Surreal Photos of an Ebola Isolation Ward

The Ebola death toll in West Africa reached 1,145 Friday, and fears that the disease may reach the western world are getting harder to ignore.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention even said last week that the spread of the disease to the U.S. was "inevitable," although there will likely be a few imported cases, not a widespread outbreak.

Hospitals around the globe are bracing for the usually fatal disease. Ebola is transmitted via bodily fluids, but because doctors must often work directly with these highly contagious fluids, hospitals may take above-and-beyond precautions to ensure the safety of their workers. One German hospital recently allowed press in to view the many layers of protection in its impressive Ebola isolation ward — the largest in the nation, The Week points out.

Berlin's Charite hospital can handle up to 20 Ebola-stricken patients at once, per The Week, and the test-run of the operation resulted in some surreal photos, which can be seen below:

The doctors and nurses must have their suits sprayed down with a cleaning substance before they can take them off.

The cleaning process involves a lot of a soapy substance.

Thomas Peter/Reuters
This doctor for tropical medicine works with a blood sample he plans on analyzing. No precaution is spared, as the hospital workers wear protective gear from head to toe even while working in the lab near the disease.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images
The ward itself, Station 59 at the Charite hospital, is one of few specialized Ebola isolation units in Germany.

Media didn't have to wear the space-like suits for the demonstration within the ward.

While wearing the blue protective suits, not a centimeter of skin is exposed.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

This nurse stands in a room that would house a quarantined patient. All of the doctors and nurses speak through microphones, such as the one the nurse wears, while in the protective suit.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Here is the isolation ward's changing room. As you can see, the hospital workers have oxygen tanks, like the one the man on the left holds, so they can breath within the suits.

Physician Thomas Klotzkowski stands in a patient room, possibly pondering a cure for the deadly Ebola disease. Currently, there is no vaccine or treatment for Ebola.

These ominous-looking protective suits lie on a rack above yellow signs that read "Do not enter. Infectious diseases. No Trespassing!"

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Photo information courtesy Getty Images and Reuters.

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