Ebola 2014 — New Challenges, New Global Response and Responsibility

Stopping the Ebola outbreak at its source will take many months. But three core interventions have stopped every previous outbreak and can stop this one: exhaustive case and contact finding, effective response to patients and the community, and preventive interventions. Since Ebola virus was first identified in 1976, no previous Ebola outbreak has been as large or persistent as the current epidemic, and none has spread beyond East and Central Africa. 1 To date, more than 1000 people, including numerous health care workers, have been killed by Ebola virus disease (EVD) in 2014, and the number of cases in the current outbreak now exceeds the number from all previous outbreaks combined. Indirect effects include disruption of standard medical care, including for common and deadly conditions such as malaria, and substantial economic losses, insecurity, and social disruption in countries that were already . . .