scholarly journals Ebola virus – epidemiology, diagnosis, and control: threat to humans, lessons learnt, and preparedness plans – an update on its 40 year's journey

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raj Kumar Singh ◽  
Kuldeep Dhama ◽  
Yashpal Singh Malik ◽  
Muthannan Andavar Ramakrishnan ◽  
Kumaragurubaran Karthik ◽  
...  
2018 ◽  
Vol 226 ◽  
pp. 9-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Gallien ◽  
Christelle Fablet ◽  
Lionel Bigault ◽  
Cécilia Bernard ◽  
Olivier Toulouse ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (471) ◽  
pp. eaat0944 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Sebba ◽  
Alexander G. Lastovich ◽  
Melody Kuroda ◽  
Eric Fallows ◽  
Joshua Johnson ◽  
...  

Hemorrhagic fever outbreaks such as Ebola are difficult to detect and control because of the lack of low-cost, easily deployable diagnostics and because initial clinical symptoms mimic other endemic diseases such as malaria. Current molecular diagnostic methods such as polymerase chain reaction require trained personnel and laboratory infrastructure, hindering diagnostics at the point of need. Although rapid tests such as lateral flow can be broadly deployed, they are typically not well-suited for differentiating among multiple diseases presenting with similar symptoms. Early detection and control of Ebola outbreaks require simple, easy-to-use assays that can detect and differentiate infection with Ebola virus from other more common febrile diseases. Here, we developed and tested an immunoassay technology that uses surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) tags to simultaneously detect antigens from Ebola, Lassa, and malaria within a single blood sample. Results are provided in <30 min for individual or batched samples. Using 190 clinical samples collected from the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak, along with 163 malaria positives and 233 negative controls, we demonstrated Ebola detection with 90.0% sensitivity and 97.9% specificity and malaria detection with 100.0% sensitivity and 99.6% specificity. These results, along with corresponding live virus and nonhuman primate testing of an Ebola, Lassa, and malaria 3-plex assay, indicate the potential of the SERS technology as an important tool for outbreak detection and clinical triage in low-resource settings.


Author(s):  
Kayla Enriquez ◽  
Kanagasabai Udhayashankar ◽  
Michelle Niescierenko

ABSTRACT Objective: To assess Liberian health care workers’ feelings around safety in returning to work in the setting of the Ebola virus disease outbreak of 2014–2015 after receiving infection prevention and control (IPC) training. Methods: Academic Consortium Combating Ebola in Liberia (ACCEL) training surveys were done at 21 public, Liberian hospitals to understand health care workers’ attitudes surrounding Ebola and whether they felt safe while at work based on multiple factors. Logistic regression was used for analysis. Results: We found that health care workers feeling safe at work during the Ebola outbreak was primarily predicted by the number of IPC/Ebola trainings received pre-ACCEL interventions. Health care workers felt increasingly safer and motivated to return to work as trainings approached 3 (OR 8, p-value < 0.001); however, more than 3 trainings resulted in decreased safety and motivation. In addition, health care workers who reported washing their hands before and after patient contact were 3.4 times more likely to understand how to protect themselves from Ebola. Conclusions: These results help to better understand the utility of repeated trainings on health care worker practice attitudes and the importance of IPC policies within hospitals, such as hand hygiene promotion and education, when coordinating humanitarian efforts.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junlong Li ◽  
Caiping Song ◽  
Jingya Yang ◽  
Jingmin Zheng ◽  
Lina Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract The Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a highly contagious disease which is caused by the Ebola virus . Various measures were used to prevent and control the spread of EVD. The aim of this study was to find out the most critical measures to prevent and control the spread of EVD. Both mathematical modeling and comparative analysis were used to explore the development process of EVD outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The results of comparative analysis showed quarantined individuals before infection (R 2 = 0.848, ε = 1.012), safe burial teams (R 2 = 0.772, ε = 0.385), and the Ebola treatment units (ETU) bed (R 2 = 0.690, ε = 0.432) could significantly influence the incidence of EVD which were consistent with the results of mathematical modeling. These findings indicted that a timely and effective quarantine played a significant role in preventing and controlling the spread of EVD, and the findings would help us prevent and control the epidemic outbreak of new infectious disease in the future.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Kawuki ◽  
Taha Hussein Musa ◽  
Shireen Salome Papabathini ◽  
Upama Ghimire ◽  
Nathan Obore ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The achievements in Ebola virus disease (EVD) prevention and control can be reflected by scientific studies, particularly in the top-cited studies. The study thus aimed to identify and characterise the 100 top-cited studies of Ebola.Methods: The study used a retrospective bibliometric analysis, which was performed in January 2020. Studies were searched from the Web of Science using the keywords: “Ebola” or “Ebola virus” or “Ebola virus disease” to identify the 100 top-cited ebola studies. Studies were analysed for the number of citations, authorship, and journal, year of publication, country and institution. The analyses were carried out using SPSS, HistCite and VOSviewer.Results: The 100 top-cited studies were published between 1977 and 2017, were cited from 169 to 808 times and had an average citation of 290.5, and 8 studies were cited more than 500 times. They were published in 31 journals, and Journal of Virology published most of the studies (n=14). They were produced by 33 countries, and the USA published most of the studies (63), followed by Germany (8) and Gabon (6). Centre for Disease prevention and Control-USA (26) was the leading institution, while Geisbert TW and Sanchez A were the most productive authors.Conclusions: This study provides insights into the historical advancements reflected by the top-cited studies and has highlighted the leading roles played by various stakeholders in addressing EVD. However, the contribution of African countries is not sufficiently reflected among these studies, and so more focus, funding and involvement in clinical research is needed for effective prevention and control of EVD in Africa.


Author(s):  
Peter Davis Sumo

The purpose of this paper is to present a science-based narrative of the impact of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) on the supply chains of the major commodities of Liberia. Scientific literatures from appropriate journals, newspapers, trade data of applicable ministries and governmental agencies, data on Ebola from websites of World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Center for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC), World Bank, the International Monetary Funds (IMF) and other relevant institutions are used extensively while also employing a market chain approach to represent the overall supply chains of these products. The review reveals, among others, the significant disruption to the flow of goods and the decrease in output of the main export commodities of Liberia. It also shows a fall in the real GDP growth rate of the Mano River Basin (MRB) countries during the Ebola years. The paper identifies that the specific mechanisms through which the supply chains were disrupted were as a result of fear and government’s regulation. Additionally, it provides a practical conduit for the diversification of the rubber industry. Given the complex web of supply chains of just a single product, this effort is in no way an exhaustive review on the impact of the EVD on supply chains of commodities dealt with herein, let alone the overall impact of EVD on the country as a whole. Obviously, this review is also limited in terms of scope and extent. This review is a useful introduction to investigators who might want to commit to research in this particular aspect of the impact of the EVD vis-a-vis its impact on supply chains in Liberia or on a broader level, the MRB Countries.


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