CDC Warns Ebola Cases Could Hit 1.4M by January

It's a big week at the United Nations, with leaders addressing the Ebola crisis in West Africa among other issues.
 
On Tuesday, U.S. health officials laid out the worst- and best-case scenarios of the outbreak.
   
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says the number of infected people could explode to 1.4 million by mid-January, but fast, aggressive action could keep those numbers far lower.

"I'm confident the most dire projections are not going to come to pass," CDC chief Dr. Tom Frieden said.

Health experts acknowledged that predicting the epidemic's long-term path is difficult task.

"This is a bit like weather forecasting. We can do it a few days in advance, but looking a few weeks or months ahead is very difficult," said Christopher Dye, director of strategy at the World Health Organization, which released its own Ebola estimates Tuesday.

"We're beginning to see some signs in the response that gives us hope this increase in cases won't happen," he added.

About 5,800 people have been infected and some 2,800 have died since the first cases were reported six months ago.