Dr. Colette Bonner:

I congratulate Dr. Fitzpatrick. This is the first time I have heard his presentation. It is clear health care workers are providing an invaluable service in these countries, but it is only a drop in the ocean.

I do not have any clinical experience and therefore cannot provide the type of information Dr. Fitzpatrick can, but I support what he says in regard to staff. I believe the HSE has sent a paper to its management team to see whether there is a way it can seek staff who may be interested in travelling to these regions to provide cover, but I do not know whether there has been an outcome to that yet. I support Dr. Fitzpatrick's suggestion that any staff who come forward should be funnelled through an experienced organisation that is used to dealing with this kind of emergency situation.

It is clear that the systems in Liberia and Sierra Leone are underdeveloped. Part of the reason for this is that these are post-war territories. It is well known in terms of epidemiology that severe infectious diseases can spread more rapidly in those type of environments where health care systems are underdeveloped. Therefore, how the disease is spreading so rapidly is understandable. The identification and isolation of cases and prevention of transmission is the way to stop its spread.

We have not spoken much about the development of a vaccine for ebola. I believe the WHO has spearheaded work in this area, but I cannot say when a vaccine will become available. An effort is being made to release a vaccine for ebola as soon as possible. All these streams of action are happening concurrently in an effort to bring this crisis to an end.