thank you very much. thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in central philippines over fears of possible volcanic reception. there have been a number of quakes in recent weeks. the headlines are coming up. ♪ >> thousands are dead with no end in site. the latest on the ebola including concerns that the virus could mew tate and become air born. has the world's response been adequate? my co-host is bringing in all of your feedback

throughout the show, and that question has the response been adequate. >> right. >> is really enganging our viewers because we keep seeing the numbers go up and up, and it seems like the response is about the same. >> we did a segment on this, and remember the number was 600, which is a huge number. we thought the tragedy would be concerned now the death toll is 2500, and that #is still trending. has gone viral. pardon the use of the word, and we also have this graphic, this is for all the people who are suffering from ebola, check that out really quick. huge response from our academy, i cannot help but wonder what kind of internal systems failed or were needed. good question. and i have to bring this one up, from today, talking about the response can you belief that the united states will be sending 3,000 troops to africa to help with ebola. they will come home infected, he says we have enough problems. >> we will talk about why that may with a naive except. >> right.

>> it began as an isolated case, and has transformed into the worst ebola outbreak in history. the world health organization reports there have been more than 4900 cases and close to 2500 deaths in the last since months and that is spanning five african countries. fear and miss information gripped the people and ebola stricken areas making it even more difficult for health workers struggling with few supplies and limited global support to contain the virus. and the medical reare sources that some of the condos have are dwindling with dozens of doctors and aid workers losing their lives to the virus. so what is missing in the response to ebola? today, president obama is at the c.d.c., and intends to answer that question, along with propose an $88 million plan. to combat the spread. raising the question, what are some potential global consequences if we fail to act on a broader scale? joining us on set is stephen morrison, senior vice president and director of the global

health policy center, at the center for have edge tooic and international studies. professor of micro biologist at the university of maryland he is also the former chief avail real for the u.s. army medical research institute of infectious diseases, he has worked on a vaccine in the past, and he helped to identify one of the key antibodies currently used in patient treatment. and on skype from monrovia liberia, spokesperson and chief of crisis communications, to the united nations children's fund for unicef. thank you for joining us. so many on the agencies are saying things like it is moving faster than they can keep up with, stephen this isn't the first time that ebola has hit around the world, what is making this different and why this increased magnitude of cases. >> we are now at almost

5,000 half of that fatalities. you had a population that was naive to ebola, they had not seen it, you had exceptionally weak public health system, so you didn't have surveillance and detection. the first case was last september, it was not confirmed until march 22nd, so you had delayed. a lot of people were running away from health facilities that were themselves extremely weak, and you had bad political leadership coming in on top of that. it jumped and it jumped from ginny into liberia and sierra leone, and

into the capitol. >> and just from isolated areas to places are people are more transient. >> right. and the population movement was very important, because this in part of west africa, you have a lot of migration across border, entry fa filial and the like. is and so you add in exceptionally weak infrastructure very poor government patterns, a lot of disinstruction, an epidemic driven underground, and the fact that it leapt from one country to three, and then into coastal populated areas. that has created this perfect storm. earlier in the april timeframe, there was a thought that the west had passed. and there was a relaxation, but, in fact, it had been driven underground, and when it came back with a fury, i think almost everybody was caught off guard, this was a great wakeup call for public health officials.

the other thing, the world health organization, the staff and budget have been gutted. it was utterly incapable of responding and leaning on this. msf has been the great hero in this story. it has 2,000 people on the ground, it is carrying two-thirds of the caseload in this region. if it were not for doctors without borders it would extraordinary. >> we will talk more about the response in a few minutes. sara, i want to bring you into the conversation, you have been on the ground, we hear the numbers and see the reports. how much worse is it there than we are hearing? >> well, there's no question there is a real sense of trepidation, but there's also a real sense of resolve. where the outbreak happened much earlier in the year, and which has the highest caseload. we do see this being led by liberians. so this is a very

important point, it is not to say this the liberians are sitting back and waiting for the world to come, but they do feel abandoned. they do feel the intense response has not been enough, and it has not been fast enough, and it hasn't rauled much faster. but every single day, throughout the country, throughout monrovia, and into the other counties for the now effectively occupied, the entire country. people are going out, social mobilizes, unicef, who, this is spirally joined us, so at this stage, we don't feel it is helpful to look back, we have to look forward and get focused on the job at hand. we are, we are working with communities and households. on trying to give them, arm them with the best means that they can have. at their disposal in order to stop the spread. >> here is a really powerful comment from our community member.

people should be given a chance to live, ebola isn't taken under control soon it can become hard tore treat. sara,ly be sharing your photos here. ebola survivor who lost her mum mimicked the doctors and their masks. look at this photo, and another one. 24 hours in monrovia, liberia has had to wash my hands with chlorine 20 times and have my temperature taken eight times there is into graphic here. shows all the countries where the broken down west africa, likely hosts and one and two people who get ebola have died. >> because people eat the bats not because they are being bitten by them. ebola epidemic has a potential to alter history as much as any plague has ever done. do you agree with that statement? >> i agree to the extent

that it is the worst case outcome. yes. if ebola should change it's biologist through the passage from human to human to human. it would potentially very unlikely, but potentially could migrate to a whole new global pandemic. allen are you taking about a mutation where the virus could become air born. >> yes. that would be the -- the most troubling way for the virus to begin to spread. all these viruses mutate. some of them provide the virus in an advantage in a new situation that it

is in, in this case, the human population. when the virus is well adapted to persisting in another spearsies presumably bats. so what with are urn canned about, of course, is that step by step, there will be an adeppation to respiratory, or possibly some other means of spread. >> stephen, you know, when you hear people like allen or dr. michael oster holm, who used to be the acting director of the cvc use that language that these people are very conservative with how they speak, and when they use this language that it could become air born that it could be the worst pandemic we have seen, what does that tell you? >> there was a convergence of. into early september, across the spectrum, that this situation is out of control. it was a growth, and it remains an exponential growth, for the reproduction rate of 1 to 2.

so it is like this, it is still in that tomorrow, and so it has the possibility of migranting into ten or 12 of the neighbors or nearby states. many of which are quite vulnerable. so that is capturing people. i do not -- what sara was saying elier about the resolve of the commutes that are emerging. absolutely critical that that happened. i think it is also absolutely critical to emphasize when the defense minister, when brownie was here ten days ago, and in new york, it was a message of utter desperation. when the president sent the letter to president -- to our president obama, the letter was one of existential. it was we need to take extraordinary measures to rescue this situation from an existential threat. >> and that is something i will put you on pause, because we will get into that conversation right after the break, you just mentioned the spread to other countries the recent oxford study actually predicted it. say they ebola virus

could hit 15 additional countries. coming up next, what is getting in the way of halting the spread. plus, george saloon, he is joining us, his story up next.

welcome back. not a day goes by without new and emerging information about the ebola virus. absent a vaccine, why can't it be stopped or contained? >> >> well, i think the main reason it has not been stop redirect examination the combination of the poverty and the relatively weak medical structure, and then the cultural infamiliarity with the virus led to the situation that's even referred to as exponential spread. that each infected individual is infecting more than one person, so the outbreak is growing. so the public health containment measures infection control is going to bring that number down to less than one.

and i hear some optimism that the community there beginning to accept. that that's the behavior issues about how you come into close contact with person whose are infected or who have died of the virus. needs to be reversed. vaccines and therapies have an important role in all of this, especially in protecting medical workers and protecting household contacts with those who have been infected. but the main prevention, the way to bend that curb, to snuff out transmission is going to be just isolation and quarantine, and identification of cases. >> allen, there are a number of cases where u.s. doctors helping ebola stricken areas have contracted the virus, they have been taken out of the country for treatment, one was flown in to atlanta, how much risk is there to the general population when infected individuals are

brought into the u.s.? what -- when the virus is not changed from the virus we have known as ebola, the risk is just negligible. so close to zero because the person brought in known to be infected all protective measures are in place. every contact of that person, unprotected is well known, we could easily extinguish those circumstances. the virus as we know this virus, would not spread -- >> so donald trump putting out a tweet saying we have enough problems implying that it is foolishish to send 300 members of the mill story, to a place where they could be exposed that's an unfounded fear. >> a lot of donald trump's fears are

unfounded. >> [laughter] >> in one moment, i want to bring in sara, but i want to bring in george saloon, he is the team guest. one of his colleagues has been treated for ebola here in the united states. who said to be making remarkable progress. george, i want to get your opinion on something, the world health organization refused to let dr. alivia buck to receive treatment in germany, she died. what do you think the w.h.o. is making a distinction between western doctor whose have been flown out, and doctor whose are from these ebola ravages countries who contract the disease. >> that's a tough question to answer. thank you for putting me on the spot. i think -- i can only speak to our american people, and i know our government is very concerned about the welfare of our people, so they will vote any measure they need to bring our people out to

get the best possible care. i don't have any connections with the world health organization, so i don't know what their med dolling would be. >> the community, this is a failure of world health organization, and the nations to identify early those transmitting the disease, and sara going back to your twitter profile, when all else fails plastic baggings for handling ebola. those are literally garbage bags. what is your response to the international responses. specifically the united states? u.s. has spent already $100 million to combat the ebola outbreak. the d.o.d. already has 500 million, they are going to send 3,000 ground troops what do you think should have been done? what do you think needs to be done. >> well, it's all very important, and all very useful, and we need the country and the region needs all the help it can get. i think it is important to focus on the job at

hand, and not get entirely distracted by the fear and the psychos sis of fear, because kit be paralyzes, and throughout the country, and i have been in many pars of this country, unicef has been here for many many decades throughout the war. and throughout peacetimes. and yes, it is a fragile health system, but it is also important to remember that liberia did reduce child mortality had the fastest return in child mortality in the african con innocent. so much good work has been done. there are doing what they can in their own commutes. so throughout these training programs, that unicef is doing with all the different partners and this is a very joint effort, that msf, who, all kinds of organizations and agencies, being led by the ministry of health and social welfare. are involved in this, but it needs a kind of army of volunteers and people going out.

and liberians are doing it with very little pay as well. you also have. >> pause just for a second, i want to bring steve back into the conversation, sara is tackling about these different agencies that are doing a phenomenal job on the ground, does there need to be a more centralized response? plane the u.n. commanding what is going on. >> there's two sides to this equation. one is what is happening on the ground at the community level, which sara is eloquently pointed to. the higher level is how do you break the isolation, the collapse of the air probablies into the region. how do you compensate for that, how do you create the security environment in order to stand up very rapidly and field hospitals the mobile laboratories that are required and be able to inject several thousand workers.

unless they feel that first of all, they are equipped with the protected equipment, but also that the sites and the institutions that they are working on are not completely swamps. and dangerous. >> so yes, there is. and that is whether we are moving. an army, general a flag officer be in control we are moving towards u.s. african command, being the surge capacity in this situation. >> have to get to break, still ahead, how close are are we to an approved ebola vaccine, and even if promising drug drugs arn the horizon, do they have time to wait? the latest information and whether they translate to the mas.s, next.@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

>> no noise, no clutter, just real reporting. the new al jazeera america mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now scientists estimate there have been more -- then in the last 500 to 1,000 years. he is moving at an

unprecedented rated, with no known cure, yet several western doctors have been treated with experiment stall drugs and have survived. amry anniversary, seem to be the treatment facilities talk about the experiment stall serum ares they are using and whether we even know they are working or these people are getting better maybe on their own. >> well, we don't know whether they are working. because at least half of the people recover from ebola infection without treatment, and probably a higher proportion if they go in healthy, and they are well treated and just hydration replacing fluids. so we don't know whether these are working. i believe they are -- because they are specifically set up. high containment for patient whose have diseases exactly like this. so they are in a position for the very highest

levels of the share. so we have -- it will be a while before we know if they are going to work, it is not a great experiment tail situation, because we will do everything we can to protect even vaccinated people with barrier, gloves, masks, etc. >> allen, you are speaking about experiments, that is the exact question, should ebola patients be given trial vaccines? why or why not. i think it should be according to the extent of the research, also the patients decision, it should be distributed fairly lady justice just -- such a touchy topic.

desperate experimental drugs. what is your response? >> first of all, we need to distinguish between vaccines that you give to healthy people, in helps of protecting them against a future threat. so verses giving a therapy to someone who is at risk of dying eminently, so you have two quite different situations and there is a humane -- there is a humane flexibility under dire circumstances in combining therapies to people that you know have a very high chance of dying. and you are simply trying whatever you can, that does -- with that scene you have to -- before you give healthy people protected vaccines you have to been completely confident that the safety andth cassie. i think the point to emphasize, is for this current crisis, of the next nine to 18 months. with proventh cassie. the therapies same thing.

you can't determine what the schedule is going to be in bringing forward ones that you want to use in this population, and can be produced on scale, and delivered. so there's enormous uncertainly, there's no quick fix. in drawing the antibodies from the population of survivors and using those as a serum, of antibodies. into people at risk or exposed. we have one minute left in the show, give us the latest on how your colleague is doing, and your final thoughts? >> thank you for asking.

rick is brocking steadily. every day seems better than the day before. his outgoing personality is back in full force. and he is even helping communication with the people on the ground in liberia, and contributing to some of the medical efforts they are trying to put forward. i just heard about blood serums and they are doing a lot of work on that front specifically, as well as dealing with body fluids and electrolytes. and different approaches. try to help these people, we have seen tremendous strides and improving the health of people, so there's hope out there. >> thank you to our guest. allen, and george -- we appreciate your time today, until next time, we will see you online at aljazeera.com/a jam stream.

>> the war with isil as we are with al quaida. >> going after the islamic state of iraq and the u.s. says it will target the group in syria. >> you are watching al jazeera live on doha. first steps towards peace, ukraine's parliament grants rebellious eastern regions greater autonomy.