Liberia shuts hospital where Spanish priest

infected, Ebola toll hits 932

2 OF 2. Medical staff working with Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) prepare to bring food to patients kept in an isolation area at the MSF
Ebola treatent centre in !ailahun "ul# 2$, 2$%&'
1 OF 2. (olunteers lower a corpse, which is prepared with safe burial practices to ensure it does not pose a health risk to others and stop
the chain of person)to)person transission of Ebola, into a gra*e in More'''
BY DERICK SNYDER-MONROVIA Wed Aug 6, 2014
(+euters) ) Liberia shut a a,or hospital in the capital Monro*ia on -ednesda# after a
Spanish priest and si. other staff contracted Ebola, as the death toll fro the worst
outbreak of the disease hit 932 in -est /frica'
0he outbreak of the deadl# haeorrhagic fe*er has o*erwheled rudientar#
healthcare s#stes and propted the deplo#ent of troops to 1uarantine the worst)
hit areas in the reote border region of 2uinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone'
0he -orld 3ealth 4rgani5ation (-34) reported &6 new deaths in the three da#s to
/ug' &, and its e.perts began an eergenc# eeting in 2ene*a on -ednesda# to
discuss whether the outbreak constitutes a 78ublic 3ealth Eergenc# of 9nternational
:oncern7 and to discuss new easures to contain the outbreak'
9nternational alar at the spread of the disease increased when a ;'S' citi5en died in
<igeria late last onth after fl#ing there fro Liberia' 0he health inister said on
-ednesda# that a <igerian nurse who had treated the deceased 8atrick Saw#er had
herself died of Ebola, and fi*e other people were being treated in an isolation ward in
Lagos, /frica=s largest cit#'
9n Saudi /rabia, a an suspected of contracting Ebola during a recent business trip to
Sierra Leone also died earl# on -ednesda# in "eddah, the 3ealth Ministr# said' Saudi
/rabia has alread# suspended pilgriage *isas fro -est /frican countries, which
could pre*ent those hoping to *isit Mecca for the 3a, in earl# 4ctober'
Liberia, where the death toll is rising fastest, is struggling to cope' Man# residents are
panicking, in soe cases casting out the bodies of fail# ebers onto the streets of
Monro*ia to a*oid 1uarantine easures'
>eneath hea*# rain, abulance sirens wailed through the otherwise 1uiet streets of
Monro*ia on -ednesda# as residents heeded a go*ernent re1uest to sta# at hoe for
three da#s of fasting and pra#ers'
7E*er#one is afraid of Ebola' ?ou cannot tell who has Ebola or not' Ebola is not like a
cut ark that #ou can see and run,7 said Sarah -eh#ee as she stocked up on food at
the local arket in 8a#nes*ille, an eastern suburb of Monro*ia'
St' "oseph=s :atholic hospital was shut down after the :aeroonian hospital director
died fro Ebola, authorities said' Si. staff subse1uentl# tested positi*e for the disease,
including two nuns and @6)#ear old Spanish priest Miguel 8a,ares, who is due to be
repatriated b# a special edical aircraft on -ednesda#'
0+448S AE8L4?EA 9< 48E+/094< 7-390E S39ELA7
Spain=s health inistr# denied that one of the nuns ) born in E1uatorial 2uinea but
holding Spanish nationalit# ) had tested positi*e for Ebola' 0he other nun is
:ongolese'
7-e hope the# can e*acuate us' 9t would be ar*ellous, because we know that, if the#
take us to Spain, at least we will be in good hands,7 8a,ares told :<< in Spanish this
week' 3ealthcare workers are in the front line of fighting the *irus, and two ;'S' health
workers fro :hristian edical charit# Saaritan=s 8urse caught the *irus in
Monro*ia and are now recei*ing treatent in an /tlanta hospital'
0he two saw their conditions ipro*e b# *ar#ing degrees in Liberia after the# recei*ed
an e.periental drug, a representati*e for the charit# said'
0hree of the world=s leading Ebola specialists urged the -34 to offer people in -est
/frica the chance to take e.periental drugs, too, but the agenc# said it 7would not
recoend an# drug that has not gone through the noral process of licensing and
clinical trials7'
3ighl# contagious, Ebola kills ore than half of the people who contract it' (ictis
suffer fro fe*er, *oiting, diarrhoea and internal and e.ternal bleeding'
Man# regular hospitals and clinics ha*e been forced to close across Liberia, often
because health workers are too afraid of contracting the *irus thesel*es or because of
abuse b# locals who think the disease is a go*ernent conspirac#'
9n an effort to control the disease=s spread, Liberia has deplo#ed the ar# to
ipleent controls and isolate se*erel# affected counities, an operation
codenaed 7-hite Shield7'
0he inforation inistr# said on -ednesda# that soldiers were being deplo#ed to the
isolated, rural counties of Lofa, >ong, :ape Mount and >oi to set up checkpoints and
ipleent tracing easures on residents suspected of coing into contact with
*ictis'
<eighbouring Sierra Leone said it has ipleented new restrictions at the airport and
that it was asking passengers to fill in fors and take a teperature test'
Soe a,or airlines, such as >ritish /irwa#s and Eirates, ha*e halted flights to
affected countries, while an# e.patriates were getting out, go*ernent officials said'
7-e=*e seen international workers lea*ing the countr# in nubers,7 Liberia=s Finance
Minister /ara !onneh told +euters'
2reece ad*ised its citi5ens on -ednesda# against non)essential tra*el to 2uinea,
Liberia, Sierra Leone and <igeria and said it would take e.tra easures at its entr#
ports'
(/dditional reporting b# :lair MacAougall in Monro*ia, Ea Farge and Aaniel
Fl#nn in Aakar, 0i :ocks in Lagos, 8aul Aa# in Madrid and 0o Miles in 2ene*aB
-riting b# Ea Farge and Aaniel Fl#nn, editing b# 8eter Millership and -ill
-ateran)
8osted b# 0ha*a