Obama: Ebola Outbreak Is Threat to Global Security, if Not 'Stopped Now' It Could Affect 'Hundreds of Thousands

Story by the Associated Press; curated by Oliver Darcy.

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ATLANTA (AP) — Calling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a potential threat to global security, President Barack Obama is ordering 3,000 U.S. military personnel to the stricken region amid worries that the financial as well as human cost of the outbreak is rapidly spiraling out of control.

US President Barack Obama turns from the lectern after speaking following meetings at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on September 16, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

Obama also called on other countries to quickly supply more helpers, supplies and money.

"If the outbreak is not stopped now, we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people affected, with profound economic, political and security implications for all of us," Obama said Tuesday after briefings at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Emory University.

Obama: CDC experts say "the chance of an Ebola outbreak in the U.S. is extremely low" pic.twitter.com/YC3kz4bQoD

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September 16, 2014

"It's a potential threat to global security if these countries break down," Obama said, speaking of the hardest-hit countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. At least 2,400 people have died, with Liberia bearing the brunt.

Obama outlined new steps being taken by the U.S. to contain the outbreak, which he said is getting worse. They include sending military personnel, training health care workers and erecting health care facilities in Liberia.

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