Ebola virus returns to Africa, raising concerns about new outbreak.

 

A child receives a vaccine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters.

The Ebola virus has returned to Africa with outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea. NBC News. The WHO has confirmed that there are new cases of the disease in the city of Butembo in the Democratic Republic of Congo. That city was the epicenter of the 2nd largest Ebola outbreak in history, which was declared over last June. Cases were also found in the southern part of Guinea, which was one of the countries hit hardest by the worst Ebola outbreak in history back in 2014. Ebola is a much deadlier disease then the Coronavirus with a case fatality rate averaging 50%, but does not spread easily, requiring contact with infected blood or bodily fluids. 

My Comment:

Looks like Ebola is back in Africa. While the world is dealing with the Coronavirus, another major viral outbreak could be a major problem for Africa. They might not get the help they need to fight back against the virus. 

I would say that Ebola is a much bigger threat to these countries then the Coronavirus is. Unlike the Coronavirus, Ebola kills healthy young people. Given the demographics of Africa they are largely immune to the worst effects of the Coronavirus but they can not say the same for the Ebola virus. 

It's pretty clear that the World Health Organization screwed up when they declared the outbreak over. The article said that this isn't a new outbreak, just a continuation of the old one. How it managed to spread to Guinea is unclear, but I guess it only takes one person. Both outbreaks are related with the same virus. 

I don't know if there will be a larger outbreak. I think that the chances of it happening were bad in the first place but now with Coronavirus restrictions it seems very unlikely. Most flights are restricted and everyone is already being tested for sickness. Someone with Ebola would either have to be in the early stages of the disease or be very lucky to spread the virus outside of Africa. I doubt we will see the small minor outbreaks we saw in the 2014 outbreak. 

There is more good news. A vaccine has been developed to fight the Ebola virus and it is effective against this strain of Ebolavirus. That means that if people can be vaccinated they will be protected from the virus and it will have a difficult time spreading. It will also protect the front line health workers that were so devastated during the 2014 outbreak.  

The main problem is logistics. The instability of the Democratic Republic of Congo made fighting the latest outbreak very difficult and it is not like the situation is any better now. They had to deal with various militias threatening people and the virus was able to spread longer then it should have. Guinea is comparatively calm but it's still Africa, getting the people vaccine and treatments may be difficult. 

But the biggest problem is the Coronavirus. I don't see much aid flowing into these countries and the world's attention will be focused on the Coronavirus. That makes sense because even a widespread Ebola outbreak won't be as deadly as the Coronavirus due to how easy the virus spreads and how poorly Ebola does. But even if it makes sense it's going to push an already strained medical system in Africa to the brink if the virus cannot be brought under control.