Ebola virus disease (Ebola) was first detected in Sierra Leone in May 2014 and was likely introduced into the eastern part of the country from Guinea. The disease spread westward, eventually affecting Freetown, Sierra Leone's densely populated capital. By December 2014, Sierra Leone had more Ebola cases than Guinea and Liberia, the other two West African countries that have experienced widespre...

BACKGROUND At the end of the eleven-year conflict in Sierra Leone, a wide range of policies were implemented to address both demand- and supply-side constraints within the healthcare system, which had collapsed during the conflict. This study examines the extent to which households' exposure to financial risks associated with seeking healthcare evolved in post-conflict Sierra Leone. METHOD Th...

BACKGROUND Understanding a country's baseline operative actors and capacity is critical to improving the quality of services and outcomes. The aim of this study was to describe all operative providers and national operative production, to evaluate district and nationwide population rates for operations, and to estimate unmet operative need in Sierra Leone. METHODS A nationwide, exhaustive, re...

BACKGROUND Between August and November 2014, the incidence of Ebola virus disease (EVD) rose dramatically in several districts of Sierra Leone. As a result, the number of cases exceeded the capacity of Ebola holding and treatment centres. During December, additional beds were introduced, and incidence declined in many areas. We aimed to measure patterns of transmission in different regions, and...

BACKGROUND Globally, Sierra Leone is ranked among the countries with the worst maternal and child health indicators. The mortality of women and children is significantly higher compared with other developing countries. The death of women and children can be prevented by simple cost-effective community-based interventions. The aim of this present study was to learn the knowledge levels of women ...

The molecular masses of the PrPres moieties from the 2 cows were also clearly distinct from those from controls with Land H-BSE (Figure). For samples from animals with H-BSE, enzymatic deglycosylation demonstrated PrPres subtypes, 1 and 2, the latter being a C-terminal PrPres fragment of ≈12–14 kDa (6). To investigate whether the novel PrPres type corresponds to PrPres subtype 2, we compared sa...