Ebola has been hanging over the world’s head for quite some time now. The good news is that it may be coming to a standstill. Liberia was one of the worst hit countries when Ebola travelled through the area. By March of this year, it was almost completely out of the country and Liberia has now been declared free of the virus. The Ebola outbreak in Liberia is considered over for now.
The Recent Ebola Outbreak
The West African country Liberia, as well as Guinea and Sierra Leone have suffered from the Ebola outbreak since March of last year. Although the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976, there hasn’t been a serious human outbreak until last year. After 42 days of having no new cases of Ebola victims, Liberia is finally free of the virus as of this May.
In March of 2014, Liberia declared its first two victims of Ebola. By April, only one month later, the disease had travelled and more than 34 cases were counted. Not only did the disease spread rapidly, but also it was taking lives. Little was truly known about the disease and it was spreading quickly from person to person.
When the Ebola outbreak first hit, Liberia only had about 50 doctors within its population. Because Ebola had not been a serious problem, most doctors thought people were infected with Malaria. This also stems from the fact that Malaria is a very widespread disease in the country. One of the first victims of Ebola was a nurse. Shortly after her, a head surgeon was affected and died. Nations worldwide sent medical teams to the area to help in fighting the travel and spread of the disease.
Eradicating the Disease from Liberia
Ebola is a deadly virus originally called hemorrhagic fever, and it has killed 11,005 people in the three countries affected since the Ebola outbreak began. However, the is good news as treatment and containment measures have been successful in Liberia, with the last case cleared in March and no new cases have been reported in the 42-day waiting period. Forty-two days is twice the incubation time for the disease. Liberia may very well be rid of this demon.
There has been testing to make sure the Ebola outbreak is done and after three hundred examples were taken, none came back positive. There are still about thirteen Ebola Treatment Centres that are operational within the country.
Although the Ebola outbreak is coming to an end in Liberia, it is still a cautious celebration. The Ebola outbreak still continues in Sierra Leone and Guinea.
