Ebola epidemic will explode by mid-December and kill tens of thousands of people, scientists warn
This is unless international efforts to control virus are increased
Researchers used mathematical modelling to predict infection rates
Said Liberia’s most populated county could see 90,000 deaths by December
Single infected individual in the county could pass on infection to 2.5 people
Introducing controls by October 31 could avert 97,940 cases of the disease
Experts called for more treatment beds and more protective kits
Also want a five-fold increase in the speed at which new cases are detected
By Madlen Davies
DailyMailUK
23 October 2014
The Ebola epidemic devastating parts of West Africa will have killed tens of thousands of people by the middle of December unless urgent action is taken.
In a report published today, scientists warn the window of opportunity to control the outbreak is ‘rapidly closing’.
As a result, there could be ‘calamitous repercussions’, unless international efforts to control the disease are substantially increased.
A team of U.S. researchers used mathematical modelling to predict infection rates in Liberia’s most populated county, Montserrado.
They calculated that without extra help, as many as 171,000 people could succumb to Ebola by December 15, representing 12 per cent of an overall population of some 1.38 million.
In Montserrado alone, there could be more than 90,000 deaths by that time, many of them unreported.
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