Ebola

Dr. Margaret Chan told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that there have been no new cases in Liberia, and only three new cases in Sierra Leone and Guinea, in each of the last two weeks, the lowest numbers in well over a year.

She says fears that the Ebola virus could be permanently established in humans in the region have also been defeated, which is "very good news."

But Chan also cautions against "a false sense of security."

The Alabama Department of Public Health said in a statement Wednesday that the patient is improving. The patient's name hasn't been released.

Edward Khan of the Jefferson County Health Department says the patient was hospitalized Tuesday after developing symptoms and notifying authorities.

Khan says the patient recently traveled to a country with Ebola cases. He didn't identify the country or specify the symptoms.

Edward Khan of the Jefferson County Health Department says the patient is being treated at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital after developing symptoms and notifying authorities.

Khan says the patient recently traveled to a country with Ebola cases, but he didn't identify the country or name the patient. 

There is currently no licensed treatment or vaccine for Ebola, which has so far killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa since the world's biggest outbreak began in the forest region of Guinea last year.

"If proven effective, this is going to be a game-changer," said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, which sponsored the study. "It will change the management of the current outbreak and future outbreaks."

The woman in her early 20s who died on July 12 was linked to the 17-year-old boy who died last month, Deputy Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah told The Associated Press. Three other confirmed cases are being treated in Monrovia, he said.

Some of the more than 120 people under observation in Nedowein, southeast of Monrovia, could be discharged once they complete 21 days of quarantine and show no signs of infection, he said.

Ebola has devastated their economies, severely damaged the social fabric of their nations and killed more than 11,000 people.

Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, speaking on behalf of the three countries, told a high-level U.N. conference that international support will give millions of people a chance to rebuild their lives and promote regional stability and world trade.

"The world as a whole has a great stake in how we together respond to this global threat," she said, adding that "virus diseases, just like terrorism, know no national boundaries."

Dr. Francis Kateh said Thursday that the number of confirmed Ebola cases has risen to five, including the 17-year-old teen who died of the disease on June 28.

He said the newest patients, a boy and a girl, were brought to a treatment center Wednesday from the same Nedowein community where the teen died, some 30 miles (48 kilometers) outside the capital, Monrovia.

Dr. Kateh said all four confirmed patients are admitted at a treatment center near Monrovia.

The West African country previously succeeded in containing the outbreak, despite being initially the hardest hit with more than 4,800 deaths. The last recorded case before this latest emergence was on March 20, according to the World Health Organization.

"We will contain it quickly because of where we are in the learning curve as far as Ebola is concerned," said Dr. Philip Ireland at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in the capital, Monrovia.

The infected person was moved to Monrovia, said deputy health minister Tolbert Nyenswah.

Between 100 and 200 Ebola center workers stormed the Ministry of Health in eastern Monrovia on Wednesday demanding hazard pay that they said they haven't received since the country was declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization on May 9.

Protesters turned off the building generator, an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, told The Associated Press.

"Liberia has got a re-infection of Ebola," Tolbert Nyenswah, deputy health minister and head of Liberia's Ebola response team, told The Associated Press.

The boy died at his home and was buried safely to avoid spread of the disease, said Nyenswah. Nedowein is close to the country's international airport, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of the capital, Monrovia.

Teams are investigating how the boy became infected, Nyenswah said. The area is not near Liberia's borders with Sierra Leone and Guinea, neighboring countries that still have Ebola cases.