Ebola outbreak in West Africa, 2014 and 2016: Epidemic timeline, differential diagnoses, determining factors and lessons for future response.

Kamorudeen, Ramat T; Adedokun, Kamoru A

The outbreak of Ebola virus disease (raging between 2014 and 2016) in the West African sub-region was one of the global epidemics that spiked international public health concerns in the last decade. Since the discovery of Ebola virus in 1976, 2014-2016 epidemic remains the worst episode with significant case fatality rates and socioeconomic impacts in the affected countries. This review looks at important health determinants that directly accounted for the spatial events of rapid spread and severity, in association with the consequent high fatality rates. It also brings up a time-point health determinant model to conceptualize understanding of this important outbreak with a view to enlightening the public, and in the end prospecting the future with valuable recommendations that may be crucial to preventing or urgently curtailing any future outbreak.