What The Fading Ebola Epidemic Can Teach Us About The Looming Zika Crisis

By Thomas Frieden As the world's worst Ebola epidemic fades in the rearview mirror of history, it's worth remembering what happened and the key lessons learned. Beginning in March 2014, Ebola began spreading rapidly in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. Nearly 30,000 people were eventually afflicted with the disease, and more than 11,000 died. Ebola spread to Nigeria, Mali, the United States, and other countries. In response to the emerging epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention activated its Emergency Operations Center to fight Ebola. This would become the CDC's largest and most intense outbreak response in its 70-year history. The situation was ominous: Ebola was exploding in West Africa, threatening to ignite a global catastrophe. In the following months, more than 4,000 CDC doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists, disease control experts, and others were involved in the response. Nearly half traveled overseas, or to airports, quarantine stations, and hospitals within the United States. For example, laboratory experts set up a mobile lab in Sierra Leone, relocated it as the epidemic shifted, and conducted high-quality, high-throughput testing on more than 27,000 specimens from all over that country for 421 days without interruption. Details of the agency's comprehensive response are documented in a new supplement to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Staff not directly involved in the response doubled down on their duties to ensure the heal...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news