The World Health Organization’s chief, Margaret Chan, told reporters today that the death toll from the current West Africa Ebola outbreak exceeds 1,900, with over 3,500 cases identified. Other alarming statements included that the outbreak is fast outpacing efforts to contain it, and it would probably take between six and nine months to get ahead of the disease, with potentially 20,000 victims and 10,000 fatalities in the near future.

According to the Guardian “The international president of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), Dr Joanne Liu, told member states that although alarm bells had been ringing for six months, the response had been too little, too late and no amount of vaccinations and new drugs would be able to prevent the escalating disaster.â€

As reported in an earlier post, cultural issues continue to be a serious impediment to containing the outbreak. These include a superstitious population, many of whom don’t believe that Ebola even exists, the continued consumption of tainted bush meat, especially bats and monkeys. Poor infection control processes and lack of advanced medical facilities and personnel also inhibit diagnosis and treatment.

The following VICE video demonstrates some of the challenges associated with diagnosis, therapy and containment: