Ebola epidemic to take six months to control: MSF

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders says the Ebola epidemic is moving faster than authorities can handle and it could take six months to bring under control.

“It is…moving faster than we can respond to,” Joanne Liu, the chief of the humanitarian aid organization, told reporters in Geneva on Friday, adding that it could take six months to get the upper hand.

“It is like wartime,” she said a day after returning from West Africa, adding, “I don’t think we should focus on numbers. To really get a reality check, we’re not talking in terms of weeks, but months to control the epidemic.”

Meanwhile, Elhadj As Sy, the new head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said he agreed with MSF’s six-month timeline for bringing the outbreak under control.

The warning comes shortly after the World Health Organization (WHO) said extraordinary measures are needed to tackle the outbreak.

Meanwhile, the United Nations is going to provide food aid to one million people in affected countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the death toll from the worst outbreak of Ebola in four decades has now climbed to 1,145.

There is currently no known cure for Ebola, which is a form of hemorrhagic fever with diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding as its symptoms.

Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are grappling with Ebola, which has also spread to Nigeria. The virus can be transmitted through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat.

The transmission of the virus can happen through sexual contact or unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.