Public Health Response to Ebola Outbreak

Public health response to Ebola outbreak 1
PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE TO EBOLA OUTBREAK
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Public health response to Ebola outbreak 2
Ebola is a serious and fatal disease caused by Ebola virus. This virus has five strains of
which one of them causes the infection. It is believed that the virus originated from bats and was
transmitted to humans. As stated by oltart et al. (2017), the disease was originally as a result of
contact with fluids of infected animals such as bats, monkeys, gorillas and porcupines. It is
therefore considered as one of the many zoonotic viruses and infections. On March 23rd 2014,
there was an epidemic outbreak of the disease that was reported by the World Health
Organization (WHO) in the forest infested area of southeastern Guinea in West Africa.
The epidemic was really massive and spread quickly to the neighboring borders within
West Africa. Some of the countries affected in West Africa were Guinea itself, Liberia, Mali,
Sierra Leone, Senegal and Nigeria. Since the epidemic was massive, people from other countries
who visited West Africa contracted the disease which led to increased spread of the disease
outside the continent. Ebola has various clinical presentation which include fever, severe
headaches, muscle and joint pain, fatigue, malaise, vomiting and excessive sweating and
dehydration (Hoenen et al, 2016). The virus is highly contagious and very easily transmitted
from one person to another. Exposure to blood and body fluids of an infected person contributed
to the spread of the epidemic.
In the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak, a number of international organizations stepped in to
manage the spread of the disease and also help offer a solution to the epidemic. The United
Nations through the World Health Organization for example assisted in identification of root
cause of the emerging disease and conducting tests in the affected in order to gain a better
understanding of it. Other organizations such as UNICEF and CDC assisted in containing the
spread by developing prevention schemes. Culture and traditional belief systems were identified
as one of the main causes of the rapid spread of the infection within West Africa.