Abstract
West Africa is in the midst of the largest Ebola outbreak ever; there have been over 1000 deaths and many new cases are reported each day. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared it an outbreak in March 2014 and on August 6, 2014 the WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. Based on the number of deaths and total number of cases reported to the WHO as of August 11, 2014, the current outbreak has an overall mortality rate of 55%. Outbreak control measures against Ebola virus disease are effective. Why then, has this outbreak been so challenging to control? Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluids and immediately attacks the immune system, then progressively attacks the major organs and the lining of blood vessels. Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia are small countries that have limited resources to respond to prolonged outbreaks, especially in rural areas. This has been made more challenging by the fact that health care workers are at risk of contracting Ebola virus disease. Treatment to date has been supportive, not curative and outbreak control strategies have been met with distrust due to fear and misinformation. However, important progress is being made. The international response to Ebola is gaining momentum, communication strategies have been developed to address the fear and mistrust, and promising treatments are under development, including a combination of three monoclonal antibodies that has been administered to two American Ebola infected health care workers. The National Microbiology Laboratory of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has been supporting laboratory diagnostic efforts in West Africa and PHAC has been working with the provinces and territories and key stakeholders to ensure Canada is prepared for a potential Ebola importation.
Highlights
Four West African countries are in the midst of the largest Ebola outbreak the world has seen
The objective of this article is to summarize what we know about Ebola virus disease, current challenges to controlling the outbreak, and progress to date, including Canada’s contribution to the outbreak response
Ebola virus disease has been responsible for smaller outbreaks in the remote forests of Sub-Saharan Africa that have typically involved animal-to-human transmission and sporadic human-to-human transmission
Summary
Four West African countries are in the midst of the largest Ebola outbreak the world has seen. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared it an outbreak in March 2014. On August 6, 2014, the WHO, based on the recommendations of its Emergency Committee, declared the current outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) [1]. As of August 11, 2014, the WHO has reported 1848 cases and 1013 deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria [1]. Based on these reported deaths and total number of cases, this outbreak currently has an overall mortality rate of 55%. The objective of this article is to summarize what we know about Ebola virus disease, current challenges to controlling the outbreak, and progress to date, including Canada’s contribution to the outbreak response
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