A mob attacked an Ebola virus treatment center in Guinea on Friday, forcing Doctors Without Borders staff to shut the center down, an organization spokesman said.
"Young individuals from the local community" threatened staff at the center and accused them of bringing Ebola to Guinea, Doctors Without Borders press officer Tim Shenk told NBC News.
"Similar reactions have happened in the past within populations unfamiliar with the disease," Shenk said.
Local leaders are fully supportive of Doctors Without Borders' presence in the region, but the Ebola outbreak is "alarming" for residents, Shenk said.
Doctors Without Borders sent more than 60 international field workers into Guinea in response to the spreading virus, according to a statement by the organization.
"We are facing an epidemic of a magnitude never before seen in terms of the distribution of cases in the country,” said Mariano Lugli, coordinator of the Doctors Without Borders operation in Conakry, Guinea.
More than 90 people have already died of Ebola in Guinea and Liberia, according to Reuters.
Doctors Without Borders "wishes to resume the full range of its activities as soon as possible," Shenk said.
— Elisha Fieldstadt
