Liberia losing the fight against Ebola; top doctor now under quarantine

Six months after West Africa’s first Ebola outbreak emerged, generous offers of aid are finally pouring in, but beds for the sick are filling up as fast as clinics can be built. The hundreds of millions of dollars will also be arriving too late for thousands of victims, as the world’s worst-ever outbreak has now killed more than half of those infected. Liberia’s chief medical officer is also placing herself under quarantine for 21 days after her office assistant died of Ebola. The International Business Times reported that only 18 per cent of Ebola patients in Liberia have received medical treatment at a hospital or other professional facilities designed to isolate the outbreak from the rest of the population.

The facility is completely overcapacity, and we’re having to turn people away … we’re utterly overwhelmed, there are no other words for it.

Caitlin Ryan, a spokeswoman for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders

Unless the situation is put under control, the outbreak may infect as many as 1.4 million people by the end of the year and nearly half of those people could die, the U.S. disease control agency CDC estimated this week. More than 3,000 are currently believed to have died from Ebola, which is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of the sick. The Obama administration in the U.S. has urged the international community to view outbreaks of Ebola and other deadly diseases as global security threats that require broad and rapid responses to protect the safety of populations and economies.

The idea of having hundreds of people in tent structures for Ebola management is unbelievable but the way this is spreading, we need to find a solution now.

Dr. Heinz Feldmann, chief of virology at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Africa Liberia