Tide turning in Ebola fight after hard lessons DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A top U.N. official in the fight against Ebola greeted just three patients at one treatment center he visited this week in Sierra Leone. Families in Liberia are no longer required to cremate the remains of loved ones to halt the spread of the virulent disease. And in the streets of Guinea’s capital, it is rare to see the formerly ubiquitous plastic buckets of bleach and water for hand washing. Ten months after it dawned on health officials that they were facing an unprecedented Ebola outbreak in West Africa, experts and officials agree the tide is turning, although previous lulls have proved short-lived. There is still no vaccine or licensed treatment, nor is it clear whether the international community has actually learned any lessons from an epidemic that killed at least 8,675 people. “Things have changed drastically for the better — no one can deny that,” said Aitor Sanchez Lacomba, Liberia country director for the International Rescue Committee. “How can we make sure that we don’t have these kinds of situations in the future?” Previous disease outbreaks, including SARS and bird flu, prompted calls to build strong health surveillance systems and to reinforce agencies like the [...]The post Tide turning in Ebola fight after hard lessons appeared first on Ohio news. ohianews/tide-turning-in-ebola-fight-after-hard-lessons/
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 19:02:57 +0000
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