Largest ever #Ebola outbreak is not a global threat - Declan Butler (Nature News & Comment)
▻http://www.nature.com/news/largest-ever-ebola-outbreak-is-not-a-global-threat-1.15640
So why is the outbreak continuing in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia?
In principle, it should be straightforward to bring an Ebola outbreak under control via public health measures alone, namely, identifying all people who have been infected and isolating them, monitoring all those that they have been in contact with for 21 days (the maximum incubation period), as well as promoting basic infection control measures. What’s more, since people infected with Ebola do not infect others until they have symptoms, it is easier to trace their contacts than it is for some other diseases. Ebola is out of control in these countries because the sheer size of the outbreak is stretching response teams, and also because of local sociocultural factors.
What kind of sociocultural factors?
Local health authorities and international organisations such as WHO and Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders) are struggling to control the spread in these areas because of a lack of trust and cooperation among the affected populations. Doctors and health workers have sometimes been blocked from accessing affected places because of opposition from villagers who fear the medics will bring the disease. According to the WHO, not all people who are infected are getting or seeking care, and so are passing the virus on to family and other close contacts. Another major driver of new infections is that families are often continuing to perform traditional burial rites that involve mourners having direct contact with the bodies of the dead – and unfortunately all too often Ebola.
