{"id":44562,"date":"2014-09-04T06:49:25","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T06:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=44562"},"modified":"2014-09-04T14:19:23","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T14:19:23","slug":"ebola-death-toll-passes-1900-who","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/09\/ebola-death-toll-passes-1900-who\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebola death toll passes 1,900 – WHO"},"content":{"rendered":"
The World Health Organization (WHO) says more than 1,900 people have now died in West Africa’s Ebola outbreak.<\/p>\n
WHO head Margaret Chan said there were 3,500 confirmed or probable cases in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.<\/p>\n
“The outbreaks are racing ahead of the control efforts in these countries,” she said.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”OHI3vrcMFgrPrHOFn2gQtcJcjG52EjNP”]On Thursday the WHO is holding a meeting to examine the most promising treatments and to discuss how to fast track their testing and production.<\/p>\n
Disease control experts, medical researchers, officials from affected countries, and specialists in medical ethics will all be represented at the meeting in Geneva.<\/p>\n
The WHO has previously warned that more than 20,000 people could be infected before the outbreak of the virus is brought under control.<\/p>\n
Ms Chan described the outbreak as “the largest and most severe and most complex we have ever seen”.<\/p>\n
“No one, even outbreak responders with experience dating back to 1976, to 1995, people that were directly involved with those outbreaks, none of them have ever seen anything like it,” she said.<\/p>\n
Forty per cent of the deaths have occurred in three weeks leading up to 3 September, the WHO says.<\/p>\n
‘Losing the battle’<\/strong><\/p>\n On Wednesday Nigeria reported two further cases in the city of Port Harcourt.<\/p>\n There had previously only been one case outside the city of Lagos, where five people have died from the virus.<\/p>\n “The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Port Harcourt has the potential to grow larger and spread faster than the one in Lagos,” the WHO warned.<\/p>\n