--- title: CDC Director Compares Ebola Outbreak to AIDS Epidemic description: Director Tom Frieden warned Thursday that the world must prevent Ebola from becoming “the world’s next AIDs.” canonical: https://time.com/3485571/ebola-aids/ author: Noah Rayman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-09T17:08:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:41:40.648Z article:section: Health og:title: CDC Director Compares Ebola Outbreak to AIDS Epidemic og:description: Director Tom Frieden warned Thursday that the world must prevent Ebola from becoming “the world’s next AIDs.” og:url: https://time.com/3485571/ebola-aids/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4009d328d18c9319/69875f7de53aba0b434d4e15/ebola-aids.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-HEALTH-EBOLA-OBAMA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CDC Director Compares Ebola Outbreak to AIDS Epidemic twitter:description: Director Tom Frieden warned Thursday that the world must prevent Ebola from becoming “the world’s next AIDs.” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4009d328d18c9319/69875f7de53aba0b434d4e15/ebola-aids.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CDC Director Compares Ebola Outbreak to AIDS Epidemic  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Oct 9, 2014 5:08 PM UTC  Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control, listens while US President Barack Obama makes a statement to the press after a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House October 6, 2014 in Washington, D.C. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control, listens while US President Barack Obama makes a statement to the press after a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House October 6, 2014 in Washington, D.C.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Oct 9, 2014 5:08 PM UTC The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [warned Thursday](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/09/cdc-director-compares-ebola-to-aids/) that the world must act to prevent the current Ebola outbreak from becoming “the world’s next AIDs.” CDC Director Tom Frieden made the remark while speaking at a conference at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. with representatives from around the world Thursday, including United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, the Washington _Post_ reports. “In my 30 years in public health, the only thing that has been like this is AIDS,” Frieden said. “We have to work now so that this is not the world’s next AIDS.” [More than 8,000 people](http://time.com/3482193/ebola-cases-8000/) in Western Africa have been infected with the Ebola virus, according to the WHO, and 3,857 people have died. Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola inside the United States, [died](http://time.com/3481824/ebola-patient-thomas-eric-duncan-dies/) on Wednesday. The CDC has projected that, without any intervention measures in West Africa, some 1.4 million people will be infected with Ebola by January. But the international community is stepping up efforts to contain the virus in the region, with the U.S. alone committing more than $500 million and approving the deployment of 4,000 troops to help fight the disease. \[[_Washington Post_](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/09/cdc-director-compares-ebola-to-aids/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3485571/ebola-aids/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3485571/ebola-aids/"},"headline":"CDC Director Compares Ebola Outbreak to AIDS Epidemic","datePublished":"2014-10-09T17:08:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:41:40.648Z","description":"\"In my 30 years in public health, the only thing that has been like this is AIDS.\"","url":"https://time.com/3485571/ebola-aids/","keywords":["ebola","CDC","Liberia","Ebola outbreak"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4009d328d18c9319/69875f7de53aba0b434d4e15/ebola-aids.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4009d328d18c9319/69875f7de53aba0b434d4e15/ebola-aids.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-HEALTH-EBOLA-OBAMA","caption":"US-POLITICS-HEALTH-EBOLA-OBAMA","creditText":"Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3485571/ebola-aids/","name":"CDC Director Compares Ebola Outbreak to AIDS Epidemic"}}]}] ```