The Ebola death toll has surpassed 4,000, while more than 8,000 cases of the disease have been reported. Today, the World health Organization said Ebola is “the most severe, acute health emergency seen in modern times”, but suggested that the panic it has caused around the world may be more dangerous than the infection itself.
Speaking at a regional health conference in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, WHO Director General Margaret Chan said that in general, 90 percent of the economic costs of any outbreak “come from irrational and disorganized efforts of the public to avoid infection”. This is estimation, made by the World Bank, and it sounds awfully correct. Indeed, the fear of Ebola is spreading much faster than the infection itself, posing a serious threat to the medical response, when and if the disease really occurs. We keep reading about “suspected Ebola cases” all over the world, but in reality, the outbreak, luckily, is still isolated to several West African countries – Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
According to latest figures, released Friday, October 10 by the WHO, the outbreak has infected 8,399 people and killed at least 4,033 of them. Due to the poor living conditions, general poverty, lack of adequate health care system and medical professionals, the epidemic has turned into a humanitarian crisis. It will cost millions of dollars to contain the infection and millions more to find treatment and vaccine. And according to experts, the “worst is yet to come”. Chan also said that Ebola “can disrupt economies and societies around the world”, adding that educating the public would be a “good defense strategy”.
It has been though that the worst outbreak of our time is HIV/AIDS, which has killed around 36 million people since 1981. As of 2012, more than 35 million are living with it and the disease has huge impact on society and economy. However, with various drugs and new methods for treatment, patients with HIV can live normally for many years. In comparison, from 1976, when Ebola was first identified, through 2013, WHO reported a total of 1,716 cases. The current outbreak, however, has infected nearly 8,400 people within only 7 months. According to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, by the end of January, 2015, the number of infections could reach 1.4 million.
