Epidemiology and communicable disease - Assignment Example

Epidemiology and Communicable Disease Introduction The initial meeting of the emergency committee regarding the Ebola virus disease in West Africa made a conclusion that the Ebola outbreak presents a public health risk not only to West Africa but also to other states. The world health organization thus unanimously declared the Ebola epidemic a situation of international concern. According to the world health organization report, Ebola is transmitted from animals to people and spread within the human population through a human-to-human transmission.

The case fatality for Ebola averages at 50% with a variation of between 25% and 90% (Legrand et al., 2014).Global epidemiology The first case of Ebola outbreak was recorded in Sudan and Zaire in 1976 with a mortality of more than 200. In 2000, another outbreak of the disease occurred in Uganda with an incidence of 425 and a mortality of 224. In 2014 March, the WHO made a report of Ebola outbreak in West Africa, originally in Guinea, but rapidly spreading to Sierra Leon and Liberia. In Europe, 24 cases of Ebola infection have been treated with most of the cases being aid workers who have a history of traveling to West Africa.

In November 2014, the latest case of Ebola in US was recorded with the victim dying within three days during the treatment process at Omaha biocontainment center (Muyembe-Tamfum et al., 2012). Ebola epidemic increases the disease burden in the health care system not only to the affected country but also to other states, which must take contingency measures to prevent the spread of the disease within their regions. Nevertheless, management of Ebola virus demands a collaboration in the health care system at international level.

This ensures that different countries coordinate efforts to conduct research and surveillance on how the disease can be treated and prevented. Collaboration at a global stage can be achieved through harmonization of funds and human resource from different countries to engage the disease at the Centers of outbreak before it is transmitted to other regions (Preston, 2012).ReferencesLegrand, J., Grais, R. F., Boelle, P. Y., Valleron, A. J., & Flahault, A. (2014). Understanding the dynamics of Ebola epidemics.

Epidemiology and infection (Vol. 135, pp. 610–621). Muyembe-Tamfum, J. J., Mulangu, S., Masumu, J., Kayembe, J. M., Kemp, A., & Paweska, J. T. (2012). Ebola virus outbreaks in Africa: Past and present. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research.Preston, R. (2012). The hot zone. New York.