Novel surveillance methods for the control of Ebola virus disease

C F Houlihan; D Youkee; C S Brown

doi:10.1093/inthealth/ihx010

Novel surveillance methods for the control of Ebola virus disease

Int Health. 2017 May 1;9(3):139-141. doi: 10.1093/inthealth/ihx010.

Authors

C F Houlihan^{1

2}, D Youkee³, C S Brown^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
² University College London, London, UK.
³ King´s Sierra Leone Partnership, King's Centre for Global Health, King's College London, London, UK.
⁴ National Infection Service, Public Health England, London, UK.

PMID: 28582554
DOI: 10.1093/inthealth/ihx010

Abstract

The unprecedented scale of the 2013-2016 West African Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak was in a large part due to failings in surveillance: contacts of confirmed cases were not systematically identified, monitored and diagnosed early, and new cases appearing in previously unaffected communities were similarly not rapidly identified, diagnosed and isolated. Over the course of this epidemic, traditional surveillance methods were strengthened and novel methods introduced. The wealth of experience gained, and the systems introduced in West Africa, should be used in future EVD outbreaks, as well as for other communicable diseases in the region and beyond.

Keywords: Ebola virus disease; Surveillance; West Africa.

MeSH terms

Africa, Western / epidemiology
Disease Outbreaks / prevention & control*
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / epidemiology
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / prevention & control*
Humans
Population Surveillance / methods*