Residents of West Point, a township in Monrovia, Liberia, raided a health clinic that quarantined Ebola patients undergoing treatment.
The ill patients fled as perpetrators stole medical equipment and blood-stained sheets and mattresses that were likely infected with the fatal virus, according to the Associated Press.
Sam Collins, a Liberian National Police spokesperson, said that the people of West Point are angry that these contagious patients were brought to their area. He said the raid was an act of fury. “It was an attack from people afraid of Ebola. Everybody is afraid,” Collins told CNN.
The fear in residents of West Africa, health workers risking their lives, and people throughout the world afraid of a pandemic, have made containment of the outbreak extremely difficult, as reported by the World Health Organization. Beyond the lack of a vaccine or cure, public health officials face residents who hide infected family members to avoid separation, airlines that refuse to carry safety equipment, and misconceptions that Ebola is highly transmissible when, in fact, contracting Ebola requires coming in contact with infected body fluids.