Estimates on the number of people infected by the Ebola virus could be much greater than anticipated. According to the World Health Organization, staff members in clinics in West Africa have reported an increase of patients arriving as new health centers are opened.
GREGORY HARTL
Spokesperson, World Health Organization
'We have seen with the opening of new treatment centers, many more Ebola patients come forward, and so this has given rise to the belief that there are probably a lot of patients out there that we haven't traced or contacted yet.â?
The death toll as of last week stood at over 1,200 in West Africa. However, with the increase in patients infected with the virus, the World Health Organization believes that the number of cases and deaths are greatly underestimated.
For now, they are concentrating their efforts to trace possible new infections by focusing on those who have already died from the disease.
GREGORY HARTL
Spokesperson, World Health Organization
'The people who have died also have the most severe infection, so their contacts are more likely than other contacts to themselves to be infected.â?
The World Health Organization is rallying support from individual countries, health agencies and the United Nations in order to fight the spread of the disease.
JAE
UN/RR
FA
-PR
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