Liberia buttons up 50,000 in slum

Curfew, quarantine put in place after attack on Ebola clinic

A market in the center of Monrovia, Liberia, is jammed with shoppers Tuesday despite fears of the spread of the Ebola virus.
A market in the center of Monrovia, Liberia, is jammed with shoppers Tuesday despite fears of the spread of the Ebola virus.

MONROVIA, Liberia -- Liberia's president declared a curfew and ordered security forces late Tuesday to quarantine a slum -- home to at least 50,000 people -- as the West African country battled to stop the spread of Ebola in the capital.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf announced late Tuesday that a curfew is going into place from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Security forces also will be ensuring no one goes in or out of West Point, a slum in Monrovia where angry residents attacked an Ebola observation center over the weekend.

The measures came as authorities said that three health workers in the country who received an experimental drug for the disease are showing signs of recovery, though medical experts caution it is not certain if the drug is effective.

The three Liberians are being treated with the last known doses of ZMapp, a drug that earlier had been given to two infected Americans and a Spaniard. The Americans also are improving, but the Spaniard died.

"The medical professionals have informed the Liberian information ministry their progress is 'remarkable,'" the ministry said in a statement, adding that the patients are showing "very positive signs of recovery."

Experts have said it is unclear whether ZMapp, which had never before been tested in humans, is effective. Even if it is, the California-based maker has said more supplies won't be available for months.

In the meantime, David Nabarro, the public-health expert coordinating United Nations efforts to fight Ebola said he's heading to Washington and then to West Africa to determine the best ways the world body can support affected people, communities and governments.

He said there is a huge, unmet demand for health workers in West Africa not only to care for Ebola patients but also to care for people with other conditions.

Experts have said the best way to stop the spread of Ebola in West Africa is to identify the sick, isolate them from the healthy and monitor everyone with whom they have been in contact.

At least 1,229 people have died of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria in the current outbreak, and more than 2,200 have been sickened, the WHO said.

Authorities have struggled to treat and isolate the sick, in part because of widespread fear that treatment centers are places where people go to die. Many sick people have hidden in their homes, relatives have sometimes taken their loved ones away from health centers, and mobs have occasionally attacked health workers.

On Saturday, residents of the West Point slum attacked a center where people were being monitored for Ebola. The raid was triggered by fears that people with the disease were being taken there from all over the country, the Information Ministry said Tuesday.

During the raid, dozens of people waiting to be screened for Ebola fled the center. Looters made off with items, including bloody sheets and mattresses, that could spread the infection.

All the patients who fled are now being screened at a hospital in Monrovia, and those who tested positive are being treated, the ministry said. It was unclear how many of the 37 who fled were confirmed to have Ebola. In addition, residents of the slum have agreed to return any stolen items, officials said.

Liberian authorities were searching for a pastor who ran away from a different Ebola treatment center outside Monrovia.

The WHO said it is seeing some encouraging signs in other parts of West Africa. In Guinea, people from villages that had previously rejected outside help were beginning to seek medical care, according to a WHO statement. The statement said the situation is "less alarming" in Guinea than in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Although the outbreak began in Guinea, Liberia has now recorded the highest number of deaths and Sierra Leone the most cases.

The WHO also said there is "cautious optimism" that the spread of the virus in Nigeria can be stopped. So far, all recorded cases in that country have been linked to one man, who flew from Liberia to Nigeria while infected.

"The outbreak is not under control," the WHO cautioned. "As recent experience shows, progress is fragile, with a real risk that the outbreak could experience another flare-up."

To try to stem the spread of Ebola, officials have imposed quarantines and travel restrictions on the sick and those in contact with them, sometimes shutting off entire villages and counties.

Those restrictions are limiting access to food and other necessities, said the WHO. The United Nations World Food Program has said that it is preparing to deliver food to 1 million people over the next three months.

Information for this article was contributed by Sarah DiLorenzo of The Associated Press.

A Section on 08/20/2014

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