remain hopeful and believing that Kent will be healed from this dreadful disease," Amber Brantly, the wife of Dr. Brantly, said in a statement.

Earlier on Thursday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the State Department was working with the CDC on medical evacuations of infected American humanitarian aid workers.

The outbreak in West Africa is the worst in history, having killed more than 700 people since February. On Thursday, the CDC issued a travel advisory urging people to avoid all non-essential travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the epicentre of the outbreak.

Brantly and Writebol "were in stable but grave" condition as of early Thursday morning, the relief organizations said. A spokeswoman for the groups could not confirm whether the patient being transferred to Emory was one of their aid workers.

CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said in a conference call that transferring gravely ill patients has the potential to do more harm than good.

New vaccine to be tested on humans

Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health plans in mid-September to begin testing an experimental Ebola vaccine on people after seeing encouraging results in preclinical trials on monkeys, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH's allergy and infectious diseases unit, said in an email.

In its final stages, Ebola causes external and internal bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea. About 60 percent of people infected in the current outbreak are dying from the illness.

Writebol, 59, received an experimental drug doctors hope will improve her health, SIM said. Brantly, 33, received a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who survived Ebola with the help of Brantly's medical care, said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse.

Frieden could not comment on the specifics of either treatment, but said, "We have reviewed the evidence of the treatments out there and don't find any treatment that has proven effectiveness against Ebola."

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Put down that soda, junior — it could affect your memory

If former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg had waited just a bit longer to wage his public health battle against soda drinks, he could have had more ammunition.

Bloomberg had cited the well-known risks of obesity and diabetes that are associated with excess consumption of sugary drinks when he tried to ban oversized soda pop from being sold at some venues in the city. 

But new research indicates drinking too much soda could also negatively affect the brain, especially for teenagers.

Researchers at the University of Southern California found that drinking beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup or sucrose (that is, soda) every day can impair the ability to learn and remember information.

The research will be presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior in Seattle this week. 

"It's no secret that refined carbohydrates, particularly when consumed in soft drinks and other beverages, can lead to metabolic disturbances," said Dr. Scott Kanoski, the lead author of the study, in a release.

"However, our findings reveal that consuming sugar-sweetened drinks is also interfering with our brain's ability to function normally and remember critical information about our environment, at least when consumed in excess before adulthood."

The researchers gave adult and adolescent rats daily access to sweetened beverages that matched the sugar content found in common soda drinks for 30 days.

At the end of the month, the researchers tested the rats on their cognitive functions using mazes.

They noticed that the adolescent rats had trouble with their spatial learning, which has to do with navigating the surrounding environment. The drinks also led to a glucose intolerance.

Adult rats, on the other hand, performed the tests normally.

Researchers discovered that when the teen rats drank those sugary beverages every day, it led to inflammation of the hippocampus part of their brains. The hippocampus controls memory and spatial sense. The inflammation is seen to be the reason behind the rats' learning impairment, according to the researchers.

"In many ways this region is a canary in the coal mine, as it is particularly sensitive to insult by various environmental factors, including eating foods that are high in saturated fat and processed sugar," said Kanoski.

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Ebola virus: What you need to know to protect yourself

A Toronto doctor who specializes in the treatment of tropical diseases says it's unlikely a recent outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa could spread to North America.

Dr. Jay Keystone, who works in the tropical diseases unit of Toronto General Hospital, was interviewed Wednesday on CBC Radio's Metro Morning.

A woman puts on a protective mask to protect against SARS at a wash station at the entrance to North York General Hospital in Toronto in May 2003. (Kevin Frayer/Canadian Press)

He said the SARS outbreak in 2003 that killed more than 40 people in Toronto helped improve how we identify, treat and contain infectious diseases. He said such measures are lacking in countries affected by the current Ebola outbreak: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone

As of July 23, the number of Ebola cases in West Africa reached 1,201, with 672 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

As of July 27, there were more than 1,300 cases of the Ebola virus in the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria and as many as 729 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. 

The fast-acting Ebola virus, which first appeared in 1976, produces a violent hemorrhagic fever that leads to internal and external bleeding. The infection is transmitted by direct contact with blood, bodily fluids, and tissues of infected people or animals.

Though there is no vaccine and no specific treatment for Ebola, Keystone said there are a number of measures travellers to the region can take to protect themselves.

Here's what Keystone told Metro Morning guest host David Common:

How does a person contract Ebola?

"They usually acquire it from close contact with blood and body fluids, and that means someone coughs in your face, you handle a body or you look after someone and don't have ideal infection-control methods. You get the virus on your hands, you touch your nose, your mouth."

What symptoms do Ebola patients show?

"It looks like the flu: fever, headache, sore throat, muscle aches and pains. That's in the first few days. And then vomiting, diarrhea and the really serious part of the illness — that is the hemorrhage part — really doesn't occur until toward the end of the first week."

Once a patient is hemorrhaging, can he or she be saved?

"It all depends on the quality of medical care. Most Ebola outbreaks have occurred in villages, in mission hospitals where essentially they have a very poor level of health care and very poor infection control methods. The mortality rate in this outbreak ... is about 60 per cent. So you can survive. The better the care, more likely you are to survive but there's no antibiotic or anti-viral agent to treat this disease."

Why has this outbreak been so bad?

"First, there's a lot of cross-border travel. Whereas most other outbreaks have been isolated in the middle of virtually nowhere. Also, people in these countries don't trust the government. They don't believe in the infection. They hide their cases. If someone dies, they take [the body] home. And unfortunately the funeral procedures where you touch the body, and handle the body, markedly increases your risk. These cases are now more in central areas, cities rather than tiny villages. All of those reasons I think have compounded to make this a much greater outbreak."

Doctors treating patients in Africa have died. Foreign doctors have been infected. Should we be worried about Ebola making its way to Canada?

"I don't think we need to be worried. Health-care providers, paramedics, the people who deal with the situation first-hand, I think we're the ones who have greatest risk. You have to remember since 1976 when this virus was first described, there are less than a handful of cases of [patients] who've gone to North American or European countries and very rarely is there secondary transmission. And that's because we have much better public health, infrastructure and certainly better methods of isolating [patients]. SARS was a perfect wake-up call and Ebola is following that ... our health-care system improved dramatically after SARS."

What do doctors in West Africa need to do to control the outbreak now?

"Mostly it's case finding. And that's the biggest problem. Someone comes in ill, they go back to their village and other people are infected but no one knows about it. The problem is they don't have enough personnel to follow up carefully and also people are hiding cases. It's all about case finding, surveillance, making the diagnosis, isolating the individuals and using appropriate isolation procedures. That will help, but it's going to take a long time given what's going on there.

What should people travelling to West Africa know and do to protect themselves?

"The most important thing is to try and stay away from people who are ill. You won't get Ebola unless the individual you're in contact with is sick. So if someone is well, you're not going to get it. So you just need to have a heightened awareness that this is going on and wash your hands frequently, certainly before meals. [Ebola is spread through] direct contact, it's not someone walking into a room with someone with Ebola and getting the infection. Ebola generally is not aerosolized, meaning it doesn't go well into the air."

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