World Bank warns Ebola's economic impact could be catastrophic

WASHINGTON - If the Ebola epidemic continues to surge in the three worst-affected countries - Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone - its economic impact could grow eightfold next year, dealing a potentially catastrophic blow to the already fragile states, according to a World Bank analysis released Wednesday.

The largest economic effects of the crisis are from the "fear factor" - people's concerns about contagion, officials said. "Already, the fear factor from the Ebola outbreak has reduced labor force participation, closed places of employment, disrupted transportation, and motivated some government and private decision-makers to close airports and seaports," said Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group.

The service sector has been hardest hit in the affected countries.

In a separate development, the international aid group Doctors Without Borders announced Wednesday that a staff member, a French nurse, has been infected with the virus while working at a facility outside Monrovia, Liberia's capital, the area's largest. She is the first foreign medical staffer for the humanitarian organization to develop the disease, the group said.

The nurse was put in isolation Tuesday after developing a fever. Laboratory tests confirmed she had contracted Ebola, and she is to be taken to France for treatment.

An investigation to determine how the woman became infected shut down the treatment center to new patients Wednesday as the disease continued to spread through the capital of 1.5 million people. The treatment center in Paynesville, Liberia, has more than 160 beds and a staff of 486 Liberians and 55 foreign nationals. The group is continuing to care for 110 people already inside the facility, said Laurence Sailly, the group's emergency coordinator.