--- title: Ebola Quarantine in Sierra Leone Enforced by New Troops description: Sierra Leone has dispatched a battalion of 750 soldiers to the epicenters of the nation's Ebola outbreak to enforce new quarantine measures canonical: https://time.com/3086145/sierra-leone-troops-ebola/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-06T14:39:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:56.520Z article:section: Health og:title: Ebola Quarantine in Sierra Leone Enforced by New Troops og:description: Sierra Leone has dispatched a battalion of 750 soldiers to the epicenters of the nation's Ebola outbreak to enforce new quarantine measures og:url: https://time.com/3086145/sierra-leone-troops-ebola/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt919a1bef906996d7/69869e91adae4466fb5446cf/liberia-ebola-soldiers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Liberia West Africa Ebola og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ebola Quarantine in Sierra Leone Enforced by New Troops twitter:description: Sierra Leone has dispatched a battalion of 750 soldiers to the epicenters of the nation's Ebola outbreak to enforce new quarantine measures twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt919a1bef906996d7/69869e91adae4466fb5446cf/liberia-ebola-soldiers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sierra Leone Dispatches Troops to Enforce Ebola Quarantine > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=a793eba3-8b02-4f15-9c04-27251419ac05&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How Suits Protect Doctors From Ebola [Watch (HLS stream): How Suits Protect Doctors From Ebola](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/O5USUvDI.m3u8) (2:12)  _Published 2014-08-04. While people rely on doctors to stop the Ebola outbreaks in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia, doctors rely on suits to protect them._  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Aug 6, 2014 2:39 PM UTC  Liberian soldiers walk through streets as others drive to prevent panic as fears of the deadly Ebola virus spread. Troops are patrolling in Liberia, while soldiers in Sierra Leone have been sent to enforce quarantine, Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 1, 2014. Liberian soldiers walk through streets as others drive to prevent panic as fears of the deadly Ebola virus spread. Troops are patrolling in Liberia, while soldiers in Sierra Leone have been sent to enforce quarantine, Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 1, 2014. Abbas Dulleh—AP  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Aug 6, 2014 2:39 PM UTC **Updated 6:09 p.m. ET Aug. 6** Sierra Leone has [dispatched](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/world/africa/sierra-leone-deploys-troops-in-ebola-crisis.html?%5Fr=0) 750 soldiers to the epicenters of the nation’s Ebola outbreak to enforce sweeping new quarantine measures as the virus’ global death toll rose to at least 932 people as of Wednesday. Liberia’s president ordered a 30-day state of emergency because of the Ebola outbreak late Wednesday, according to a [radio broadcast](https://twitter.com/libobserver/status/497132920176644097). Troops and police have been stationed outside of local clinics and family homes, the New York _Times_ [reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/world/africa/sierra-leone-deploys-troops-in-ebola-crisis.html?%5Fr=0), amid reports of concerned family members trespassing into quarantined areas and coming into contact with sick patients and infected bodies. In Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, Reuters [reports](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/05/us-health-ebola-africa-idUSKBN0G51VF20140805) that relatives of Ebola victims have anonymously dumped infected bodies in the streets rather than face quarantines. Forces have also been deployed in Liberia to maintain order, Reuters reports. Meanwhile, health experts and epidemiologists [convened](http://www.boston.com/health/2014/08/06/nigerian-health-minister-says-nurse-died-ebola/z0lWlGYOVRS8ob5ZxrirvK/story.html) Wednesday at the World Health Organization to begin a two-day discussion about containment measures and to ensure healthcare systems in West Africa are not overwhelmed by a rising tide of cases. Infections have continued to spread from remote precincts into more heavily populated areas, despite sweeping quarantine measures [announced](http://www.statehouse.gov.sl/index.php/component/content/article/34-news-articles/925-address-to-the-nation-on-the-ebola-outbreak-by-his-excellency-the-president-dr-ernest-bai-koroma-july-30-2014) last week by Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea — the three most heavily-hit countries – including school closures and heavy surveillance of at-risk populations. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, reported a second Ebola death and five additional cases in Lagos on Wednesday, while Saudi Arabia announced that it was testing a man who reportedly died of Ebola-like symptoms after returning from a business trip to Sierra Leone. However, the cause of the man’s death remains unconfirmed, the BBC [reports](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-28673380). \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/world/africa/sierra-leone-deploys-troops-in-ebola-crisis.html?%5Fr=0)\] ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] We touch our face about 1, 000 times a day. And these suits are about 115, 116 degrees you can, and you're losing three to five liters of sweat every time you go in, inside these suits. You can imagine. That you just want to rub your eyes or rub the sweat from your face, and you can't do that because that's an opportunity to come into contact with the virus. I was recently deployed on behalf of the World Health Organization to to Guinea to help with the Ebola outbreak. When you're providing care to patients, you're constantly being exposed to blood, vomit, diarrhea, every bodily fluid that's there. I'm sure you've seen pictures of the personal protection equipment or PPE that we're required to wear. We start with a base layer of scrubs, and then these thick rubber boots that come up to our knees. It's on top of the scrubs and the boots, we actually wear, an impermeable Tyvek suit, that, is incredibly hot. And then we also wear two pairs of gloves. On top of the tivex suit we have to put a hood, that is an impermeable hood that covers every other part of our, part of our head. We have to wear a respirator that covers our nose and our mouth, and then finally a pair of goggles that cover, cover our eyes on top of the hood. So basically, literally nothing is left uncovered. So that's just getting dressed. The PPE itself is, is a good first step. But even with all these protective equipments you're still handling needles. And you're still being exposed to, to patients' body fluids. We talk a lot about how how difficult the working conditions are. And how hot it and how restrictive these suits are but, I would say it comes nowhere near the difficult experience that it must be to be a patient. To be infected with it. Or to be the loved one of a patient who's going through that. And for me, that's something that I always think about. [ MUSIC ] That's the thing about this virus, it's actually... I hate to say the word easy, but it's really easy to control. 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