The Ebola outbreak in Guinea began in March 2014, and the country is considered ground zero for the outbreak. Shortly after cases were confirmed in Guinea, the disease spread to neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone. Though it now has fewer cases than its neighbors with less than 2,000 as of October 2014, Guinea has continued to see a spike. The country has also been the recipient of less aid — France has not made the same commitment that Britain has to its former colonies.
Liberia is where the Ebola outbreak has taken its most devastating toll, with nearly 4,300 confirmed cases. The country experienced further problems with civil unrest and violence against aid workers as panic grew. Liberia has taken extensive steps to help curb the spread. All Liberian borders have been closed apart from major entry points. Those have been reinforced with prevention and screening measures. Restrictions have been placed on mass public gatherings, quarantines were put in place in heavily affected communities, and military personnel have been dispatched to help maintain order and carry out these measures.
Recently, the last corner of Sierra Leone untouched by Ebola — the northeastern district of Koinadugu — experienced its first confirmed cases. The virus has now spread to every part of the country. An estimated 1,200 people have died in Sierra Leone so far from the disease, and the British government recently pledged more than £125 million ($196 million) to support the prevention and treatment of the disease in its former colony. More than 3,250 cases have been confirmed already, and hundreds of new cases are being reported each week.
Spain was the first country to accept Ebola patients in Europe, resulting in a nurse contracting the disease after treating two missionaries who died shortly after they arrived in the Madrid hospital after returning from West Africa. The nurse, Teresa Romero Ramos, recovered and was released, the New York Times reported Nov. 6. She was the only person in Europe at the time to contract the disease without traveling to an Ebola-outbreak region.
Nigeria’s first cases of Ebola came in July 2014 when a Liberian-American arrived in the country with the disease. Before he was diagnosed, several medical professionals who treated him became infected. They had mistakenly suspected the man was suffering from malaria instead. A subsequent search for anybody that had been in contact with the patient resulted in more than 26,000 households being screened for the disease. Just 19 confirmed cases were found in Nigeria, resulting in eight deaths, and the country recently passed the 42-day mark with no new cases, meaning it has surpassed the incubation period for Ebola.
Senegal was Ebola-free as of mid October 2014, and passed the virus’s incubation period twofold, making health professionals hopeful this will continue. Its first case was a man who had traveled from Guinea to Senegal’s capital city, Dakar. Shortly after, the country closed its borders with Guinea, and later with Sierra Leone and Liberia as well. Senegal was extremely proactive in training health professionals to deal with the disease, and was said to have demonstrated ruthless efficiency in identifying and monitoring potential cases, enabling the country to beat the disease.
The Democratic Republic of Congo reported 68 cases of Ebola as of October 2014, confined to the regions of Lokolia, Boende, and Watshikengo. The outbreak is said to have begun with a patient who became infected after preparing bushmeat, and is considered to be a separate outbreak from the one in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. The DRC has been effective in establishing isolation facilities in the affected villages and identifying people who may have been exposed. The outbreak has not come close to reaching the numbers affected in West Africa.
The U.S. was one of the most recent new countries to report Ebola cases, with two healthcare workers falling ill with the disease after treating a dying man who had contracted Ebola in West Africa. The man sought medical care at a Texas hospital, but died on Oct. 8, 2014. Two healthcare workers tested positive for Ebola and were isolated to receive immediate treatment.
Mali was successful in beating its first outbreak of Ebola, but recently experienced a second, potentially larger, outbreak. A clinic failed to detect Ebola as the underlying cause of death in one of its patients, meaning the proper precautions were not taken and the disease spread. The clinic was closed and the staff quarantined in an attempt to stop another serious outbreak. Authorities in Bamako confirmed the fifth case of Ebola in the country, Voice of America reported Nov. 17. Three people, all showing symptoms that should have led medical staff to suspect Ebola, all died at the Pasteur Clinic, one of Bamako’s best and busiest hospitals, according to the report.
