Giving opportunity: Ebola outbreak

Dr. Kent Brantly caring for an Ebola patient before he tested positive himself for the virus. Source: Samaritan's Purse

More than 700 people have died in a week's time due to the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa. This highly infectious disease has a survival rate of 10% in some of the remote African villages throughout Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, where little is known about the disease and how it spreads. Samaritan's Purse has deployed over a dozen medical professionals in Liberia where they are operating the only medical facilities in the entire country that are properly equipped to care for Ebola victims.

Ebola outbreak as of 7/31/14.

Ebola has no cure and spreads from the bodily secretions of an infected person, however it is not airborne. The doctors and nurses working for Samaritan's Purse put their own lives in danger each time they enter the Ebola ward to care for patients. They must wear protective suits, goggles, and double gloves in the African heat and then go through multiple chlorine showers after their shift.

Please pray for the medical team that is risking so much of their own livelihood in order to help the sick and dying in Jesus' name. Pray also for the untold misery of thousands who are experiencing pain and death, "an epidemic straight from hell," as one doctor described it. Pray for the two American medical staff, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who've been infected and are fighting for their lives today. Pray that the disease would be contained and that the resources needed to fight the epidemic would be provided. Give generously, Christian Church of the West, to those suffering terribly in West Africa.

For more information on the Ebola outbreak and how you can help, visit the Samaritan's Purse website and donate Ebola Crisis Response.

"'I was sick, and you took care of me... Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'" -Matthew 25:36;40