Ebola information
(Last updated in 2015.)
There is a lot of focus right now on the threat of Ebola, a deadly viral disease. Ebola has killed thousands of people in West Africa this year, more in the current outbreak than in all the previous outbreaks combined. (Previous outbreaks were mostly in villages in Central Africa, and did not spread to such a large geographic area as the current outbreak.) Attention in the US to Ebola skyrocketed with the first case of the disease to appear within the US, a case in Texas. Some people are panicking unnecessarily about Ebola in the US - while in fact, US health systems are well-prepared to stop the spread of Ebola here.
We have already talked about infectious diseases in this class, so as you can imagine, I am thinking about both the chain of infection and the epidemiological triangle, in relation to Ebola.
The key to fighting Ebola now is to break the chain of infection. To do this, public health workers are focused on finding every case of Ebola - every infected person - and then tracing their contacts, so they can be monitored and treated if they are infected. The period that Ebola can stay in the 'reservoir' in a person is relatively short - 21 days - so if a person who is exposed does not develop symptoms in 21 days, they are safe. (In the Texas case, they are doubling the period they monitor people to 42 days, as an extra precaution.) Compare that to HIV, where the symptoms may emerge years after exposure.
Ebola's only "mode of transmission" is through bodily fluids - so it can't travel through the air or be carried by mosquitoes. (There has been some speculation about "what if it becomes airborne?" but honestly, I think that is mostly irresponsible fear-mongering.) Characteristics of the virus itself (another link the chain of infection) are such that it can be destroyed with soap and water, or bleached water. So breaking the chain of infection (after you isolate the "reservoir" of infected people) focuses mainly on simple hygiene measures. I say simple, but of course, it's not always simple. U.S. hospitals are notorious for having inconsistent handwashing practices, even among health professionals who know better. And in Africa, not every household even has a bucket in which to put some water and bleach for handwashing. So public health efforts right now are focused on reaching people in villages and crowded urban neighborhoods in West Africa, bringing supplies and health education. Reducing exposure to Ebola at the port of exit or port of entry involves barrier methods (gloves, masks) as well as changes in practices (such as how an ill person is bathed, or a corpse is prepared for burial) to reduce or eliminate the chance of infection.
The bad news is, there is no vaccine for Ebola (yet) and while there is some treatment (no miracle cure), it is not yet reaching many people who need it. About half of the people infected with Ebola so far have died of it. Ebola causes so many fatalities and spreads as it does in sub-Saharan Africa in large part due to what Dr. Paul Farmer calls "the terrorism of poverty" - a lack of health systems and adequate treatment to stem the tide of disease. This is a fixable problem - if wealthier countries are willing to dedicate the resources.
Here are a few links to give you more information about Ebola. I tried hard to find interesting articles, not just informative ones.
Short NPR story about how contagious Ebola is. (Bottom line - it's not easy to catch Ebola - there are other diseases that are much more contagious.):
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/10/02/352983774/no-seriously-how-contagious-is-ebola
What You Should Know About Ebola (2 page PDF, with pictures)
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/what-need-to-know-ebola.pdf
Stopping Ebola in its Tracks (a short essay calling for action, from actor Idris Elba)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/idris-elba/stopping-ebola-in-its-tra_b_5913066.html
The Guinean Town that Overcame Ebola - a public health success story
http://www.who.int/features/2014/telimele-ebola-free/en/
Ebola's Front Lines: Countries Need Tools to Fight Ebola in Homes and Communities =- article by Drs. Paul Farmer and Joia Mukherjee
CDC page on the 2014 outbreak of Ebola - good site for the latest information:
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/index.html
World Health Organization (WHO) page on Ebola - the big picture of what's happening in the epidemic and what public health is doing about it