The 2014 Ebola outbreak is the largest Ebola outbreak in history and the first Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Although it requires close contact to transmit, the speed of its spread has international health officials concerned. Duke faculty and alumni are bringing their expertise to this issue. Below are some examples.
DGHI Resource Website
The Duke Global Health Initiative has collected information and resources about the ebola virus and outbreak on one website. It includes news feeds, information from the medical community, information about Duke policies about travel to affected regions and suggestions for how to help.
One section of the site includes recent talks in the Duke Ebola Lecture Series, including comments from the head of the Ebola Emergency Response Center in Nigeria, one country that has successfully contained the virus.
Tracking Down the Ebola Outbreak
In an interview with Ken Rogerson, director of undergraduate studies at the Sanford School of Public Policy, journalist Jeff Stern '07 talks about his recent visit to Guinea. Stern tracked the outbreak of the Ebola virus to the village of Meliandou, where it is believed the virus was passed from a fruit bat to a toddler.
Read his story in Vanity Fair here.
An Incentive for Fighting Ebola
David Ridley says that despite the growing danger from the ebola virus, drug manufacturers have little incentive to research the disease because of the poor profit potential. Writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Ridley says lawmakers should add ebola to the list of diseases such as dengue that are covered by a 2007 law that rewards manufacturers for addressing neglected public health threats. Read the article here.
Ridley is the faculty director of the Health Sector Management Program at the Fuqua School.
Accurate Communication Prevents Panic
As soon as the first ebola patient appeared in the United States, some news reports raised the threat levels. But Ebola requires close contact for transmission, and many researchers . Priscilla Wald, a Duke English professor who studies social response to contagion, says ebola "plays into people's fears and that fear can be contagious."
Read her comments here. Wald, author of "Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative," is quoted in an article in the Dallas Star-Telegram here.