Looks like Ebola might be gone in Liberia. Yahoo/AFP.
For the first time since last May, Liberia is reporting zero new cases of Ebola. Yahoo/AFP. Six months ago Liberia was reporting 300 cases a week. Over 4,000 people died of Ebola in Liberia since the outbreak began. 45 samples were taken last week and every single one of them tested negative. A huge international response is partially responsible for the decline in cases. The news is not as good in neighboring Sierra Leone. Once again they saw an increase of cases with 81 new cases last week. Guinea also saw an uptick with 51 new cases. Many people are still dying in their communities instead of hospitals and unsafe burial practices remain common, despite the risk.
My Comment:
This is news I have been waiting for since the beginning of this outbreak over a year ago. Although it is too soon to say that the virus is defeated in Liberia, there is now a real hope that in 42 days Liberia will be declared Ebola free. That is double the incubation period so once Liberia goes 42 days without a new case the outbreak will be officially over. I'm optimistic that that will be the case and the long nightmare will be over for at least one of these West African countries.
For awhile it seemed like Ebola would continue to ravage Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to the point that almost everyone in those countries would catch the disease. A huge intervention, luck and a massive effort in tracking and containing the virus made sure that didn't happen. And make no mistake, we were incredibly lucky that this was as bad as it got. Had the disease spread to other impoverished and weak nations, Ebola could have spread globally. We are incredibly lucky that it only spread to other African nations that were semi-prepared for it and Western countries that could handle the outbreak. We are also lucky that it did not mutate to a more spreadable form.
Still, almost 10,000 people died in this outbreak, and it seems that at least a few more will continue to do so in the near future. It is concerning to me that they still don't have the situation under control in Sierra Leone and Guinea. They are still seeing a lot of new cases due to bad burial practices and people not seeking treatment. At this point in the outbreak that is unbelievable to me. And it threatens all the gains we have made against Ebola this year. After all, it doesn't matter if Liberia is declared Ebola free if someone from Sierra Leone or Guinea brings the disease right back.
That all being said this is still very good news. If this really is the end of the outbreak in Liberia that is cause for celebration. They can finally move on to the recovery and rebuilding stage of this outbreak. Considering how messed up Liberia was before the virus, they have a long way to go. But now they can at least say that they came together, along with the rest of the world, to defeat an insidious and deadly enemy. An enemy that looked invulnerable just a few months ago. That's an accomplishment that should inspire the people of Liberia to do great things.
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