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WHO Warns Of Urgency To Fight Ebola

Boys carry food cans during a food distribution by the World Food Programme (WFP) in Dolo's Town, some 60 km east of Monrovia, quarantined as a measure to contain the spread of Ebola on September 2, 2014. International medical agency Medecins sans Frontieres said on September 2 the world was "losing the battle" to contain Ebola as the United Nations warned of severe food shortages in the hardest-hit countries. The Ebola virus, transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids, has killed more than 1,500 people in four countries since the start of the year -- almost 700 of them in Liberia. (Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images)
Boys carry food cans during a food distribution by the World Food Programme (WFP) in Dolo's Town, some 60 km east of Monrovia, quarantined as a measure to contain the spread of Ebola on September 2, 2014. International medical agency Medecins sans Frontieres said on September 2 the world was "losing the battle" to contain Ebola as the United Nations warned of severe food shortages in the hardest-hit countries. The Ebola virus, transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids, has killed more than 1,500 people in four countries since the start of the year -- almost 700 of them in Liberia. (Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images)

The World Health Organization held a press conference to today in response to the escalating Ebola crisis. This comes amid news that an American doctor in Liberia has contracted the deadly virus.

Yesterday, Centers for Disease Control director Tom Frieden said the window of opportunity to contain Ebola is closing and immediate action is needed.

Meantime, Nancy Writebol, a North Carolina missionary who survived Ebola, held a news conference today with her husband David.

Jason Beaubien, NPR’s global health and development correspondent, went to the WHO press conference, joins Here & Now’s Robin Young with details.

Guest

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