The Ebola treatment beds from the United Kingdom and Sierra Leone prevented about 57,000 Ebola cases and 40,000 deaths in the African country. But providing them one month earlier could have slashed the number of reported cases by half, revealed a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
According to experts from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) almost 3,000 beds were delivered by UK and Sierra Leone governments and aid agencies between September last year to February this year and prevented the said number of Ebola cases and mortalities.
"Our findings show the unprecedented local and international response led to a substantial decline in Ebola transmission,” said lead author Dr. Adam Kucharski, infectious disease epidemiology lecturer at LSHTM.
Kucharski added that the epidemic would have turned out to be much worse if the beds did not help isolate the infected and control the rapid growth of Ebola.
However, the researchers added that had the beds been provided just a month earlier, an extra 12,500 cases could have been prevented.
The largest-ever Ebola outbreak, which started in December 2013, mostly affected West African countries Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
Estimates from the World Health Organization show 13,945 reported Ebola cases in Sierra Leone until the present, with about 70 percent leading to deaths. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher given unreported incidents.
The researchers of the Oct. 12 study, using mathematical models in their investigation, focused on the beds’ impact due to the limited figures on other control measures in certain Sierra Leone districts.
Other factors that affected Ebola transmission include community engagement, enhanced case finding, behavior change, and increased rates of safe burial.
Kucharski clarified their findings could not apply to the two other West African nations battered by the disease, as the outbreak in Guinea, for instance, did not rise and fall sharply unlike in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
“Instead, it simmered along for several months,” he said, suggesting that measured had a more gradual impact on reducing transmissions.
According to Dr. Amesh Adalja of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, establishing these Ebola treatment units in outbreak sites will potentially be integrated in response plans for future epidemics.
Photo: DFID UK | Flickr
