The number of new Ebola patients has fallen to practically zero in one of Liberia's hardest-hit areas because aid workers gained the trust of the community so the sick were able to be treated quickly and the dead were buried safely, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That strategy put in place in Lofa County by Doctors Without Borders has been so effective that it could serve 'as a model to implement in other affected areas to accelerate control of Ebola,' the report said.
The measures are aimed at reducing fear of everything associated with the disease, from the health-care workers, who looked like astronauts in their protective gear, to the way treatment facilities are designed.
At the Ebola treatment unit in the town of Foya, for example, the facility's high walls were replaced with transparent fences so people could see what was happening at the center. Family members also were allowed to talk with loved ones across the fence or visit with them inside the ward, while wearing full personal protective equipment.
The dead were buried in designated sites in the presence of family members and in graves with clear identification. And family members were invited to hold grieving ceremonies according to local customs.
As a result, the number of people admitted to the 135-bed treatment unit plummeted from 133 at its peak, in the week ending Aug. 16, to one person admitted in the week ending Nov. 1, according to the CDC report.
The report about the decrease in disease transmission in Lofa County comes as the rate of Ebola infections has fallen sharply in Liberia in recent weeks, leaving once-overwhelmed treatment centers half-empty and some corners of the country with few new cases. At the same time, despite the recent positive turn in Liberia, infections are up in Sierra Leone and in parts of Guinea.
Liberia's president lifted the state of emergency Thursday that was imposed to control the outbreak that has ravaged the country.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Mali, authorities are trying to trace at least 200 contacts linked to confirmed and probable Ebola victims in an effort to control its second outbreak, health officials said Friday. An initial batch of contacts linked to a 2-year-old from Guinea who died of Ebola last month were close to the end of their 21-day quarantine period when Mali confirmed its second case this week.
In Liberia, Doctors Without Borders took over the running of the treatment center in Foya in August from another nonprofit organization.
'We redesigned the center to maximize transparency in a safe way, to address rumors about what may be happening inside and demystify our work,' Serge St-Louis, field coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Foya, said in an e-mail. Taking down the high walls was key, he said. 'Prior to this there had been an air of suspicion about what was going on behind the walls. People were known to go in but were often not seen again.'
The Lofa County report was one of several the CDC released Friday describing the situation in West Africa, where the epidemic has killed more than 5,000 people. The reports note progress in some areas, but warn that the efforts are 'tenuous' and will require rapid and nimble response to outbreaks popping up in new, hard-to-reach locations. Many CDC teams have had to hike hours through heavily forested regions or travel by canoe to reach villages and towns.
Lenny Bernstein contributed to this report.
