Perspective: PandemicsEbola One Year on: The Wins, the Setbacks, and the Way Forward

The last five years have witnessed the two biggest outbreaks of Ebola, first in West Africa and currently in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The DRC is no stranger to Ebola and has battled the virus on nine previous occasions since 1976.

Shirin Ashraf and Emma Thomson write for Relief Web, however, that the current outbreak, for a multitude of socio-political reasons, refuses to give in to efforts by an international team of health care workers, armed with vaccines and treatment regimes, which did not even exist during previous episodes. As the outbreak surpasses its one year mark, the virus has infected over 3000 people and claimed more than 2000 lives.

In July, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency but recent weeks still saw an average of 80 new cases. Every new case is followed up with contact-tracing and ring-vaccination. To date, more than 200 000 people have been administered the Merck rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine in the country.

In addition to the vaccine, two treatments are also under trial and have shown promise to prevent deaths from Ebola, if administered early enough after infection. These drugs are based on “neutralizing” antibodies from Ebola survivors which bind to proteins on the virus and prevent it from infecting cells.

The exponential rise of infections in this epidemic was curbed by a rapid health response and the early use of an effective vaccine to immunize those at highest risk of exposure. On the other hand, 14 months on, the epidemic has not yet ended.

“At this stage of the outbreak it’s useful to take a step back and reflect on why the disease gets so much attention – and if it’s justified,” Ashraf and Thomson write. “Second, to consider what the blockages have been. And finally, what the way forward might be.”