There are just two doctors available to treat 85,000 people in the Bomi County of Liberia, one of the countries hardest hit by the deadly outbreak of Ebola.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said 2,917 people have died of Ebola out of 6,263 cases in the five West African countries affected by the disease. There were 99 deaths in Liberia between September 17 and 21.

Recent worst-case estimates suggest a staggering 1.4 million people could be infected with Ebola by January in Liberia and Sierra Leone - more than 10pc of their combined populations.

The medical team in Bomi County consists of Dr Gobee Logan, the county health director and another doctor.

The team is responsible for treating Ebola patients - 100 patients in a general hospital as well as sick people in the rest of the county.

Dr Logan has been working "around the clock" since June in Bomi County, which does not have a dedicated treatment centre. Instead, he has been taking care of patients in a holding facility, which only has 12 beds. Many victims are dying at home and infecting their family in a vicious circle that has come to define the current outbreak.

However, the proportion of cases that occurred in the past 21 days - the incubation period of the virus - has also fallen in all three countries, suggesting the spread of the disease may be slowing.

"The upward epidemic trend continues in Sierra Leone and most probably also in Liberia," WHO said.

Risk

"[But] the situation in Guinea, although still of grave concern, appears to have stabilised: between 75 and 100 new confirmed cases have been reported in each of the past five weeks."

WHO said Liberia had 315 bed spaces for Ebola patients and aid agencies have promised to set up 440 more, but the country needs a further 1,550 beds that nobody has yet offered to provide. In Sierra Leone, 297 planned new beds would almost double existing capacity, but a further 532 were needed.

The lack of beds means those infected with Ebola are still being turned away from hospitals and must be cared for at home, where they risk infecting yet more people. As a result, part of the aid response is now focusing on setting up care centres in communities and training locals, including 11,000 teachers in Liberia, to educate people about how to combat the disease.

(© Independent News Service)

Irish Independent