Liberia and Sierra Leone could see 1.4 million Ebola cases by January

Without additional intervention the number of cases of Ebola virus disease in the west African countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone could reach 1.4 million by the end of January, a report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found.1

“If conditions continue without scale-up of interventions, cases will continue to double approximately every 20 days, and the number of cases in West Africa will rapidly reach extraordinary levels,” the report said.

However, the report’s findings also indicated that the epidemic could be quickly brought under control by rapidly increasing the number of patients being treated in medical care facilities and by improving home care and prevention in affected communities.

The CDC’s estimate is the second dire prediction to come out this week. A study by the World Health Organization and Imperial College London, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, projected that the number of …