'Perfect storm' for Ebola to spread, says ebola co-discoverer

Peter Piot, the Belgian scientist who co-discovered the Ebola virus in 1976, on Tuesday said a "perfect storm" in West Africa had given the disease a chance to spread unchecked. "We have never seen an (Ebola) epidemic on this scale," Piot was quoted by the French daily Liberation as saying. "In the last six months, we have been witnessing what can be described as a 'perfect storm' -- everything is there for it to snowball." The epidemic "is exploding in countries where health services are not functioning, ravaged by decades of civil war," Piot said. "In addition, the public is deeply suspicious of the authorities. Trust must be restored. Nothing can be done in an epidemic like Ebola if there is no trust."