CDC director: Scale of Ebola crisis unprecedented
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
Yahoo.com
Aug. 7, 2014
WASHINGTON (AP) — The current Ebola crisis in West Africa is on pace to sicken more people than all other previous outbreaks of the disease combined, a U.S. health official said Thursday.
Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a congressional hearing that the outbreak is unprecedented in part because it’s in a region of Africa that never has dealt with Ebola before. He said the outbreak’s two main drivers are lax infection control during patient care and risky burial practices.
The outbreak can be stopped with tried-and-true public health measures, Frieden said, but it will be laborious. Any case missed or exposed person lost to follow-up could keep the outbreak going.
“If you leave behind even a single burning ember, it’s like a forest fire,” he said. “It flares back up.”
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