The recent outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa has captured international public attention that seems disproportionate to the scale of the outbreak itself. This is not surprising. Ebola is a communicable disease - that is to say, it is transmissible between humans. In this regard, Ebola is unlike, for example, obesity, which affects c10-30% of adults in Europe and which the WHO has identified as one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century. The Ebola virus also has a long incubation period - up to 21 days before symptoms become detectable; and a high fatality rate - up to 90%. The communicability of Ebola, and the long incubation period of the virus, mean that an outbreak may not be contained to a small geographical location, and may become an epidemic. Given the globalised nature of trade and travel, the stakes might be even higher: a pandemic. An obvious approach to the management of a communicable disease is to respond to an outbreak by trying to contain the disease. This is the approach that we have seen in West Africa in recent weeks. In this, the Ministries of Health of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali have [...]
[view whole blog post
]
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
See More
Report Abuse