Tom Vanden Brook

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The first of 17 U.S.-built Ebola treatment centers in West Africa will open in a few weeks, the top commander of U.S. troops in the region told USA TODAY on Sunday.

Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams also said new mobile laboratories have cut the time it takes to process blood samples of suspected Ebola victims to two or three hours from three days.

"They are making a huge difference," Williams said.

Williams, a top Army commander with the Pentagon's Africa Command, leads the efforts of 571 U.S. troops in Liberia and Senegal. He spoke from his headquarters in Monrovia, Liberia, about the medical facilities troops have rapidly built, the rough conditions they face and the warm reception they've received from Liberians.

U.S. troops are helping the Agency for International Development build the mobile hospitals and other facilities to fight Ebola, which has affected almost 9,000 people in West Africa and killed almost 4,500. More than half of the victims have been in Liberia.

Also on Sunday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the Pentagon will create a 30-person, rapid-response Ebola medical support team to aid civilian health care workers should additional cases of the virus be diagnosed in the United States.

The effort was requested by the Department of Health and Human Services "as an added prudent measure to ensure our nation is ready to respond quickly, effectively and safely in the event of additional Ebola cases," a Pentagon statement said.

In Liberia, Williams said, the Monrovia Medical Unit, a mobile hospital for health care workers built by Air Force personnel, will open in a few weeks.

Soon after, the first of up to 17 Ebola treatment units — being built by U.S. and Liberian troops and scattered around the country — will receive patients, Williams said. Heavy rain and poor infrastructure have made construction difficult.

"It's some tough country," Williams said. "When you're hacking through the jungle to put in an Ebola treatment unit, it takes some time."

The units will have as many as 100 beds, far bigger than the current centers that can care for about 25 patients, Williams said. They are essentially a series of tents that can be used to isolate those stricken. The disease is spread through contact with body fluids.

Teams of medical personnel, in full protective gear, will work in shifts of less than an hour.

Medical personnel are also preparing to train as many as 500 people per month to fight Ebola. Two hundred people per week will receive instruction in Monrovia, and three mobile units each will train 100 in more remote parts of the country.

The military has established procedures for U.S. troops who could be infected, although Williams stressed that there are no plans for them to have contact with patients. A soldier who contracts the disease would be quarantined, stabilized and flown back to the United States for treatment.

Meantime, they protect themselves by keeping their distance from local residents, no hand shaking and regularly washing with chlorine to kill the virus, Williams said. He worries more about mosquitoes and bad roads.

"The thing I'm most concerned with is malaria and driving around here," he said.

Troops take anti-malaria medication and are warned to drive carefully.

Williams acknowledged that there is anxiety among some troops on the mission. To fight that, he regularly circulates among troops, holds town-hall meetings and relies on his commanders.

"Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are used to working in complex, ambiguous environments," Williams said. "There is anxiety here. But the morale is very, very high because I have great leaders here."

Troops have found Liberians to be welcoming and grateful for their efforts, Williams said. For many troops who have had multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, the contrast couldn't be much greater, he said.

"Liberians, everywhere I go, they are waving. We wave back," Williams said. "A very comfortable operating environment. I will tell you, hope is what we're providing."

In a few weeks, he'll turn over the U.S. military mission to the 101st Airborne Division.

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