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                 WHO: More Health Workers Needed to Fight Ebola

   by VOA News

   The head of the[1] World Health Organization says more and
   better-trained medical workers are needed in West Africa to stop the
   growing outbreak of Ebola.

   ''Dr. Margaret Chan, speaking at a news conference in Geneva on Friday,
   said the death toll from the outbreak has climbed past 2,400, with the
   total number of cases rising to 4,784.

   She said officials trying to contain Ebola are short of almost
   everything, including protective gear, mobile laboratories and body
   bags, but that the biggest obstacle is a lack of trained health care
   workers.

   "Money, materials are important but those alone could not stop the
   Ebola transmission... Human resources is most important, and especially
   the needs for compassionate doctors and nurses who will know how to
   comfort patients despite the barriers of wearing, you know, PPG suits
   and working in very demanding conditions," Chan said.

   ''The WHO said this week that Ebola has killed nearly 80 health care
   workers in Liberia, the country hardest hit by the disease.

   ''Chan said more than 1,000 health care workers are needed at regional
   Ebola treatment centers.  She welcomed a pledge by Cuba on Friday to
   send 165 health professionals to West Africa.  The workers are
   scheduled to go to Sierra Leone in early October and stay for six
   months.

   The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has also sent staff to help fight
   the outbreak, and the U.S. Agency for International Development is
   seeking qualified medical professionals to go to the region.
   Volunteers can submit applications at the agency's website,
   [2]www.usaid.gov.

   Stronger response needed

   U.N. officials including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have warned that
   a stronger response is needed to contain Ebola, a vicious disease that
   causes vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding eyes, ears and other body
   openings.

   U.S. government contributions toward fighting the outbreak have topped
   $100 million, while the private Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation this
   week pledged $50 million to purchase supplies and speed up development
   of potential therapies.

   Liberia has become the epicenter of the outbreak, accounting for about
   half of all cases and deaths.  The WHO said this week that "intense
   transmission" also continues in Guinea and Sierra Leone.

   S. African Woman tests negative

   Meanwhile in Nigeria, a South African woman who was quarantined
   overnight  as a suspected Ebola case has tested negative for the
   disease and will be allowed to return home, a U.S. disease expert
   assisting Nigerian health authorities said on Friday.

   The traveler, who had flown in to Lagos via Morocco on Thursday, was
   held overnight in an Ebola treatment center for tests after she
   acknowledged suffering Ebola-like symptoms after working in Guinea and
   Sierra Leone since April.

   The two countries, along with Liberia, are the worst affected by the
   largest outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic virus to date.

   The epidemic has also reached Nigeria and Senegal because of sick
   travelers "importing" the disease, prompting governments across Africa
   and the world to intensify health screening. Democratic Republic of
   Congo has a separate outbreak.

   Dr. Aileen Marty, professor of infectious diseases at Florida
   International University College of Medicine, told Reuters the South
   African patient was treated for amoebic dysentery, which produced the
   symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting she had displayed on her arrival at
   Lagos airport.

   "She is negative [for Ebola]," said Marty, who is in Lagos  assisting
   Nigeria with its Ebola screening under WHO auspices.

   The traveler, whose identity was not given, would be allowed to return
   to South Africa on the first available flight, she said.

   The Ebola test was carried out by Nigerian medics and Dr. Cesar
   Munoz-Fontela of the Hamburg-based Bernhard Nocht Institute for
   Tropical Medicine, which has set up testing labs both in Lagos and in
   the southern oil city of Port Harcourt.

   Ebola screening
   Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria has instituted Ebola screening,
   including infra-red temperature scans and symptoms checks, at its
   airports and ports after a Liberian-American infected with the disease
   brought it to Lagos in July after flying from Liberia. His is one of
   seven deaths recorded so far out of 19 confirmed cases in Nigeria.

   Ebola screening will also be carried out on thousands of Nigerian
   pilgrims leaving in coming days for the annual haj pilgrimage in Saudi
   Arabia. Saudi Arabia has barred pilgrims from Sierra Leone, Liberia and
   Guinea but is allowing Nigerians.
   [Some material for this report came from Reuters]
     __________________________________________________________________

   [3]http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-south-african-quarantined-in-nige
   ria-tests-negative-for-ebola/2447389.html

References

   1. http://www.who.org/
   2. http://www.usaid.gov/
   3. http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-south-african-quarantined-in-nigeria-tests-negative-for-ebola/2447389.html