--- title: Liberia's West Point Slum Reels From Ebola Nightmare description: Tensions remain high in Monrovia's quarantined slum, the most notorious urban center of the world's worst Ebola outbreak. canonical: https://time.com/3158244/liberia-west-point-slum-ebola-disease-quarantine/ author: Per Liljas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-22T09:40:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:49.626Z article:section: Health og:title: Liberia's West Point Slum Reels From the Nightmare of Ebola og:description: A few weeks ago, West Point was merely the worst slum in war-racked Liberia. Today, it is both that and a quarantined hell hole og:url: https://time.com/3158244/liberia-west-point-slum-ebola-disease-quarantine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00bc5c4bf59cff09/6986a0813bc999ee8c1a5019/453926260.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1651 og:image:height: 929 og:image:alt: 453926260 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Liberia's West Point Slum Reels From the Nightmare of Ebola twitter:description: A few weeks ago, West Point was merely the worst slum in war-racked Liberia. Today, it is both that and a quarantined hell hole twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00bc5c4bf59cff09/6986a0813bc999ee8c1a5019/453926260.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Liberia's West Point Slum Reels From the Nightmare of Ebola > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=94b4ff6e-e25c-4810-95d7-ca5f5354547f&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 5 Ebola Questions You're Wondering About [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Ebola Questions You're Wondering About](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9QwqrSi9.m3u8) (2:02)  _Published 2014-08-07. TIME Health Reporter Alexandra Sifferlin explains why there's no cure for Ebola, how infected patients are treated, and more common questions about the disease._ by [Per Liljas](https://time.com/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Aug 22, 2014 9:40 AM UTC  Residents of the West Point slum receive food aid during the second day of the government's Ebola quarantine on their neighborhood on August 21, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. Residents of the West Point slum receive food aid during the second day of the government's Ebola quarantine on their neighborhood on August 21, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. John Moore—Getty by [Per Liljas](https://time.com/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Aug 22, 2014 9:40 AM UTC A few weeks ago, West Point was merely the worst slum in war-racked Liberia. Today, it is both that _and_ the most notorious urban center of the world’s worst Ebola outbreak. It is also quarantined from the rest of the Liberian capital Monrovia, and its dank alleyways subject to a nightly curfew. Barricades and barbed wire have gone up, and troops posted. Ships started patrolling the waterfront on Wednesday to further restrict the movement of the 70,000 or so residents. Food prices have [skyrocketed](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/who-officials-visit-liberian-ebola-clinics). On Thursday, hundreds of people lined up for government handouts of rice and water. “At the moment West Point is stuck at a standstill and is in an anarchy situation,” Moses Browne of aid group Plan International [told](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/who-officials-visit-liberian-ebola-clinics) the Associated Press. Over 1,400 people have died in the five-month Ebola outbreak, and Liberia is the country that has been worst hit. Almost a thousand people have been confirmed [infected](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140820-ebola-virus-liberia-monrovia-health-africa/), and more than half of them have already died. Rural Lofa County is worst hit part of the country, but when it was found that Ebola had made its way into West Point, authorities became alarmed. “There’s a higher risk of contagion for any infectious disease in an environment that is so crowded and that lacks running water and proper sanitation,” Kamalini Lokuge, a research fellow at Australian National University’s College of Medicine, Biology and Environment tells TIME. With only [four toilets](http://www.irinnews.org/report/87110/liberia-disease-rife-as-more-people-squeeze-into-fewer-toilets), that environment would be West Point. Adds Lokuge: “Ebola is nowhere as contagious as the flu, but you need to spread knowledge about how it is transmitted in order to control it.” Over the past week, this has proven to be one of the gravest problems in West Point. On Saturday, a health center [was looted](http://time.com/3131025/ebola-looting-kenya-flights/) and Ebola patients sent running, after a rumor spread that infected people were being brought in from other parts of the country. Others refused to believe the disease existed. “There is no Ebola,” some protesters attacking the clinic [shouted](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/liberia/11039693/Ebola-patients-flee-as-armed-men-raid-Liberia-clinic.html). “There is a high level of disbelief in the government in West Point,” Sanj Srikanthan, the International Rescue Committee’s emergency response director in Liberia, tells TIME. “The government has made a concerted effort to reach out to community leaders, youth groups and churches with the message that the only way to contain the disease is to understand it. But some people still believe Ebola is a conspiracy, and those people we need to reach.” But even in West Point itself, conveying the gravity of the disease is a challenge. “There’s a degree of anger, people are feeling they are being neglected for others,” Srikanthan says. “This makes it harder to convince people of the seriousness of Ebola.” Clashes [erupted](http://time.com/3148894/ebola-liberia-health-africa/) between West Point residents and police when the barricades were first raised and the 9 pm to 6 am curfew imposed, and the area is still tense. On Thursday, senior United Nations officials [arrived](http://news.yahoo.com/clashes-erupt-sealed-off-ebola-area-liberia-capital-150947266.html) in Africa to oversee the Ebola response, including Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s pointman David Nabarro. Srikanthan, like other aid workers, believe the presence of dignitaries is of utmost importance . “This is a forgotten corner of the world facing an unprecedented situation,” he said. “This is still a containable outbreak, but local resources are simply overwhelmed. It would be great to see some recognizable faces taking control over certain aspects of the response.” He also believes that the situation is not entirely hopeless. “The situation may be catastrophic, but it is one that can be turned around,” he says. “I think the risks have been overhyped, and that even humanitarians are, to an extent, affected by the fears reported by media. Being in Monrovia, you’re not necessarily going to get Ebola, it’s not airborne.” ## Transcript [00:00] The Ebola virus is ravaging West Africa, taking at [00:04] least 800 lives and leaving behind a lot of confusion. [00:07] Here are five common questions about the disease. [00:10] Number one, if there's no vaccine and cure for Ebola ,. [00:15] What are doctors doing to treat infected patients? [00:18] Currently, doctors can only provide supportive care [00:22] like monitoring their heart rate, and blood pressure, [00:24] and making sure their fluids are replenished. This will [00:27] hopefully help sustain infected patients through the [00:31] disease. If there's no cure for Ebola, how are some [00:34] people surviving? When someone is infected with the [00:37] virus, the body produces antibodies to fight it. People [00:41] who have survived Ebola have produced enough [00:44] antibodies to neutralize the virus and eventually, their [00:46] immune system will clear it. Number three, why is [00:50] there no vaccine or drug for Ebola? There are currently [00:53] experimental drugs and vaccines under development. [00:56] But since Ebola is a relatively rare disease compared [01:00] to others, there hasn't been a financial incentive for [01:03] pharmaceutical companies to put a lot of funding into [01:06] these drugs. Number four. How can Americans [01:10] with Ebola be evacuated back to the U. S .? There are [01:14] certain plains that medical groups use to evacuate and [01:17] transport people with very infectious diseases. The [01:20] plains can be equipped with medical equipment, as [01:23] well as units to isolate patients from doctors. Doctors [01:27] accompanying patients will wear full body suits to keep [01:30] themselves protected. Number 5, what are my [01:33] chances of getting Ebola in the U. S .? [ MUSIC ] The [01:36] only way to contract the disease is through direct [01:38] contact with bodily fluids, which can include blood, [01:42] vomit, semen, and yes, even sweat. With proper [01:46] protection and equipment, being infected with the [01:48] disease is highly unlikely. For more answers to your [01:51] questions about Ebola and to follow Time's coverage of [01:54] the disease, visit time. com / ebola. 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