The US Army will work on the ground in the fight against Ebola, which has already killed 2,027 people in West Africa, according to the latest report of the World Health Organization (WHO). This was announced by President Barack Obama. "If we do not make the effort now, and this expands not only in Africa but elsewhere, there is the possibility that the virus could mutate and become more easily transmissible," he said. "Then it could become a serious threat to the United States." The Army mounted isolation units and equipment in order to ensure the safety of healthcare workers. "Despite all this, it will be months until we get to control the problem in Africa, said the American president.
The Ebola outbreak, detected last March in Guinea, is the deadliest on record and has led the countries concerned to take drastic measures. Sierra Leone, with nearly six million people and about 700 deaths in this epidemic, announced last week that its citizens confined at home between 19 and 21 September to stop contagion and locate those affected by the virus . "It's an aggressive but necessary measure," presidential spokesman yesterday justified, Ibrahim Ben Kargbo. During those days, health service workers will visit households to take the temperature and inform citizens about the disease that is transmitted only by direct contact with body fluids of infected persons or contaminated objects and causes fever, vomiting , diarrhea and bleeding.
Organisations working in the field do not look favorably on this measure. "In our experience, quarantines and closure do not help control Ebola because just killing people and undermining public confidence in health authorities," he said this week to Doctors Without Borders. "This leads to the concealment of new cases and eventually spread the disease," he added. The NGO believes that the controls performed at street require great experience and, although cases can be detected, "there is a severe lack of treatment centers where you can take the sick."
Since months now, this organization urges the international response to curb the spread of this virus, which is not controlled for another nine months and affect 20,000 people, according to WHO. Calls in particular, countries with responsiveness against biological disasters both civil and military, to send equipment and treatments to affected countries. "This is our best hope for controlling this outbreak as possible." The UN last week amounted to 463 millions euros in supplies needed to fight the disease in addition to hit Sierra Leone to Liberia, Nigeria, Guinea and Senegal. The problem is sanitary and economical. The suspension of flights and the closure of land borders and sea-matters to be discussed at the meeting of the African Union are seriously damaging the emerging African economy.
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