Ebola MMWR.docVIP

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) MMWR?? ?Update: Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic — West Africa, December 2014 Weekly December 19, 2014 / 63(50);1199-1201 On December 16, 2014, this report was posted as an?MMWR?Early Release on the?MMWR?website (/mmwr). Incident Management System Ebola Epidemiology Team, CDC; Guinea Interministerial Committee for Response Against the Ebola Virus; World Health Organization; CDC Guinea Response Team; Liberia Ministry of Health and Social Welfare; CDC Liberia Response Team; Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation; CDC Sierra Leone Response Team; Viral Special Pathogens Branch, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, CDC CDC is assisting ministries of health and working with other organizations to end the ongoing epidemic of Ebola virus disease (Ebola) in West Africa (1). The updated data in this report were compiled from situation reports from the Guinea Interministerial Committee for Response Against the Ebola Virus, the World Health Organization, the Liberia Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation. Total case counts include all suspected, probable, and confirmed cases, which are defined similarly by each country (2). These data reflect reported cases, which make up an unknown proportion of all cases, and reporting delays that vary from country to country. According to the latest World Health Organization update on December 10, 2014 (3), a total of 17,908 Ebola cases have been reported as of December 7 from three West African countries (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone) where transmission is widespread and intense. The highest reported case counts were from Sierra Leone (7,897cases) and Liberia (7,719), followed by Guinea (2,292). Peaks in the number of new cases occurred in Liberia (509 cases), Sierra Leone (748 cases), and Guinea (292 cases) at epidemiologic weeks 38 (September 14–20), 46 (November 9–15), and 41 (October 5–11), respectively