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Ebola in West Africa: 1.4 million new cases to emerge by January, warns US CDC

Ebola in West Africa: 1.4 million new cases to emerge by January, warns US CDC

Written by Shraddha Rupavate |Updated : September 24, 2014 11:07 AM IST

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention warned that the total number of Ebola cases could reach 1.4 million in the next months in Sierra Leone and Liberia, unless the measures to contain the outbreak are not strengthened. In a press conference at CDC headquarters in Atlanta Tuesday, health authorities said that between 550,000 and 1.4 million people could be infected in the hardest hit Ebola countries.

However, they also mentioned that the outbreak could still be contained and that it is still not too late to control. 'It is still possible to reverse the epidemic, and we believe this can be done if a sufficient number of all patients are effectively isolated, either in Ebola treatment units or in other settings, such as community-based or home care,' CDC Director Thomas Frieden said.

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The CDC report mentioned that the outbreak could be totally reversed if at least 70 percent of infected people are identified and treated at proper medical centres. The CDC currently has 120 experts in the West Africa region helping to identify new cases and isolate them to stop more people from being infected, he said.

These CDC projections are based on a report that was published last month before the US government. 'The model shows -- and I don't think this has been shown by other modeling tools out there -- that a surge now can break the back of the epidemic. It also shows that there are severe costs of delay,' Frieden said.

Here s are some interesting facts about the Ebola virus that make it so deadly.

It can kill within seven days: Unlike other viruses (like HIV) that can remain dormant in a person for years without causing the disease, Ebola violently multiplies until the viral particles are amplified to about 100 million viral particles in a droplet of blood. Further, without resting in a dormant stage the virus kills the host to find a new one. The fatality rate of the disease is 60 percent.

We don t know where it came from: First of all, scientists have not been able to identify the original reservoir of the virus yet. Bats have been the suspected source but the results are inconclusive. Since a major part of its life cycle remains a mystery, the threat of its recurring outbreak will persist.

We don t know all the different ways it can spread: The Ebola virus certainly spreads through direct contact with infectious body fluids and secretions including blood, semen, stool, mucus, saliva and sweat. But there is a possibility that it could spread through other modes, increasing the chances of the disease spreading. Read more about 10 reasons that make the Ebola virus deadly for humans

With inputs from IANS

Photo source: Getty images

Video source: newsy.rightster.com

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