The Untold Story Of Ebola Virus

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has been described by the World Health Organisation, WHO, and historians to have the potential to cause havoc as much as any plague has ever done in the history of mankind.

According to the WHO, the deadly Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, ravaging the West Africa have recorded more than 4,300 cases and 2,300 deaths over the past six months.

Only last week, the United Nations agency warned that, by early October, there may be thousands of new cases per week in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and 

Osterholm claimed the world is in totally uncharted waters and that Mother Nature is the only force in charge of the Ebola virus disease.

Below are full texts of the opinion:

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa has the potential to alter history as much as any plague has ever done.

There have been more than 4,300 cases and 2,300 deaths over the past six months. Last week, the World Health Organization warned that, by early October, there may be thousands of new cases per week in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria. What is not getting said publicly, despite briefings and discussions in the inner circles of the world’s public health agencies, is that we are in totally uncharted waters and that Mother Nature is the only force in charge of the crisis at this time.

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There are two possible future chapters to this story that should keep us up at night.

The first possibility is that the Ebola virus spreads from West Africa to megacities in other regions of the developing world.

This outbreak is very different from the 19 that have occurred in Africa over the past 40 years. It is much easier to control Ebola infections in isolated villages.

But there has been a 300 percent increase in Africa’s population over the last four decades, much of it in large city slums.

What happens when an infected person yet to become ill travels by plane to Lagos, Nairobi, Kinshasa or Mogadishu — or even Karachi, Jakarta, Mexico City or Dhaka?

The second possibility is one that virologists are loath to discuss openly but are definitely considering in private: that an Ebola virus could mutate to become transmissible through the air.

However, on Thursday, 11 September, 2014, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, USA, Michael T. Osterholm, in an opinion piece he wrote for the New York Times, revealed that there are things about the Ebola virus that are not getting said publicly despite briefings and discussions in the inner circles of the world’s public health agencies.