Liberia closes its borders to stop Ebola

(CNN) The deadliest Ebola outbreak in history continues to plague West Africa as leaders scramble to stop the virus from spreading.

Over the weekend Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf closed most of the country's borders. The few points of entry that are still open will have Ebola testing centers and will implement preventive measures she said. The president also placed restrictions on public gatherings and ordered hotels restaurants and other entertainment venues to play a five minute video on Ebola safety.

No doubt the Ebola virus is a national health problem Sirleaf said. It attacks our way of life with serious economic and social consequences. As such we are compelled to bring the totality of our national resolve to fight this scourge.

A 10 year old boy whose mother was killed by the Ebola virus walks with a doctor from the aid organization Samaritan's Purse after being taken out of quarantine Thursday July 24 in Monrovia Liberia. Health officials say an Ebola outbreak centered in West Africa is the deadliest ever. As of July 20 some 1 093 people in Guinea Sierra Leone and Liberia are thought to have been infected by Ebola since its symptoms were first observed four months ago according to the World Health Organization. A health worker with disinfectant spray walks down a street outside the government hospital in Kenema Sierra Leone on Thursday July 10. In this photo provided by Samaritan's Purse Dr. Kent Brantly left treats an Ebola patient in Monrovia. On Saturday July 26 the North Carolina based group said Brantly tested positive for the disease and was being treated at a hospital in Monrovia. A member of Doctors Without Borders puts on protective gear at the isolation ward of the Donka Hospital in Conakry Guinea on Saturday June 28. Airport employees check passengers in Conakry before they leave the country on Thursday April 10. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta left works in the World Health Organization's mobile lab in Conakry. Gupta traveled to Guinea in April to report on the deadly virus. A Guinea Bissau customs official watches arrivals from Conakry on Tuesday April 8. Egidia Almeida a nurse in Guinea Bissau scans a Guinean citizen coming from Conakry on April 8. A scientist separates blood cells from plasma cells to isolate any Ebola RNA and test for the virus Thursday April 3 at the European Mobile Laboratory in Gueckedou Guinea. Members of Doctors Without Borders carry a dead body in Gueckedou on Friday April 1. Gloves and boots used by medical personnel dry in the sun April 1 outside a center for Ebola victims in Gueckedou. A health specialist works Monday March 31 in a tent laboratory set up at a Doctors Without Borders facility in southern Guinea. Health specialists work March 31 at an isolation ward for patients at the facility in southern Guinea. Workers associated with Doctors Without Borders prepare isolation and treatment areas Friday March 28 in Guinea. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Photos Ebola outbreak in West Africa

As of July 20 the World Health Organization had confirmed 224 cases of Ebola in Liberia including 127 deaths. Overall Ebola has killed at least 660 people in West Africa. There were 45 new cases reported in the region between July 18 and July 20.

Ebola Fast Facts

Health officials are worried about the virus spreading to other countries in the region. This is the first such outbreak to hit West Africa. On Friday a Liberian man with Ebola died in Lagos Nigeria Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said.

Patrick Sawyer arrived at Lagos' airport on July 20 and was isolated at a local hospital after exhibiting common Ebola symptoms. He told officials he had no direct contact with anyone who had the virus.

Lagos State Health Commissioner Dr. Jide Idris said authorities are working to identify people who may have come in contact with the man on his flights. The process has been delayed he said because the airline has not provided the passenger lists for all three of the flights Sawyer took. Sawyer flew first to Ghana before he went to Togo and then switched planes to fly to Nigeria according to the health commissioner.

In collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Aviation I've also put into motion mechanisms to track down all contacts at high risk Idris said.

The state department has identified 59 people so far who came into contact with the man. Twenty have been tested for Ebola.

On Monday Arik Air one of Nigeria's biggest airlines suspended operations into the country's capital Monrovia and another city called Freetown according to AllAfrica.com.

It is unlikely the virus would spread on a plane unless a passenger were to come into contact with a sick person's bodily fluids according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Meanwhile American health care workers helping to fight this deadly disease abroad have put themselves at risk.

Dr. Kent Brantly a 33 year old Indianapolis resident had been treating Ebola patients in Monrovia when he started to feel sick.

Brantly works with Samaritan's Purse a Christian international relief agency founded by evangelists Franklin Graham and Robert Pierce. He has been the medical director for the Ebola Consolidated Case Management Center in Monrovia and has been working to help Ebola patients since October.

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When the Ebola outbreak hit he took on responsibilities with our Ebola direct clinical treatment response but he was serving in a missionary hospital in Liberia prior to his work with Ebola patients said Melissa Strickland a spokeswoman for the organization.

After testing positive for Ebola he went into treatment at a Samaritan's Purse isolation center at ELWA Hospital in Paynesville City Monrovia. His condition is rapidly deteriorating and Samaritan's Purse has been working to evacuate him for better care but Liberia is not allowing the evacuation according to Samaritan's Purse vice president of international relief Ken Isaacs. The reason for the delay is unclear.

The CDC said the doctor's family had been with him but left for the United States before he became symptomatic as such it is highly unlikely that they caught the virus from him. Out of an abundance of caution they are on a 21 day fever watch the CDC said.

Another American working with Samaritan's Purse has also been infected. Nancy Writebol from Charlotte North Carolina works with Serving in Mission or SIM. She and her husband used to work with orphans and other children who struggle with poverty related issues but expanded their efforts to take on the complex medical problems in Monrovia.

She had teamed up with the staff from Samaritan's Purse to help fight the Ebola outbreak in Monrovia when she got sick. She too is undergoing treatment.

A spokesperson for Samaritan's Purse said there have been riots outside the clinic.

Another doctor who has played a key role in fighting the outbreak in Sierra Leone Dr. Sheik Humarr Kahn is sick. He is being treated by the French aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres also known as Doctors Without Borders in Kailahun Sierra Leone according to a representative of that agency.

Kahn had been overseeing treatment of Ebola patients in isolation units at Kenema Government Hospital which is about 185 miles (298 kilometers) east of the capital Freetown.

Sierra Leone's minister of health and sanitation called the doctor a national hero for the sacrifices he has made in trying to stop the outbreak.

Doctors and medical staff are particularly vulnerable to the virus because it spreads through exposure to bodily fluids from the infected. It can also spread through contact with an object contaminated by an infected person's bodily fluids.

The disease is not contagious until symptoms appear. Symptoms of Ebola include fever fatigue and headaches. They can appear two to 21 days after infection meaning many who are sick don't know it.

The early symptoms then can progress to vomiting diarrhea impaired kidney and liver function and sometimes internal and external bleeding.

Leaders in the international health community characterize the Ebola epidemic as the deadliest ever.

While the World Health Organization has mobilized to fight the epidemic it can be a difficult one to stop. It is so highly infectious that it typically kills 90% of those who catch it. The death rate in this particular outbreak had dropped to roughly 60% since it has been treated early in many cases. There is however no Ebola vaccination.

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With the announcement that Liberia is closing its borders the country also instituted a new travel policy to inspect and test all outgoing and incoming passengers. The hope is that such measures will stop the spread of the virus.

There has never been a confirmed case of Ebola spreading to a developed country said Kamiliny Kalahne an epidemiologist with Doctors Without Borders.

This is because people generally transmit the infection when they are very sick have a high fever and a lot of symptoms and in these situations they don't travel.

And even if they do get sick once they travel to a developed country they will be in a good hospital with good infection control so they are very unlikely to infect others she said.

This is not the great plague CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta said after his trip to the region in the spring. But it is a pretty formidable killer.

The grim reality is it often kills so quickly people don't have time to spread it.

The CDC held a media briefing Monday to emphasize the fact that there is no significant risk in the U.S. for an Ebola outbreak. CDC officials said with the spread of Ebola to U.S. health care workers there is a real need for vigilance to make sure workers are careful get tested if there is any suspicion of illness and that all sick travelers should remain isolated when returning from areas affected directly by the epidemic.

Stephan Monroe CDC's deputy director of the National Center for Emerging Zoonotic Infectious Diseases said the CDC is working with American health care providers to educate them about Ebola. The agency sent a notice Monday to remind doctors to take important steps to avoid the spread of the illness including asking their patients about their travel history particularly if they have traveled to West Africa in the last three weeks.

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