Ebola death toll reaches 4,922 as Mali hit
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THE death toll from the Ebola epidemic rose to 4,922 from 10,141 known cases in eight countries as of Thursday, the World Health Organization said yesterday.
The virus, which reached Mali through a 2-year-old girl who died on Friday, now threatens Ivory Coast, having infected people virtually all along its borders with Guinea and Liberia.
Ivory Coast is the world’s biggest cocoa producer, and the Ebola outbreak has hurt the economic growth that has been raising living standards in the region.
The three worst-hit countries of West Africa — Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — account for the bulk of the outbreak, recording 4,912 deaths from 10,114 cases, the WHO said in its update.
The overall figures include outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal, deemed by the WHO to be now over, as well as isolated cases in Spain, the United States and a single case in Mali.
But the true toll might be three times as much, while the death rate is thought to be about 70 percent of all cases.
The WHO has said many families are keeping infected people at home rather than putting them in treatment centers, some of which have refused patients due to a lack of beds and basic supplies.
The UN agency, sounding an ominous note, said that out of the eight districts of Liberia and Guinea sharing a border with Ivory Coast, only two have yet to report confirmed or probable cases.
It also said that trials of Ebola vaccines could begin in West Africa in December, a month earlier than expected, and hundreds of thousands of doses should be available by the middle of next year.
The WHO said 15 African states including Ivory Coast are at the highest risk of the deadly virus being imported.
In the past 10 days it sent teams to both Mali and Ivory Coast to help national authorities gear up their capacity to detect and treat potential cases. The WHO said on Friday that many people in Mali had potentially been exposed to the virus because the little girl was taken across the country while ill. A total of 43 people, including 10 health workers, are being monitored.
Around the world, 450 health workers have been infected with the virus and 244 have died, the WHO said.
A medical worker quarantined in New Jersey, US, on her return from treating Ebola victims in West Africa was being evaluated in a hospital isolation ward yesterday. Her possible contacts are being identified, the WHO said.
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