![]() Since those initial outbreaks, 21 subsequent EVD outbreaks were recorded worldwide until 2014, including six in the DRC and five in Uganda (Peters and LeDuc 1999 Heymann et al. The strategy developed to control the Zaire outbreak, refined by experience, comprised the basic tenets by which future outbreaks were controlled: early identification, isolation, and case management effective infection control rigorous contact tracing reliable laboratory testing rapid, safe, and culturally sensitive burials and appropriate community engagement (Peters and LeDuc 1999). The causative agent was isolated from a blood sample obtained from a second patient, a Belgian nun, and named Ebola virus, after the Ebola River in DRC (Heymann et al. In August 1976, the Yambuku Village index case-patient presented with a hemorrhagic fever syndrome to the Yambuku Mission Hospital in DRC. We briefly describe the unique features of this outbreak that necessitated an international humanitarian response, including multisectoral partnerships between traditional public health actors and non-traditional public health actors, and implications for the future.ĮVD, previously known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, was first documented in 1976 in two outbreaks: one in Yambuku Village, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC then Zaire), and a near-simultaneous outbreak in the town of Nzara in South Sudan (Peters and LeDuc 1999 Breman et al. On August 8, 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the EVD outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), due to the risk of international spread of disease and the need for a coordinated international response (WHO Ebola Virus Disease Situation Report 2016). For the first time in history, an EVD outbreak affected multiple countries at once, including densely populated urban centers. Historically, EVD outbreaks were smaller in scale with limited geographic spread, typically occurring in remote villages in rural areas in Central and West Africa, including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Ivory Coast, and Gabon. ![]() The 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa was of unprecedented magnitude with a total of 28,616 suspected, probable, and confirmed cases reported in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone as of June 2016 (WHO Ebola Virus Disease Situation Report 2016). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |