WHO announces successful containment of latest Ebola outbreak
An Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo is expected to be declared officially over any day now, only three months after the disease re-emerged.
The World Health Organization was quick to respond to the resurgence of the disease in early May. Since then, the death count has been kept to just 28—far less than the thousands who lost their lives to a previous outbreak in 2014. Some of this success is due to a new experimental vaccine used to combat the disease.
However, critics claim that although the world was prepared for this outbreak, future pandemics—for which a vaccine hasn’t been invented—may strike with little warning. The WHO recently added “Disease X” to its priority disease list—a representation of this unknown epidemic.
While this unknown disease has many possible origins, it is becoming increasingly likely that it will be man-made. Biological weapons were used recently in the Novichok incident in Britain, and disease continues to have devastating effects in the hands of terrorists. Expect bio-threats to only increase in danger as the world’s population grows and is further connected.
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