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As of October 16, 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a total of 877 cases of Middle East respiratory virus syndrome (MERS) from WHO member states (through October 11, 2014 link ).   The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC),   a European disease monitoring organization established in 2005 ( link ), has reported a total of 906 MERS cases from around the world through October 21, 2014 ( link ). Both WHO and ECDC provide updates on the MERS outbreak, however neither these agencies provides a publicly available line list of cases. Because it appears that the next MERS wave has started on the greater Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East, is worth discussing the apparent discrepancy in the number of MERS cases between the WHO and the ECDC.    The table below compares the current counts of MERS cases for WHO and the ECDC through specific dates.   The differences in the case counts are discussed below by country.   WHO and the E...

Through October   12, 2014, the World Health Organization   (WHO) has reported more than   8900 cases of Ebola since this epidemic began   ( link ).   The outbreak is currently out of control in three countries in West Africa, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.   The graph below depicts the timeline of the growth of the   cumulative number of total cases reported by   each of these countries.     The overall cumulative Ebola case total time series can be fitted to an exponential growth curve to project the total number of cases going into the future. The WHO data indicate that by January   2015 there will be almost 45,000 Ebola cases as shown in the graph below.   There is no doubt now that this outbreak will not be contained in West Africa by the end of December.   How many future cases of Ebola will there be is difficult to predict. WHO has noted on several occasions that the officially reported numbers under represent...

The number of Ebola infections in West Africa continues to increase at an alarming rate ( link ). As the official international public health agency, the World Health Organization (WHO) is tasked with tracking and reporting on infectious diseases around   the world.   As of October   14, 2014 the WHO has reported more than 8900 Ebola cases from the three West Africa nations of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, where the Ebola outbreak has not yet been contained ( link ) . Below is a chart showing the continued rising number of new cases by week number in these three countries.   The data in the chart is based on official WHO data through October 12, 2014 ( link ).   A quote from Dr. Bruce Aylward,   a WHO spokesperson ,  indicates that by mid December 2014 between 5,000 to 10,000 new weekly Ebola cases could reported in the three West African countries   ( link ) . The next graph   below shows the temporal progression of the increases in ne...

 With the current Ebola outbreak raging in West Africa and with no immediate solution in sight,  the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has proposed an online challenge to think "outside the box" regarding solutions for the current Ebola crisis. Today, USAID launched the Fighting Ebola: A Grand Challenge for Development with a call to innovators around the world to submit ideas focused on improving the tools used by frontline healthcare workers in the fight against Ebola in West Africa. The initial focus of the Challenge, as announced by President Obama on Sept. 26, is to generate pioneering solutions to improve the personal protective equipment (PPE) and tools used by healthcare workers battling Ebola. The Fighting Ebola Grand Challenge will help to identify innovations that improve the comfort while maintaining the safety of PPE – masks, gloves, boots, and other protective gear used by healthcare workers. The website is an open innovation platform t...

As of October 6, 2014, seven countries have reported cases of Ebola as noted below.   The Democratic Republic of Congo has reported at least 53 cases from a local Ebola outbreak ( link )   not associated with the current outbreak that apparently originated in Guinea in December 2013 ( link ).    Guinea (977 confirmed cases) link Liberia (931 confirmed cases) link Nigeria (19 confirmed cases) link Senegal (1 imported infection) link Sierra Leone (2179 confirmed cases) link Spain (1 locally acquired infection) link United State of America (1 imported infection) link

A health care worker in Spain is the first individual outside of Africa to locally acquire an Ebola infection.   A nurse treating an Ebola case in a Madrid hospital in September has tested positive for Ebola ( link ). The nature of transmission from the Ebola patient to the nurse has not yet been reported.   The reports from the Ebola outbreak in Africa show that health care workers are frequently infected and die from treating Ebola patients ( link ). It was widely assumed that health care workers in the West Africa countries became infected because of lack of adequate PPE, proper training, and overwhelmed facilities. This new case in a European hospital raises concerns about the nature of Ebola transmission in hospital settings everywhere in the world.    The Ebola case in Texas, USA, will provide an additional test of the nature of transmission of this virus ( link ). So far no secondary cases have been reported in Texas. It will be several more weeks before Texa...