The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has reached a critical juncture: With the number of cases decreasing, authorities fear big-donor countries may turn manpower and funding elsewhere to what they believe are more pressing problems.
In the international community there seems to be “growing belief that we are close to the end and it is almost over,” Dr. Margaret Harris, spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, told the Washington Examiner. “The focus is turning away, and that is leaving these countries more isolated than ever.”
WHO has been spearheading international Ebola efforts, which have cut the number of new cases down to 350 in the past three weeks.
Harris noted that some large-donor countries have “a lot of demands on their generosity and for some, Ebola may now be seen as a less pressing problem than others.” She declined to identify those countries.
Despite fewer cases, the outbreak in the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone is still a large public health concern, she said.
“Because the control of the outbreak is at such a crucial point, investing now will save a lot of money later,” Harris said.
For the outbreak to be considered over, the number of Ebola cases needs to reach zero. The WHO considers the outbreak over 42 days after the last confirmed case has tested twice negative for the virus. The normal incubation time for Ebola is 21 days, so the 42-day window gives healthcare workers enough time to see whether anyone still has the disease.
Harris said the WHO doesn’t give a specific timeframe for getting to zero cases “because you will always be wrong,” she said.
Since the outbreak started last year there have been more than 24,000 confirmed or suspected cases and almost 10,000 deaths, a majority in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
The focus now is to lower as many cases as possible, especially in coastal areas that will be hard to access once the rainy season hits in May and stretches until September. The heavy rains can wash away dirt roads, making access to faraway places impossible, Harris said.
The latest American case comes in the wake of some relatively good news considering the outbreak. Liberia had no new cases for two weeks as of March 8, WHO said in its latest situation report.
Guinea and Sierra Leone both reported 58 new cases. All 58 are clustered in groups geographically, which will make response efforts much easier than if they cases were more spread out, WHO said.
While the virus is spreading at a slower rate, “it could flare up at any time,” said KD Hoskins, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We just have to remain vigilant.”
An unidentified American clinician doing volunteer work in Sierra Leone recently contracted the disease. The healthcare worker is in critical condition at a National Institutes of Health facility in Maryland.
The federal government also evacuated from Sierra Leone 10 clinicians who came in contact with the unidentified healthcare worker. They are being monitored to determine whether they are infected.
So far none of the 10 unidentified clinicians has tested positive for Ebola. However, one of the clinicians being evaluated at Nebraska Medical Center was moved to a biocontainment unit after showing some symptoms.
