Thursday, 31 July 2014

Ebola outbreak: US Peace Corps volunteers put in isolation following exposure to person who died from virus


Outbreak: Staff of the 'Medecins Sans Frontieres' charity carry the body of a victim
Two volunteers from the US Peace Corps have been put in isolation after being exposed to the deadly Ebola virus.

The pair, who are being kept under observation, are believed to have been exposed to a person who later died of the virus.
The two volunteers will be returned to the US as soon as they are cleared to go.
Earlier, the Peace Corps said it was pulling volunteers out of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone due to the increased spread of the virus.
A British doctor who went to treat Ebola victims in Africa has told how medics put their lives at risk to tackle the virus.
Dr Hannah Spencer, 29, volunteered to work for charity Doctors Without Borders after hearing of the outbreak earlier this year.
Hannah Spencer
Hannah Spencer
Dozens of health workers have died treating Ebola patients and Dr Spencer said more resources were needed. She added: “Every day we’d hear of the numbers of cases going up and up. That makes you feel powerless.”
She said she had to will herself to feel safe while wearing a boiling-hot air-sealed Hazmat suit she had to wear while caring for patients.
Dr Spencer said: “It’s difficult working in the protective clothing – it’s very hot and you can’t spend more than an hour inside it.
“So when you’ve got a large number of patients, it’s hard to feel you spend long enough with each one.
"With the mask and the goggles and layers of protective clothing, it took much longer than normal to build relationships with patients.”
Dr Spencer, from Surrey, said medics lose five litres in sweat during a shift and have to spend two hours rehydrating afterwards.
Medics are allowed to work for only up to six weeks in the field because conditions are so gruelling. They also go through multiple decontamination sessions after they have finished a day’s work.
Daily MirrorEbola outbreak graphic
Staff are given a buddy to watch out for symptoms.
After Dr Spencer returned to the UK she had to stay within a short driving distance of a hospital in case she discovered that she had been exposed to the disease. 
Recalling her time in Foya, Liberia, she said: “One day, four children aged around three and four were brought from another health facility, sick with fever.
“They were from two different families but lived in the same house, where two adult family members had died of the disease.
"The children arrived in the ambulance accompanied by a mother and an aunt.
“The mother refused to let them out. She didn’t believe they had Ebola. She was convinced they had been poisoned.
"It took an hour to persuade her to leave the ambulance.”

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