Apocalyptic Ebola Chatter

Many of you know we like to pay attention to words like "never" and "ever" and the increasing frequency we seem to find those words used in headlines and articles.

Ebola is a terrifying disease that is currently making a mess in a handful of countries in Africa.

Check out some of these quotes from folks who are familiar with the current Ebola outbreak.

#1 Dr. Tom Frieden, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: "It is the world’s first Ebola epidemic, and it’s spiraling out of control. It’s bad now, and it’s going to get worse in the very near future. There is still a window of opportunity to tamp it down, but that window is closing. We really have to act now."

#2 Dr. Joanne Liu, the international president of Doctors Without Borders: "Riots are breaking out. Isolation centres are overwhelmed. Health workers on the frontline are becoming infected and are dying in shocking numbers."

#3 David Nabarro, senior United Nations system coordinator for Ebola disease: "This outbreak is moving ahead of efforts to control it."

#4 Dr. Bruce Aylward, WHO's assistant director-general for emergency operations: "This far outstrips any historic Ebola outbreak in numbers. The largest outbreak in the past was about 400 cases."

#5 Margaret Chan, the head of the World Health Organization: "...we hope to stop the transmission in six to nine months".

#6 Dr. Daniel Bausch, associate professor in the department of Tropical Medicine at Tulane University: "You have a very dangerous virus in three of the countries in the world that are least equipped to deal with it. The scale of this outbreak has just outstripped the resources. That’s why it’s become so big."

#7 Gayle Smith, senior director at the National Security Council: "This is not an African disease. This is a virus that is a threat to all humanity."

#8 Dr. Tom Frieden, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: "The level of outbreak is beyond anything we’ve seen—or even imagined."

#9 Vincent Martin, head of an FAO unit in Dakar:  "This is different than every other Ebola situation we've ever had. It's spreading widely, throughout entire countries, through multiple countries, in cities and very fast."

#10 Dr. Richard Besser, health and medical editor for ABC News: "Emergency rooms are closed, many hospital wards are as well leaving people who are sick with heart disease, trauma, pregnancy complications, pneumonia, malaria and all the everyday health emergencies with nowhere to go."

#11 Bukar Tijani, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization regional representative for Africa: "Access to food has become a pressing concern for many people in the three affected countries and their neighbours."

#12 Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's assistant director-general for health security: "People are hungry in these communities. They don't know how they are going to get food."

#13 Dr. Daniel Bausch, associate professor in the department of Tropical Medicine at Tulane University: "This is for sure the worst situation I've ever seen."

#14 Dr. Tom Frieden, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: "I could not possibly overstate the need for an urgent response."

#15 Official WHO statement: "Staff at the outbreak sites see evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak."

#16 Dr. Joanne Liu, the international president of Doctors Without Borders: "It is impossible to keep up with the sheer number of infected people pouring into facilities. In Sierra Leone, infectious bodies are rotting in the streets."