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Ebola Outbreak: Why this time is different

Experts say the Ebola outbreak is potentially more dangerous then ever before because it's in countries that have never seen this. Now the outbreak is seriously depleting health care resources. We're heading to the front lines in Liberia today....
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The Current22:00Ebola Outbreak: Why This Time is Different - August 18, 2014
Experts say the Ebola outbreak is potentially more dangerous then ever before because it's in countries that have never seen this. Now the outbreak is seriously depleting health care resources. We're heading to the front lines in Liberia today.


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Hanah Siafa lies with her daughter Josephine, 10, while hoping to enter the new Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Ebola treatment center in Monrovia, Liberia. Th e facility initially has 120 beds, making it the largest such facility for Ebola treatment and isolation in history, 
and MSF plans to expand it to a 350-bed capacity. (John Moore/Getty Images)


The disease is not contained and it is out of control in West Africa. The international response to the disease has been a failure.Ken Isaacs, the Vice President of the Christian aid group Samaritan's Purse testifying at a US congressional hearing earlier this month

The much-dreaded and deadly Ebola virus is back with a vengeance. Over the weekend the World Health Organization reported over 150 new cases of the virus in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.


Here's a little background about the health crisis threatening Africa today:

  • The Ebola virus first appeared in 1976 in simultaneous outbreaks -- in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.

  • It's not known for certain but fruit bats are the most likely host of the virus.
  • Researchers believe that the first case of Ebola in the current outbreak was that of a 2-year-old boy in Guinea who died early last December.
  • Over the next few days his mother, sister and grandmother all died as well.
  • The infection was carried by two mourners at the grandmother's funeral to another village, where a health worker picked it up.
  • People who come into close contact with a patient -- like family, friends and health care workers are most likely to be infected.
  • Ebola is transmitted through direct contact of broken skin or mucus membranes with bodily fluids.
  • It takes Ebola between 2 and 21 days to develop.
  • Symptoms are typically a rapid onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain and sore throat.
  • It can progress to vomiting and diarrhea, organ failure and in some cases both internal and external bleeding.
  • Ebola is fatal in up to 90% of cases.

It is like a war time. General fear. All over. And they need help. They need leadership, co-ordination ... they will not be able to over come this by themselves.Dr. Joanne Liu, head of Medicins Sans Frontier

On Friday, Joanne Liu, the head of Medicins Sans Frontier said the key to bringing the outbreak under control is to limit and reduce its spread in Liberia. That country had its first outbreak of Ebola in April and in June it resurfaced. What little healthcare resouces Liberia has are being seriously depleted fighting the outbreak.

The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that this Ebola outbreak is on track to infect more people than every other Ebola outbreak combined. A grim forecast.


To understand how and why this outbreak is different, we spoke to three people.

  • Tarnue Karbbar is program unit manager for Plan International in North and Western Liberia. He's been working in Lofa in northern Liberia since January and now he's helping co-ordinate the government and international response to the Ebola outbreak.

  • Nyka Alexander is the WHO's Outbreak Coordination Center's spokesperson. In July, the World Health Organization set up the Sub-regional Outbreak Coordination Centre in Conakry, Guinea. It functions as a hub for coordinating technical support and mobilizing resources needed by field staff in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

  • Tara Smith is an Epidemiologist at Kent State University.



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This segment was produced by The Current's Gord Westmacott, Naheed Mustafa and Sujata Berry.

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