WHO: Ebola may be leveling off in Sierra Leone, disease still far from over

The spread of Ebola in Sierra Leone, the country worst affected by the virus, may at last be slowing down, despite reports of nearly 250 new confirmed cases in the past week, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. The WHO’s weekly report was based on figures reported by authorities in nine countries. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone account for the majority of infections and fatalities. The epidemic has taken 8,235 lives out of 20,747 known cases worldwide over the past year. Overall, 838 health workers have also been infected, killing 495 of them.

"There are signs that case incidence may have leveled off in Sierra Leone, although with 248 new confirmed cases reported in the week to 4 January 2015, it remains by far the worst-affected country at present.

A WHO report

Cases are still under-reported and unevenly spread in West Africa. The virus is spreading most rapidly in western Sierra Leone, where the capital Freetown reported 93 of the new confirmed cases. On Thursday, the WHO will host a meeting of representatives from major drug makers, health authorities in affected countries and national regulatory agencies to assess clinical trials of experimental vaccines against Ebola.

There is still Ebola in Liberia and people are not acting that way. There should be a ferocious attention to driving that number to zero and that concerns us a great deal.

Bruce Aylward, the head of Ebola response at the WHO

Africa Ebola West Africa