For a while it seemed to be the only content circulating the news: EBOLA. You know what I'm talking about, the deadly virus originating in several African countries, that within the last few years initiated a mass global scare. In fact, it was the largest outbreak of Ebola in history. Then one day it seemed to fade out, and has been scarcely mentioned since.

So what happened? Was the virus cured? Did people just stop caring?

Before answering these questions let me explain a little about what Ebola is. Ebola, also referred to as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, occurs when a virus is transmitted from a wild animal to a person. It typically spreads through direct contact of bodily fluids.

Symptoms onset anywhere between 2 days and 3 weeks following contraction of the virus, and begin with milder discomforts such as: fever, muscle pain and headaches. It then develops into more severe symptoms including: vomiting, rates, decreased liver and kidney functions. Around the onset of the more critical symptoms, internal and external bleeding often occurs, contributing to the low blood pressure and high fluid loss.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Ebola has a fatality rate of about 50%. Most of this (or at least some) is fairly common knowledge; or at least the extent of severity is well understood thanks to the media.

But what's not understood, is why such a fatal and pathogenic virus was immediately forgotten by the public. The truth is, the disease was far from forgotten.

In fact, on March 29, 2016 WHO terminated the "Public Health Emergency of International Concern" for the Ebola outbreak beginning in West Africa.

This termination of consideration can be attributed to the preventability of the disease; while this may sound cavalier, the truth of the matter is that the virus itself is fairly preventable and the mass infection was due to various cultural and hygienic components.

Much of the disease in Africa was being spread through the treatment of dead bodies as well as ineffective government responses and continual trafficking of humans into highly infected areas.

Ultimately, the spread of Ebola stopped because people were educated and instructed on how to prevent the spread of the virus. Infected populations began isolating individuals until treated, governments shut down borders and people curtailed their treatment of dead bodies.