A gang of armed men invaded a clinic in Liberia’s capital city of Monrovia, causing 29 patients who were receiving treatment to flee, confirmed George Williams, of the Health Workers Association of Liberia. “They broke down the doors and looted the place. The patients all fled,” said Rebecca Wesseh, who witnessed the attack.

Patients were being held at the quarantine centre to receive preliminary treatments before being taken to the hospital when the raid happened. Located in Liberia’s largest slum, the West Point raid was said to be led by angry residents who were in resentment of the decision to bring infected patients from other parts of the city for treatment, said assistant health minister Tolbert Nyenswah.

According to an anonymous senior police official, West Point residents went on a “looting spree”, taking likely infected items, including medical equipment, mattresses and blood-stained sheets. “All between the houses you could see people fleeing with items looted from the patients,” the official said, adding that he now feared “the whole of West Point will be infected.”

With Liberia having the highest death toll (413) from Ebola during the course of the West African outbreak, the incident largely raised fears of new infections. Locals discussed the possibility of putting all of West Point under quarantine in the event of an outbreak in the area. Nyenswah clarified that no such quarantine was enacted thus far.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Ebola has claimed the lives of 1 145 individuals in West Africa to date. Various countries, including Canada have stepped up to provide experimental vaccines to try to control the spread of the virus. The WHO reported the availability of only 10 – 12 doses of the experimental drug ZMapp, raising ethical concerns as to where the doses should be assigned first.

Three doses of the drug were administered to three doctors suffering from Ebola in Liberia, as it had the greatest death toll. The drug has further been administered to two American healthcare workers and a Spanish priest working in Liberian hospitals. The American healthcare workers saw improving health, but unfortunately, the Spanish priest did not survive.

The health improvement in the American workers has created a surge in social activism to make the drug widely available to West Africans. Coupled with the fact that there is no vaccine for the virus, and a notorious fatality rate of 90 percent, the pressure is increasing for the drugs to become a first line of treatment.