The death toll continues to climb in what is being called the worst outbreak of Ebola in history.

Health officials say the epidemic, which has killed more than 670 people in four West African countries, is “out of control,” while Liberia’s president has closed all but three land border crossings, restricted public gatherings, and quarantined communities heavily affected by the outbreak. Screening centers are being set up at the few major entry points that will remain open, such as the main airport, according to the BBC.

Two American health care workers have been infected with the disease, and one of Liberia’s high-profile Ebola doctors, Samuel Brisbane, died Sunday. In Liberia, all hotels, restaurants, and movie theaters have been ordered to play a five-minute film to raise public awareness about the highly contagious virus.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced Monday it was stepping up its response in the most affected areas, even as medical volunteers face fear and hostility from panicked local populations. 

The New York Times reports:

To combat such mistrust in Sierra Leone, which MSF refers to as the “epicenter of the epidemic,” the international aid organization has trained more than 200 community health workers “to deliver essential health messages to people in their villages about how to protect themselves against Ebola and what action to take if someone shows any signs or symptoms of the disease.”

But humanitarian resources are stretched thin. In a Field News report released Monday, MSF says:

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Ebola symptoms include: sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat, followed by  vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding. The virus is thought to be introduced through close contact with the blood, secretions, and bodily fluids of infected animals such as fruit bats, monkeys, and chimpanzees. It is then spread via human-to-human contact, both direct and indirect.

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