Doctor: Ebola virus cases may be underreported by as much ‘double or triple’ – ‘more contagious than we’re being told’

With the possibility of the Ebola outbreak widening in the region and eventually spanning the globe, this writer reached out to Board Certified Internal Medicine specialist Dr. Jorge Rodriguez for more information. During an interview on Saturday’s “Pure Opelka” radio program, Rodriguez, the show’s frequent medical contributor, shared some of his concerns about the latest news in the Ebola story.

WHO: 1 in 10 health workers treating Ebola become infected

One in 10 health-care workers treating Ebola patients in West Africa are becoming infected with the disease, the World Health Organization announced in Geneva Friday in an international media teleconference at the conclusion of an emergency meeting on the outbreak. The WHO invited medical experts from around the world to the two-day meeting to discuss using experimental and alternative treatments to combat the Ebola crisis, which the U.N.

Ebola deaths pass 2,000 as Liberia shuts down contaminated police station and Sierra Leone’s capital ‘crumbles’

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has accelerated quickly with almost 1,000 deaths in the last month alone, according to the latest World Health Organisation figures. The United Nations is establishing an Ebola Crisis Centre with the goal of stopping transmission in affected countries within six to nine months, the UN chief said, as the death toll from the outbreak surpassed 2,000 for the first time. WHO said the number of people who have died in the outbreak has reached 2,097 across five West Africa countries, with about half the deaths in Liberia.

Ebola outbreak racing out of control, officials say

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is “racing ahead” of efforts to control it, and controlling the epidemic will cost at least $600 million, world health officials said Wednesday. The number of people infected with Ebola has grown to 3,500, with more than 1,900 deaths, according to the World Health Organization, or WHO. “We do need a major response,” said Margaret Chan, the director-general of the WHO.

Ebola Kills 5 Sierra Leone Researchers before their Study on Outbreak is Published

Five West African Ebola researchers died from the virus before they ever saw their work in print. The Harvard University-led study, published Thursday in Science magazine, found that the virus has mutated over the course of the 2014 outbreak, which has killed more than 1,500 people since its March onset. The work emphasized that the rapid variations could make vaccine and treatment development difficult — a point further underscored by the Ebola deaths of its authors.

Ebola Arrives In Senegal As The Outbreak Accelerates

A man infected with Ebola traveled to Senegal, bringing to the country the first confirmed case of the dreaded disease that has hit four other West African nations and killed more than 1,500 people, the Ministry of Health said Friday. The infected person, a university student from Guinea, sought treatment at a hospital in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, on Tuesday but gave no indication he might have Ebola, Health Minister Awa Marie Coll Seck told reporters. The next day, an epidemiological surveillance team in Guinea alerted Senegalese authorities that they had lost track of a person who had had contact with sick people.

Biggest Ever Weekly Rise in Ebola Cases

The West African Ebola outbreak took a more deadly turn Friday with the World Health Organization announcing an estimated 500 new cases this week — the biggest jump in infections so far. Most of the new cases arose in Liberia, the U.N.

Death toll passes 1,550 as Ebola outbreak accelerates

The Ebola outbreak “continues to accelerate” in West Africa and has killed 1,552 people, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The total number of cases stands at 3,069, with 40% occurring in the past three weeks. “However, most cases are concentrated in only a few localities,” the WHO said.

Different Ebola strain kills 13 in the Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo said as many as 13 people have died of Ebola in a separate outbreak from that raging in three West African nations. Laboratory tests were positive for Ebola in two cases in a remote village in the northwest, and 11 other deaths are suspected of being due to the virus, Information Minister Lambert Mende said on Monday. The strain of Ebola in the Congo is different to that in West Africa, Mr Mende said.

Dogs feed on dead bodies of Ebola victims in Liberia

The residents of the Mount Barclay Community within the Johnsonville Township, outside of Monrovia woke up on last Friday morning in total dismay when the remains of dead Ebola victims were reportedly seen, eaten by dogs, something reminiscent of the brutal civil war here, when dogs ate dead bodies on the streets. The Liberian Government, through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, buried some unaccounted-for corpses, suspected to have died from the Ebola Virus in that township few weeks ago. The burial was done in a hurry at night following a standoff in the day between residence and the Ministry of Health burial team.