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World|life|September 23, 2014 / 11:35 AM
WHO: Ebola cases could exceed 20,000 by November

AKIPRESS.COM - virusThe World Health Organization says the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is still worsening and the number of cases could surpass 20,000 by early November, and thousands of cases could then be expected each week in the three most hard-hit countries.

In addition, the WHO Ebola response team in an article published tonight in the New England Journal of Medicine said more than 70 percent of people who fall sick are dying.

“Without drastic improvements in control measures, the numbers of cases of and deaths from EVD [Ebola Virus Disease] are expected to continue increasing from hundreds to thousands per week in the coming months,” the team wrote in a grim assessment.

WHO said by Sept. 14, there had been 4,507 probable and confirmed cases, including 2,296 deaths in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Those are the official statistics; the real toll including unreported and unconfirmed cases is probably higher, the report says. At least 151 health care workers have died. The worst hit countries are Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The one small bright spot is that because of prompt and rigorous public health steps to confront the disease in Nigeria, the growth has been far slower, even though cases were reported in densely populated cities including Lagos, which has 20 million people.

In addition, the virus does not seem to be significantly different than in prior outbreaks, even though the toll is “far larger than all previous epidemics combined.”

The United States and other countries in recent days have announced stepped-up relief and support efforts. Testing and developments of drugs and vaccines has also been accelerated, but they still won’t be available in large quantities for some time.

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