Ebola Outbreak in West Africa — Global Issues

By Creavibe

September 15, 2025

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by Anup Shah
This web page Created Saturday, September 27, 2014

This web page: https://www.globalissues.org/article/804/ebola.
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On this web page:

Introduction
Where does the Ebola virus come from?
Tackling the unfold of the Ebola virus
News tales from IPS

Introduction

The newest Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa has been described by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the most important, most extreme and most advanced outbreak within the historical past of the illness.

The epidemic started on the finish of 2013, in Guinea. From there it unfold to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. Many of the affected international locations face monumental challenges in stopping its unfold and offering take care of all sufferers.

Thousands of individuals have died and lots of are in danger because the fatality fee from this virus may be very excessive. As the disaster worsens, in addition to the big well being challenges concerned, the social and financial penalties might set these international locations again, reversing some features plenty of these international locations have made lately.

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Where does the Ebola virus come from?

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) within the US, the preliminary human an infection comes from contact with an contaminated animal, most certainly a bat. From there, human to human transmission spreads the illness.

As The Guardian has famous, medicine and vaccines for Ebola has sometimes been low precedence for the principle medicine firms though now there’s a new focus and sense of urgency:

Until now, pharmaceutical companies have given Ebola very low precedence. The few potential medicine and vaccines beneath improvement at the moment are being sped into trials. Healthy volunteers within the UK and US have been injected with a candidate vaccine to check security. Drug trials will quickly be arrange in west Africa, however they’re a number of months away and there’s no certainty that they’ll work.

Briefing: West Africa’s Ebola disaster, The Guardian, final accessed, September 27, 2014

As has been talked about on this website for years, sadly ailments affecting the poorest international locations the worst have sometimes acquired little consideration or funding, typically as there isn’t any revenue in it for medicine firms, which raises a complete set of different points about drug therapies and entry to important medicines.

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Tackling the unfold of the Ebola virus

The CDC additionally notes that strict isolation of contaminated sufferers is important to cut back onward transmission.

In addition, as plenty of these international locations are fairly poor, assist and well being help is sort of important as sources are restricted for already strained budgets and well being departments. While assist has been sluggish to come back, assist by itself won’t assist; there’s a common lack of sufficient skilled workers, fundamental tools and applicable medical amenities to deal with the variety of folks needing care. And that doesn’t even cowl the extra companies that could possibly be wanted for hundreds of people that have misplaced many family members, together with complete households.

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