Immediate action is needed to contain the deadly Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, World Health Organization (WHO) officials warned Wednesday. At least 600 cases and 390 deaths in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea have been reported since the epidemic began in March.
“There is an urgent need to intensify response efforts,” Dr. Luis Sambo, WHO regional director for Africa, said this week. WHO and Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have sent teams of relief workers to affected countries.
But large numbers of new cases are straining emergency services on the ground.
“We have reached our limits,” said Dr. Bart Janssens, MSF director of operations. “Despite the human resources equipment deployed… we are no longer able to send teams to the new outbreak sites.”
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