|
WHO on Liberia: New Ebola cases increasing exponentially
 8 Sept 2014 Situation Assessment:Transmission of the Ebola virus in Liberia is already intense and the number of new cases is increasing exponentially. The demands of the Ebola outbreak have completely outstripped the government's and partners' capacity to respond. Some 152 health care workers have been infected and 79 have died. When the outbreak began, Liberia had only 1 doctor to treat nearly 100,000 people in a total population of 4.4 million people. Every infection or death of a doctor or nurse depletes response capacity significantly. Liberia is experiencing a phenomenon never before seen in any previous Ebola outbreak. As soon as a new Ebola treatment facility is opened, it immediately fills to overflowing with patients, pointing to a large but previously invisible caseload. The number of new cases is moving far faster than the capacity to manage them in Ebola-specific treatment centres. In Monrovia, taxis filled with entire families, of whom some members are thought to be infected with the Ebola virus, crisscross the city, searching for a treatment bed. There are none. According to a WHO staff member who has been in Liberia for the past several weeks, motorbike-taxis and regular taxis are a hot source of potential Ebola virus transmission, as these vehicles are not disinfected at all, much less before new passengers are taken on board. When patients are turned away at Ebola treatment centres, they have no choice but to return to their communities and homes, where they inevitably infect others, perpetuating constantly higher flare-ups in the number of cases. Many thousands of new cases are expected in Liberia over the coming 3 weeks. Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-09-09 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=399566 |