U.N. Says $1 Billion Needed to Fight Ebola; U.S. Pledges Military Personnel

By Kelly Young

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Lorenzo Di Francesco, MD, FACP, FHM

The United Nations is calling for $1 billion in international aid to help fight the Ebola epidemic, the New York Times reports. The number of Ebola cases worldwide has nearly reached 5000, including some 2500 fatalities. Half of the infections occurred just in the past 3 weeks.

A World Health Organization road map released over 2 weeks ago projected 20,000 cases, but "that does not seem like a lot today," Bruce Aylward, an assistant director general of the WHO, said in a news conference. "The numbers can be kept in the tens of thousands, but that is going to require a much faster escalation of the response if we are to beat the escalation of the virus."

President Obama on Tuesday pledged up to 3000 military personnel to build a command center in Liberia, train workers, and build 17 treatment centers to help control the outbreak, the Associated Press reports.