UN tally of Ebola deaths passes 10,000, most in West Africa

More than 10,000 people have now died from the Ebola virus, almost all of them in west Africa, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The three hardest-hit countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have recorded 24,350 cases and 10,004 deaths since the epidemic began more than a year ago, the UN body said. There have also been six deaths in Mali, one in the United States and eight in Nigeria, all of which have since been declared Ebola-free. Ebola, one of the deadliest pathogens known to man, is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person showing symptoms such as fever or vomiting.

[The fight against Ebola] is going in the right direction.

The WHO said on Wednesday

Meanwhile, researchers say hard-hit West Africa faces another threat: The possibility of large outbreaks of measles and other vaccine-preventable illnesses. Research published Thursday says that means hundreds of thousands more children are vulnerable to infections like measles than before the most recent Ebola epidemic. The researchers estimated that thousands could die if a large enough measles outbreak were to strike the devastated region before its health system is ready to handle more strain. The study is based on math models, with no way to really predict the risk of a post-Ebola outbreak. Still, clusters of measles cases have been reported recently in the three countries, and health groups are planning mass vaccination campaigns this spring.

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