Ebola epidemic continues to spread, requiring intensified effort | CDC Online Newsroom | CDC

Ebola epidemic continues to spread, requiring intensified effort | CDC Online Newsroom | CDC

Press Release

For Immediate Release                                                                                                        

Monday, December 22, 2014                                                                                                                        

Contact: CDC Media Relations

(404) 639-3286

Ebola epidemic continues to spread, requiring intensified effort
in the three affected West African countries

CDC Director sees some promising developments but uneven progress,
looming risks in each affected nation

After more than a year of Ebola transmission in Guinea and more than 7 months of transmission in Liberia and Sierra Leone, there is still much to be done to stop the world’s first Ebola epidemic, CDC director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H reported from his second visit to the three affected nations.

Dr. Frieden yesterday returned from West Africa, where he spoke with patients and staff; met with many of CDC’s 170 staff working in each of the countries; and met with the presidents, health ministers, and Ebola leadership of each country. He described the situation as both inspiring and sobering.

“It is inspiring to see how much better the response has become in the past two months, how much international commitment there is, and, most importantly, how hard people from each of the three countries are working to stop Ebola,” Dr. Frieden said. “But it is sobering that Ebola continues to spread rapidly in Sierra Leone and that in parts of Monrovia and Conakry Ebola is spreading unabated. Improvements in contact tracing are urgently needed.”

At a telebriefing held to discuss the results of his trip to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, Dr. Frieden described progress in some areas but continued growth in Ebola cases in other areas. Lingering unmet needs throughout the region continue to challenge response efforts.

Read More>>

Dr. Tom Frieden speaks with Yusif Koroma, an Ebola survivor who is now taking of orphans at a nearby social services center.
Image source: Heidi O’Bra, CDC.

Dr. Frieden tours King Tom Cemetery in Sierra Leone, where safe and dignified burials are taking place. Left to right: Dr. Stuart Nichol, Ambassador John Hoover, Thomas Abu, Dr. Tom Frieden
Image source: Heidi O’Bra, CDC.

Dr. Frieden visits Sierra Leone’s Western Area Command Centre, where he reviews the Ebola results data from laboratories across Sierra Leone. Left to right: Dr. Oliver Morgan, Dr. Desmond Williams, Dr. Tom Frieden.
Image source: Heidi O’Bra, CDC.

Dr. Frieden visits Sierra Leone’s Western Area Command Centre. Left to right: Dr. Stuart Nichol, Dr. Tom Frieden, Kathleen FitzGibbon, Ambassador John Hoover.
Image source: Heidi O’Bra, CDC.

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