Ebola Death Toll in Africa Exceeds 10,000

The World Health Organization has announced that the death toll from the Ebola virus has surpassed 10,000. Most victims are from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in West Africa. Among them, there have been 15 victims from Mali, Nigeria, and the United States. According to the Associated Press, international medical efforts in recent months and soldiers dispatched by the U.S., U.K., and several other countries to Africa have managed to reduce the mortality rate, but the Ebola virus remains potent in parts of Guinea and Sierra Leone. The World Health Organization stated that the latest outbreak of the Ebola virus witnessed in recent months is the largest in history. In August 2014, after Ebola claimed more than a thousand lives, the WHO declared an international emergency, which led to significant criticism of the organization. However, the rapid spread of the virus has at least had one benefit: it accelerated the efforts of the WHO and many scientists to find a vaccine for the disease. Currently, two vaccine models have been operationalized to combat Ebola. Liberia, which suffered the most from the recent outbreak, reported its last official case of the virus on March 5 (a week ago). According to WHO standards, if no new cases of Ebola are identified in the country within the next 42 days, it will mean that Liberia has been cleared of the outbreak. However, in Guinea and Liberia, dozens of new cases are still reported each week, and the number of deaths outside hospitals remains high. In this context, the Ebola vaccine is being tested on a large scale for the first time. There have been denials regarding a 'suspected Ebola patient' visiting a hospital in Tehran. The United Nations reports that the Ebola outbreak has significantly slowed down.