BACKGROUND Globally, chronic diseases are responsible for an enormous burden of deaths, disability, and economic loss, yet little is known about the optimal health sector response to chronic diseases in poor, post-conflict countries. Liberia's experience in strengthening health systems and health financing overall, and addressing HIV/AIDS and mental health in particular, provides a relevant cas...

The identical electrophoretic isoenzyme patterns of a human-plasma-resistant Trypanozoon stock from a sheep and of two other stocks from trypanosomiasis patients in the Congo Republic indicated that the sheep stock was probably infective to man. These, and one further human stock from the Congo, closely resembled stocks isolated from man in Liberia and Ivory Coast.

We report a case of Lassa fever in a US traveler who visited rural Liberia, became ill while in country, sought medical care upon return to the United States, and subsequently had his illness laboratory confirmed. The patient recovered with supportive therapy. No secondary cases occurred.

Lack of trust in government-supported services after the death of a health care worker with symptoms of Ebola resulted in ongoing Ebola transmission in 2 Liberia counties. Ebola transmission was facilitated by attempts to avoid cremation of the deceased patient and delays in identifying and monitoring contacts.

Rapid sequencing of RNA/DNA from pathogen samples obtained during disease outbreaks provides critical scientific and public health information. However, challenges exist for exporting samples to laboratories or establishing conventional sequencers in remote outbreak regions. We successfully used a novel, pocket-sized nanopore sequencer at a field diagnostic laboratory in Liberia during the curr...

In recent years, dozens of countries have introduced accreditation and other quality improvement initiatives. A great deal of information is available regarding best practices in high- and middle-income countries; however, little is available to guide developing nations seeking to introduce an accreditation programme. This paper describes the outputs and lessons learned in the first year of est...

ports on Lassa fever in southern and central parts of Nigeria. That healthcare workers are still at as high a risk of contracting and dying from the disease as they were 20 years ago (8) is alarming. A key to solving this problem would be the establishment of diagnostic facilities that can provide rapid molecular testing at referral centers in the disease-endemic zones. This testing would facil...

Tuberculosis (TB) is a known cause of secondary pneumothorax. In areas with endemic TB, complications from the disease, including pneumothorax, are increasing in prevalence. We present the cases of 3 patients (ages 32 years, 17 years, and 3 months) seen in the emergency department at John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa. Each presented with shortness of breath and co...

Since March 10, 2014, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have experienced the largest known Ebola virus disease (Ebola) epidemic with approximately 13,000 persons infected as of October 28, 2014. Before September 25, 2014, only four patients with Ebola had been treated in the United States; all of these patients had been diagnosed in West Africa and medically evacuated to the United States for c...