West Africa is counting the cost of measures to contain the deadly Ebola epidemic, as unprecedented restrictions cause food shortages, transport snarls and soaring prices, sparking fears people could die of hunger.
"We are trying to cope," said Joseph Kelfalah, the mayor of Kenema, in an eastern district of Sierra Leone that is under strict quarantine along with nearby Kailahun, but he added that food prices were "escalating".
Tribal authorities are imposing huge fines for failure to report cases of Ebola, which has claimed nearly 1,000 lives in west Africa in the worst outbreak in four decades.
Under the country's "Operation Octopus", some 1,500 soldiers and police have been deployed to enforce the quarantines, turning people away at checkpoints and accompanying health workers searching for people who may have contracted the virus.
"Only essential officials and food items are being allowed in after intensive searches," deputy police chief Karrow Kamara told AFP.
Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are the countries hardest hit by the epidemic, which the UN World Health Organisation has called an international health emergency.
Liberia has been particularly affected by food shortages since declaring its state of emergency on Wednesday. It, too, has deployed soldiers to restrict movement, notably from the worst-affected northern provinces to the capital Monrovia.
Sando Johnson, a senator in the province of Bomi, northwest of Monrovia, said the restrictions were "severe" and warned people would die of starvation if they are not relaxed.
"My country has been completely quarantined because soldiers don't allow anyone to get out of the area and they don't allow anyone to go there," he told AFP by telephone.
"A bag of rice that sold for 1,300 LD ($A15.15), is now selling for 1,800 LD. The poor people will die of hunger, for God's sake."
The virus is spread by close contact with an infected person through bodily fluids such as sweat, blood and tissue.
In Sierra Leone, 10 motorcycle taxi drivers have been infected after unknowingly carrying Ebola patients, according to the president of the National Bike Riders Association, David Sesay.
Efforts to halt the epidemic have been stymied by ignorance, distrust of Westerners and false rumours. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has warned against spreading false information "which can lead to mass hysteria, panic and misdirection".
Meanwhile, Spain said a Spanish priest infected with Ebola will be treated with an experimental drug already used on two repatriated Americans.
The drug, called ZMapp, arrived at Madrid's La Paz-Carlos III hospital, where the 75-year-old missionary was being treated in isolation, the health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The WHO says clinical trials of vaccines against Ebola should begin soon and will likely be ready for widespread use by early next year.
