Lofa County, Liberia – The need for specialist isolation units had increased due to the continuous African Ebola outbreak scale, a United States health official had assessed the ongoing crisis and issued warnings.
The specialist isolation units were designed to treat victims of the Ebola outbreak. Just recently, health officials were overwhelmed learning the capacity of such facilities. The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) global health director Kevin De Cock said one of the urgent care clinics located in Lofa County had 80 patients being treated within a 20-bed unit.
A Liberian health official also disclosed in an interview that a woman died due to the Ebola virus after a failed immediate admission in the other treatment center in Monrovia. The health facility in the capital was similarly full of patients as with that in Lofa County.
People who were infected by the virus need urgent care, however many of them were still hesitant to report to the authorities. Dr. De Cock said their cases might have been worse than those in the official records. Hence, health authorities must track them down diligently before they could pass the virus to other people.
The current situation has become extremely severe, De Cock added. It has significantly alarmed health officials and health service units to do outreach works within communities. Those suspected with the virus need a sort of an urgent care near me assurance, as well as an immediate treatment. The Ebola outbreak could last between four and six months, or longer.
De Cock is a renowned expert on virus control, and has been a leader in fighting HIV. Upon arriving in Liberia, he started to assess the scale of the virus that has alarmed officials due to its speedy spread. The Ebola virus began spreading in rural interior areas, but has reached coastal capitals of nearby countries. Liberia was hit by the infectious virus because of its destroyed health services, from the major hospitals own to the smallest urgent care clinic during the civil war.
The health expert said the virus also affected a lot of health aids and workers. Records had indicated that between 70 and 80 health aids died due to the outbreak, which was unacceptable. De Cock emphasized the specialist isolation units could no longer accommodate any succeeding increase in Ebola cases.
Aside from the opening of a new center in Monrovia, a decent level of care is of top priority, because building additional specialist isolation units would be impossible to do at the moment.
