Authorities searching for 17 who fled Ebola quarantine center in Liberia; 20 re-hospitalized

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberian authorities are searching for 17 patients who fled an Ebola quarantine center in the capital after it was attacked this weekend.

A total of 37 patients fled, but 20 have been brought back to hospitals and are again under observation. Health officials say none have been confirmed to have Ebola.

Residents of Monrovia’s West Point slum, where the quarantine center is located, were angry that patients have been brought there from other parts of the city.

Police say looters stole bloody sheets and mattresses, which could carry the Ebola virus and could fuel its spread in a slum where at least 50,000 people live.

Police have been deployed outside at least one Ebola treatment center in Monrovia today in the wake of the violence. The West Point holding center remains closed for now.

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APPHOTO ALIB104: Liberian Police dressed in riot gear deploy at a MSF, ‘Doctors Without Borders’, Ebola treatment center, in the rain, as they provide security in the city of Monrovia, Liberia, Monday, Aug. 18, 2014. Liberia’s armed forces were given orders to shoot people trying to illegally cross the border from neighboring Sierra Leone, which was closed to stem the spread of Ebola, local newspaper Daily Observer reported Monday. (AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh) (18 Aug 2014)

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