West Africa epidemic
Coverage of West Africa epidemic in the Nexus archive.
- Opinion: I led the U.S. CDC response to the 2014 Ebola epidemic. The new outbreak needs massive, immediate, meticulous action
The 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic had 40-50 cases when the global response began, while the current Democratic Republic of the Congo outbreak reached 400-500 cases by response initiation. The DRC outbreak has spread to 25 health zones in three weeks, with challenges including incomplete contact tracing, lab backlogs, unprepared treatment centers, insufficient protective gear, and attacks on burial teams.
- CDC: Ebola outbreak in Central Africa could reach 20,000 cases without strong countermeasures
The CDC warns that the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa could reach up to 20,000 cases without effective countermeasures, with models predicting between 10,000 to 20,000 cases. This potential scenario could approach the scale of the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic, which resulted in over 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths.