The head of a treatment centre in Liberia, the country worst-hit by West Africa’s deadly Ebola outbreak, has urged survivors of the disease to donate their blood for use in treating infected patients.

The epidemic has already killed over 2,800 people – more than the combined total of all previous Ebola outbreaks – most of them in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where it has overwhelmed already fragile health services.

“We need survivors to come and help us with blood donations,” said Attai Omoruto, the Ugandan doctor in charge of the newly opened, 150-bed Island Clinic in Liberia’s capital Monrovia.

Studies suggest that transfusions from Ebola survivors might prevent or treat infection in others. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said this month that products and serum derived from the blood of survivors could be used to treat the disease until experimental drugs currently under development enter production.

William Pooley, a British man who survived Ebola after being treated in London, flew to the United States this month to donate his blood to help another patient suffering from the haemorrhagic fever.

“The survivors’ blood has the antibodies that have fought off the Ebola virus. When we give this fresh blood to the patients, it can repair their blood vessels so they do not bleed,” he said.

As the region’s epidemic has gained momentum and residents in the affected countries have grown more desperate for assistance, rumours of the existence of black markets dealing in the blood of survivors have emerged.

“We will certainly bring this matter to the attention of governments and work with them to stamp out any black market activity,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said earlier this month.

After a slow initial start and amid fears the epidemic could spread beyond West Africa, aid and equipment is now pouring into the region. The US is deploying 3,000 military personnel, mainly to Liberia. And the UN is also setting up a special mission, known as UNMEER, to combat Ebola.