Ebola virus outbreak: 'Just two doctors' available to treat 85,000 people in Liberia county

Virus has claimed almost 3,000 lives

Nigerian health official wearing a protective suit waits to screen passengers for the Ebola virus at the arrivals hall of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

There are just two doctors available to treat 85,000 people in the Bomi County of Liberia, one of the countries hardest hit by the deadly outbreak of Ebola.

The World Health Organisation said 2,917 people have died of Ebola out of 6,263 cases in the five West African countries affected by the disease. There were 99 deaths in Liberia between 17 and 21 September.

Recent worst-case estimates suggest a staggering 1.4 million people could be infected with Ebola by January in Liberia and Sierra Leone - more than ten per cent of their combined populations.

The medical team in Bomi County consists of Dr Gobee Logan, the county health director and another doctor, according to CNN.

The team is responsible for treating Ebola patients, 100 patients in a general hospital and sick people in the rest of the county.

Mr Logan has been working “around the clock” since June in Bomi County, which does not have a dedicated treatment centre.

Instead, he has been taking care of patients in a holding facility, which only has 12 beds. Many victims are dying at homes and infecting their family in a vicious circle that has come to define the current outbreak.

However, the proportion of cases that occurred in the past 21 days - the incubation period of the virus - has also fallen in all three countries, suggesting that the spread of the disease may be slowing.

"The upward epidemic trend continues in Sierra Leone and most probably also in Liberia," the WHO said. "[But] the situation in Guinea, although still of grave concern, appears to have stabilized: between 75 and 100 new confirmed cases have been reported in each of the past five weeks."