Ebola Virus Death Toll Up to 603; Ivory Coast Closes Border to Refugees

The news keeps getting worse for the West African countries that are suffering from Ebola virus outbreaks. International health officials are still experiencing trouble in halting the spread of cases and now Ivory Coast turned away 400 refugees who recently fled to Liberia.

According to the World Health Organization, the death tolls in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone reached 603 after 85 new cases and 68 deaths were documented in between July 8-12. Sierra Leone experienced the worst conditions over that five-day span, reporting 49 new cases and 52 deaths, compared to Liberia (30 new cases and 13 deaths) and Guinea (six new cases and three deaths).

Despite the lower numbers for Guinea, the West African country has experienced the worst of the situation, amassing 406 cases and 304 deaths since the outbreaks began in February. Now, Guinea's southeastern neighbor, Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire), has closed its border to refugees in order to avoid having the Ebola virus spread into their country. This decision, according to a United Nations official, has violated domestic and international law.

The country rejected 400 refugees who were returning home after fleeing to Liberia in 2010-2011 during which conflict broke out in Cote D'Ivoire when then-President Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat in elections.

Just arrived in my email from promedmail.org. 30% of cases have recovered instead of dying. I feel much safer/s

"Communicated by: ProMED-mail
[The analysis of local culture is very relevant to the problems of prevention in these countries.

If the particular ebolavirus strain causing the current epidemic (actually pandemic, because it has crossed international borders) has been in West Africa at least since 2006, why haven't cases been seen before? Well, they have; they were viral hemorrhagic fever patients coming to the Lassa ward of Kenema General Hospital, where they were treated with the proper precautions and did not spread either in hospital or to the community. But since fatal cases were presumably buried with traditional rites, why didn't the carers and mourners get massively infected in past years as they are being now? It's looks as though we have a strain that is more virulent than the Zaire strain has been in the past in West Africa yet not as virulent as it is in the Congo, where up to 90 percent of victims died.

The media should stop repeating there is no treatment and that the death rate is 90 percent. There is no "specific" treatment, but over 30 percent of known cases have recovered so far, a great tribute to MSF and the other NGOs working in hospitals in the 3 countries. - Mod.JW
A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map can be accessed at: http://healthmap.org/promed/p/46

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