Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Monrovia (Agenzia Fides) – The Ebola virus is spreading alarmingly in West Africa. After the death of Brother Patrick Nshamdze, Director of St. Joseph Hospital in Monrovia, the hospital has been isolated, and three confreres who had assisted him when there was no certainty of diagnosis, have undergone tests. We are talking about two Spaniards and a friar of Ghana, who currently have not had symptoms but are very scared. A 'top secret' serum, studied in the United States, has been tested on two sick missionaries in Liberia, currently in quarantine in St. Joseph hospital. In the U.S.A., the serum was used on two Americans who became ill in Liberia and now both feel better: Kent Brantly, the first doctor already returned home on Sunday and is at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, and Nancy Writebol, a nurse will return to America in the coming hours. Given the seriousness of the problem, the first African Summit with the United States in Washington has opened and "ad hoc" screening is also being carried out on more than 50 Heads of State and Government and members of their delegations. Even Secret Service agents, who ensure the safety of the President and the White House have been educated on the risk Ebola, ready to face any medical emergency. There is also concern about the spread of the disease in Nigeria, where a new case has just affected the doctor who treated Patrick Sawyer, the U.S. official of the embassy in Liberia found dead shortly after his arrival in Lagos. In Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Liberia fear mounts. In Sierra Leone even soccer games have been forbidden for fear of gatherings of crowds, and in Liberia the corpses of ebola victims are burned to prevent the spread of infection. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 05/08/2014)
