U.S. military to quickly ramp up treatment facilities in Ebola-ravaged Liberia

Mobile Ebola labs will be up and running in Liberia this week and U.S. troops have broken ground for a field hospital, as the international community races to ideal with the spiraling number of people infected with the deadly disease. Liberia is the hardest hit in the Ebola outbreak, which has touched four other West African countries. More than 3,000 deaths have been linked to the disease across the region in the largest outbreak ever, according to the World Health Organization. Even that toll, however, is likely an underestimate, partially because there aren’t enough labs to test people for Ebola.

The risk of expansion is dramatic and the number of affected people is doubling.

Anthony Banbury, head of UN public health emergency mission

The numbers for Liberia, in particular, have lagged behind reality because it takes so long to get test results, WHO has warned. In the worst affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the disease has whipped through entire communities, killing whole families because there are too few doctors and nurses and not enough beds to isolate and treat the sick. At least 3,700 children have lost a parent in the outbreak, the UN children’s agency said Tuesday, and fear of infection has made it difficult to find people to care for them. In response to the accelerating outbreak, the United Nations has created its first ever mission for a public health emergency. Anthony Banbury, the head of the UN mission, told reporters Tuesday in Ghana that it will work over the next month on getting the necessary infrastructure, including treatment centers, into the field.

Africa