Close to 5,000 people have died in the worst outbreak of the Ebola virus in history. Nearly 10,000 cases of the disease have been recorded, but the true toll may be three times as high, according to the World Health Organization. Liberia, the country hit hardest by the outbreak, has sufffered more than 2,700 deaths. The International Rescue Committee’s Peter Biro shares some of his photos from the front lines of the Ebola crisis.
Here, special teams carry out the hazardous work of burying the bodies of suspected Ebola victims, whose corpses are particularly infectious. The teams are made up of Liberian health workers run by Global Communities, one of the IRC’s partner organizations in Liberia.
A young woman cries as the Ebola burial team removes the body of her father.
Peter Biro/IRC
Most new Ebola cases are occurring among health workers and people who have been taking care of sick relatives. Here, Emmanuel Boyah, an IRC’s health manager in Lofa County, train local health workers in the use of protective clothing.
Peter Biro/IRC
A mother and her children listen to a discussion about Ebola in Barkedu’s town hall. Information sharing is key in the effort to contain the virus.
Peter Biro/IRC
In Lofa, IRC outreach workers and clinics have referred hundreds of suspected Ebola cases to the local care center, run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The work at the center is risky and temperatures inside the protective suits can reach 155 degrees F (46 degrees Celsius).
Peter Biro/IRC
Fatu Kanneh, from the village of Barkedu in Lofa County, lost 37 people in her extended family to the virus—including her husband and her 18-year-old son.
Peter Biro/IRC
A shopkeeper washes his hands in chlorine solution in an Ebola-stricken village in Lofa County.
Peter Biro/IRC
Mamadee Bayour—one of the few people in Barkedu who contracted Ebola and survived. “I’m now helping my community to keep safe,” he says. “If we take care, we will win this battle.”
Peter Biro/IRC
A road in Liberia’s northern Lofa County, where the Ebola virus first entered Liberia from neighboring Guinea in March. Suspected Ebola patients travel on this track to reach the area’s only Ebola care center.
Peter Biro/IRC
