The 2014-2015 Outbreak: West Africa
The 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak began in the West African county of Guinea. A two-year-old boy named Emile who lived in Meliandou in the Guéckédou prefecture is believed to be the index case in this outbreak. Emile died on December 6, 2013. Scientific testing and research suggests that all of the subsequent Ebola cases in this outbreak originated from the single case of Emile. How Emile got Ebola is still unknown.
In March of 2014 officials in Guinea notified key medical aid organizations such as Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) and the World Health Organization (WHO) about several deaths caused by a mysterious disease. Scientific tests were conducted, and it was determined that Ebola was the mysterious disease, more specifically the Zaire ebolavirus, which is the most deadly of the five Ebola virus strains. In the initial stages of the outbreak, the case fatality rate was 86%. Many members of Emile's family died. The outbreak quickly spread to other areas of Guinea including Macenta and Kissidougou. Then it spread to two neighboring countries: Sierra Leone and Liberia. Ebola cases associated with this outbreak have since been identified in other African countries including Nigeria and Senegal. On October 23, 2014, the first case of Ebola associated with this outbreak was reported in Mali. The patient in this case, a child who had recently traveled from Guinea to Mali, died on October 24, 2014. |
How does a disease like this spread so rampantly and quickly become out of control? On August 8, 2014, the World Health Organization declared this Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
Click on the button above to listen to a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) podcast describing how Ebola virus can be transmitted in the human population.
Watch the video below to learn more about how the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak began and then spread. The 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak is the largest and most deadly in history. Widespread outbreak has occurred in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Other countries including the United States, Spain, Nigeria, Senegal, and Mali have contained Ebola cases that are associated with this outbreak.
Previous Ebola outbreaks have occurred in sparsely populated, remote locations in Africa, which prevented widespread transmission of the disease among the human population. In contrast, the current outbreak is occurring in multiple densely populated urban areas, which has resulted in widespread disease. This Ebola outbreak has killed more people than all of the other previous Ebola outbreaks combined. |
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News reports from October 2014 stated that 50 people were dying from Ebola each day. Several measures have been taken to contain the disease. Schools have been closed in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in a effort to reduce transmission of the disease. Borders with neighboring countries have been closed, and air travel between some locations has been suspended. Some African countries have imposed restrictions on public gatherings and in one country Friday was designated as a non-working day so public places could be disinfected. Even the United States increased security screening at five major airports because the majority of people traveling from the three African countries that have been hit hardest arrive at these airports.
As of November 11, 2014, there have been 14,413 cases associated with this Ebola outbreak and 5177 of these cases have ended in death. The largest number of Ebola cases, 6878, and the largest number of Ebola deaths, 2812, have occurred in Liberia. Several health care workers are included in both the number of cases and the number of deaths. As of November 5, 2014, more than 500 health care workers in West Africa have been infected with Ebola and 310 of them have died. The number of cases and deaths associated with the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak continues to rise each day. The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that the outbreak may continue for several months. This is the 34th Ebola outbreak in the recorded history of the disease. |