The most recent news of another American being infected by the Ebola virus is that of Ahoka Mukpu, an American cameraman who was in Liberia covering the development of the disease crisis in the region with his team. Mukpu and his entire crew are now being evacuated back to the United States where they will be treated in isolation. Back in the US, Health officials are still in the process of tracking down all the people that could have been exposed to the virus after coming in contact with Thomas Eric Duncan who is the first patient to ever be diagnosed with Ebola case in the country.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Ebola virus outbreak has already claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people in West Africa, and a recent forecast has estimated that there could be as many as 1.4 million people infected with the virus by January next year. A new report from Save the Children revealed that the Ebola virus is now spreading an astounding rate, with five cases developing every hour in Sierra Leone alone. Currently, Global health authorities are in fear of the possibility that the virus could become airborne and spread worldwide.
The United Nations Chief for the Ebola mission in Africa, Dr. Anthony Banbury, said that, "The longer it moves around in human hosts in the virulent melting pot that is West Africa, the more chances increase that it could mutate. It is a nightmare scenario [that it could become airborne], an unlikely, but it can't be ruled out." He added that it appears to be "a bit late" in the stages of the outbreak for the now outpouring response from the international community. To date, the Ebola outbreak continues to ravage multiple countries in West Africa where government response has been admittedly slow during the earlier stages.
