Ebola: A latent threat to Latin America. Are we ready?

Rodríguez‐Morales, Alfonso J.; Henao, Daniel E.; Franco, Túlio Batista; Mayta‐Tristán, Percy; Alfaro-Toloza, Patricio; Paniz‐Mondolfi, Alberto

doi:10.1016/j.tmaid.2014.11.002

Cited by 5 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Since then, at least 25 subsequent outbreaks, including the ongoing outbreak in West Africa, have occurred and various EBOV species have been identified with genetic and virulence variability and still unknown pathogenesis. Before 2014, none of those epidemics implied imported cases outside Africa, with its multiple implications [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nowadays, the ongoing outbreak (almost finished) in West Africa has been the largest reported in history, and from a global health perspective, it showed again how poverty, cultural practices, and weak and unprepared health systems could interact exacerbating infectious disease spread, limiting its control and mitigation, and the importance of travel in a globalized world, since this was the first outbreak in which EBOV cases and transmission were reported outside of Africa [5,6,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This outbreak has challenged global capability of response of world policymakers to organize and implement resources in an impoverished and previous overlooked area, it taught the implication of reactive rather than proactive health systems organization, and in a setting of unpreparedness and lack of knowledge, social media played an important role in spreading unfounded fear through false alarms [5,6,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Likewise, there were a total of seven cases reported outside of African continent with one death at USA [10]. Countries involving imported cases outside Africa have been Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and USA (each one with one case, except USA with four cases) [11] (Figure 1), without truly suspected cases in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ebola Preparedness and Risk in Latin America

Rodríguez‐Morales¹,

Cardona-Ospina²,

SiviaFernanda‐Urbano³

et al. 2016

Ebola

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Until today, February 22, 2016, no confirmed Ebola cases have been diagnosed in Americas (except USA, four cases with one death). Confusion, lack of knowledge, and fear have led to quickly misclassify cases as suspected, when in fact most of them are false alarms. Nevertheless, European governments summoned to mobilize resources to attend the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. And also Latin American governments should contribute to halt this humanitarian crisis and to be prepared for the potential arrival of this deadly virus in the Caribbean, Central, and South American mainland. In this chapter, we described the experience of preparedness as well as risk assessment done in Latin America regarding the threat of Ebola for the region.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ebola Preparedness and Risk in Latin America

Rodríguez‐Morales¹,

Cardona-Ospina²,

SiviaFernanda‐Urbano³

et al. 2016

Ebola

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“…Because of the international connectivity of west Africa, there is concern that EVD could spread to other densely populated, resourcelimited areas of the world that are ill-prepared to control this disease for which there is as yet no licensed vaccine or proven curative therapy. [10][11][12][13] Halting EVD transmission is critical to prevent further spread of EVD within and beyond west Africa. The use of multifaceted non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g., infection control practices, EVD treatment units for case isolation, contact tracing with follow-up and quarantine, sanitary burial, health education) has decreased EVD transmission in many areas of west Africa.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ebola Virus Disease: Rapid Diagnosis and Timely Case Reporting are Critical to the Early Response for Outbreak Control

Stamm¹

2015

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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Abstract. Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a life-threatening zoonosis caused by infection with the Ebola virus. Since the first reported EVD outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, several small outbreaks have been reported in central Africa with about 2,400 cases occurring between 1976 and 2013. The 2013-2015 EVD outbreak in west Africa is the first documented outbreak in this region and the largest ever with over 27,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths. Although EVD transmission rates have recently decreased in west Africa, this crisis continues to threaten global health and security, particularly since infected travelers could spread EVD to other resource-limited areas of the world. Because vaccines and drugs are not yet licensed for EVD, outbreak control is dependent on the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g., infection control practices, isolation of EVD cases, contact tracing with follow-up and quarantine, sanitary burial, health education). However, delays in diagnosing and reporting EVD cases in less accessible rural areas continue to hamper control efforts. New advances in rapid diagnostics for identifying presumptive EVD cases and in mobile-based technologies for communicating critical health-related information should facilitate deployment of an early response to prevent the amplification of sporadic EVD cases into large-scale outbreaks.

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