The 7 Grimmest Numbers Tied to Ebola

WHO puts death rate at 70%
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 14, 2014 2:06 PM CDT
The 7 Grimmest Numbers Tied to Ebola
Health workers wearing protective gear wait to carry the body of a person suspected to have died from Ebola, in Monrovia, Liberia, Monday Oct. 13, 2014.   (AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh)

Recent news on the Ebola outbreak paints a bleak portrait of the disease by numbers:

  • 70%: The current death rate from the disease, the World Health Organization again confirmed today. That's an increase from the initial 50% cited by WHO, the AP reports.
  • 10,000: The number of new Ebola cases WHO says are possible each week, starting at some point in the next two months. In other words, the effort to grapple with the disease needs a big boost within 60 days, says an official.
  • 9: The number of workers for another health organization, Doctors Without Borders, who have died fighting the outbreak, the AP reports. An additional seven have been infected.

  • 70: The number of health workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who took care of the first US Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, who died of the virus. One of them is the nurse who's now suffering from the disease.
  • $500,000: The potential cost of care for Ashoka Mukpo, a freelance cameraman who picked up Ebola in Liberia. His friends set up a crowdfunding campaign last week to help pay his bills, the Fiscal Times reports; you can contribute here.
  • $32.6 billion: The possible economic toll the disease could take by the end of next year, the New York Times reports. The number comes from the World Bank and refers to a situation in which "the epidemic spreads into neighboring countries" around its center in West Africa.
  • 4,447: The total number of deaths from the disease, per WHO, which says the total number of likely cases is 8,914.
There's one non-grim number to add to the mix: $25 million, which is what Mark Zuckerberg and his wife are donating to the fight. (More Ebola stories.)

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