Runaway Sierra Leone Ebola patient dies

Experts highlight Ebola problems in Sierra Leone

Freetown (AFP) - Medecins Sans Frontieres has
treated more than 70 patients with symptoms resembling those of Ebola in
Kailahun treatment centre in eastern Sierra Leone. MSF is concerned...

Medecins Sans Frontieres has treated more than 70 patients with

symptoms resembling those of Ebola in Kailahun treatment centre in

eastern Sierra Leone. MSF is concerned about a possible increase in

patients in the coming weeks.

A Sierra Leone Ebola patient whose family sparked a

nationwide hunt when they forcefully removed her from a treatment center

and took her to a traditional healer, died in an ambulance on the way

to hospital, a health official said.

Health officials say fear and mistrust of health workers in Sierra

Leone, where many have more faith in traditional medicine, are hindering

efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak which has killed more than 450

people in the country.

In recent days crowds gathered outside clinics and hospitals to

protest against what they see as a conspiracy, in some cases clashing

with police as they threatened to burn down the buildings and remove the

patients.

Amadu Sisi, a senior doctor

at King Harman hospital in the capital Freetown, from which the patient

was taken, said Saturday that police found her in the house of a healer.

Her family refused to hand her over and a struggle ensued with

police, who finally retrieved her and sent her to hospital, he said.

"She died in the ambulance on the way to another hospital," Sisi said.

Across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, at least 660 people have

died from the worst outbreak yet of the hemorrhagic fever, the World

Health Organization said, placing great strain on the health systems of

some of Africa's poorest countries.

The virus is still spreading. A 33-year-old American doctor working

for relief organization Samaritan's Purse in Liberia tested positive for

the disease Saturday. In Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, a

Liberian man who tested positive died Friday.

West African health officials say the deep cultural suspicions mean

relatives in some countries will continue to try to remove sick patients

from hospitals and carry out traditional funerals, which often involve

the manual washing of the body, instead of allowing the authorities to

bury them.

Angry crowds

Sierra Leone now has the highest number of Ebola cases, at 454,

surpassing neighboring Guinea where the outbreak originated in February.

Police were guarding the country's main Ebola hospital in Kenema in

the West African country's remote east Saturday, where dozens are

receiving treatment for the virus.

Thousands had gathered outside the clinic the day before, threatening

to burn it down and remove the patients. Residents said police fired

tear gas to disperse the crowds and that a 9-year-old boy was shot in

the leg by a police bullet.

Assistant Inspector General Alfred Karrow-Kamara said on Saturday the

protest was sparked by a former nurse who had told a crowd at a nearby

fish market that "Ebola was unreal and a gimmick aimed at carrying out

cannibalistic rituals."

He said calm had been restored to Kenema on Saturday, adding that a

strong armed police presence was in place around the clinic and the

local police station.

Some health workers from the clinic have been reported absent from

work because of "misconceptions by some members of the community,"

according to a local doctor.

Ebola can kill up to 90 percent of those who catch it, although the

fatality rate of the current outbreak is around 60 percent. Highly

contagious, especially in the late stages, its symptoms include vomiting

and diarrhea as well as internal and external bleeding.

President Ernest Bai Koroma said on Saturday the government planned

to "intensify activities and interventions in containing the disease and

stopping it spread" with a view to ending the disease within 60 to 90

days.

The new strategy will focus on contact tracing, surveillance,

communications and social mobilization, social services, logistics and

supplies, according to the president's statement.

Reuters