Coronavirus Isnt the ONLY Epidemic
There are many other current epidemics in the world. For example, the Ebola and Zika viruses are still current epidemics in particular communities. Unfortunately, many epidemics are losing the interest of the news, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Ebola virus is currently causing an epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to the World Health Organization, people should try to restrict travel to this area due to the outbreak of Ebola. It began in late January when four cases were reported and the numbers grew from there.
The Spread
Between mid January and early February, there were 18 confirmed cases in a central area, and three deaths resulted. the cases all occurred in the Beni and Mabalako regions. In addition, these recent outbreaks are still part of the epidemic that began in 2019 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to Medecins Sans Frontierers. The worst number of cases came between April and June of 2019 when 1000 people were diagnosed just within those three months. Numbers have dropped since then, but there are still new cases appearing. With now 3000 total cases from this region, it is now the second largest Ebola epidemic, with the first occurring in Western Africa between 2014 and 2016.
Almost Over – But Not Yet
Since the largest number of cases appeared in mid 2019, I would have assumed that the epidemic is nearly over. While the number of cases have drastically decreased, it is not fully over. It was expected that the epidemic could have been officially declared as over on April 13th, if there were no present cases, but unfortunately a new case appeared on April 10th. Since this epidemic began, there have been 3311 confirmed cases and 2273 deaths. While I am thankful that the number of cases and dropped drastically, and this community can begin to feel safe again, I wonder if a large percentage of the scientists and doctors and healthcare workers and researches in the world focused on Ebola as intently as they are focusing on the coronavirus, if the number of cases and deaths could have been diminished or even prevented after the 2016 epidemic. Of course I understand that there are so many diseases and illnesses and all of them need attention from researchers and medical professionals, but also, it makes me wonder how much more we could achieve with everyone focusing all of their resources on one thing at a time and collaborating together to find solutions.
Sommer's Blog 