U.S. troops in Ebola fight will return home

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- The majority of U.S. troops in West Africa, assisting in containing the Ebola epidemic, will be home by Apr. 30, the White House announced.

Citing the "improved epidemiological outlook," only 100 of 1,300 troops will remain, a White House statement said Tuesday. The United States will continue to help fund the effort to contain the Ebola virus in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone; administration officials said the work of at least 10,000 people is underwritten by U.S. funding.

They added Washington was prepared to reduce its five-month commitment to fighting Ebola until the World Health Organization (WHO) announced new Ebola cases rose, for the first time in months, in the first week of February.

The epidemic killed over 9,000 people in West Africa, but new cases have declined in Liberia to about one or two per day, WHO said. Positive results have been hampered in Guinea by local resistance, sparked by rumor and conspiracy theories, to containment attempts.

About 1,500 U.S. troops who served in west Africa have already returned home.