A girls suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus has her temperature checked at the government hospital in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Credit:Carl de Souza One witness said the centre was looted and the patients were "all gone". The report has been confirmed by residents and the head of Health Workers Association of Liberia, George Williams. Mr Williams said the unit housed 29 patients who "had all tested positive for Ebola" and were receiving preliminary treatment before being taken to hospital. "Of the 29 patients, 17 fled last night (after the assault). Nine died four days ago and three others were yesterday (Saturday) taken by force by their relatives" from the centre, he said.

Ebola virus health warning signs in the Liberian capital of Monrovia. Credit:Abbas Dulleh The attackers, mostly young men armed with clubs, shouted that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf "is broke" and "there's no Ebola" in Liberia as they broke into the unit in a Monrovia suburb, according to reports. Residents had opposed the creation of the centre, set up by health authorities in part of the city considered an epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in the Liberian capital. "We told them not to (build) their camp here. They didn't listen to us," said a young resident, who declined to give his name. "We don't believe in this Ebola outbreak."

The Ebola outbreak, the worst since the virus first appeared in 1976, has claimed 1145 lives in five months, according to the UN World Health Organisation's latest figures as of August 13: 413 in Liberia, 380 in Guinea, 348 in Sierra Leone and four in Nigeria. Countries in the region are strengthening security at borders, and more airlines are discontinuing flights to some affected countries, further isolating them. The actions come after a top official from Doctors Without Borders said it will take months to curb the outbreak, while the World Health Organisation said its running tally of Ebola cases and deaths underestimates the numbers medical workers are reporting. Nigeria, with 12 confirmed Ebola cases so far, said yesterday it has placed almost 200 people under surveillance for the deadly disease, trying to limit an outbreak that's killed more than 1,100 people in West Africa. Nigeria is the fourth country where Ebola has been reported, following its spread in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. At least 2,100 people have been infected throughout West Africa, the WHO reported. Upper Hand

"We are not talking weeks; we're talking about months to get an upper hand on the epidemic," Joanne Liu, international president of Doctors Without Borders, told reporters last week in Geneva. Liu, whose organisation has almost 700 health workers in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, said a turnaround may take six months and called for more help by global health groups. She said others need to "step up to the plate" in aiding the four countries battling the virus. "It needs to happen now if we want to contain this epidemic," Liu said. More health-care workers are needed to follow up on cases and educate the public about what the disease and the outbreak entails.'' The UK and Japan over the weekend both increased their financial contributions to help contain the crisis. The WHO said in a statement that their staff members "at the outbreak sites see evidence that the number of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak."

The World Food Programme also said last week that 1 million people need food aid in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, the countries hardest hit by the epidemic. Food, including cooked meals, is being transported into the countries by truck, Steve Taravella, a spokesman, said in a telephone interview. Guinea is among the countries strengthening security at its borders, aiming to control the flow of people from Liberia and Sierra Leone. The country will deploy 42 added military doctors and 42 civilian doctors at crossings, according to Remy Lamah, Guinea's minister of health. Scaling Up Ebola, which can cause bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose, has killed as many as 90 per cent of those infected in the past. In this outbreak more than 40 per cent have survived. Researchers are speeding up their efforts to test experimental medicines and vaccines for the virus. The WHO said it's "coordinating a massive scaling up of the international response, marshaling support from individual countries, disease control agencies, agencies within the United Nations system, and others."

The WHO on Aug. 8 declared the Ebola outbreak an international public health emergency. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has added 50 public health workers to its staff in the region. There is no approved cure for Ebola. Normal treatment involves keeping patients hydrated, replacing lost blood and using antibiotics to fight infections. The hope is that a patient's immune system will eventually fight off the virus's aggressive attack. Experimental drug Two American health workers infected with the virus in Liberia have received an experimental medicine from Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. and appear to be improving. Mapp's antibody is one of several experimental treatments in development. Three infected Liberian health workers received the Mapp drug over the weekend at a hospital near Monrovia, according to Tolbert G. Nyenswah, an assistant minister of health and social welfare, the New York Times reported.

The Canadian government has said it will donate as many as 1,000 doses of a vaccine that could help protect medical workers as they fight Ebola in West Africa, though it may take at least a month as officials weigh whether it is safe. Bloomberg, AAP