World Health Organization Declares Ebola Epidemic An International Health Emergency

The World Health Organization has declared the spread of Ebola in West Africa an international health emergency. West Africa's Ebola epidemic is an "extraordinary event" and now constitutes an international health risk, The Geneva-based U.N. health agency said on Friday, and that a coordinated international
response was essential to stop and reverse the spread of the virus.
"The possible consequences of further international spread are particularly serious in view of the virulence of the virus, the intensive community and health facility transmission patterns, and the weak health systems in the currently affected and most at-risk countries," it said in a statement.

WHO said the possible consequences of a further international spread of the outbreak, which has killed almost 1,000 people in four West African countries, were "particularly serious" in view of the virulence of the virus. "A coordinated international response is deemed essential to stop and reverse the international spread of Ebola," the WHO said in a statement after a two-day meeting of its emergency committee on Ebola. The declaration of an international emergency will have the effect of raising the level of vigilance for transmission of the virus.

Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's head of health security, stressed that, with the right steps and measures to deal with infected people, Ebola's spread could be stopped. "This is not a mysterious disease. This is an infectious disease that can be contained," he told reporters on a briefing from the WHO's Geneva headquarters. "It is not a virus that is spread through the air."

After an experimental drug was administered to two U.S. charity workers who were infected in Liberia, Ebola specialists have urged the WHO to offer such drugs to Africans. The U.N. agency has asked medical ethics experts to explore this option next week.