A Madrid nurse infected with Ebola was fighting for her life Friday as authorities worldwide tightened screening of travellers and tried to prevent panic over the deadly disease spreading.
From Australia to Zimbabwe, and Macedonia to Spain people who showed signs of fever or had recent contact with Ebola victims, were whisked into isolation units or ordered to stay in their homes.
False reports of infections forced Spanish police to call for calm, while in France some public buildings outside Paris were briefly closed after a scare.
With authorities warning that hoaxes could trigger panic, a man was taken off a US flight by a bio-hazards team after he sneezed and reportedly said, "I have Ebola. You are all screwed."
The warnings come amid serious concerns in Spain over how the virus could have spread in the country's main isolation hospital, with the government setting up a crisis committee on Friday to tackle the "complex and difficult" situation.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy visited the Carlos III hospital in Madrid where 44-year-old nurse Teresa Romero was infected, and where she was in a "stable but serious" condition Friday.
Doctors there took in seven more patients for observation late Thursday, while Madrid's regional leader said Romero, who caught the haemorrhagic fever while caring for two missionaries brought back from Africa, was at "serious risk" of dying.
Her husband and 12 other people, most of them medical staff, were also under observation, though a male nurse had been discharged, the hospital said.
- Ebola staff 'stressed' -
In a sign of the stress at the hospital, where the media are camped out, some staff did not show up for work on Friday. One nurse caring for Romero, Charly Manuel Torres, told AFP: "There are fewer staff signing up to help" in giving voluntary extra cover at the hospital.
"We are very stressed. We are working under a lot of pressure."
But with the death toll from the epidemic now heading towards 4,000, the United Nations and leaders of the Ebola-stricken nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone pleaded for greater help for the frontline of the disease in Africa.
In Liberia, which has seen more than 2,000 Ebola deaths including nearly 100 health-care workers, the government said Friday it had banned journalists from Ebola clinics, arguing it was to protect patients' privacy.
The move came as nurses at the largest government Ebola clinic in the capital Monrovia staged a "go slow" to demand hazard pay, defying a request by UN health officials to hold back on industrial action during the crisis.
- Alerts abound -
In France a public building was briefly evacuated in a Paris suburb on Thursday after a false Ebola alert was triggered when an African man felt ill. Earlier, the arrival of a group of schoolchildren from Guinea had triggered panic at a French school.
And Spain's police force warned in a Twitter message against hoaxes, following false reports of infections.
In other Ebola alerts, Macedonia quarantined people who had come into contact with a Briton who died Thursday after exhibiting Ebola-like symptoms. Australia said it had tested 11 people including a Red Cross nurse returned from Sierra Leone, while a 47-year-old Guinean suspected of having the disease was hospitalised in Brazil.
The United States, Canada and Britain boosted screening for Ebola at major airports, while a team in protective gear was sent aboard a US Airways flight headed from Philadelphia to the Dominican Republic after a man on board reportedly said he had Ebola.
- Prevent the next 'AIDS' -
Ebola's spillover into the United States and Europe has raised fears of a wider outbreak.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted the number of cases could mount to 1.4 million by January unless strong measures are taken to contain the disease.
At the annual meeting in Washington of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on Thursday, African, US and UN officials pleaded with donor nations to step up aid.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said resources to support the fight must be increased 20-fold.
"Cases are growing exponentially," Ban said. "Do not wait for consultation. Just take action."
"We have to work now so that it is not the world's next AIDS," CDC Director Tom Frieden warned at the meeting.
"I would say that in the 30 years I've been working in public health, the only thing like this has been AIDS," he said, adding that there was a "long fight" ahead.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, speaking via video link from Monrovia, said support should include "compensation to health-care workers who, for fear of the risk involved, have refused or are reluctant to return to work".
A Madrid nurse infected with Ebola was fighting for her life Friday as authorities worldwide tightened screening of travellers and tried to prevent panic over the deadly disease spreading.
From Australia to Zimbabwe, and Macedonia to Spain people who showed signs of fever or had recent contact with Ebola victims, were whisked into isolation units or ordered to stay in their homes.
False reports of infections forced Spanish police to call for calm, while in France some public buildings outside Paris were briefly closed after a scare.
With authorities warning that hoaxes could trigger panic, a man was taken off a US flight by a bio-hazards team after he sneezed and reportedly said, “I have Ebola. You are all screwed.”
The warnings come amid serious concerns in Spain over how the virus could have spread in the country’s main isolation hospital, with the government setting up a crisis committee on Friday to tackle the “complex and difficult” situation.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy visited the Carlos III hospital in Madrid where 44-year-old nurse Teresa Romero was infected, and where she was in a “stable but serious” condition Friday.
Doctors there took in seven more patients for observation late Thursday, while Madrid’s regional leader said Romero, who caught the haemorrhagic fever while caring for two missionaries brought back from Africa, was at “serious risk” of dying.
Her husband and 12 other people, most of them medical staff, were also under observation, though a male nurse had been discharged, the hospital said.
– Ebola staff ‘stressed’ –
In a sign of the stress at the hospital, where the media are camped out, some staff did not show up for work on Friday. One nurse caring for Romero, Charly Manuel Torres, told AFP: “There are fewer staff signing up to help” in giving voluntary extra cover at the hospital.
“We are very stressed. We are working under a lot of pressure.”
But with the death toll from the epidemic now heading towards 4,000, the United Nations and leaders of the Ebola-stricken nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone pleaded for greater help for the frontline of the disease in Africa.
In Liberia, which has seen more than 2,000 Ebola deaths including nearly 100 health-care workers, the government said Friday it had banned journalists from Ebola clinics, arguing it was to protect patients’ privacy.
The move came as nurses at the largest government Ebola clinic in the capital Monrovia staged a “go slow” to demand hazard pay, defying a request by UN health officials to hold back on industrial action during the crisis.
– Alerts abound –
In France a public building was briefly evacuated in a Paris suburb on Thursday after a false Ebola alert was triggered when an African man felt ill. Earlier, the arrival of a group of schoolchildren from Guinea had triggered panic at a French school.
And Spain’s police force warned in a Twitter message against hoaxes, following false reports of infections.
In other Ebola alerts, Macedonia quarantined people who had come into contact with a Briton who died Thursday after exhibiting Ebola-like symptoms. Australia said it had tested 11 people including a Red Cross nurse returned from Sierra Leone, while a 47-year-old Guinean suspected of having the disease was hospitalised in Brazil.
The United States, Canada and Britain boosted screening for Ebola at major airports, while a team in protective gear was sent aboard a US Airways flight headed from Philadelphia to the Dominican Republic after a man on board reportedly said he had Ebola.
– Prevent the next ‘AIDS’ –
Ebola’s spillover into the United States and Europe has raised fears of a wider outbreak.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted the number of cases could mount to 1.4 million by January unless strong measures are taken to contain the disease.
At the annual meeting in Washington of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on Thursday, African, US and UN officials pleaded with donor nations to step up aid.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said resources to support the fight must be increased 20-fold.
“Cases are growing exponentially,” Ban said. “Do not wait for consultation. Just take action.”
“We have to work now so that it is not the world’s next AIDS,” CDC Director Tom Frieden warned at the meeting.
“I would say that in the 30 years I’ve been working in public health, the only thing like this has been AIDS,” he said, adding that there was a “long fight” ahead.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, speaking via video link from Monrovia, said support should include “compensation to health-care workers who, for fear of the risk involved, have refused or are reluctant to return to work”.
