(CNN) -- The Ebola epidemic now raging across three countries in West Africa is three-fold larger than any other outbreak ever recorded for this terrible disease; the only one to have occurred in urban areas and to cross national borders; and officially urgent and serious. At least 1,090 people have contracted the awful disease this year, though the epidemic's true scope is unknown because of widespread opposition to health authorities in afflicted Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. This week, 39-year-old physician Sheik Umar Khan -- labeled the country's hero for his brave leadership of the epidemic fight -- died from Ebola, adding yet another public fear: that even the doctors cannot escape the disease.
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Laurie Garrett: Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia worst ever, could be controlled
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She says poor governance, ignorance, hysteria have stoked opposition to health care
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She says key doctor in Ebola fight now stricken, adding new fear that no one can escape
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Garrett: Lacking governance, desperately poor citizens superstitious, avoid treatment
In April, @placeholder health officials failed to quarantine an Ebola patient who reportedly spread the virus from a remote area to the capital -- a lapse that undermined government credibility.