Ebola Expert Calls for 'Epidemic Intelligence Service' to be Stepped Up in Europe

Microbiologist Peter Pilot who discovered the Ebola virus has warned that Europe will be ‘vulnerable’ if it does not regard viruses as a ‘national security issue’ like the United States.

Piot, director of the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London, who recently returned from a visit to treatment centers in Sierra Leone, praised the Centers for Disease Control in the United States as a ‘formidable force’.

Ebola Virus Disease | Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever: Cause Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment
Ebola is caused by a virus via direct contact with body fluids or infected blood. Scientists have identified five types of Ebola or Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus.

He said, "It's time the UK and Europe had a well-trained corps of people who are globally experienced and deployable. We don't have that and that makes us vulnerable. We don't have this 'epidemic intelligence service'. You don't want to depend on information coming from the US. That's a national security issue."

Piot has been highly critical of the delay in local and international responses to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, but said that now the effort is paying off.

Source-Medindia

Nurses Treating Ebola Patients on Strike in Sierra Leone
Due to non-payment of risk allowance by the government for the month of November for treating Ebola patients, about 30 nurses were on strike.

Fourth UN Staff Member Tests Positive for Ebola
The United Nations staff member who tested positive for Ebola was immediately transferred to an Ebola treatment unit.

5-day Lockdown in Sierra Leone
To step up efforts to contain the Ebola epidemic the Sierra Leone government has declared a 5-day lockdown in the country's Northern Province.