Several organizations are evacuating workers from the three
countries where a five-month old Ebola outbreak has worsened.
The Peace Corps said Wednesday that it was temporarily removing
340 volunteers working in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea because
of virus's spread. Two corps volunteers were placed in isolation
and under observation--though aren't symptomatic--after coming in
contact with an individual who later died of Ebola, a spokeswoman
said.
Two U.S. faith-based organizations that are helping to treat
Ebola patients in Liberia and have had American staff infected said
they were evacuating nonessential personnel due to spread of the
virus, as well as security issues. Another U.S. citizen and a top
doctor from Sierra Leone have died.
The developments highlight the risks for foreigners as well as
for health staff treating Ebola patients. And they underscore the
gravity of the evolving crisis in a poor corner of West Africa
where government authorities and international health workers have
struggled to bring the deadly outbreak under control.
"This is a growing crisis of proportions that will cost, we
think, thousands of lives and maybe more," said Bruce Johnson,
president of SIM USA, a Charlotte, N.C., missionary group, one of
the groups helping Ebola patients in Liberia. "The international
community has the resources and people to respond, but they need to
respond."
While organizations are pulling out nonessential personnel, he
said more funds and health-care workers are needed on the ground to
fight the resurgence of the disease in the three African
countries.
SIM will evacuate about 60 to 70 spouses, children and other
nonmedical staff in the next few days, Mr. Johnson said, but staff
needed to run the centers will stay. The treatment center has
stopped admitting new patients temporarily. "This is due primarily
to the escalation of the disease--it's spreading further and
faster," Mr. Johnson said. "It's really a safety precaution."
SIM's partner, Samaritan's Purse, a Christian relief
organization based in Boone, N.C., also said was curtailing
operations in Liberia "because of instability and ongoing security
issues in the area."
Some health-care workers combatting the outbreak have met with
resistance from locals who have refused to let them treat loved
ones or remove their still infectious dead bodies.
Meanwhile, international airline and health authorities are
considering changes to passenger-screening rules and procedures, as
well as possible steps to facilitate air-ambulance services for
Ebola victims, according to the International Civil Aviation
Organization, the aviation arm of the United Nations.
Airlines for America, the U.S. trade group, said Wednesday that
its members remain in contact with the CDC "on actions the U.S.
government is taking regarding potential health concerns." Airlines
for America, the U.S. trade group, said Wednesday that its members
remain in contact with the CDC "on actions the U.S. government is
taking regarding potential health concerns." United Continental
Airlines Inc. and Delta Air LinesUnited Continental Airlines Inc.
and Delta Air Lines Inc. are continuing their flights to and from
West Africa.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned
doctors to be on the alert for patients from West Africa with Ebola
symptoms and says it is sending more disease detectives to the
region. The two infected doctors, Kent Brantly, a doctor from Fort
Worth, Texas, doing a post-residency on medical missionary program
with Samaritan's Purse, and Nancy Writebol, who went to Liberia
last year with her husband and is personnel director for a SIM
team, are in stable condition but have up and down days, Mr.
Johnson said.
The U.K. government held an ad hoc emergency committee meeting
on Wednesday to discuss possible measures to help control the
outbreak as well as respond to possible Ebola cases in U.K.
nationals in West Africa.
Ebola experts say the first several days of illness are
critical, with most deaths from the disease occurring between the
eighth and 10th day of illness. Roughly two-thirds of the Ebola
patients in the current outbreak in three West African countries
have died. The incubation period for Ebola lasts between two and 21
days.
While the disease isn't airborne, it is easily transmissible
through bodily fluids exchanged even through skin contact.
Transferring the ill to higher-tech hospitals isn't easy.
The University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany,
which has a treatment center equipped to handle Ebola patients,
said it had received an informal request to take a patient from
West Africa, but the request was withdrawn.
"We don't expect any patients to be moved [here]," Christine
Trowitzsch, a spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement. She didn't
provide further details.
The two infected doctors, Kent Brantly, a doctor from Fort
Worth, Texas, doing a post-residency on medical missionary program
with Samaritan's Purse, and Nancy WritebolMs. Writebol is isolated
and quarantined in her own home; doctors go in and out in
protective equipment to treat her, Mr. Johnson said. Ms. Writebol's
husband also has donned protective equipment so he could enter the
house and spend time "talking to her eye to eye," Mr. Johnson
said.
Dr. Brantly is isolated in another home. Both were moved from a
hospital so they could be more comfortable, Mr. Johnson said,
adding that the organizations are following safety protocols laid
out by the CDC and World Health Organization.
It isn't known how the two were infected. Dr. Brantly was
treating Ebola patients. Ms. Writebol was spraying down medical
personnel at the Ebola treatment center as part of a
decontamination process. Mr. Johnson said SIM asked a local CDC
team to recheck its safety procedures at its Ebola treatment
center.
Andrea Thomas, Nicholas Winning, Doug Cameron and Andy Pasztor
contributed to this article.
Write to Betsy McKay at Betsy.McKay@wsj.com
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