Detailed description of the impact of Ebola on Liberian health workers

THE WASHINGTON POST                            Oct. 12, 2014

MONROVIA, Liberia — They were among the only Liberians who could treat Ebola, and in a single morning, it felt as if they were being picked off one by one.

First, before dawn on Thursday, Ebola killed Dr. John Tata. Then, hours later, Dr. Thomas Scotland tested positive for the virus.

With only a few dozen Liberian physicians in a country facing the biggest Ebola outbreak in history, it was a crippling blow. One Ebola treatment center closed its doors. Several of its hygienists and clinicians quit. Others left their shifts early to weep quietly outside.

Detailed description of Médecins Sans Frontières struggle to counter Ebola

NEW YORK TIMES
By SHERI FINK, ADAM NOSSITER and JAMES KANTER.  OCT. 10, 2014

But it, too, has been overwhelmed by the scale of this disaster. In Sierra Leone, it has been strained by the caseload, though it was wary of a decision by other health and government officials on Friday to treat most patients at home because of a shortage of clinic beds. In Guinea the day before, it reported that its two treatment centers were stretched to the limit....

NEW YORK TIMES                                                                     Oct. 11, 2014
By Adam Nossiter

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Acknowledging a major “defeat” in the fight against Ebola, international health officials battling the epidemic in Sierra Leone approved plans on Friday to help families tend to patients at home, recognizing that they are overwhelmed and have little chance of getting enough treatment beds in place quickly to meet the surging need.

ASSOCIATED PRESS                   Oct 10, 2014, 4:36 PM ET

MONROVIA -- Liberian lawmakers on Friday rejected a proposal to grant President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf the power to further restrict movement and public gatherings and to confiscate property in the fight against Ebola. One legislator said such a law would have turned Liberia into a police state.

The proposal's defeat came as the World Health Organization once again raised the death toll attributed to the Ebola outbreak. The Geneva-based U.N. agency said that 4,033 confirmed, probable or suspected Ebola deaths have now been recorded.

Liberians stage a protest yesterrday outside the National Assembly against the government not doing enough to fight Ebola virus in Monrovia, Liberia.  (AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh)

All but nine of them were in the three worst-affected countries, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Eight of the rest were in Nigeria, with one patient dying in the United States....