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 As the death toll rose to more than 2,400 people out of 4,784 cases,
WHO director general Margaret Chan said the vast nature of the
outbreak -- particularly in the three hardest-hit countries of
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- required a massive emergency
response.
"The Ebola outbreak that is ravaging parts of West Africa is the
largest and most complex and most severe in the almost four-decade
history of this disease," she told reporters on an international
teleconference from Geneva.
"The number of new patients is moving far faster than the capacity
to manage them. We need to surge at least three to four times to
catch up with the outbreaks."
Chan called for urgent international support in sending doctors,
nurses, medical supplies and aid to the worst-affected countries.
"The thing we need most is people," she said. "The right people, the
right specialists, and specialists who are appropriately trained and
know how to keep themselves safe."
The Ebola infection rate and death toll have been particularly high
among health workers, who are exposed to hundreds of highly
infectious patients who can pass the virus on through body fluids
such as blood and excrement.
Some foreign healthcare workers, including several Americans and at
least one Briton, have also become infected while working with
patients in West Africa.
Speaking at the same briefing, Cuba's minister for public health,
Roberto Morales Ojeda, said his country would be sending 165
healthcare workers to help in the fight - the largest contingent of
foreign doctors and nurses to be committed so far.
Chan welcomed Cuba's move and urged others to follow suit.
"If we are going to go to war with Ebola, we need the resources to
fight," she said. "We still need about 500 to 600 doctors coming
from abroad and at least 1,000 or more health care workers."
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She said the three worst affected countries were also running low on
"almost everything" - including personal protective equipment, basic
medical supplies and body bags.
"Today there is not one single bed available for the treatment of an
Ebola patient in the entire country of Liberia," she said.
Although the latest figures show more than 2,400 people have died of
Ebola virus infection in West Africa since the epidemic started in
March, Chan said even the most up-to-date tolls were likely to lag
far behind the reality on the ground.
"Whatever number of cases and deaths we are reporting is an
underestimate," she said.
The U.N. health agency had previously warned there could be as many
as 20,000 cases in the region before the outbreak is brought under
control.
The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that economic
growth in Liberia and Sierra Leone could decline by as much as 3.5
percentage points due to the outbreak, which it said has crippled
their mining, agriculture and services sectors.
(Writing by Kate Kelland; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Sonya
Hepinstall)
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