There is no other way, and we can fairly say that more than 1,100 people treated in our programs have survived Ebola in West Africa due to the willingness of our field workers to assume these risks.

As of October 30, 2014, there are more than 3,300 MSF staff working on Ebola in West Africa. The total number of people who have worked in Ebola projects since MSF began its intervention last March is significantly higher. To date, 23 MSF staff have contracted Ebola [note: this was previously reported as 24, but one staff member thought to have contracted Ebola was revealed to have had Lassa Fever] and 13 have died. Eight have survived, and one, our colleague now in New York, is in treatment. Twenty of the 23 have been national staff, people who live in the country in which they were working (national staff make up the vast majority of MSF staff around the world). Three were international staff, or “expats.” After each and every case, MSF conducts an investigation to figure out how someone was infected (the same happens after security incidents in other projects as well) and protocols are enhanced to address identified vulnerabilities. In the case of the national staff members, it was determined that the vast majority became infected due to contact with people with Ebola outside of MSF facilities, in their home communities. The international staff members who contracted the disease and were later treated in France and Norway were deemed to have become infected due to chance encounters in a triage area where new patients are screened. MSF is still investigating how Dr. Spencer might have become infected.