As hospitals in nations hardest hit by Ebola struggle to keep up, desperate patients are turning to the black market to buy blood from survivors of the virus, the World Health Organization warned.
The deadliest Ebola outbreak in history has killed at least 2,400 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — the countries most affected by the virus.
Thousands more are infected, and new cases have emerged in Nigeria and Senegal.
Blood from survivors, referred to as convalescent serum, is said to have antibodies that can fight the deadly virus. Though unproven, it has provided some promise in fighting a disease with no approved drug to treat it.
As hospitals in nations hardest hit by Ebola struggle to keep up, desperate patients are turning to the black market to buy blood from survivors of the virus, the World Health Organization warned.
The deadliest Ebola outbreak in history has killed at least 2,400 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — the countries most affected by the virus.
Thousands more are infected, and new cases have emerged in Nigeria and Senegal.
Blood from survivors, referred to as convalescent serum, is said to have antibodies that can fight the deadly virus. Though unproven, it has provided some promise in fighting a disease with no approved drug to treat it.
“Men and women and children are just sitting, waiting to die right now,” Obama said.
Hospitals in affected nations are overwhelmed, and the WHO has described the outbreak as a “dire emergency with … unprecedented dimensions” of human suffering.
“If the outbreak is not stopped now, we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people infected with profound political and economic and security implications for all of us,” Obama said.
What you need to know about the Ebola virus
Could the virus mutate?
There is also a concern that the virus could mutate into an even more dangerous form.
Ebola currently transmits only though contact with bodily fluids; a mutation that allows the virus to spread through the air would pose a catastrophic threat to people worldwide, experts say.
Another aid worker infected
Meanwhile, a French volunteer with Doctors Without Borders contracted Ebola in Liberia and will be taken to France for further treatment, the group said Thursday.
A private American plane will be used for the evacuation, according to the organization, which is known by its French acronym, MSF.
CNN
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