Increasing concern over Ebola in the US has seen a spike in demand for protective suits, it’s emerged.
DuPont, one of the firms making the outfits used in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, told ABC News it had more than tripled production.
Judson Boothe, a senior figure at Kimberly-Clark Health Care, said his firm had also increased the number of suits it is manufacturing.
Three million protective suits will be needed in the battle to control Ebola, according to the World Health Organisation.
But firms are not just aiming their products at healthcare workers. MailOnline reports ‘protective suits, face masks and survival kits were ‘flying off the shelves amid increasing panic over Ebola in the US’. An infectious diseases expert told the website that panic-buying of protective suits was a ‘waste of money’.
A protective suit was, at the time of writing, selling for $743.40 (589.24 euros) on amazon.com.
One customer, adding a review of the product, wrote on October 4, 2014: “This thing is so roomy, which is why they call it a Suite as in the description. This thing works great!!!!!!! I’ve been wearing mine for 3 weeks now and I haven’t gotten Ebola yet!! Chafing slightly but it’s cool.”
It comes after Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola within the US, died in Texas.