Ebola Outbreak: Cases Pass 10,000, WHO Reports

The number of cases in the Ebola outbreak has exceeded 10,000, with
4,922 deaths, the World Health Organization says in its latest report.

Only 27 of the cases have occurred outside the three worst-hit
countries, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Those three countries account for all but 10 of the fatalities.

Mali became the latest nation to record a death, a two-year-old girl.
More than 40 people known to have come into contact with her have been
quarantined.

The latest WHO situation reportsays that Liberia remains the worst
affected country, with 2,705 deaths. Sierra Leone has had 1,281
fatalities and there have been 926 in Guinea.

Nigeria has recorded eight deaths and there has been one in Mali and
one in the United States.

The WHO said the number of cases was now 10,141 but that the figure
could be much higher, as many families were keeping relatives at home
rather than taking them to treatment centres. It said many of the
centres were overcrowded.

And the latest report also shows no change in the number of cases and
deaths in Liberia from the WHO's previous report, three days ago.

'Facts, not fear'

In the US, the governors of the states of New York and New Jersey have
ordered a mandatory 21-day quarantine period for all doctors and other
travellers who have had contact with Ebola victims in West Africa.

Anyone arriving from affected West African countries without having
had confirmed contact with Ebola victims will be subject to monitoring
by public health officials.

The move follows the diagnosis in New York of Dr Craig Spencer, who
had been working in Guinea.

The first person to be quarantined under the rules was a female health
worker who arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday.

She had no symptoms then but has since developed a fever and is being monitored.

Also in the US, two nurses infected while caring for dying Dallas
patient Thomas Eric Duncan have been declared free of the virus.

One, Nina Pham, 26, met President Barack Obama at the White House,
hours after being discharged.

In his weekly radio and online address, Mr Obama repeated that people
cannot contract Ebola unless they have come into direct contact with
an infected patient's bodily fluids.

He said the disease had to be stopped at source in Africa.

Mr Obama added: "Patients can beat this disease, and we can beat this
disease. But we have to stay vigilant... And we have to be guided by
the science, we have to be guided by the facts - not fear."

'High-risk exposure'

In Mali, authorities continue to try to trace anyone who may have had
contact with the victim there.

The child had travelled more than 1,000 km (600 miles) from Guinea
through the capital, Bamako, to Kayes.

"The child's symptomatic state during the bus journey is especially
concerning, as it presented multiple opportunities for exposures,
including high-risk exposures, involving many people," the WHO said.

The girl's mother died in Guinea a few weeks ago and the child was
then brought by relatives to Mali.
--BBC