MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) - The United States is going to deploy some 1,400 troops to Liberia to help roll back the deadly Ebola virus disease, Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said on Wednesday.
"Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has authorized the deployment of 700 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division headquarters element to Liberia to help with the Ebola epidemic there," Adm. Kirby said at a briefing in Washington.
The admiral added US Army will deploy another 700 soldiers from engineering units throughout the United States to supervise the construction of Ebola treatment units, conduct site surveys and provide engineering expertise.
These deployments are part of a "whole-of-government response" to the Ebola outbreak, Adm. Kirby said, adding that 195 DoD personnel had already been deployed in West Africa.
The first case of Ebola importation into the United States has been reported in Texas by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The patient, who returned from Liberia as early as in mi-September, has been put in isolation.
There is no officially approved cure for the disease, however, several countries, including Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan are currently developing a vaccine.
More than 3,000 people have died of Ebola in West Africa since the start of the outbreak. The Ebola epidemic broke out in late 2013, spreading across Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria and Senegal. A separate outbreak, unrelated to the one in West Africa, is taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
