World Health Organization Declares New Ebola Outbreak Epidemic


Beginning in 2013, several West African counties experienced an outbreak of the disease, which prompted a worldwide response to help get it under control and prevent its spread globally.

The largest outbreak has been the recent epidemic in West Africa from December 2013 to January 2016 which killed more than 11,000 people.”

The countries most affected were Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Other cases were reported globally in Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and the United States.

Cases in the United States were related to medical personnel who had traveled to Africa to aid in the crisis. Seven Americans working in Africa became ill and were transported to the United States for treatment. There were no fatalities.

In 2014, the DR Congo experienced a three-month outbreak of Ebola that killed 49 people. By March 2016, the emergency was declared over.

Worldwide, more than 28,600 people were infected and 11,300 died. The epicenter of the crisis — Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia — have all been Ebola-free since at least June of last year.

Given the current outbreak, the WHO is taking a cautionary approach and carefully trying to keep people in DR Congo from panicking.

Spokesman Eric Kabambi said: ‘The case is in a very remote zone, very forested, so we are a little lucky. We always take this very seriously’ “

Local representatives of the WHO in DR Congo are part of a team of specialists who are traveling to the area where people have taken ill in order to identify those who may have been in contact with those stricken.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it had not been called in to assist in the effort.

Ebola is greatly feared because it can have a fatality rate of about 90 percent without prompt and proper treatment. The WHO reports it’s recently developed an experimental vaccine that can be used in emergencies.

Source: UK Yahoo News

 

 



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