West Africa Is Losing The Battle Against Ebola

The international group Doctor Without Borders warned Tuesday, 9/9/14, that the planet is losing the battle against Ebola and lamented that therapy centers in West Africa have been "decreased to places exactly where men and women go to die alone" as the world struggles to include the illness.

In separate remarks following a United Nations meeting on the crisis, the Globe Health Organization chief stated absolutely everyone involved had underestimated the outbreak, which has now killed a lot more than 1,500 persons in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. U.N. officials implored governments worldwide to send medical workers and material contributions.

Meanwhile in Liberia, a missionary organization announced that a another American medical doctor has been infected.

Physicians Without the need of Borders, which has treated far more than 1,000 Ebola individuals in West Africa is totally overwhelmed by the illness. Joanne Liu, the organization's president callled on other countries to contribute civilian and military healthcare personnel familiar with biological disasters.

"Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the globe is losing the battle to contain it," Liu stated at a U.N. forum on the outbreak.

In Sierra Leone, she mentioned, infected bodies are rotting in the streets. Liberia had to construct a new crematorium as an alternative to new Ebola care centers.

Ebola Virus

At the U.N. meeting, WHO Director Margaret Chan thanked countries that have helped but said: "We need additional help from you. And we also require  nations that have not come on board to get on board.”

Later at a news conference, she warned that the outbreak will get worse before it gets better.

The effort also requires protective gear, motorcycles, flatbed trucks and meals, said David Nabarro, who is coordinating the U.N. response.

"The outbreak is advancing ahead of us and we are falling behind," Nabarro mentioned.

Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Illness Control and Prevention, stated this is now the world's 1st Ebola epidemic, widely spreading in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The latest missionary to come down with the illness, a male obstetrician, was not instantly identified. He did not operate in an Ebola ward. The group did not specify how he contracted the disease, but it can be spread by way of vaginal fluids.

A Liberian physician on the missionary's therapy team stated it was too quick to tell if he will be evacuated. The medical professional would speak only on condition of anonymity due to the fact he was not authorized to discuss the matter with reporters.

Last month, two Americans, including one from the identical missionary group, had been evacuated to the United States for remedy just after contracting Ebola in Liberia. The two recovered following receiving an experimental drug known as ZMapp. The manufacturer says it has run out of supplies of the drug and it will take months to generate far more.

U.S. wellness officials on Tuesday announced a $24.9 million, 18-month contract with Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. to speed development of ZMapp. As element of the project, Mapp is to make a tiny quantity of the drug for early-stage safety testing, although functioning with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Solutions to accelerate the manufacturing approach. HHS can extend the contract up to a total of $42.three million.

The outbreak has taken a particularly high toll on  health care workers, and nurses in Liberia and Sierra Leone have repeatedly gone on strike to demand hazard pay and get better protective gear.

On Monday, nurses at JFK hospital in the Liberian capital went on strike. The striking nurses have been all from non-Ebola wards.

Information Minister Lewis Brown said late Tuesday that the dispute had been resolved, but Dennis said discussions have been ongoing.

Meanwhile, the Sierra Leone government announced that nurses have been back at work Tuesday after a strike at a Freetown hospital this weekend.

Earlier Tuesday, the U.N. Meals and Agriculture Organization warned that food in nations hit by Ebola is becoming expensive and scarce because some farmers cannot reach their fields.

Authorities have cordoned off entire towns in an effort to halt the virus' spread. Surrounding nations have closed land borders, and airlines have suspended flights to and from the affected nations. Seaports are losing visitors and restricting food imports to the hardest-hit nations.

These nations — Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — all rely on grain from abroad to feed their people, according to the U.N. meals agency. For instance, the price tag of cassava root, a staple in a lot of West African diets, has gone up 150 %.

"Even prior to the Ebola outbreak, households in some of the affected areas had been spending up to 80 % of their incomes on meals," said Vincent Martin, who is coordinating the meals agency's response to the crisis. "Now these latest price spikes are placing food entirely out of their reach."