Mistakes That Fueled Ebola Spread Are Preventing Its Containment One Year Later

REUTERS by Emma Farge                                             March 23, 2015

DAKAR, March 23 -- Lapses that fueled the Ebola outbreak after it was first discovered a year ago are dogging the final stages of the fight against the virus as fatigue and complacency set in, delaying the end of the deadly epidemic.

A man is sprayed with disinfectant after he celebrated the memory of a loved one who died due to the Ebola virus at a newly build grave yard for Ebola virus victims in Monrovia, Liberia, Wednesday, March 11, 2015. Liberians held a church service Wednesday for families who lost members to Ebola to mark the country’s 99th celebration National Decoration Day, a holiday normally set aside for people to clean up and re-decorate the graves of their lost relatives. (AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh) | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Three doctors were discovered to be infected with Ebola at a hospital in Guinea's capital Conakry last week in what health reports and government officials blamed on a failure to implement basic measures for infection control.

Errors such as these were commonplace at the beginning of the outbreak as ill-prepared medical staff, often without protective equipment, failed to detect Ebola symptoms, turning hospitals into incubation chambers for the virus.

Now, after more than $2 billion in aid and the deaths of more than 10,200 people in West Africa, the same mistakes are resurfacing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/23/ebola-spread-containment_n_6924304.html