US Health Official: Ebola Has The ‘Upper Hand’
JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH
BusinessInsider.com
Aug. 26, 2014
MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — The Ebola virus has the “upper hand” in an outbreak that has killed more than 1,400 people in West Africa, a top American health official said, adding that experts have the tools to stop it.
Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is visiting Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the three hardest hit countries, this week.
Nigeria has also recorded cases, but officials have expressed optimism that its spread there can be controlled. On Tuesday, Frieden continues his visit in Liberia, which has the most cases and deaths.
“Lots of hard work is happening, lots of good things are happening,” Frieden told a meeting attended by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Monday. “But the virus still has the upper hand.”
The current outbreak is the largest ever and experts have struggled to contain it for a host of reasons: doctors took a long time to identify it, it is happening in a region where people are highly mobile, it has spread to densely populated areas and many people have resisted or hid from treatment. The disease has overwhelmed already struggling health systems in some of the world’s poorest countries.
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