Dr. Gerald Zon’s latest “Zone in with Zon” blog post, dated August 18, 2014, and published by TriLink BioTechnologies of San Diego, discusses the topic of whether the current Ebola outbreak might have been prevented. In the course of his blog, Dr. Zon provides a wealth of information on Ebola virus and the current outbreak, as well as on various efforts to develop vaccines and treatments/drugs. He concludes that inadequate advocacy and funding, rather than inadequate science is at the root of the current inability to effectively combat the disease. As background, he cited the following statements on Ebola found on the WHO website: Ebola viral disease (EVD) is a severe, often fatal illness in humans; EVD outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%; EVD outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests; the virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids; EVD is a severe acute viral illness often characterized by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat, followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding; laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes; severely ill patients require intensive supportive care; and no licensed specific treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals. Dr.Login Or Register To Read Full Story