Death toll nears 2,000 in West African Ebola outbreak

The death toll from the Ebola epidemic that is currently ravaging West Africa has surpassed 1,900 people, the World Health Organization's (WHO) chief reported on September 3.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Less than a week ago, only 1,552 people had died, and this epidemic is the worst Ebola outbreak in history.

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Margaret Chan, the WHO's director general, spoke at a special United Nations press briefing on the outbreak. She said that this "Ebola epidemic is the largest, and most severe, and most complex we have ever seen in the nearly 40-year history of this disease." She added: "No one, even outbreak responders, (has) ever seen anything like it."

The WHO is reporting that as of this week 3,500 people have been infected with the deadly virus in the West African nations of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.

While Nigeria's outbreak is still serious, it is much smaller than the outbreaks in the other three nations, and has mostly been contained to those who were around the first Ebola patient there.

During the press conference, Chan spoke about the importance of a robust international response to the outbreak. She added, "with this international response, coordinated response, the money is coming, the technical experts are coming, so we hope to stop the transmission [of Ebola] in six to nine months."

Chan's conference comes as global heath officials begin to worry that the window for bringing Ebola under control is closing fast. New estimates from global health officials all over the world indicate that it could take more than $600 million to control the epidemic's spread.

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