Grim tales of the thousands of sick, dead, and dying from the Ebola outbreak in
West Africa contrast greatly with the high success rate of medical
treatment for a small number of Ebola patients in the United States.
What are the factors that make the biggest difference in saving the lives of people infected with the lethal virus?
"There's no magic going on. The supportive care in the U.S. is just incredibly different," Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of infectious diseases at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., and Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y. told CBS News.
The Ebola virus is fatal in about 70 percent of patients in the current outbreak in West Africa, according to estimates from the World Health Organization.
Since March, more 4,900 people have died, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. More than 400 health care workers in West Africa have been infected with Ebola during this outbreak, and 233 had died as of Oct. 8.
But while the number of deaths in West Africa continues to soar, people being treated in the U.S. are, in most cases, surviving.
Of the nine people treated for Ebola in the U.S. so far, only one case has proven fatal. Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man infected before he arrived in the U.S., died at a Dallas hospital on Oct. 8.
In New York City, Dr. Craig Spencer is currently reported to be in serious but stable condition after being hospitalized last week.
The other patients -- mostly health care workers who contracted Ebola while caring for others -- have all recovered.
Here are three of the key reasons:
What are the factors that make the biggest difference in saving the lives of people infected with the lethal virus?
"There's no magic going on. The supportive care in the U.S. is just incredibly different," Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of infectious diseases at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., and Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y. told CBS News.
The Ebola virus is fatal in about 70 percent of patients in the current outbreak in West Africa, according to estimates from the World Health Organization.
Since March, more 4,900 people have died, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. More than 400 health care workers in West Africa have been infected with Ebola during this outbreak, and 233 had died as of Oct. 8.
But while the number of deaths in West Africa continues to soar, people being treated in the U.S. are, in most cases, surviving.
Of the nine people treated for Ebola in the U.S. so far, only one case has proven fatal. Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man infected before he arrived in the U.S., died at a Dallas hospital on Oct. 8.
In New York City, Dr. Craig Spencer is currently reported to be in serious but stable condition after being hospitalized last week.
The other patients -- mostly health care workers who contracted Ebola while caring for others -- have all recovered.
Here are three of the key reasons:
0 comments:
Post a Comment