Ebola Cases May Surpass 20,000, WHO Says in Updated Plan

[Bosonic]

Source: Bloomberg

More than 20,000 people may be infected with Ebola before the outbreak in West Africa is controlled, and curbing the epidemic will cost at least $490 million, according to a World Health Organization plan.

The number of people falling ill is accelerating, with more than 40 percent of the infections happening in the past 21 days, the Geneva-based United Nations agency said today. In some areas, the number of cases may be two to four times higher than reported, the WHO said in its so-called road map that lays out the plan to deal with the worst Ebola outbreak on record.

By mobilizing international resources, the WHO is aiming to stop Ebola transmission within six to nine months, the agency said in the document. The virus has infected more than 3,000 people and killed more than 1,550 in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria, putting it on a pace to kill more people than all previous Ebola outbreaks combined, and prompting the WHO to declare it a global health emergency.

“This is not an issue of three countries,” Bruce Aylward, the WHO’s assistant director-general for polio, emergencies and country collaboration, said at a briefing in Geneva today. “This is a global health security issue.”

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-28/ebola-cases-may-surpass-20-000-who-says-in-updated-plan.html

[librechik]

1. gulp--that shot up pretty fast!

[homegirl]

2. Don't be surprised

if another zero is added to that number, or more!

[sendero]

12. Yes.

..... these estimates are not designed to inform, they are designed to soothe.

If it stays anywhere near 20K I will be surprised.

[XemaSab]

8. Exponential growth

http://www.trbimg.com/img-53ff7ebc/turbine/la-fg-g-rise-in-reported-african-ebola-cases-20140806/550/16x9

[ffr]

3. Call me an Ebola denier. The science isn't conclusive.

It's probably a hoax just like all of the other hoaxes the liberal media & scientists are trying to scare us into believing.

[Katashi_itto]

7. By all means fly over there and find out for us please.

[ffr]

9. Makes you kinda wonder, doesn't it? Why hasn't the conservative media war machine spun this

as a hoax? Is there no money in it for them, is that their only motivation for getting off their thumbs?

PBO should speak about the Ebola threat. Maybe then Karl & Co, will come out against it.

[C Moon]

4. I'll bet it didn't help much when that mob raided a quarantine center.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/liberia-clinic-attack-overwhelms-overworked-ebola-aid-workers/

[herding cats]

5. Couple that with the Liberian government locking those exposed from that raid in with 70K others

In the West Point slum, and these estimates of infection aren't even a surprise.

This outbreak is a disaster that just keeps getting worse.

[Sunlei]

6. read about a vaccine trial. Africia/world needs a vaccine. There is no Global healthcare system.

Let us hope they can develop a vaccine and the drug company doesn't price gouge the costs like they do with all their other profitable drugs.

[XemaSab]

10. 20,000 is a low, low number

[Hugabear]

11. Need to keep things in perspective

20,000 seems like a lot...but when you look at the total population of Africa - even within the countries affected - 20,000 still only represents a very small percentage.

By way of comparison, more than 20,000 people die from the flu every year in the United States.