Ebola Patients Vanish in Liberia; Crisis Continues
By Annie Hauser
Weather.com
Aug 18, 2014
An Ebola quarantine center in Monrovia, Liberia, was looted over the weekend by “an angry mob,” according to the BBC.
The result: Up to 30 suspected Ebola patients vanished, perhaps moved to another medical facility, or returned to their homes with their families. (By Monday morning, some of the patients had returned to the hospital, according to CBS and The Associated Press.)
The removal of patients from a quarantine center could deal a major blow to the region’s Ebola control efforts. A person infected with Ebola spreads the virus through contact with bodily fluids; there is no known cure for the disease, other than keeping patients in isolation, and treating with rehydrating fluids. The attack in Monrovia is seen as a “major setback,” the BBC’s Will Ross reported from Lagos, Nigeria.
Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah said protesters were unhappy that Ebola patients were being transferred to their area from other parts of the city, the BBC reported. But other reports indicated that protestors believe Ebola to be a hoax, so they wanted the medical center to close.
Dr. William Schaffner, the chairman of the department of preventive medicine and professor of infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, and the past-president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, told weather.com that one of the challenges with controlling this Ebola outbreak — the largest in history with more than 1,145 deaths — is fear among locals, and local suspicion of healthcare workers.
The Rest…HERE
