Ebola Outbreak ‘Spiraling Out Of Control,’ ‘Window Of Opportunity Is Closing’ US Disease Control Director

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The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is “spiraling out of control,” warned Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Thomas Frieden in a briefing on Tuesday. The international community “can control it, if we act now,” he said, but “the window of opportunity is closing.”

Frieden’s remarks came after his travel last week in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia, the countries at the center of the largest Ebola outbreak in history.

The disease — which begins with flu-like symptoms and escalates into vomiting, diarrhea, and often bleeding — has infected 3,069 people and killed 1,552 in the region this year, with a few cases in Nigeria and Senegal. (A separate, smaller outbreak is underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo.)

While the high number of cases and rapid spread in the current outbreak have prompted widespread concern, Frieden confirmed that there is still much to be done before the situation starts looking better. “As bad as it is now, it’s likely to get worse,” he said. “We’re likely to see a significant increase in cases.”

That prediction seemed to echo the World Health Organization’s warning last week that Ebola, which is spread via the bodily fluids of a sickened person, could ultimately infect 20,000 people before it is brought under control. The virus, Frieden said, “is moving faster than anyone anticipated.”