West Africa’s Ebola count soars higher
Robert Roos
CIDRAP News
Sep 04, 2014
The tally of Ebola cases in West Africa climbed to 3,685 as of Aug 31, with 1,841 deaths, representing a 20% jump over a 5-day period, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.
The total case count is 616 more than the 3,069 cases reported as of Aug 26 that were noted in the WHO’s last update Aug 28. The death toll of 1,841 is 289 more than the previous one, an 18.6% increase. The numbers include cases in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
The figures were released as the WHO convened a 2-day meeting in Geneva on the use of experimental drugs and vaccines to battle the expanding epidemic.
The WHO’s numbers include confirmed, probable, and suspected cases.
Liberia, the hardest-hit country, has had 1,698 cases and 871 deaths—increases of 320 and 177 since the previous update.
Guinea has recorded 123 more cases and 64 more deaths, raising its totals to 771 cases and 494 fatalities, according to the WHO.
Sierra Leone’s tally as listed by the WHO is 1,216 cases and 476 deaths, up by 190 and 54. But an update issued by the Sierra Leone government today listed somewhat different total figures: 1,297 cases and 425 deaths.
Nigeria, meanwhile, has had 21 cases and 7 deaths, compared with 13 cases and 5 deaths cited in the previous update, the WHO reported. Senegal has had one nonfatal case so far.
Talks on drugs, vaccines begin
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