Swift action needed to curb exponential climb in #Ebola outbreak
▻http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2014/09/swift-action-needed-to-curb-exponential-climb-in-ebola-outbreak.
by 14 September, a total of 70.8% of patients with definitive outcomes have died. This rate was consistent among Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.”
But the case fatality rate was lower when only hospitalized patients were considered, supporting evidence that getting patients to good, supportive health care quickly makes a difference.
(...) “We infer that the present epidemic is exceptionally large, not primarily because of biologic characteristics of the virus, but in part because of the attributes of the affected populations, the condition of the health systems, and because control efforts have been insufficient to halt the spread of infection,” says Dye.
There are challenges in this region that exacerbate the struggles to contain the virus quickly. Most importantly the health systems in all three countries were shattered after years of conflict and there was a significant shortage of health workers