Is the World Becoming Ebola – Free?

With the world becoming aware of the dangers of Ebola, many are wondering if the awareness can lead to the world becoming Ebola-free. It might happen, or not.

In Spain…

A Spanish nurse, Maria Theresa Romero, was the first person in Europe known to be infected by Ebola outside of Africa. She was diagnosed with Ebola last October 6 after helping two priests who had been infected with Ebola whilst in Africa.

With Romero being cleared from the virus, the World Health Organization will declare Spain as Ebola-free on December 2. The entire Europe has done little to keep the virus out, but the case of Romero only proves that the virus can be managed and destroyed.

 

While there are isolated cases of possible Ebola infection in Europe, they are doing all possible measures to prevent the virus from entering their territories.

 

In Liberia…

 

The UN envoy, Anthony Banbury, is coordinating with the world to respond to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa by working together in order to achieve a dramatic improvement. Also, he warns against dropping our guard down against Ebola even just for a second.

 

Mr. Banbury acknowledged the great improvement in dealing with Ebola cases. The improvement of the situation is attributed to the communities supported by national and local governments along with international partners. With various units working together, several strategies were developed such as having Ebola Treatment Units, contact identification and tracing, safe burials and community mobilization.

 

Though there is an improvement in the number of Ebola cases and some countries declared Ebola-free, Mr. Banbury said it is going to be extremely difficult to getting the Ebola cases down to zero. He emphasized on the need to stay vigilant all the time.

Until there is no Ebola case in any country, we cannot let our guard down. A single case of Ebola in any country means treating not only the said country, but also treatment is needed to the region and the world.

 

In Switzerland…

In the effort to combat the Ebola virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that two vaccines are being tested in Geneva that showed promising possibilities.

 

The two vaccines are “ChAd3” vaccine and the vaccine for Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (“VSV”). The former already has volunteers recruited by Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) in Lausanne, Switzerland. Meanwhile, the vaccine for VSV is still awaiting approval from the Swiss authorities before volunteers can be recruited and medical trials can start at the Geneva Hospital University.

 

The Ebola Virus has affected and taken lives of people worldwide, mainly in West Africa. With the combined effort of the world, it is possible to achieve an Ebola-free world. However, it is not yet soon.

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