The World Health
Organization (WHO) was notified of the first cases of Ebola in Guinea, West
Africa in March 2014. Since then, the virus has spread past Guinea, thanks to
the region’s porous borders, into Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal, and Nigeria.
With a fatality rate of 70%, slightly lower than the 90% fatality rate of past
outbreaks, Ebola has had a chance, due to unprepared public health systems and
poorly informed citizenry, to spread steadily through the region. Ebola is
thought to have spread to humans through fruit bats, which are considered a
delicacy for some West Africans, as well as through other types of bush meat such
as small rodents.
While Ebola does not
spread quite as quickly as the Spanish flu or pre-vaccination days measles,
efforts to contain the disease have already exceeded the capacity of public
health systems in West Africa. The total case count of the disease has reached
6,574, as of September 29th, according to the US Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC). According
to the CDC, the total number of laboratory confirmed cases is 3,626 and the
total number of deaths is 3,091. The overwhelming majority of these cases have
been documented in Liberia (3,458 total cases, 914 laboratory confirmed cases,
and 1,830 deaths), with Sierra Leone running a close second (2,021 total cases,
1,816 laboratory confirmed cases, and 605 deaths). In Senegal, no new cases
have been reported since August 29, and in Nigeria, no new cases have been
reported since September 5. In Guinea, the infection rate seems to have
stabilized.
