WHO puts Ebola case count at 10,141

DAKAR, Senegal – More than 10,000 people have been infected with Ebola and nearly half of them have died, according to figures released Saturday by the World Health Organization, as the outbreak continues to spread.

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is the largest outbreak of the disease, with a rapidly rising death toll in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Cases also have been reported in three other West African countries, Spain and the United States.

The U.N. health agency said Saturday that the number of confirmed, probable and suspected cases has risen to 10,141. People have died in 4,922 of those cases. The agency’s figures show about 200 new cases since the last report four days ago.

Even those grisly totals are likely an underestimate, WHO has warned, as many people in the hardest-hit countries have been unable or too frightened to seek medical care. A shortage of labs capable of handling potentially infected blood samples also has made it difficult to track the outbreak. For example, the latest numbers show no change in Liberia’s case total, suggesting the numbers may be lagging behind reality.

Thursday, authorities confirmed that the disease had spread to Mali, the sixth West African country affected.

Mali had long been considered highly vulnerable to the disease, since it shares a border with Guinea. The disease arrived there in a 2-year-old, who traveled from Guinea with her grandmother by bus and died Friday.

Associated Press