2,000 Ebola infected - WHO plague escalates

The number of Ebola infections has risen to almost 2,000

08/14/2014

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is spreading with increasing speed. Almost 2,000 Ebola cases have since been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). With increased border controls, some countries are trying to prevent their spread and WHO has opted to use previously untreated drugs, given the dramatic situation in the affected states of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. But despite the intensive efforts of national and international health care institutions, the number of people infected and deaths is rising continuously.

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa has been reported by WHO in recent days „continues to escalate.“ Since the outbreak, 1,975 infections and 1,069 deaths from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone have been reported. Within a day, 128 new cases and 56 new deaths were registered, most of them in Liberia and Sierra Leone. In Nigeria, however, no new infections or deaths occurred after the imported cases. Nevertheless, according to all experts, skipping the epidemic to other states is not ruled out.

Liberia with the most new Ebola cases
While the World Health Organization for Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria estimates that between 94% and 98% of infections are detected and recorded, so that appropriate precautions are taken to protect or verify potential contact persons, Liberia has a significantly higher number of unreported cases to go out with the infections. According to the 71 newly reported infections and 32 deaths in Liberia probably still many more, unrecognized cases. Liberia is currently seen as a focus of the epidemic, which originally started in Guinea in December 2013. From Liberia also the first infected ones arrived to Nigeria.

Transmission of the disease by air traffic?
Cross-border air traffic is particularly problematic from an Ebola point of view, as the pathogens can easily cover thousands of kilometers. For this reason, some airlines such as Emirates and British Airways have already responded and canceled their direct flights to the affected countries. The information of the news agency „dpa“ According to the South Korean airline Korean Air, due to the epidemic from 20 August until further notice, it no longer wants to fly to East African Kenya, whose airport in Nairobi is the hub for many flights to West Africa. However, further travel restrictions have not been recommended by WHO so far.

Food becomes scarce
The WHO is also increasingly concerned about feeding the population in crisis regions. Here, the World Food Program is currently using its well-developed logistics to bring food to more than one million people trapped in the quarantine zones. Several countries offered their assistance in providing basic food for the population. From Liberia reports the „dpa“ However, that many vital goods are currently difficult to get into the country, among other things, because the neighboring Ivory Coast has prohibited the shipping traffic through its waters. Thus, in addition to the medical increasingly threatens a humanitarian disaster. (Fp)