The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared West
Africa’s Ebola outbreak an international health emergency, and called for
global “solidarity” in the fight to stop the spread of the virus which has now
claimed close to a thousand lives.
States of emergency have already been declared in Sierra
Leone and Liberia, where the number of Ebola cases continues to rise. Margaret
Chan, director general of WHO, said that there was still potential for further
international spread, and warned that the countries affected did not have the
capacity to manage the outbreak alone.
It is only the third time that WHO has declared a public
health emergency of international concern, a high level of threat previously
applied to the H1N1 “swine flu” outbreak in 2008, and the ongoing polio
outbreak in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
According to the latest WHO figures, released yesterday, 961
people had been killed in the current Ebola outbreak, which is by far the worst
since the virus was first identified in the 1970s. In a small sign that
progress might be being made, WHO said that on 5 and 6 August there had been no
new cases of Ebola in Guinea, here the outbreak began in February.
However, there were 68 new cases across Liberia, Sierra
Leone and Nigeria, the latest country to see transmission of the virus, and
many experts remain deeply pessimistic about the prospects for an early end to
the outbreak.
British expert Dr Ben Neuman, a virologist at the University
of Reading, said that it was unlikely the virus could be stopped completely
until “after Christmas”. However, he said the declaration of an international
emergency was “a big forward step” in the fight against the disease. “This will
make the vast resources of the United Nations such as funds, experts and
equipment available to help stop Ebola,” he said.
In the affected countries, there are still signs that public
health messages aimed at preventing the spread of the virus are not getting
through to many communities, and suspicion of health workers and of isolation
centres where Ebola patients are treated remains high.
WHO will decide next week whether to use experimental
medicines in the fight against Ebola. The plan comes after an experimental
treatment used on two American aid workers infected by Ebola reportedly helped
improve their condition. There has been anger among many in the affected
countries that the serum, known as ZMapp, will not be available in African
countries, but the US Centers for Disease Control says there is hardly any
stock and that its efficacy is still in doubt. Even if it were deployed, it
would be three to four months before even modest amounts could be manufactured,
experts said.
A Spanish priest who became the first person infected with
Ebola to be treated in Europe, after being flown into Spain earlier this week,
was said to be in a stable condition yesterday.
There has been criticism of the international response to
the crisis, which has only gained momentum in recent days. Dr Bart Janssens,
director of operations for Doctors Without Borders, which has 66 international
and 610 national staff working in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, said that
it had been warning for weeks that “a massive medical, epidemiological and
public health response is desperately needed”.