In 2014 the largest outbreak of the virus Ebola plagued West African countries, three in particular. For those of you who weren't paying attention to the news at all, Ebola is a disease that travels through direct contact with bodily fluids, objects such as needles or syringes, or infected animals (fruit bats and primates). The symptoms of this fast spreading disease are fairly similar to the common influenza virus; Fever, headache, weakness, vomiting.
Due to the lack of medical care in West African countries (Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia) Ebola spread fast and killed many people. According to the World Health Organization, the virus has killed more than 11,300 people worldwide. Of course, 2014 was not the first time that the world has seen this virus; It dates back to the first infection in 1976.
While we have great medical services here in the United States, two people managed to contract the virus in our borders. Both of them were given proper medical treatment and recovered from the disease. As Americans, we blew this way out of proportion, and acted as if the apocalypse was happening; Selfishly forgetting that over in Western Africa close to 30,000 people were infected with the virus.
As I said before, the worst countries dealing with this plague of disease were Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. I say "were" because as of a few months ago and recently they have received some good news from the World Health Organization and CDC. On November 7, 2015, Sierra Leone was declared free of transmissions, meaning no new cases for 21 days. Liberia is on a countdown to be transmission free by January 14, 2016. As of December 30, 2015, Guinea, is completely Ebola free, with no cases anywhere in the country since it showed up two years ago.
"This is the first time that all three countries — Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — have stopped the original chains of transmission that were responsible for starting this devastating outbreak two years ago," said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. There is still fear and great possibility of cases that could emerge.
The Ebola epidemic that started in 2013 was the deadliest ever recorded. While many people lost their lives to this horrible disease organizations such as the WHO, the CDC and Doctor's Without Borders, worked extremely hard to help those who did not have proper medical care.
Since the two confirmed infections of the disease in the U.S. were treated, we haven't heard much about this virus in the news. It's unfortunate that when it's not happening to us it almost becomes in important. Hopefully, the declaration of these three West African countries being Ebola free stays true and no other people have to lose their lives.
To see current statistics and facts about the Ebola disease, you can visit the CDC website page on Ebola.
