The Ebola outbreak is spreading faster than ever. To date, Ebola has caused more than 4,000 deaths out of 7,399 cases recorded in 7 countries (Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and United States). And WHO estimates are not reassuring. “The Ebola epidemic could cause 5,000 to 10,000 new cases per week in West Africa in December,” said Bruce Aylward, Deputy Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the occasion of the Security Council devoted to the spread of this disease.
“The clock is ticking and the virus Ebola is winning”, warned already in September, Dr. Liu, the international president of Doctors Without Borders (MSF). “The time for meetings and planning is over. Now is the time to act. Every day of inaction leads to more deaths and the slow collapse of the countries affected,” she said. Especially since the Ebola virus, also called Ebola virus hemorrhagic fever, is a serious disease, often fatal in humans. And that today, there is no specific treatment to fight against the Ebola virus. Several vaccines and drugs are in trials or being evaluated, but none are available for clinical use.
Very few patients survive this disease
The figures announced by governments and the WHO assessments are not identical. Indeed, the States seem to minimize the mortality rate due to the Ebola virus.
“For people living in West Africa, whom we know are sick and whose fate we know, we estimate a 70% mortality rate. And, it is practically the same number in the three countries, namely Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea,” added Bruce Aylward.
“Liberia is the country most affected by the virus with 4,076 patients, including 2,316 deaths (57%). With 2950 cases including 930 deaths, Sierra Leone has a lower mortality rate of 31%. In Guinea, with 778 deaths out of 1,350 declared patients, the virus has a mortality rate of 57%. But the number of real cases would in fact be 1.5 times higher than officially recorded in Guinea, twice as many in Sierra Leone, and 2.5 times in Liberia,” concludes the WHO.
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