Doctor Frieden just returned from a visit to the most affected countries: Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. He says Ebola cases continue to increase quickly even though health care workers are working extremely hard against the spread.
Doctor Frieden says the number of Ebola cases is now more than 3,000. He adds that this number is expected to rise quickly in coming weeks.
He warns that there is a window of opportunity to stop Ebola. But he adds that window is closing.
"There is a window of opportunity to tamp this down, but that window is closing. We need action now to scale up the response."
The C.D.C. chief says the Ebola virus is spreading in two ways: from patients to care givers and through unsafe treatment of the dead.
"It’s spreading from just two roots; people caring for other people in hospitals or homes and unsafe burial practices where people may come into contact with body fluids from somebody who’s died from Ebola. That is really the Achilles’ heel (weakness) of this virus. We know how it spreads. We know how to stop it from spreading. The challenge is to do that everywhere it’s needed.