• Question: how deadly is ebola. WHY?

    Asked by defo not finn to Barbara, Matt, Ravinder, Sophie, Tristan on 17 Mar 2015. This question was also asked by georgy porgy.
    • Photo: Matthew Moore

      Matthew Moore answered on 17 Mar 2015:


      It depends which strain of Ebola, some have a survival rate of about 10%. Ebola is not nearly as deadly for example as malaria or even flu in that they kill many million more people a year. The flu virus works by being a little less offensive allowing it to spread further through the population without killing the host.

      The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is largely due to poor conditions there in the first place, Liberia especially, Sierra Leone and Guinea had poor living conditions, poor healthcare infrastructure and sanitation systems which provide the optimal environment for such a deadly disease to spread. Health workers went on strike, hospitals were shut down because they didn’t have the right equipment, in some regions people were afraid of and even attacked health workers and sometimes tribal burial rituals would involve being in close contact with a dead Ebola patient.

      So Ebola isn’t actually that infectious, quite close contact is required, but when you do get it, it’s very deadly. However, this is primarily of concern to those living in impoverished countries, the way to stop Ebola is through the alleviation of poverty, better health infrastructure and better sanitation.

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