The 2014–16 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa reminded the world that enormous economic and human losses result from the uncontrolled spread of a deadly infection. Less noticed was the likelihood that a pandemic with characteristics similar to the 1918 influenza pandemic would have killed about 10 times as many people in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone as did Ebola. The global death total from such a pandemic could be 2,500 times higher than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) estimate of 11,300 deaths from Ebola through March 16, 2016 (WHO 2016a).
© 2018 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank.