The Epicenter
Ebola Is Back. Here's How This Outbreak Is Different.
Ebola is back.
For more than four decades, the rare but deadly virus has terrorized the world, with news of a new outbreak cropping up seemingly every few years. The largest of these outbreaks took place in West Africa from 2014 through 2016 when Ebola killed more people than in all previous outbreaks combined: 11,310.
Now, the world is once again on the brink of another Ebola outbreak, this time in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
As of Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there have been 41 cases and 20 deaths in this latest Ebola outbreak. They've traced the first case back to early April, and the DRC's Ministry of Health (MoH) officially declared the situation an "outbreak" on May 8.
Here's what you need to know about this latest Ebola threat.
What makes this outbreak different from the one in 2014?Traditionally, health officials have largely relied on something called contact tracing to contain Ebola outbreaks. They work backwards from each infected person, figuring out everyone they might have come in contact with and monitoring those individuals for any sign at all of infection.
Unfortunately, people can fall through the cracks. Someone sick with Ebola might not be able to provide a comprehensive list of everyone they've come in contact with. As the CDC notes, just one missed person can delay the end of an outbreak.
This time though, health officials have another, far more proactive weapon in the fight against Ebola: an experimental vaccine known as Merck's rVSV-ZEBOV, or V920.
How "experimental" is this Ebola vaccine?It's experimental in the sense that officials have never attempted to use it to prevent an outbreak. As far as clinical trials go, though, it looks like a pretty sure thing.
In December 2016, WHO officials announced the results of a V920 test involving 12,000 individuals in Guinea, which was just in the end stages of the West Africa outbreak at the time of the trial.
Of the nearly 6,000 individuals vaccinated during the course of the study, none contracted Ebola. Meanwhile, 23 people in the control group (who didn't receive the vaccine) contracted the virus.
This Ebola vaccine isn't officially licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yet, seemingly as a matter of the nation's slow and complicated approval process. However, the DRC can use it under the FDA's "compassionate use" protocol – essentially a way to grant patients access to drugs that are still in development.
So, what's the plan now?On May 16, the first batch of 4,000 Ebola vaccine doses arrived in the DRC capital of Kinshasa. More doses should follow, according to the WHO.
In addition to healthcare workers, the first people to receive the vaccine will be those who've already been in contact with people infected with the virus, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told STAT News. Using the tried-and-true contact tracing method, officials have identified 382 such people so far.
Getting the Ebola vaccine to those who need it won't be easy, though.
Physically moving the vaccine from one region to another in the difficult terrain of the DRC is just one challenge. Keeping it stored at a temperature where it's most effective — between -60 and -80 decrees Celsius (-76 and -112 degrees Fahrenheit) — is another.
Still, while using V920 might not be simple, it has the potential to play a major role in preventing this Ebola outbreak from turning out like the one in West Africa just a couple of years back.
And if the WHO and other organizations are able to overcome the logistical hurdles and prove that V920 is effective at preventing an outbreak from escalating, Ebola's reign of terror over the world might finally come to an end.
Read This Next12.06.21
Scientists Say a New Chewing Gum Reduces COVID-19 Spread
12.18.18
A Child Was Immunized By the World's First Drone-Delivered Vaccine
4.28.18
Bill Gates Just Announced a $12 Million Contest for a Universal Flu Vaccine
4.23.18
There May Soon Be A New Vaccine To Combat Addiction To Bath Salts
3.14.18
Newly Developed Microneedles Can Dissolve in the Skin to Deliver Drugs
No, The CDC Didn't Issue An Advisory About An Ebola Outbreak At Burning Man
After thousands were stranded at Nevada's Burning Man festival because of rain, people online claimed the CDC warned people about an Ebola outbreak. That's false.
Attendees at Burning Man, an annual festival held in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, were stranded after a late summer storm dropped more than a half an inch of rain and turned the dry land into mud.
Organizers closed the festival to vehicles after one death was reported. Officials provided no details of the fatality.
Amid the chaos at Burning Man, people on social media claimed an Ebola outbreak struck the crowd. Several posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, show a screenshot purporting to be from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirming an Ebola outbreak.
THE QUESTION
Is the screenshot of a CDC Ebola advisory at Burning Man real?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, the CDC advisory about the Ebola outbreak at Burning Man is not real.
WHAT WE FOUND
The screenshot appears to show an official post from the CDC's X account. But VERIFY reviewed recent posts from the CDC along with internet archives and found no evidence the CDC ever issued an advisory about an Ebola outbreak at Burning Man.
In a statement posted on Sept. 4, organizers with Burning Man posted to the official website saying: "The online rumors of transmissible illnesses in Black Rock City are unfounded and untrue."
In a statement to Indy100, a news magazine run news organization The Independent, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the Black Rock Desert site, said: "I can confirm the event entrance was closed for the year because unusual rainfall caused muddy conditions where there was a full stop on vehicles, and not for an Ebola outbreak. We have heard no information of any participants with Ebola."
The viral screenshot directs people to a bit.Ly link, which is a shortened link. When VERIFY clicked on the link, a web page opened with a 404 error.
"This is a 404 error, which means you've clicked on a bad link or entered an invalid URL," the page read.
The screenshot also says to go to CDC.Com/travel for more information. VERIFY looked at that website too, and found no travel advisories for Burning Man.
Using RevEye, a reverse image search tool, VERIFY confirmed the screenshot was created using a stock image of an advisory that once hung in Miami International Airport warning of an Ebola outbreak in Africa.
Amid outcry about possible Ebola, Marian Goodell, CEO of Burning Man, told NBC News that the situation at Burning Man was under control and that "there is no cause for panic."
At least one festival-goer posted to social media about the Ebola rumors. TikTok user @angiepeacockmsw said that there is no Ebola at the festival.
According to the CDC, the most recent outbreak of Ebola happened in September 2022 in Uganda.
The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »
Follow Us Want something VERIFIED?Text: 202-410-8808
No, The CDC Didn't Issue An Advisory About An Ebola Outbreak At Burning Man
After thousands were stranded at Nevada's Burning Man festival because of rain, people online claimed the CDC warned people about an Ebola outbreak. That's false.
Attendees at Burning Man, an annual festival held in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, were stranded after a late summer storm dropped more than a half an inch of rain and turned the dry land into mud.
Organizers closed the festival to vehicles after one death was reported. Officials provided no details of the fatality.
Amid the chaos at Burning Man, people on social media claimed an Ebola outbreak struck the crowd. Several posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, show a screenshot purporting to be from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirming an Ebola outbreak.
THE QUESTION
Is the screenshot of a CDC Ebola advisory at Burning Man real?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, the CDC advisory about the Ebola outbreak at Burning Man is not real.
WHAT WE FOUND
The screenshot appears to show an official post from the CDC's X account. But VERIFY reviewed recent posts from the CDC along with internet archives and found no evidence the CDC ever issued an advisory about an Ebola outbreak at Burning Man.
In a statement posted on Sept. 4, organizers with Burning Man posted to the official website saying: "The online rumors of transmissible illnesses in Black Rock City are unfounded and untrue."
In a statement to Indy100, a news magazine run news organization The Independent, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the Black Rock Desert site, said: "I can confirm the event entrance was closed for the year because unusual rainfall caused muddy conditions where there was a full stop on vehicles, and not for an Ebola outbreak. We have heard no information of any participants with Ebola."
The viral screenshot directs people to a bit.Ly link, which is a shortened link. When VERIFY clicked on the link, a web page opened with a 404 error.
"This is a 404 error, which means you've clicked on a bad link or entered an invalid URL," the page read.
The screenshot also says to go to CDC.Com/travel for more information. VERIFY looked at that website too, and found no travel advisories for Burning Man.
Using RevEye, a reverse image search tool, VERIFY confirmed the screenshot was created using a stock image of an advisory that once hung in Miami International Airport warning of an Ebola outbreak in Africa.
Amid outcry about possible Ebola, Marian Goodell, CEO of Burning Man, told NBC News that the situation at Burning Man was under control and that "there is no cause for panic."
At least one festival-goer posted to social media about the Ebola rumors. TikTok user @angiepeacockmsw said that there is no Ebola at the festival.
According to the CDC, the most recent outbreak of Ebola happened in September 2022 in Uganda.
The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »
Follow Us Want something VERIFIED?Text: 202-410-8808
Comments
Post a Comment