DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — U.S. health officials are warning that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is likely to spread to more countries.
During a telephone briefing with reporters, Tom Kenyon of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the disease is spreading faster than health workers can keep up with it. He says the world has the tools to stop the outbreak; they just have to be put in place. Kenyon says more treatment centers are being opened, and that he will be talking with the African Union about sending more health workers.
The World Health Organization says at least $600 million is needed to fight the outbreak, which has now killed more than 1,900 people. The agency says the top priority is providing protective gear to health workers in the affected areas.
Doctors and nurses have been especially vulnerable to Ebola because they work closely with Ebola patients.
The WHO announced today that a doctor in southern Nigeria exposed dozens of people to the Ebola virus by continuing to treat patients after he became ill. He died, and his widow and sister are sick with Ebola. About 60 others in the city of Port Harcourt are under surveillance.
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