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. 2014 Dec;14(4):1085. doi: 10.4314/ahs.v14i4.42

Ebola outbreak in west Africa

Beuy Joob 1,, Viroj Wiwanitkit 2
PMCID: PMC4370092  PMID: 25834522

Dear editor, we would like to discuss on the report on Ebola outbreak in west Africa [1]. Mbonye et al. noted that “several factors have contributed to the successful quick containment of Ebola outbreaks in Uganda [1].” In fact, the widespread of Ebola infection is Africa is due to several reasons including to the limited medical facilities. Of interest, when any emerging infectious diseases occur in poor countries, the problem is usually difficult to control. As noted by Mbonye et al1, “political support” is an important thing that determines the success of the disease control. However, there are many factors that can make difficulty to disease control. First, at the early stage of infection, the practitioner usually lack for knowledge and there are extremely limited diagnostic tool and therapeutic facilities2,3. Hence, the rapid spread in the acute phase of outbreak can be expected. Second, although the Ebola infection usually results in severe clinical presentation it can also be asymptomatic45. This can be a difficulty for disease screening and control.

Beuy Joob1, Viroj Wiwanitkit2
1. Sanitation 1 Medical Academic Center, Bangkok Thailand
2. Visiting professor, Hainan Medical University, China; adjunct professor, Joseph Ayobabalola University, Nigeria

References

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