Ebola endemic in W Africa and 20k cases by November 2 if control not improved, World Health Organization, Far worse outlook for epidemic, Death rate 70 percent in Guinea Liberia Sierra Leone

“Barack Obama is endangering the children of the US and now our troops. Where is the outrage?”…Citizen Wells

“You can see that these doctors, who are highly trained people, got themselves infected,”
“So sending troops into an area, if they’re dealing one-on-one with a patient, they’re not going to be able to protect themselves very well. It’s not easy to [prevent transmission], because you get tired and you get careless and you make some simple mistakes. All it takes is one virus particle.”…Dr. Lee Hieb, former president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984″

From the NY Times September 22, 2014.

“New figures published Monday by the World Health Organization reveal a far worse outlook than it had previously anticipated for the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

In addition to predicting many more cases and deaths, the new report for the first time raises the possibility that the epidemic will not be brought under control and that the disease will become endemic in West Africa, meaning that it could reach a steady state and become a constant presence there.

“The epidemiologic outlook is bleak,” the report said.

If control does not improve now, there will be more than 20,000 cases by Nov. 2, and the numbers of cases and deaths will continue increasing from hundreds to thousands per week for months to come, according to the report. The death rate is about 70 percent in each of the heavily affected countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The new estimates were published online in The New England Journal of Medicine by a team of more than 50 scientists. An earlier prediction by the health organization was far less dire, saying there might be 20,000 cases in nine months.”

“So far, there have been 5,843 cases, including 2,803 deaths, with the most cases, 3,022, reported by Liberia. But the scientists say it is likely that many cases have not been detected.

Although researchers are scrambling to produce and test drugs to treat the disease and vaccines to prevent it, the report says they are unlikely to be available for months — and have not yet been fully tested in humans.

An editorial in the same journal called the epidemic “an avoidable crisis,” and faulted a “highly inadequate and late global response” for letting it surge out of control. It was written by Dr. Jeremy J. Farrar of the Wellcome Trust, and Dr. Peter Piot of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Piot helped discover the Ebola virus in 1976.”

Read more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/world/health-agencys-new-assessment-of-the-epidemic-is-more-dire-still.html?_r=0