Ebola’s global reach

Suspected infection of a US healthcare worker shows how much assistance West Africa requires.

A hazardous materials specialist disinfects the homes of a health worker in Texas who contracted Ebola. Photo: Jaime R Carrero / Reuters

The scale of the assistance West African countries will need to cope with the Ebola epidemic has been demonstrated by a Texas health care worker testing positive for the virus. If the procedures used by a highly-trained staff member in a well-equipped hospital could not prevent transmission, it shows the challenge facing impoverished countries.

As The National reported yesterday, the US worker wore a gown, gloves, mask and face shield while treating a Liberian patient who later died of Ebola. Some procedural flaw – possibly in how the worker changed from those protective garments afterwards – allowed exposure to the virus.

It goes to show the compounding difficulties faced by West African countries in the Ebola’s epicentre. The basic facilities available and the lower level of training of health care workers there have seen more than 400 medical staff contract the virus, at least 233 of whom have died.

The loss of trained staff exacerbates the risk posed by the disease in these countries, and this has been further amplified by staff in places like Liberia threatening to stop work unless they receive more hazard pay. This in turn shows the need for the wider world to do more to help countries that are already significantly disadvantaged in the fight against the spread of this highly infectious virus.