Irish doctor warns number of patients at treatment centres does not reflect scale of Ebola epidemic

An Irish doctor heading for the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak has warned that the number of patients being seen at treatment centres does not reflect the true scale of the epidemic.

Dr Gabriel Fitzpatrick, who left Ireland on Wednesday, will be joining a team of doctors from Medecins Sans Frontieres is due in Kailahun in remote eastern Sierra Leone today after an eight-hour drive from the capital, Freetown.

The district is on the border with both Guinea and Liberia, the other two countries struggling to contain the outbreak which is known to have infected more than 1,300 people and killed more than 700, but has also claimed lives in outlying areas no doctors have reached.