Ebola

It’s been ten months since the Ebola outbreak in West Africa hit the headlines. And in contrast to Guinea and Liberia where cases have begun slowing down, in Sierra Leone the opposite is true.

Ebola has killed more than 2,000 people in Sierra Leone and unsafe burials may be responsible for up to 70 percent of new infections, say experts.

The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, which has been surging in recent days, may have reached its peak and be on the verge of slowing down, Sierra Leone’s information minister said Wednesday.

Mali on Saturday confirmed a new case of Ebola and said two more suspected patients are being tested, raising concern about a further spread of the disease which has already killed at least five people in the country.

On Mali’s dusty border with Ebola-stricken Guinea, travelers have a new stop: Inside a white tent, masked medical workers zap incomers with infrared thermometer guns and instruct them to wash their hands in chlorinated water.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Sunday replaced her health minister as part of a broader Cabinet reshuffle amid widespread criticism of her government’s response to the country’s Ebola outbreak.

Many beds are empty at newly opened Ebola treatment units in Liberia’s urban centers because the outbreak is now flaring in more rural parts of the country. In Sierra Leone’s capital, there aren’t enough treatment units as the epidemic spreads there.

A US official estimates there are 3,000 active cases of Ebola in West Africa, many in small clusters dotted throughout the countryside that require a more rapid and flexible response.