U.S. army spends nearly 400 mln dollars to cope with Ebola crisis

As of Jan. 5, the U.S. Defense Department has spent 384.9 million dollars in response to the Ebola crisis that broke out in Africa last year, according to a DOD statement released on Thursday.

Of the total amount, the military's logistical, medical staff training and medical facility engineering efforts account for 312. 3 million dollars, cooperative threat reduction measures, including biosurveillance and biosecurity, take up 47 million dollars while vaccine research and development costs 25.6 million dollars.

The U.S. army's Ebola control effort also involve 2,367 personnel, DOD spokesman Steve Warren said in the statement.

Most of those personnel, or 2,174, are based in Monrovia, Liberia's capital city. The remaining 193 personnel are Marine Corps members and port operations personnel operating in Dakar, Senegal.

U.S. military personnel are not involved in treating patients with Ebola, Warren said, adding that their role in the fight is to provide logistical support and training for health care workers, to test medical samples and to construct Ebola treatment units.

Since training began on Oct. 27 last year, the 40-person Army and Air Force team has trained 1,539 health care workers.

DOD's efforts in Liberia also include a 25-bed hospital in Monrovia and 10 Ebola treatment units located throughout the country. Construction of all but two of the Ebola treatment units is now complete, Warren said.

In addition to the hospital, a mobile lab began operating in Greenville, Liberia, Dec. 25, bringing the total number of mobile labs in Liberia to six, he added. Endite