Changing Epidemiology of West Africa Ebola Outbreaks 1994-2014

Abstract

The severity, epidemic duration and general epidemiology of viral epidemic depends on determinants such as viral strain, ecological, environmental and socioeconomic factors. The West Africa Ebola outbreaks in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia in 2014 and in Ivory Coast, Liberia and Gabon in 1994 were reviewed and compared because of their similarity in terms of their geographic location, proximity to each other, pre-outbreak Preparedness status, mortality, epidemic duration, as well as access to international health aid by the affected countries. Data for this study were obtained from the health ministries of Sierra Leone, Guinea, Gabon and Liberia, the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organisation (WHO) published data on Ebola virus disease outbreaks in Guinea, Liberia, Gabon, and Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone recorded its first confirmed Ebola outbreak in 27th May 2014. Both Guinea and Liberia recorded confirmed Ebola outbreaks in March 2014. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa has a long epidemic duration compared to the 1994 and 1996 outbreaks in Ivory Coast and Gabon respectively partly because of the misdiagnosis of earlier cases and the poor containment measures of the 2014 Ebola outbreak.