MOSCOW, August 17 (RIA Novosti) - At least 20 patients infected with the deadly Ebola virus ran away from a quarantine center in Liberia after armed men attacked the clinic crying "there is no Ebola" in Liberia, Agence France-Presse reported Sunday citing a witness.
"They broke down the door and looted the place. The patients have all gone," AFP quoted Rebecca Wesseh as saying after she witnessed the attack in a Monrovia suburb.
The Head of Health Workers Association of Liberia George Williams confirmed the report, adding that the pre-hospital quarantine center hosted 29 patients, all of whom had tested positive for Ebola.
Liberia has the highest death toll from the Ebola virus, which has spread from Guinea to Sierra Leone and Nigeria. According to the UN health agency, there currently exist some 10 or 12 doses of the vaccine.
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a deadly disease transmitted through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of the infected. There is no licensed treatment or vaccine for the Ebola virus, which has a case fatality rate of up to 90 percent.
Three African doctors infected with the virus, two from Libeia and one from Nigeria, became the first to be administered the experimental serum ZMapp last week, when the United States delivered three doses of the drug to Liberia.
Earlier these vaccines were administered to US missionary workers with the aid organization Samaritan’s Purse and a Spanish priest who died Tuesday in a hospital in Madrid.
According to the recent WHO estimates, the death toll from the virus has exceeded 1,140. A total of 2,127 people have been infected.
