Conference abstract

Challenge Ebola

Pan African Medical Journal - Conference Proceedings. 2017:4(8).08 Nov 2017.
doi: 10.11604/pamj-cp.2017.4.8.386
Archived on: 08 Nov 2017
Contact the corresponding author
Keywords: Ebola, Africa, HumHiWa
Abstract

Challenge Ebola

Dorothea Wiemer1,&

1Medical Service of the German Armed Forces, Hamburg, Germany

&Corresponding author
Dorothea Wiemer, Medical Service of the German Armed Forces, Hamburg, Germany

Abstract

Introduction: the Ebola epidemic 2014 met the world community unprepared. The knowledge of the course of the disease and treatment possibilities were only rudimentary and based on the experiences that had been made in outbreaks in remote areas of Central Africa. Today we know much more.

Methods: in this lecture, a brief overview of the basic facts of Ebola virus disease is given, with special consideration of the clinical course and the transmission pathways.

Results: also the German volunteer action “Humanitarian Aid West Africa” (HumHiWa) of the German Red Cross and the Medical Service of the German Armed Forces will be introduced and how it contributed to the containment of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

Conclusion: the challenges described are exemplary for the problems the outbreak management of contagious diseases brings in its wake.