The Ebola virus began to spread in Sierra Leone in May. The 16th Chinese medical team to work in the country has 10 members who are now helping at the Kingharman Hospital of Freetown.

"All our team members are still working," said team leader Wang Yaowen. "Though the Sierra Leone Government has taken measures to control the virus, it is still hard to say how the epidemic situation will evolve. As doctors, it is our duty to help whenever and wherever an emergency occurs. We will stay here and do our job."

Global support needed

On August 8, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is a "public health emergency of international concern," which requires an extraordinary response to stop it from spreading.

WHO Director General Dr. Margaret Chan called the outbreak "the largest, most severe and most complex" in the nearly 40-year history of the disease. She urged the international community to provide support on the most urgent-need basis as soon as possible, as "countries affected to date simply do not have the capacity to manage an outbreak of this size and complexity on their own."

The WHO also said inexperience in dealing with Ebola outbreaks and misperceptions of the disease, including how it is transmitted, "continue to be a major challenge in some communities."

"We need many more contributions from the international community, from governments, NGOs, academic institutions, anyone who can provide us with doctors, nurses, health staff, and other public health staff," said WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl.

In dealing with the epidemics of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and the H7N9 bird flu virus in recent years, China has accumulated valuable experience in the control and prevention of public health emergencies. This experience can also be applied to West African nations in the fight against Ebola, according to Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO Assistant Director General for Health Security.

Aside from Chinese medical teams, a number of international organizations such as Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have been working in the field to bring the Ebola epidemic under control since March. Currently, its 66 international and 610 African staff are working in Ebola case management centers, responding to the crisis in the three most affected countries, according to Dr. Bart Janssens, MSF Director of Operations.

Dr. Janssens said the organization has reached the limits of its capacity, calling for countries possessing necessary capabilities to immediately dispatch available infectious disease experts and disaster relief assets to the region. "All of the following need to be radically scaled up: medical care, training of health staff, infection control, contact tracing, epidemiological surveillance, alert and referral systems, community mobilization and education," he said.

With no end in sight to the virus and no available cure, the WHO announced its approval on August 12 for the use of experimental drugs in the fight against Ebola—the first time the organization has given a green light for unproven, unlicensed drugs to be used on humans. Canada and the United States have provided sample doses to severely affected African countries.

While two Americans infected with the disease have reportedly seen improvement after using the experimental ZMapp drugs, the drug did not work on another infected patient. The use of experimental drugs in the fight against Ebola has spurred debate—not only on its effects and consequences, but also regarding the ethical issues.

"In the particular circumstances of this outbreak, and provided certain conditions are met. It is ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet unknown efficacy and adverse effects," said the WHO in a statement.

The WHO has also said the epidemic will likely continue for months and has asked for more assistance such as funding and emergency medical staff from the international community.

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