EU health ministers talk Ebola

Italian Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin said she and her European counterparts would would work toward a coordinated response plan to combat the disease. The EU has so far pledged 140 million euros ($180 million) to fighting the current outbreak. According to estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO), the outbreak has killed 2,600 people, almost all of them in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

"Only four or five countries in Europe are equipped," Lorenzin said Monday on the sidelines of the meeting. "We will work together to coordinate the aid effort."

The hemorrhagic fever was first identified in 1976 near the Ebola river in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is fighting a separate, smaller outbreak. The current epidemic has infected at least 5,357 people since the first diagnosis in March. So far, doctors have reported no cases of Ebola in Italy, but Britain, Spain and France have repatriated citizens who contracted the virus in West Africa.

On Monday, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said she would welcome the participation in the fight against Ebola of volunteer doctors and nurses from the military as part of the country's larger effort: "Everyone who can offer specialist help is needed," she told the broadcaster n-tv. An expert told DW that a Germany should be equipped to contain an outbreak.

Over the weekend, US cargo aircraft arrived at Liberia's international airport, bringing the first members of an eventual 3,000-strong mission. Last week, the United States announced that military engineers would build new Ebola treatment centers in affected areas after the WHO warned that thousands of new cases were imminent in Liberia.

'Hot spots'

In Sierra Leone, the Health Ministry reported that, during a 72-hour lockdown that ended Monday, 75 percent of households had been contacted by outreach teams, who would continue education efforts in "hot spots." Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sarian Kamara said the lockdown had helped to locate cases of infection, which, if not discovered, would have "greatly increased transmission."

The head of the country's Ebola Emergency Operations Center, Stephen Gaojia, said the lockdown's objectives "have largely been met." More than 120 people had come forward and were being tested. Of these, 56 showed signs of infection, he said.

Poorer residents complained, however, that the lockdown had left them unable to earn money to buy food. Government handouts in slums had been insufficient, they said.

mkg/msh (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)