Wednesday, April 09, 2014

EPIDEMIC - West Africa, Deadly Ebola is Back

"Unprecedented Ebola outbreak crosses borders in West Africa" PBS NewsHour 4/8/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Several countries in West Africa are now coping with the worst outbreak of the Ebola virus in years.  The World Health Organization describes it as one of the most challenging episodes of the disease it’s ever faced.  More than 100 people have died so far.

Ebola, which is spread by a virus initially transmitted from wild animals, has a high fatality rate.

Jeffrey Brown has more on the struggle to contain it.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  One of the concerns is that Ebola has crossed borders.  Guinea is where the outbreak began and was first made public in March.  More than 100 deaths and 150 cases have been reported there.

Another troubling aspect:  The disease has turned up in a wide area, from tropical forests to the capital of Conakry to the Liberian border.   In Liberia, investigators believe there are at least 10 deaths.  Health officials are now investigating possible cases in both in Mali and Ghana.

And more than 60 percent of infected people so far have died.

Laurie Garrett of the Council on Foreign Relations has tracked outbreaks in the past as a journalist and author of several books on global health and disease.  She joins us now.

1 comment:

hopy said...

Africa is a land of poverty, people's lives are largely struggled, Africa is home to the percentage of people infected with HIV / ADIS world's largest and now the incidence of the disease is more concave 60 %, expect the timely aid organizations respond and resolve these issues.