View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE OPINION ARTICLE published: 01 Decemberprovided by 2014 Frontiers - Publisher Connector PUBLIC HEALTH doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2014.00263 Ebola viral disease outbreak-2014: implications and pitfalls Mahip Acharya* Independent Researcher, Kathmandu, Nepal *Correspondence:
[email protected] Edited by: Philip Arthur Mackowiak, University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA Reviewed by: Mohammad Mohseni Sajadi, Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA Keywords: Ebola virus outbreak, zoonosis, pharmaceutical industries, ethics in drug approval, global health West Africa – consisting of countries hemorrhagic fever outbreak in southern numerous strains of a single virus species such as Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Sudan and northern Zaire (5). Ebola viral and their continued mutation – as is the Nigeria – is the westernmost region of the disease, a zoonotic disease, has since been case with the current Ebola infection (8)– African continent. Afflicted by widespread observed intermittently in different regions often stymies the research for anti-viral poverty and political instability,WestAfrica of Central Africa (6), but none of those drugs. This is similar to the case with is one of the poorest regions in the world – has wreaked damage as monumental as the antibiotics, where bacterial resistance is a Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea are ongoing outbreak. chief concern (9). Bacterial and viral dis- respectively ranked 174, 177, and178 out The current Ebola viral disease outbreak eases benefit from the ever-evolving genetic of 187 countries on the United Nations is turning out to be an insidious threat makeup of their agents, which are capable Development Program Human Develop- to the public health of West Africa – and of rapidly rendering a treatment ineffec- ment Index (1).