Overwhelmed, and No Outbreak: 30 States Plus D.C. Requested Help with Possible Ebola Cases
Thirty states plus the District of Columbia have sought the Center for Disease Control’s help identifying potential cases of Ebola. The map above is based on a list of those states provided to Breitbart News Thursday by the CDC. The list shows (in bright red) all the states which have asked for the CDC’s help with potential Ebola cases since July 27th. When contacted for consultation, the CDC examines the patient’s symptoms and travel history to decide whether or not a blood test is needed. In most cases, the CDC is able to rule out Ebola without the need for a blood test…
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Outbreak accelerating: Ebola death toll surges to 1420, with more than 2600 cases
The number of people dying in West Africa from the ongoing Ebola outbreak is poised to surpass the total number of people to ever have died from the virus in just 10 days, according to World Health Organization figures. Up until sometime in early 2014, the Ebola virus had killed 1,548 people since being discovered in 1976. As of Monday, Ebola had killed more than 1,350 people across West Africa in the five months since the outbreak was first declared there. Another 1,000 people could be dead by the end of October if the death rate continues at its current pace. Despite an influx of money, materials and personnel, an average of more than 25 people died each day this August in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, according to the latest WHO figures. That rate has nearly doubled since July, when 13 people on average died each day. Doctors Without Borders officials said it “can’t speculate on numbers and outbreak patterns,” but President Joanne Liu said last week her organization and others will need to remain in the region for at least “six months, and I’m being, I would say, very optimistic.” Even more troubling, the ongoing crisis might be underestimated by as much as 20 percent, because many deaths and infections go unreported, either out of fear or denial, or because those infected live in hard-to-reach rural areas, Joseph Fair, a special adviser to Sierra Leone’s Health Ministry, told NPR.
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Number of Ebola deaths are massively underestimated, warns WHO
The magnitude of West Africa’s Ebola outbreak has been underestimated, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, warning that unknown numbers of people were dying in “shadow zones” unrecorded by medical authorities. Official estimates place the number of known, suspected and probable cases of Ebola at nearly 2,500, just over half of which have been fatal. However, in a detailed assessment of the true extent of the crisis, the WHO described a bleak situation in which “invisible caseloads of patients… are not being detected by the surveillance system.” Recording of Ebola cases has been hindered for a number of reasons, particularly in Sierra Leone and Liberia, which have seen the worst of the epidemic, the WHO said in its latest situation report. Families are hiding infected loved ones, on the assumption that, because Ebola has no cure, it would be better for them to die at home rather than in hospital. However, effective treatment can improve chances of survival – a message that health authorities have been struggling to communicate to increasingly fearful populations. Isolation wards for Ebola patients are instead being viewed by many Africans as an “incubator for the disease”, the WHO said. Many medical facilities throughout the affected countries have closed, in many cases because medical staff have fled.
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