EbolaU.S. to commit 4,000 soldiers, $750 million in the next six months to fight Ebola in Africa
The Pentagon’s effort to help eradicate Ebola in West Africa will require roughly 4,000 American soldiers, cost $750 million for the next six months, and may last longer than a year.American troops will help build seven testing labs and seventeen treatment facilities by mid-November, but troops will be on the ground in Liberia for at least a year.A majority of U.S. soldiers will not come in direct contact with Ebola patients, but a few dozen troops trained to operate in nuclear, biological, and chemical environments will be assigned to testing labs.
The first of 4,000 U.S. troops in Ebola fight in Liberia // Source: huanqiu.com
The Pentagon’s effort to help eradicate Ebola in West Africa will require roughly 4,000 American soldiers, cost $750 million for the next six months, and may last longer than a year. General David Rodriguez, head of United States Africa Command (Africom) told reporters on Tuesday that American troops will help build seven testing labs and seventeen treatment facilities by mid-November, but troops will be on the ground in Liberia for at least a year. “We’re going to take as long as we’re needed, but not longer than we’re needed,” Rodriguez said. “This is not a small effort, and this is not a short period of time.”
Defense One reports that a majority of U.S. soldiers will not come in direct contact with Ebola patients, but a few dozen troops trained to operate in nuclear, biological, and chemical environments will be assigned to testing labs. “The bottom line is it’s the highest level” of training, Rodriguez said. The troops assigned to the seven testing labs are from the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center, Rodriguez said. “These labs provide 24-hour turnaround results on samples received from area clinics and health-care providers, with the capability to process up to 100 samples per day. They are specifically trained to do that, and that is their specialty,” Rodriguez told reporters. At least 7,500 residents in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone have become infected with Ebola; more than 3,400 people have died of the disease, according to the World Health Organization.
The new facilities set to be built by U.S. troops will help get 70 percent of infected Ebola patients into treatment centers. An experiment by Dr. Martin Meltzer, a senior health economist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and head of the Health Economics and Modeling Unit, suggests that if 70 percent of patients were in an effective quarantine setting such as a hospital, by 22 december, the Ebola epidemic in Liberia and Sierra Leone “would almost be ended by January 20, 2015.”
On whether 4,000 soldiers would be enough to help eradicate Ebola from West Africa, “I don’t foresee more than that right now, but things can change,” Rodriguez said.
