Ebola Spread By Taxi Passengers, WHO Warns

 

 

[caption id="attachment_896" align="aligncenter" width="737"] A Liberian burial team wearing protective clothing loads the body of a 60-year-old Ebola victim after retrieving him from his home.[/caption]

In spite of global effort to wage war against the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, the World Health Organisation, WHO, has warned that the Ebola virus is spreading exponentially in Liberia.

The United Nations agency said that motorbike-taxis and regular taxis are “a hot source of potential virus transmission” because they are not disinfected in Liberia, where conventional Ebola control measures “are not having an adequate impact”.

It added that aid partners needed to scale up efforts against Ebola by three- to fourfold in Liberia and elsewhere in West African countries battling the epidemic.

According to WHO statistics released on Friday 5 September, the Ebola virus has killed 1,089 people among 1,871 cases in Liberia, the highest among the five West African countries affected by the current outbreak, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Senegal and Liberia.

The report stated that in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, 2,097 have died out of 3,944 cases. Another 18 cases and seven deaths have been recorded in Nigeria and one non-fatal case in Senegal.

It noted that fourteen of Liberia’s 15 counties have reported confirmed cases, a situation whereby Ebola patients jam packednew Ebola treatment centre as soon as it’s opened.

“The number of new cases is moving far faster than the capacity to manage them in Ebola-specific treatment centres,” it said. “Many thousands of new cases are expected in Liberia over the coming three weeks,” the statement said.

In Montserrado County, which includes the capital, Monrovia, and is home to more than one million people, a WHO investigative team estimated that 1,000 beds are urgently needed for Ebola patients.

It would be recalled that Canadian researchers recently said they have developed an effective vaccine for the Ebola virus after an experimental immunization gave monkeys long-term protection from the deadly disease.