By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA Fri Feb 6, 2015 10:55am EST

1 of 2. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Ivory Coast Representative Adele Khudr speaks to children during an Ebola awareness drive in Toulepleu, at the border of Liberia, in western Ivory Coast, in this file photo taken on November 4, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Thierry Gouegnon

GENEVA (Reuters) - Authorities fighting Ebola must do more to tackle a high death rate among young children whose isolation from parents also causes great distress and deprives them of the extra care they need, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

Reporting on a meeting of clinicians from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, it said there was a consensus that the strict "no touch" policy for Ebola patients could be lifted if good measures are in place to protect health workers from infection.

"There is a need to address issues around children and pregnant women. Children under five had a very high rate of mortality, this was often because need a great deal of support to be fed, to be cared for," WHO technical adviser Dr. Margaret Harris told a news briefing.

Mortality in children under five years of age has been 80 percent, meaning four out of five die, and up to 95 percent among under one-year-olds who require intensive nursing and frequent feeding, she said.

"There was quite some suggestion that simply being separated and isolated as happens in an Ebola treatment unit had a devastating psychological effect on children, they did not have parents, they did not have carers," Harris said.

"The complexities of dealing with children, especially children under-one, were not really being met and they need to be met."

At least 21 pregnant women survived the hemorrhagic disease, but their babies or fetuses rarely did, she said.

Nearly 9,000 people have died out of 22,495 known cases in the epidemic that began in December 2013.

Survivors have displayed symptoms including severe muscle pain, headaches, mood swings, depression, loss of concentration and impaired vision, according to the WHO. Reuters reported this week that some of the 5,000 to 10,000 survivors complain of side effects months after their recovery.

The U.N. Children's Fund said 16,600 children in the three countries have lost one or both parents. But communities and extended family members have taken in all but about 500 of them, overcoming initial fears and stigma.

"Having said that, what really struck me when I was visiting the families in Liberia, however strong that family and relative support is, the grief is very raw," Andrew Brooks, UNICEF regional child protection adviser, said by telephone from Dakar.

"The children, it doesn't take much for them to get very, very upset. I don't think we should under-estimate that side of things in addition to the economic and material support."

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay)

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Ahmedabad: With the death of four more persons, the number of swine flu deaths in Gujarat in the new year reached 66 Friday.

Today's deaths were reported from Kutch (one), Vadodara (two) and Rajkot (one) districts. Also, 73 new swine flu cases were reported, taking the total number of positive cases to 557, a state government statement said.

Health commissioner J P Gupta said that about 200 patients have been cured out of the 557.

Kutch district, the worst-affected, today reported another 20 cases. So far the district has had 189 positive cases and 23 deaths due to the H1N1 virus infection.

Ahmedabad district has had 99 cases, including 12 deaths.

The state health department statement said that 500 beds and 236 isolation wards with ventilators had been kept reserved for swine flu patients at various hospitals in the state; if needed, 300 more beds will be provided.

State had enough stock of medicines and order had been placed for 1,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine, the statement said.

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Hyderabad: Two more persons have succumbed to swine flu in Telangana taking the number of deaths due to the H1N1 virus this year to 41, the state government said today.

"From January 1 to February 5, 2,212 samples were tested, of which 738 were found to be positive," an official release said.

It said 89 samples were tested yesterday and 20 were found positive for the H1N1 virus.

However, the intensity of the spread of the disease is falling over the last six days.

"The figures are 45, 35, 39, 18, 32 and 20," it said.

The state government has said that enough medicines are available at the hospitals.

"There are enough testing kits for viral transport medium (VTM)," the release said.

Homoeopathy doctors have advised that homeo medicine can also be taken as a preventive measure under guidance of homoeopathy doctors.

Medicines are available free of cost at Government Homeo Hospital, Ramanthapur and all AYUSH dispensaries.

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