Nearly 2,000 people have died from Ebola in an unprecedented outbreak that is spreading across West Africa, according to the World Health Organization. Another 3,685 have been infected, with most cases reported in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
But health experts say the number of Ebola cases is vastly underreported, according The Blaze.
"This thing is a lot more contagious than we're being given...or we're being told about," Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, a Board Certified Internal Medicine specialist, told The Blaze's radio show "Pure Opekla."
"What scares me the most...doctors and nurses are the ones getting this, dying from it and transmitting it," the doctor said. "So, I think there's a lot more about Ebola and how it's transmitted that we don't know."
The outbreak in Ebola, a highly-fatal disease with no official cure, began in Guinea and spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Senegal reported its first case in late August and Nigeria recently reported several cases after a Liberian-American man flew to Lagos, the Associated Press reported.
Efforts to contain the disease have been ineffective, such as flight bans and border closures that slow the delivery of aid. The contagious nature of the disease, transmitted through contact with blood and other bodily fluids, also hamper infection control, making doctors more at risk of getting sick.
A doctor who treated a Nigerian diplomat for Ebola in early August contracted the disease himself. The diplomat survived but his doctor died Aug. 22, according to ABC News.
"The head of the CDC said, 'It's much worse than what's being reported,' " Rodriguez said, referring to the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tom Frieden.
"The countries there have very poor medical facilities and reporting facilities. I wouldn't be surprised if it's double or triple what we're told."
