Rate of new Ebola infections in Liberia is slowing, WHO says

OVERVIEW OF DEVELOPMENTS DURING PAST DAY

WASHINGTON POST                            Oct. 30, 2014
By Lena H. Sun, Brady Dennis and Joel Achenbach
New Ebola infections in virus-ravaged Liberia appear to be declining for the first time in months, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

Until now, officials have been suspicious of this encouraging trend, thinking it might be an artifact of poor data collection, a symptom of chaos in countries that were overwhelmed by the crisis. But Bruce Aylward, a top WHO official, said Wednesday that the decline in new cases “is real,” measured by scores of empty beds in Ebola clinics, fewer cases confirmed by laboratory tests and a drop in burials by specially trained teams.

Still, the WHO and other officials remain wary because the nature of this outbreak has been one of unpredictable surges and declines.

“It’s like saying your pet tiger is under control,” Aylward said. “This is a very, very dangerous disease.”

Meanwhile President Obama continued to criticize the calls for mandatory quarantines for returning volunteers

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/rate-of-new-ebola-infections-in-west-africa-is-slowing-who-says/2014/10/29/74e70a86-5fa0-11e4-9f3a-7e28799e0549_story.html