Editorial. The Ebola endgame, and what comes after

A selection of abstracts of clinically relevant papers from other journals. The abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by John R. Radford.

Abstract

In tackling Ebola, it has been estimated (Lancet Infect Dis 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(15)70124-6) that some additional eleven thousand deaths can be attributed to malaria.

Main

Lancet Infect Dis 2015; 15(6): 615. 10.1016/S1473-3099(15)00032-8.

On 28 March 2015, the last person to have died from Ebola in Liberia was buried. A death too many, but as there have now been no new cases of Ebola in Liberia for more than 42 days, relief for this country that it is now Ebola-free. And in Guinea and Sierra Leone, there is also grounds for optimism. Nevertheless there is no reason for complacency, for there are still reports of Ebola identified only at post-mortem, new cases with no known contacts, and remaining unsafe burial practices. There have been other knock-on effects apart from additional deaths from malaria; untreated respiratory and diarrhoeal diseases and stifled vaccination programmes. A strategy for preventing another outbreak of Ebola or other devastating diseases is the establishment of the African Centres for Disease Prevention and Control. This is to be welcomed but with a budget of just US$6.9 million to the end of 2016 and only 11 staff, this resource is totally inadequate.