The West African state of Liberia continues to battle the spread of the Ebola virus in its crowded, oceanside capital of Monrovia.
The capital recorded a record high of over 1,200 deaths from the world’s worst outbreak of the Ebola virus in history. The deadly virus continues to ravage three small West African nations: Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. The virus has also made its way into Nigeria, Africa’s largest economic producer.
The World Health Organization has ramped up the global response to this epidemic, rushing over emergency food deliveries, supplies, as well as setting up quarantine zones for infected patients.
The WHO said they are working with U.N.’s World Food Program to ensure food delivery to 1 million people living in Ebola quarantine zones, which is guarded by local security in these largely effected West African states.
“Food has been delivered to hospitalized patients and people under quarantine who are not able to leave their homes to purchase food. Providing regular food supplies is a potent means of limiting unnecessary movement,” WFP said in a statement.
While trying to help treat infected patients, officials in Liberia also hope to stop the spread of the virus in one of its poorest neighborhoods, the West Point slum. Over the weekend, crowds from the area looted a local holding center for suspected Ebola cases, in which 17 patients escaped. Liberia police were able to track down all 17 suspected cases and transfer them to the JFK Ebola specialist treatment center.
Earlier this month, the WHO gave the green light for the use of experimental serum ZMapp to treat patients with the deadly virus. In Monrovia, three African healthcare workers were given the rare experimental drug, and they are showing “remarkable signs of improvement,” according to the doctor overseeing the treatment.
Although the untested drug seems to be working for infected patients, the manufacturing company warns that there isn’t nearly enough to treat every patient, and cautions people not to put their hope in the drug.
SOURCE: HuffPost | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
