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West Africa 2013 Ebola: From Virus Outbreak to Humanitarian Crisis

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Marburg- and Ebolaviruses

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology ((CT MICROBIOLOGY,volume 411))

Abstract

The 2013 outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa constituted a major humanitarian crisis. The outbreak numbered over 28,500 cases, more than 10 times the number cumulatively registered from all previous EVD outbreaks combined, with at least 11,000 deaths, and resulted in billions of dollars of lost economic growth to an already impoverished region. The unprecedented scale of West Africa 2013 took the world by surprise and laid bare deficiencies in our response capacity to complex humanitarian disasters of highly infectious and lethal pathogens. However, the magnitude of West Africa 2013 also provided a unique opportunity and obligation to better understand not only the biology and epidemiology of EVD, but also the many scientific, economic, social, political, ethical, and logistical challenges in confronting emerging infectious diseases in the modern era.

This article is dedicated to the many health workers who sacrificed their time, energy and, all too often their lives, to combat the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa (Bausch et al. 2014).

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks Ian Crozier and Jens Kuhn for critical review of the manuscript and Lara Schwarz for administrative assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Tropical Medicine, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal St, Suite 2309, MC#8317, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Daniel G. Bausch

  2. UK Public Health Rapid Support Team-UK PHRST, Public Health England, Wellington House, 133-155 Waterloo Road, London, SE1 8UG, UK

    Daniel G. Bausch

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Correspondence to Daniel G. Bausch .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Boston University School of Medicine , Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Elke Mühlberger

  2. NIAID, National Institutes of Health NIAID, Frederick, Maryland, USA

    Lisa L. Hensley

  3. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Jonathan S. Towner

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Bausch, D.G. (2017). West Africa 2013 Ebola: From Virus Outbreak to Humanitarian Crisis. In: Mühlberger, E., Hensley, L., Towner, J. (eds) Marburg- and Ebolaviruses. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, vol 411. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/82_2017_69

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