Prayer: Ebola Epidemic in Guinea—Doctors Without Borders Sends Teams to Help

News Staff : Mar 27, 2014
Doctors Without Borders

"We are doing everything we can to treat the patients with dignity, whilst at the same time protecting the community and family from possible contamination."

In response to the Ebola epidemic that has broken out in Guinea, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) continues to reinforce its teams in Guéckédou and Macenta, two towns in the south of the country where the virus has spread. Thirty staff members are already on the ground and more doctors, nurses, and sanitation specialists will be joining them in the coming days. (Photo via Telegraph.UK)

To date, thirteen samples have tested positive for the Ebola virus, an extremely deadly viral hemorrhagic fever. Other samples are currently being analyzed. Suspected cases have been identified in neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone, but none of these have yet been confirmed by laboratory tests. The latest official figures from the Guinean Ministry of Health declare 86 suspect cases, 60 of whom have died.

"In partnership with the Ministry of Health, we have set up a dedicated ten-bed facility in Guéckédou town," says Marie-Christine Férir, MSF emergency coordinator. "We have also started working on a facility in Macenta. It is essential that all patients showing symptoms of the disease be put on treatment rapidly and isolated from the rest of the community." Currently there are ten patients with Ebola symptoms under treatment in Guéckédou.

"We are doing everything we can to treat the patients with dignity, whilst at the same time protecting the community and family from possible contamination," says Férir. The disease mainly spreads by direct contact with a patient’s blood, feces, or saliva. The team is therefore trying to minimize potentially dangerous contact between the patients and their families while still maintaining family links.