Osungbade K O, Oni A A
Afr J Med Med Sci. 2014 Jun;43(2):87-97.
Five West African countries, including Nigeria are currently experiencing the largest, most severe, most complex outbreak of Ebola virus disease in history. This paper provided a chronology of outbreaks of Ebola virus disease in the West African sub-region and provided an update on efforts at containing the present outbreak.
Literature from Pubmed (MEDLINE), AJOL, Google Scholar and Cochrane database were reviewed.
Outbreaks of Ebola, virus disease had frequently occurred mainly in Central and East African countries. Occasional outbreaks reported from outside of Africa were due to laboratory contamination and imported monkeys in quarantine facilities. The ongoing outbreak in West Africa is the largest and first in the sub-region; the number of suspected cases and deaths from this single current outbreak is already about three times the total of all cases and deaths from previous known outbreaks in 40 years. Prevention and control efforts are hindered not only by lack of a known vaccine and virus-specific treatment, but also by weak health systems, poor sanitation, poor personal hygiene and cultural beliefs and practices, including myths and misconceptions about Ebola virus disease--all of which are prevalent in affected countries. Constrained by this situation, the World Health Organisation departed from the global standard and recommended the use of not yet proven treatments to treat or prevent the disease in humans on ethical and evidential grounds.
The large number of people affected by the present outbreak in West Africa and the high case-fatality rate calls for accelerated evaluation and development of the investigational medical interventions for life saving and curbing the epidemic. Meanwhile, existing interventions such as early detection and isolation, contact tracing and monitoring, and adherence to rigorous procedures of infection prevention and control should be intensified.
包括尼日利亚在内的五个西非国家目前正经历着历史上规模最大、最严重、最复杂的埃博拉病毒病疫情。本文提供了西非次区域埃博拉病毒病疫情的时间顺序，并介绍了控制当前疫情所做努力的最新情况。
对来自PubMed（MEDLINE）、AJOL、谷歌学术和考克兰数据库的文献进行了综述。
埃博拉病毒病疫情此前经常主要发生在中非和东非国家。非洲以外地区报告的偶发疫情是由于实验室污染以及检疫设施中进口的猴子所致。西非当前正在发生的疫情是该次区域规模最大的首次疫情；此次单一疫情中的疑似病例和死亡人数已经约为此前40年已知所有疫情病例和死亡总数的三倍。预防和控制工作不仅受到缺乏已知疫苗和针对该病毒的治疗方法的阻碍，还受到卫生系统薄弱、卫生条件差、个人卫生习惯不良以及文化信仰和习俗的影响，包括对埃博拉病毒病的误解和错误观念——所有这些在受影响国家都很普遍。受这种情况限制，世界卫生组织背离全球标准，基于伦理和证据理由建议使用尚未经过验证的治疗方法来治疗或预防人类感染该疾病。
西非当前疫情中受影响的人数众多以及高病死率，要求加快对用于挽救生命和控制疫情的试验性医疗干预措施的评估和研发。与此同时，应加强现有干预措施，如早期检测和隔离、接触者追踪和监测，以及严格遵守感染预防和控制程序。
