Club-wielding youths attacked and looted an Ebola treatment and quarantine center in the Liberian capital Monrovia, scattering at least 17 patients who went running for safety, back into the crowded city.  Conflicting reports say ten to 29 patients were moved to another treatment facility.

“They broke down the door and looted the place.  The patients have all gone,” said Rebecca Wesseh, who witnessed the raid on the treatment center in the Liberian capital’s densely populated West Point slum.  It’s located in a former elementary school that was built with American aid money. 

The attackers were reportedly furious that Ebola patients from around the capital were being concentrated in their neighborhood.  They shouted insults about President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and yelled, “there's no Ebola.”  Ms. Wessah adding that the nurses had also fled the center.  George Williams of the Health Workers Association of Liberia said that the unit had housed 29 patients who “had all tested positive for Ebola” and were receiving preliminary treatment.

A senior police official say blood-stained mattresses, bedding, and other equipment was missing after the attack.  Ebola is spread by bodily fluids of the infected.  There is no vaccine nor cure, and this outbreak has been fatal in 55 percent of patients.

More than 400 people died of Ebola disease in Liberia, out of a total of 1,145 deaths recorded by the World Health Organization in the West African Ebola Outbreak.  Officials say the key to controlling the Ebola Outbreak is fight it in Liberia.  But fear and ignorance about it is making that next to impossible in Liberia, and healthcare workers have said the official death toll is probably lower than the true scope of this emergency.