U.S. Buys Up Ebola Gear, Leaving Little for Africa

Manufacturers Strain to Meet Demand Amid Rising Anxiety

WALL STREET JOURNAL                                                                                                       Nov. 25, 2014
 By Drew Hinshaw in Accra, Ghana, and Jacob Bunge in Chicago

Protective suits were running low in Sierra Leone this month, when a Christian charity decided to ship some over. The charity turned to American medical-wear suppliers, which came back with bad news: The suits needed to treat Ebola are running low in America, too.

A worker wearing Personal Protective Equipment has his name written on his suit before leaving an Ebola treatment center in Guinea last week. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

“There’s been some sleepless nights,” said Jennifer Mounsey, director of corporate engagement for World Vision, the Christian humanitarian group based in Monrovia, Calif. “We’re all sweating bullets.”

The medical moon suit—which has come to symbolize the Ebola epidemic—is in short supply. Only a handful of manufacturers make the medical garb that doctors and ordinary people in West Africa need to protect themselves from the bodily fluids that spread the virus. The few global suppliers are ramping up production, but they are still straining to meet demand, especially since anxiety has risen in the U.S.

Read complete story
http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-buys-up-ebola-gear-leaving-little-for-africa-1416875059