Rapid risk assessment: Outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa. Eighth update, 18 November 2014
This update to the rapid risk assessment includes recent epidemiological data and the latest on treatment and vaccine development. The main conclusions and the risks posed to Europe remain unchanged. The options for risk reduction are the same with the addition of a summary of exposure assessment guidance and options for measures for returning healthcare workers. This is drawn from an ECDC technical report on the topic published on 10 November 2014.
Executive Summary
Since December 2013, and as of 17 November 2014, 14 415 cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD), including 5 177 deaths, have been reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) in eight reporting countries (Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone in West Africa, and Spain and the USA).
In Mali, after the report of a first case in Kayes imported from Guinea on 23 October, WHO reported five additional cases in Bamako that are not linked to the first case. These five additional cases are four confirmed cases and one probable. Four of these cases died. All these new cases are associated with a 70-year-old male case from Guinea who was admitted to a clinic in Bamako on 25 October and died on 27 October. Among the four confirmed cases in Bamako, two are healthcare workers who cared for the imported case. No information is available at the moment on the other two confirmed cases.
