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By Clair MacDougall
MONROVIA, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Liberians packed churches inthe capital Monrovia on Sunday to seek solace from an outbreakof the deadly Ebola virus, defying official warnings to avoidpublic gatherings to try to contain an epidemic that has killednearly 1,000 people in West Africa.
With its creaking healthcare system completely overrun,Liberia declared a state of emergency last week to tackle thehighly contagious and incurable disease, which has also strickenneighbouring Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria.
People still flocked to sing and pray in churches in theramshackle ocean-front capital, many of them comparing Ebola tothe brutal civil war that ravaged the country between 1989 and2003, killing nearly a quarter of a million people.
"Everyone is so afraid," said Martee Jones Seator at SaintPeter's Lutheran Church. "Ebola is not going to shake our faithin any way ... because we've been through difficult times."
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that theworld's worst outbreak of Ebola will likely continue for months,as the region's healthcare systems struggle to cope, and it hasappealed for funding and emergency medical staff.
With the disease now in four African countries - followingthe death in Nigeria last month of a U.S. citizen who arrivedfrom Liberia - the WHO on Friday classified the epidemic as aninternational health emergency.
A WHO medical ethics committee is due to discuss next weekthe use of experimental drugs in tackling the outbreak after twoU.S. aid workers appeared to show some improvement after beingtreated with ZMapp, a drug developed by California-based MappBiopharmaceutical.
British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said on Sunday aclinical trial of another experimental vaccine was due to startshortly. But even if it is fast-tracked, the new treatment wouldnot be ready for deployment before next year.
Spain on Sunday authorised the use of the ZMapp on75-year-old Spanish priest Miguel Pajares - the first Europeaninfected - who was evacuated to Madrid last week aftercontracting the virus working in a hospital in Liberia. ACongolese nun who worked with him died on Saturday in Monrovia.
Outside churches in the capital, plastic buckets with tapscontaining chlorinated water sat on stools, allowing worshippersto disinfect their hands. Inside, pastors told theircongregations to follow instructions from health workers, someof whom have been attacked by locals terrified by the disease.
"We are in trouble here. We are in trouble," Reverend MarcusMacKay, dressed in a green gown, said before the altar. "But youknow what? There is no way this devil is going to do its work!"
STARTED IN FORESTS OF GUINEA
Scientists believe that West Africa's first Ebola epidemicbegan in early December near Gueckedou in the remote forestregion of southeastern Guinea, near the border with Liberia andSierra Leone. Yet it is not clear how the virus jumped fromcentral Africa, where it is regarded as endemic.
National emergencies have since been declared in SierraLeone, Liberia and Nigeria, which now has seven confirmed casesof Ebola. Guinea said on Saturday it wastightening health checks at border crossings.
With healthcare workers unprepared to cope with the virus -which initially presents symptoms similar to malaria - many havedied, exacerbating chronic staffing problems. Liberia alone haslost at least three doctors to the virus and 32 health workers.
The coordinator of Medecins Sans Frontieres in Liberia,Lindis Hurum, has called the situation in the country"catastrophic". President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Saturdaypledged up to $18 million to help protect workers, fund moreambulances and to increase the number of treatment centres.
Burkina Faso became the latest African country on Sunday toannounce stringent airport health checks and border controls toprotect itself from infection. Zambia said on Saturday it wouldban its citizens from travelling to countries hit by the virus.
In Senegal, which borders Guinea to the north, a man hadbeen isolated in the northern region of Matam while tests wereconducted for Ebola, the APS state news agency reported.
Tests on suspected cases in Hong Kong, Canada and SaudiArabia in recent days have all proved negative. (Reporting by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Stephen Powell)
