Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States, wrote a perspective for The New England Journal of Medicine summarizing the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa.
He reassured the public that the threat of an EVD outbreak in high-resource countries is low. The EVD outbreak which started in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone has now spread to Nigeria, claiming more than 1000 lives. The Ebola Filoviridae virus is a zoonotic pathogen with reservoirs potentially in apes and fruit bats. EVD transmission in humans occurs from direct contact with body fluids from an infected animal or person. Transfusion-transmitted EVD infections have not been documented. With time and careful public health practices in Africa, the outbreak will eventually be controlled. The AABB has a fact sheet available on EVD.
References
1. Fauci AS. Ebola – Underscoring the Global Disparities in Health Care Resources. N Engl J Med 2014.
2. AABB Resource. Ebola Virus. Available from: http://www.aabb.org/tm/eid/Documents/72s.pdf Accessed August 19, 2014
