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Mudassir Ali
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Here are some graphics to help. The first is relative to life expectancy when the virus is deadly. As you can see – it’s *very* fast moving (generally).
It can take 21 days to experience first symptoms from exposure – so the total elapsed time is roughly 1 month.
Keep in mind, though, not everyone dies. The mortality rate in West Africa with this strain, however, is the highest ever seen for Ebola (about 70% – 80%).
The second graph is relative to its ‘R’ factor.
The good news here is that it doesn’t have a very high R factor (2) – BUT – unlike some of the other infectious diseases – it is VERY fast moving. That’s part of what’s causing the exponential transmission.
Here’s how that looks today – October 6, 2014:
There are two more problems with this outbreak.
The rates of infection and death have been – by any measure – seriously under-reported. Conditions in the field are extremely difficult for getting to any real accuracy. All we can say is that the numbers we do have are under-counted. The question we can’t answer is by how much.
There is no vaccine. The *trial* vaccine used in about 7 cases (called ZMapp) is gone – and it will take months (12-18) to produce any in significant quantity. The population of the 3 countries most affected – Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone – is roughly 22 million. As it is – ZMapp was used in 7 cases – and 2 people taking ZMapp died – so its efficacy is still largely unknown – especially at any scale.