In the latest data released by the World Health Organization on Wednesday, it revealed that the death toll has reached 5,147 in just eight months since it started in West Africa. The worst outbreak attacked and infected over 14,000 individuals in West Africa and 13 deaths and 30 confirmed cases were recorded in Nigeria, Mali, Spain and even United States.
They pursued infection control and preventive measures to prevent more deaths from the disease. The most Ebola-ravaged countries are Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. However, reports say that infections in Liberia and Guinea has slowed down but in Sierra Leone, it worsened.
In related news, Mali quarantined 90 possible contacts of a nurse who died from the Ebola virus. Mali rushed to contain the outbreak after a nurse died of the disease. The case of the 25-year old nurse is the country's second case of Ebola and it was revealed that she took care of a Muslim Imam from Guinea who also died from the disease. Also, a doctor who works in the same clinic was also infected while a woman from Bamako's Gabriel Toure Hospital had a positive result for Ebola. Due to the death of the nurse, the Mali health officials are tracking all her contacts to curb further spread of the virus.
As of November 9, 2o14, the total infections of the disease totaled to 14,068 and it is continuously increasing if proper infection control is not implemented especially in the far flung communities of West Africa.
Ebola Virus Disease is a very fatal illness that has a 50% survival rate. It can be transferred through the body fluids from one human to another. It was called Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever. The first reported outbreak of the disease was in the far flung communities in West Africa that have no health workers to accurately diagnose patients.
The spread of the disease came in silently because many poor communities in West Africa have no established health care facilities and no supportive care was given. Furthermore, infection control is very hard to implement in health care facilities in the continent. Meanwhile, many pharmaceutical companies are clamoring to produce the first vaccine against the disease. As of the moment, there is still no known cure or vaccine for Ebola.
