The World Bank is warning that the West African Ebola Outbreak could wreck the economies of the worst-hit nations:  Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.  The cost to these fragile countries can be mitigated, but only if there’s a fast global response to contain the outbreak.

The UN World Health Organization says almost 2,500 people have died in the outbreak, and that’s last week’s number – the death toll is likely to be much worse when it is updated.  Huge steps are underway to stop Ebola’s march.  The US is committing 3,000 military troops to coordinate the response, handle logistics, and build 17 much-needed treatment centers with 100 beds each in Liberia.  Right now, Ebola patients are being turned away from the scant few treatment centers in Monrovia, because there is no place to put them.  Cuba is sending 165 doctors and other medical personnel.

But the World Bank says the economic impact of Ebola could grow eight-fold in these impoverished countries.  The worst-case scenario projects next year’s economic growth in Guinea to be reduced by 2.3 percent; make it 8.9 percent in Sierra Leone; and Liberia, already poorly recovering from a devastating civil war, could see its economy shrink by 11.7 percent.