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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : October 4, 2014 10:37 AM IST
The Pentagon said Friday that it may send 4,000 troops to Liberia as part of a comprehensive assistance plan against the deadly Ebola outbreak, but stressed that the actual number may change.
Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has approved 4,000 troops for potential deployment to Liberia, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told a press conference. 'But I want to make one thing real clear, that that's a potential deployment. That doesn't mean it is going to get to that number,' Xinhua quoted Kirby as saying.
The number, almost 1,000 above what President Barack Obama had previously committed, came at a time when the first person was diagnosed with Ebola in the US earlier this week, putting health authorities on high alert.
Currently, there are just 205 US military personnel in Liberia and another 26 in neighbouring Senegal, the Pentagon said.
Two Ebola testing laboratories manned by personnel from the US Naval Medical Research Centre are now fully operational, with a capacity of processing about 100 samples a day, Kirby said.
'Construction of two treatment centres for other Ebola victims will begin today and should be completed by the end of the month,' the official added.
Kirby forecast a significant increase in the operations tempo in Liberia and with it an increase in troops.
The US Army said it had committed about 3,200 forces, who would provide medical and logistic support, as well as site security, in Ebola-hit regions.
Troops going to the regions will be monitored by medical experts for Ebola-prevention and health protection before, during and after deployment, Kirby said.
The World Health Organisation said Friday that the world's worst Ebola outbreak on record has now killed 3,439 people.
Early symptoms of Ebola
Fever: Increase in body temperature is the first defence mechanism that the body uses to kill any foreign particle invading the body. When Ebola infects the body, it causes a release of various compounds like cytokines and histamines that pass on the signals of increasing body temperature. In fact, Ebola virus disease is also called the Ebola haemorrhagic fever, where the temperature can go above 38.6 C or 101.5 F.
Headache: It is the most common symptom of Ebola infection after fever, present in almost 96 percent of the cases. Nausea and headache along with fever present a typical case of common cold and flu. At this stage, the symptoms can be confused with other common infections.
Stomach pain: A few viral particles invade the liver and starts destroying the hepatocytes. New virions start damaging the intestinal cells causing abdominal pain.
Drop in blood pressure: The cytokines and histamines released by the immune cells, soon after the entry of the virus in the body, increases the permeability of the cells lining the blood vessels. This causes leakage of water from the blood into the surrounding tissues and a sudden drop in blood pressure.
With inputs from IANS
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