London Telegraph
Crowded field
Doctors from around the world are gathering in Geneva to discuss the possible usage of ten vaccines and cures for Ebola, as the virus continues to spread with ever-increasing speed.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), which is hosting the conference, said earlier this week that 1,900 people are now known to have died of Ebola – mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Seven people have died in Nigeria, which has counted a total of 22 cases, while one case has been confirmed in Senegal. And at least 30 more people have died in a separate outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
An American doctor, 51-year-old Rick Sacra, has become the third US medic to be infected with Ebola. He was working in Liberia and on Friday was being flown to a hospital in the American state of Nebraska for treatment.
And although this is already the worst outbreak of Ebola in the 40-year history of the disease, experts say that its true scale is far larger than official estimates.
"Many deaths are in the community and are not being reported," said Tarik Jasarevic, WHO spokesman. "It is estimated that there are two to four times as many people infected with Ebola as reported."
