"What You Need to Know about the Ebola Outbreak" from The New York Times

The New York Times is continually updating a Questions & Answer Page with the latest information on the Ebola virus outbreak.

As you can see in Figure 1 below, the numbers of cases and deaths continue to rise. It has been the deadliest outbreak of Ebola ever, eclipsing the initial outbreak in 1976. As has been stated repeatedly by a number of authorities including the CDC, the chance of Ebola spreading in a significant fashion (i.e. more than a few patients here and there) to the U.S. is extremely low. However, hopefully all of this attention helps to mobilize World efforts to contain and combat the epidemic.

In other news, the ZMapp experimental drug given to the two American Ebola patients, who are being treated in a special isolation unit in Atlanta, has been offered more broadly to patients in Africa (for free) but supplies have run out, while the company tries to ramp up production.

Figure 1. Cases and deaths caused by Ebola virus in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria (from The New York Times Q&A on Ebola).