Death toll passes 1,550 as Ebola outbreak accelerates, officials say
August 28, 2014 -- Updated 1245 GMT (2045 HKT)
Ebola doctors volunteer despite risk
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- World Health Organization: The West Africa Ebola outbreak continues to accelerate
- There are 1,552 confirmed deaths from the Ebola virus so far, WHO says
- New "road map" aims to curb outbreak in six to nine months, stop international spread
- Road map acknowledges that the eventual death toll in this outbreak could exceed 20,000
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.
The outbreak, the
deadliest ever, has been centered in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia,
with a handful of cases in Nigeria. The overall fatality rate is 52%,
the WHO said, ranging from 42% in Sierra Leone to 66% in Guinea.
The WHO issued a "road
map" Thursday that "responds to the urgent need to dramatically scale up
the international response" in light of the acceleration of new cases,
it said.
How an Ebola outbreak can start, and end
Photos: Ebola outbreak in Africa
CDC: Worker possibly exposed to Ebola
It aims to stop Ebola transmission in affected countries within six to nine months and prevent its spread internationally.
The road map prioritizes the setting up of treatment centers, community mobilization and safe burials.
It will also try to overcome bottlenecks in vital supplies such as personal protective equipment, disinfectants and body bags.
The road map is based on
an assumption that "in many areas of intense transmission the actual
number of cases may be 2-4 fold higher than that currently reported,"
the document states.
It also acknowledges that the total number of cases "could exceed 20,000 over the course of this emergency."
Vaccine trials accelerated
An Ebola vaccine being
developed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and GlaxoSmithKline
will be fast-tracked for human trials, the international consortium
behind the effort said Thursday.
The experimental vaccine
could be given to healthy volunteers in Britain, Gambia and Mali as
early as September, according to a statement from the consortium, which
provided funding.
The vaccine, which does
not contain infectious virus material, has shown promise in early tests
on primates to protect them from Ebola without significant adverse
effects, the statement said.
The human trials will begin as soon as ethical and regulatory approvals are granted.
'Worse than I'd feared'
Health workers are paying a heavy price as they care for those struck down by the virus.
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The WHO said Monday that 120 health care workers have died in the Ebola outbreak, and twice that number have been infected.
Public health experts
say several factors are to blame, including a shortage of protective
gear and improper use of the gear the workers do have.
"It's even worse than
I'd feared," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, said Wednesday of the crisis. "Every day this
outbreak goes on, it increases the risk for another export to another
country.
"The sooner the world comes together to help Liberia and West Africans, the safer we will all be."
Frieden spoke to CNN's
Nima Elbagir in Monrovia, Liberia, where fear and anger over the largest
Ebola outbreak on record has grown as health officials put up quarantines around some of the capital city's poorest areas.
A separate Ebola outbreak, unrelated to the one in West Africa, was reported Sunday by the Democratic Republic of Congo.
CNN's Miriam Falco, Carol Jordan and Nana Karikari-apau contributed to this report.
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