Resources

Use of protective gear and the occurrence of occupational Marburg hemorrhagic fever in health workers from Watsa health zone, Democratic Republic of the Congo

This paper shows how health workers used PPE in an outbreak of Marburg Virus in DRC.  The findings show that HWs protected themselves better during invasive procedures (injections, venepuncture, and surgery) than during noninvasive procedures, but the overall level of protection in the hospital remained insufficient, particularly outside of isolation wards. The reasons for inconsistent use of protective gear included insufficient availability of the gear, adherence to non-biomedical explanatory models of the origin of disease, and peer bonding with sick colleagues.

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'He is now like a brother, I can even give him some blood': Relational ethics and material exchanges in a malaria vaccine 'trial community' in The Gambia

This paper explores social relations within the ‘trial community’ (staff and volunteers) of a Malaria Vaccine Trial (MVT), implemented by the Medical Research Council (MRC) in The Gambia between 2001 and 2004. It situates ethical concerns with medical research within the everyday life of scientific fieldwork. Based upon discussions with volunteers and staff, it looks at processes of mediation between scientific project and study population, between formal ethics, local ethical debates, and everyday practice.

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Risk maps of Lassa fever in West Africa

With the aim of gaining more information to control this disease, this paper carries out a spatial analysis of Lassa fever data from human cases and infected rodent hosts covering the period 1965–2007. 

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