WHO: Number of Ebola Cases, Deaths May 'Vastly Underestimate the Magnitude of the Outbreak' - East Idaho News
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WHO: Number of Ebola Cases, Deaths May ‘Vastly Underestimate the Magnitude of the Outbreak’

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Thinkstock 081414 WestAfricaMap?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1408060704732iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The World Health Organization speculated on Thursday that the number of individuals sickened or killed by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa may “vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak.”

The United Nations health agency said that there is evidence that the current figures of at least 1,060 deaths and 1,975 sickened in the outbreak may be lower than the actually numbers. The WHO noted that it was prepared with an operational response plan that spans the “next several months.”

In the meantime, the WHO is “coordinating a massive scaling up of the international response,” including accumulating support from individual nations, disease control agencies, U.N. agencies and others.

The World Food Programme is working to deliver food to over one million individuals in quarantine zones in West Africa, while the WHO works to map and contain the disease.


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