NEWS.COM.AU 18 AUGUST 2014 - EBOLA OUTBREAK, LIBERIA: FEARS AFTER MONROVIA CLINIC IS RAIDED BY ARMED GANG

SEVENTEEN patients infected with Ebola are unaccounted for after fleeing an armed raid on a quarantine centre in Monrovia by men who claim the epidemic is a fiction. “They broke down the door and looted the place. The patients have all gone,” according to a witness at the scene of the attack on the outskirts of the Liberian capital. The report has been confirmed by residents and the head of Health Workers Association of Liberia, George Williams. Williams said on Sunday the unit housed 29 patients who “had all tested positive for Ebola” and were receiving preliminary treatment before being taken to hospital. “Of the 29 patients, 17 fled last night (after the assault). Nine died four days ago and three others were yesterday (Saturday) taken by force by their relatives” from the centre, he said. The attackers, mostly young men armed with clubs, shouted that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf “is broke” and “there’s no Ebola” in Liberia as they broke into the unit in a Monrovia suburb, Wesseh said. Residents had opposed the creation of the centre, set up by health authorities in part of the city considered an epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in the Liberian capital. “We told them not to (build) their camp here. They didn’t listen to us,” said a young resident, who declined to give his name. “We don’t believe in this Ebola outbreak.” The Ebola outbreak, the worst since the virus first appeared in 1976, has claimed 1145 lives in five months, according to the UN World Health Organisation’s latest figures as of August 13: 413 in Liberia, 380 in Guinea, 348 in Sierra Leone and four in Nigeria. Meanwhile in Spain, health authorities activated Ebola alert protocols on Saturday after a young Nigerian man was admitted to hospital in Alicante with fever, vomiting and “several other symptoms” of the disease. According to The Spain Report, Spanish news agency EFE cited health ministry sources who said the Nigerian patient did not have Ebola. LINK: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/ebola-outbreak-fears-after-monrovia-clinic-is-raided-by-armed-gang/story-fneuz9ev-1227027524589