Ebola victims pass the 10,000 mark

The number of people infected in the outbreak of Ebola has risen above 10,000, with the mortality rate now approaching 50%.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday that the death toll had raised to 4,922 out of 10,141 known cases globally in eight countries as at 23 October. Those figures show about 200 new cases since the last report, four days ago.

Over 4800 people have died due to Ebola according to statistics issued by the WHO on the 23rd. As the need for a cure is stressed more and more by the day, the WHO further states that the number of people with Ebola has almost increased to 10000 in West Africa alone.

The UN's public health body said 9,936 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - the three countries at the epicentre of the world's worst Ebola epidemic - have contracted the disease, WHO said last Wednesday.

In total, 4,877 people have died so far.

The news comes as the Red Cross said it would be at least four months before the epidemic is contained, but only if all necessary steps are taken.

"It will be possible, as it was possible in the past, to contain this epidemic within four to six months" if the response is adequate, said Elhadj As Sy, chief of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

But with experts warning that the rate of infections could reach 10,000 a week by early December, researchers around the world are scrambling to beat the virus, for which there is currently no licensed treatment or vaccine.

The figures were released as the WHO in Geneva on Wednesday held its third round of emergency talks on Ebola, discussing efforts to combat the tropical fever. Meanwhile, doses of the experimental rVSV vaccine against Ebola arrived at the Geneva University Hospital from Canada.

The WHO is to coordinate trials of the vaccine in Geneva alongside those already under way in Germany, Gabon and Kenya.

The vaccine, developed at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, is one of two experimental Ebola vaccines identified by the WHO as having shown promising results when tested on monkeys.

WHO assistant director general Marie-Paule Kieny said the goal was to be able to ship initial supplies to Africa by early 2015, though mass vaccination campaigns are not yet on the cards.

"There is a very strong movement now from governments of many countries to push as quickly as possible these vaccines into real-world use," she said.

However, even if the trial proves successful, the vaccine will not be available for this year.

by Cassendra Doole

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