NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 7 AUGUST 2014 - USA: CDC ISSUES HIGHEST ALERT LEVEL FOR EBOLA OUTBREAK

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is on high alert as the Ebola outbreak death toll nears 1,000. The CDC upped the outbreak's alert to the highest level Wednesday. A Level 1 response increases the staff dedicated to the virus. The last time the health organization issued a Level 1 alert was in 2009 for the swine flu pandemic, CNN reported. All of the patients have contracted the virus in West Africa, but several have been transferred to Europe and the U.S. for treatment. On Thursday, Spain's Brother Miguel Pajares was flown to Madrid. The 75-year-old catholic missionary contacted the disease while working in a Liberian hospital. He is in stable condition at the Carlos III center in Madrid. He arrived at a Spanish military base strapped to a stretcher and enclosed in a transparent capsule-like tent. Alongside him was Juliana Bohi, an Equatorial Guinean nun who also worked in the Liberian hospital. She has since tested negative for the disease. The priest and nun’s move comes after two American citizens who contracted the virus in Liberia were transported to Atlanta for treatment. Both Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly were given an experimental serum at Emory University Hospital and appear to be improving. The outbreak has killed at least 932 people in four West African countries: Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria. Liberia — which has seen 282 deaths since the March onset of the outbreak — declared a state of Emergency Wednesday. "The government and people of Liberia require extraordinary measures for the very survival of our state and for the protection of the lives of our people," President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said in a statement. Under the state of emergency, Liberian soldiers have restricted road traffic to stop people from three Ebola-infected counties from traveling into more populated cities. Government orders call more mandatory quarantines of victims’ homes and close tracking of their relatives — conditions some families have attempted to avoid by abandoning infected bodies in Liberians streets instead of reporting the deaths. The improper disposal of bodies only hastens the spread of the disease. "This is the biggest and most complex Ebola outbreak in history," CDC director Tom Frieden told CNN. There is no cure for Ebola and more than half of those who catch the virus die. The U.N. called an emergency committee meeting to discuss the outbreak earlier this week. The group could decide to declare an international public health emergency and issue recommendations on how to slow and stop the virus’ spread. The committee will announce its decisions on Friday. Read more at http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/cdc-issues-highest-level-alert-ebola-outbreak-article-1.1895154?cid=radiumOne#O0OHPdEB2fBfCzw3.99