West African Ebola Virus Disease Research Articles

Global health security now

The concept of security as an important dimension of health divides opinions. To invoke the idea of security risks giving permission to more authoritarian-minded governments to use health crises as justification for sometimes extreme curbs on liberty or the political, economic, and social rights of citizens. During the Ebola virus disease outbreak, photographs appeared in news media of police brutally attacking the public for breaching curfews. Invoking arguments of global health security might further encourage this kind of violent response. Alternatively, security could more constructively mean protecting and empowering people, a view promulgated by the UN's Commission on Human Security in 2003. 1 Commission on Human SecurityHuman security now. Commission on Human Security, New York2003 Google Scholar This week, The Lancet looks at the implications of a security lens applied to health in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa. 2 Heymann DL Chen L Takemi K et al. Global health security: the wider lessons from the west African Ebola virus disease epidemic. Lancet. 2015; 385: 1884-1901 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (266) Google Scholar , 3 Gostin LO Friedman EA A retrospective and prospective analysis of the west African Ebola virus disease epidemic: robust national health systems at the foundation and an empowered WHO at the apex. Lancet. 2015; 385: 1902-1909 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (127) Google Scholar , 4 Kruk ME Myers M Varpilah ST Dahn BT What is a resilient health system? Lessons from Ebola. Lancet. 2015; 385: 1910-1912 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (254) Google Scholar Thanks to Ebola, global health security is now a priority, not only for ministers of health but also for heads of state. Global health security: the wider lessons from the west African Ebola virus disease epidemicThe Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa was unprecedented in both its scale and impact. Out of this human calamity has come renewed attention to global health security—its definition, meaning, and the practical implications for programmes and policy. For example, how does a government begin to strengthen its core public health capacities, as demanded by the International Health Regulations? What counts as a global health security concern? In the context of the governance of global health, including WHO reform, it will be important to distil lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak. Full-Text PDF A retrospective and prospective analysis of the west African Ebola virus disease epidemic: robust national health systems at the foundation and an empowered WHO at the apexThe Ebola virus disease outbreak in west Africa is pivotal for the worldwide health system. Just as the depth of the crisis ultimately spurred an unprecedented response, the failures of leadership suggest the need for innovative reforms. Such reforms would transform the existing worldwide health system architecture into a purposeful, organised system with an empowered, highly capable WHO at its apex and enduring, equitable national health systems at its foundation. It would be designed not only to provide security against epidemic threats, but also to meet everyday health needs, thus realising the right to health. Full-Text PDF What is a resilient health system? Lessons from EbolaThe fragility of health systems has never been of greater interest—or importance—than at this moment, in the aftermath of the worst Ebola virus disease epidemic to date. The loss of life, massive social disruption, and collapse of even the most basic health-care services shows what happens when a crisis hits and health systems are not prepared.1 This did not happen only in west Africa—we saw it in Texas too: the struggle to provide a coherent response and manage public sentiment (which often manifests as fear) in a way that ensures that disease does not spread while also allowing day-to-day life to continue. Full-Text PDF

An Analysis of the International and Domestic Health Hazards Posed by the 2014 West African Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak

An epidemic of "ebolavirus" in West Africa, which was first identified in March 2014, is now the largest Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak on record. The West African epidemic will only be quelled through widespread adherence of public health initiatives promoting barrier-nursing techniques, health education, and the rapid identification of cases. The ongoing EVD outbreak in West Africa is unlikely to affect public health in the U.S. significantly.

How the Current West African Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic Is Altering Views on the Need for Vaccines and Is Galvanizing a Global Effort to Field-Test Leading Candidate Vaccines

Since it first appeared as a clinical syndrome in Central Africa in the mid1970s, accompanied by isolation of the causative virus, Ebola virus disease has fascinated infectious disease clinicians, virologists, and epidemiologists because of the striking clinical syndrome exhibited by patients (which culminates in a hemorrhagic diathesis in approximately 35% of infected individuals) [1], high case-fatality rate (50%–90%), and facile transmissibility of the virus among close contacts [2], including caregivers [3]. Heretofore, its limited geographic distribution (Central and East Africa) and modest overall burden of disease, manifested as occasional small outbreaks ultimately interrupted by institution of stringent infection control methods, combined to make this an uncommon exotic tropical infectious disease [4]. After the 11 September 2001 attacks and subsequent anthrax bioterrorism episodes in the United States, there was concern in the United States and Europe over the potential use of certain pathogens as bioterrorism agents. Ebolavirus, with its high case-fatality rate and potential for enhanced transmissibility, is ranked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a category A bioterrorism agent (highest priority). This prompted virologists to study the pathogenesis of ebolavirus infection and vaccine developers to design strategies to generate vaccine candidates. During the next decade, impressive progress was made in Ebola vaccine research. However, the population targets for use of such vaccines were limited and included civilian populations in defined geographic areas, for whom reactive immunization would be performed following a deliberate release during a bioterrorism event, and laboratory scientists working with the virus.