Ebola Outbreak in West Africa 2014-16: Causal Factors, Morbidity and Mortality Rates - Desklib

This essay focuses on the case study of Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014-2016, examining causal factors, morbidity and mortality rates, and recommendations for public health professionals.

Ebola outbreak in west Africa 2014-6

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Overview of Ebola outbreak in West Africa 2014-16.................................................................3
Economic, political, environmental and social causal factors to the disease outbreak................4
Data for morbidity and mortality rates for Ebola outbreak in West Africa 2014-16...................5
Recommendations for what public health professionals could focus on.....................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Global out break is a pandemic situation in which outbreak of a disease occurs at global
level that affect a larger widespread area or wide geographical area. Such kind of global outbreak
can affect lives of people globally in many different ways (Kamorudeen, Adedokun and
Olarinmoye, 2020). In past few years different kinds of global outbreak of disease have occurred
that has directly affected people and their lives. Not only this, due to these outbreaks death and
mortality rate at such places has increased drastically. Ebola outbreak was one of those global
outbreak diseases that affected world drastically especially West Africa. This essay will focus
upon case study of Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014-2016. Ebola outbreak took place in
West Africa 2014-2016 affecting primarily Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. There were 6
species of Ebola, out of which 4 has caused disease in humans and affect their health. The report
examines, present data for morbidity and mortality rates from Ebola outbreak. Epidemiology
terms to analyse contributing economic, political, environmental and social casual factors to the
disease outbreak. Further, case fatality, incidence rate and what they mean for the outbreak.
MAIN BODY
Overview of Ebola outbreak in West Africa 2014-16
Ebola outbreak took place between march 2014 to June 2016. Ebola has affected African
countries and occasional cases of the continent. Most of the people were affected by Ebola
outbreak and it affects Guinea, Sierra, Leone and Liberia. Ebola is spread in many countries and
it was spread by contact with infected animals or humans. World Health Organisation (WHO)
reported cases of Ebola Virus in south eastern Guinea. In December 2013, an 18-year-old was
infected by bats in a small village in Guinea. After this case five more cases were found of fatal
diarrhoea. After some time, Ebola virus spread to Guinea’s capital city of Conakry, March 2014.
The Ministry of Health issued an alert for people regarding Ebola disease or an unidentified
illness (Ellerbrok and et. al., 2017). There are some causes of Ebola virus disease are, blood of a
person is infected with the virus, different objects such as, needles or syringes, which are
contaminated with the virus. There are some body fluids which causes Ebola virus disease like,
breast milk, stool, saliva, semen, sweat, urine, or vomit, person having infection or infected with
the virus.
Ebola is spreading among humans by direct contact with blood or other body fluids like,
diarrhoea, vomit etc. of a person who is infected or a person who is having symptoms of Ebola or

a person who is recently died from Ebola. Ebola disease is affecting people badly as people died
due to this disease and it is spreading fast among humans. Ebola is a deadly disease which is
cause by a virus and affect health of people. There are four strains which affect humans and
making them sick. After entering the body, Ebola is affecting body parts and it kills cells. This
virus is affecting immune system of people and they are having problem which cause death. This
virus causes heavy bleeding inside the body and damages all the parts of body. This virus is very
dangerous and affecting organ. This virus is affecting health of people and spread in humans.
Economic, political, environmental and social causal factors to the disease outbreak
Causes of Ebola outbreak
Ebola disease can be prevented or avoided as vaccine was made for people who are 18 years
old and older. It is essential for people to take necessary steps for prevention from this Ebola
outbreak and it should be stopped (Subissi and et. al., 2018). People can reduce risk of this
infection by avoid travelling to Ebola outbreaks, do not touch the blood or body fluids, stay away
from people who died because of Ebola virus. It is essential to take necessary steps for
prevention from virus and follow guidelines given by World health organisation.
Political Casual factors
Ebola outbreak was affecting people in West Africa drastically and has further increased
death and mortality rate. So, in order to reduce its effect and bring this global outbreak under
control numerous local leaders were engaged for developing, spreading messages and
implementing prevention programs, implementing policies at national and global level so that
people can be helped and protected from spread of this virus in order to end this outbreak.
Economic Casual factors
This Ebola disease global outbreak directly affected and impacted various countries in
many ways (O’Leary, Jalloh and Neria, 2018). But due to economic causes this disease outbreak
did not occur. No government of any country witnessed any kind of economic impact of disease
upon country or vice versa.
Environmental causal factors
Ebola outbreak brought various kinds of environmental changes as well in order to enhance
safety of people. Till not no evidence has been provided that can explain ways in which
environmental casual factors to Ebola outbreak but, for most of the people risk of being infected
from Ebola virus was extremely high in West Africa due to presence of infected dead bodies

lying in environment spread virus. So, people has to be careful and take care of themselves so
that they are not affected and live their life safely. The risk of Ebola virus disease increases when
people are travelling more in the area where this virus is spreading, helping someone who is
having this infection (Wonderly and et. al., 2019). The risk is high to people who have direct
contact with an infected person or dead body as it has been noticed that dead body can still
spread Ebola virus. This is very dangerous because people are getting infected very fast and
death rate is increasing.
Social causal factors
Ebola outbreak occurred in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
There are some symptoms of Ebola virus disease, which often begin 8 to 10 days after a person
is infected. The Ebola virus is not spread to another person until symptoms appear. There are
some early symptoms of Ebola virus disease such as, fatigue, fever, muscle pain, weakness and
headache. These symptoms occur before the virus disease from which it can be identified that the
person is having Ebola disease (Gee and Skovdal, 2017). Some later symptoms of Ebola disease
are, nausea, diarrhoea, stomach pain, unexplained bruising or bleeding such as bloody nose,
bloodshot eyes or bloody urine or diarrhoea. These are some symptoms from which it can be
identified that person is having Ebola disease. This disease is caused by virus and people died
due to this disease. According to scientist this virus comes from bats which is affecting humans
and other animals also.
Data for morbidity and mortality rates for Ebola outbreak in West Africa 2014-16
There are many different kinds of social determinants of health that can help in shaping
and explaining ways in which people living in different environmental conditions, ways in which
they live work etc. affected their lives due to Ebola outbreak and as a health outcome it affected
mortality, morbidity, life expectancy, health care expenditure, health status of people functional
limitations. There are various kinds of Social determinants of health that can be analysed for
identifying ways in which social inequality and health disparity had affected health of people and
made some group of people vulnerable to this disease outbreak of Ebola in West Africa countries
like Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leona countries of West Africa.
As per social determinants of health model there are various social determinants that had
resulted in affected mortality, morbidity rate in west Africa and people in different countries of
West Africa (Painter, DiClemente and von Fricken, 2017).

Economic stability was one of the main and major social health determinant that resulted in
increasing morbidity rate due to Ebola. This is because in order to remain economically stable. In
order to remain economically stable for bearing expenses of medical bills, debt, support family
etc, employment was important for people which increased chances of getting infected from this
virus as a result it directly resulted in boosting morbidity rate.
Neighbourhood and physical environment are another social determinant because of
number of cases of Ebola increased in West Africa because due to housing, common
transportation, common places of gathering etc. further resulted in increasing cases of Ebola
(Ostergard Jr, 2020).
Health care system is another factor that affected people’s life due to Ebola outbreak and
resulted in increasing mortality rate due to lack of provision or access of healthcare facilities.
Data for morbidity and mortality rates reported by website of CDC.gov
In order to calculate morbidity and mortality rate of Ebola in West Africa from 2014 to
2016. This data has been collected from official government website of CDC.gov (Centre for
disease control and prevention). This website provide data associated with all kinds of diseases,
their outbreak and their impact upon nations. Not only this. This website also provides ways in
which a particular disease was controlled and can be controlled. As per data on this website first
case of Ebola in west Africa was identified in December, 2013 but medical attention for this
diseases was gained in January, 2014. In west Africa lack of surveillance system and other
effective public health infrastructure system in West Africa various countries were affected and
as a result morality and morbidity rate of Ebola in 2014- 2016 increased drastically. Below given
details have been extracted from authentic government website that clearway helps in explaining
morbidity and morality rate in West Africa countries from year 2014 to 2016.
Year Total number of cases in West Africa Total number of deaths in West Africa
2014 385244 161688
2015 4946850 1998393
2016 314653 124329
 Total number of deaths per calendar year in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone):
Total number of deaths per calendar year

As per the below graph it is clear that total number of deaths occurred in West Africa in year
2015 year then in year 2014 and least number of deaths occurred in year 2016.
From the below graph it is clear that total number of deaths in West African countries
occurred in year 2015. Then total number of deaths in West African countries occurred in 2014
and least number of deaths occurred in 2016.
Figure 1 Total number of cases and deaths due to Ebola from 2014 to 2016 in West Africa
 Case Fatality: total died/ total number of cases*100
Case Fatality in year 2014: 161688/ 385244*100= 41.97
Case Fatality in year 2015: 1998393/ 4946850*100= 40.39
Case Fatality in year 2016: 124329/ 314653*100= 39.51
Case fatality is required to evaluate seriousness of detected cases of disease so that
required actions can be taken. As per the case fatality rate of West Africa suffering from Ebola
from year 2014 to 2016, case fatality of year 2014 was highest that was approximately 42
percent. This clearly helped in understanding that in year 2014 actions required to be taken were
of high priority. However, case fatality rate in 2015 year was not much less and was
approximately 40 percent and in 2016 year this rate was even less. This clearly helped in
understanding that seriousness of this Ebola disease to be focused upon. This further explains
that case fatality can help in understanding how serious it disease is and how important to is to be
focused upon. It further helps in understanding morbidity of Ebola disease in west Africa.

It further helped in explaining that 40 percent case Fatality mean that this Ebola disease
was a bit contagious and can could have spread when people came in close contact with each
other. Factors analysed above of Ebola disease further helped in provision of clarity that this
disease can be spread when people came in contact with each other, or through infect blood or
infected fluid such as moths milk etc. These factors increased chances of other people getting
infected with Ebola virus from other was approx 40 percent. This further explained that this
Ebola disease outbreak in West African countries was serious (Ostergard Jr, 2020). Timely steps
taken to control this outbreak reduced case fatality rate and morbidity rate. Without taking any
kind of actions by West African Countries this case fatality rate, morbidity and morality rate
would have increased drastically and its impact upon countries would have also increased.
 Death to case Fatality: total number of death in specific time period/ total number of cases of
same disease*100
Death to case Fatality in year 2014: 161688/ 5646747*100= 2.86
Death to case Fatality in year 2014: 1998393/ 5646747*100= 35.39
Death to case Fatality in year 2014: 124329/ 5646747*100= 2.20
Death to case Fatality rate clearly helps in understanding what is the death ratio of
disease as per total number of cases of Ebola. From the above data it is clear that Death to case
Fatality rate of Ebola in West Africa in year 2014 and 2016 was extremely less i.e.
approximately 3 or 2 percent. Whereas this Death to case Fatality percentage in 2015 year was
quite high as compare to results of 2014 and 2016 year. In year 2015 this percentage was
approximately 35 percent. This clearly helps in understanding that mortality rate of Ebola in
West Africa was highest in year 2015 as compared to 2014 and 2016 year.
Above given details clearly helps in understanding that morbidity rate of Ebola disease is
West African countries between year 2014 to 2016 was approximately 40 percent. This further
gave a clarify of this disease outbreak in between that time period in African countries. As per
the given details it can be said that approx 40 percent of people of West African countries were
suffering from this disease and approximately this much percentage of people required medical
attention because if timely medical treatment of this outbreak was not given then it could have
led to reducing life expectancy and increased chances of morality for those patients (Ostergard
Jr, 2020).

This has further helped in identifying or understanding that rate to total cases was much
lower in year 2014 and maximum number of deaths that took place in these countries of West
Africa was highest in second year i.e. 2015 year.
Recommendations for what public health professionals could focus on
Here are hollowing recommendations that could have been adhered by public health
professionals or could have been focused upon by them to controlling this outbreak in an
appropriate manner. Following are the main recommendations that could have been focused
upon by health professionals:
 By treating all kinds of blood samples and other fluids as contaminated fluids as
contaminated and ensuring that none of the type of fluid is mixed with blood or is mixed
with blood of individual or inserted within individual through mouth.
 Wearing all kinds of protective gears by public health professionals and asking other
patients admitted to hospitals for the same could have also helped in reducing spreading
of Ebola disease in west African diseases (Ostergard Jr, 2020).
 6 feet social distancing regulation should have been implemented so that social distancing
among people can be adhered and skin to skin contact could have been avoided. This
could have further helped in reducing spread of Ebola disease.
 Organizing public health information campaign could have helped public health
professionals to generate awareness about this disease and ways in which it could have
been controlled in an appropriate manner. This could have further helped people in
understanding precautionary measures that are important tp be taken by people for
restricting spreading of this Ebola disease.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it can be concluded that, there are various kinds of factors that
can result in outbreak of a disease such as political factors, economic, social and environmental
factors. Ebola disease was a global outbreak that affected various countries but majorly countries
of West Africa. This global outbreak affected west Africa for three years that are from 2014 to
2016. morbidity and mortality rates explanation of Ebola disease from different authentic sources
directly helped in understanding spread of this disease, contamination of this disease, deaths
caused by this disease and reason because of which it was important to be focused upon. There
are many different kinds of epidemiological terms that can further help in understanding whether

this outbreak was contagious, affected lives of people etc. further it has been concluded that there
are different kinds of recommended ways that could have been adopted by healthcare
professionals for restricting spread of this disease.

REFRENCES
Books and Journals
Ellerbrok, H., and et. al., 2017. External quality assessment study for ebolavirus PCR-diagnostic
promotes international preparedness during the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West
Africa. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 11(5), p.e0005570.
Gee, S. and Skovdal, M., 2017. The role of risk perception in willingness to respond to the
2014–2016 West African Ebola outbreak: a qualitative study of international health care
workers. Global health research and policy, 2(1), pp.1-10.
Kamorudeen, R.T., Adedokun, K.A. and Olarinmoye, A.O., 2020. Ebola outbreak in West
Africa, 2014–2016: Epidemic timeline, differential diagnoses, determining factors, and
lessons for future response. Journal of Infection and Public Health, 13(7), pp.956-962.
O’Leary, A., Jalloh, M.F. and Neria, Y., 2018. Fear and culture: contextualising mental health
impact of the 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
Ostergard Jr, R.L., 2020. The West Africa Ebola outbreak (2014-2016): a health intelligence
failure?. Intelligence and National Security, 35(4), pp.477-492.
Painter, J.E., DiClemente, R.J. and von Fricken, M.E., 2017. Interest in an Ebola vaccine among
a US national sample during the height of the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West
Africa. Vaccine, 35(4), pp.508-512.
Subissi, L., and et. al., 2018. Ebola virus transmission caused by persistently infected survivors
of the 2014–2016 outbreak in West Africa. The Journal of infectious
diseases, 218(suppl_5), pp.S287-S291.
Wonderly, B.., and et. al., 2019. Comparative performance of four rapid Ebola antigen-detection
lateral flow immunoassays during the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. PLoS
One, 14(3), p.e0212113.
Online
2014-2016 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa. 2020. [online]. Available through:
<https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/history/2014-2016-outbreak/index.html?
CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fvhf%2Febola%2Foutbreaks
%2F2014-west-africa%2Findex.html>
2014-2016 Ebola Outbreak cases and death rate. 2020. [online]. Available through:
<https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/history/2014-2016-outbreak/case-counts.html>