Topic: Ebola in Sierra Leone: after 4,000 deaths, outbreak all but over (Read 707 times)

Sierra Leone might be a poor country in terms of GDP. But it is rich in natural resources (especially in diamonds, iron ore and timber). Have you seen the movie Blood Diamond (starring Leonardo DiCaprio)? Diamond mining is big in Sierra Leone. And most of the traders are foreigners (Indians, South Africans, Europeans, Russians, Chinese.etc).

I don't think that Sierra Leone, a poor country that was in civil war and is the home of ebola, would be attractive for tourists.

and the title says that the outbreak is all but over

As if anyone would risk it... lmao!

Sierra Leone was never a major tourist destination. Most of the foreigners visit that country for business-related purposes. And the only major economic activity, which is possible in Sierra Leone is metal and mineral extraction. Sierra Leone is quite famous for its diamonds. The agricultural sector is declining for decades.

This ebola news has been missed and I never heard about it for few months. But, it is a good news, so people could visit Sierra Leone and many African countries again.

This is great news. The problem with Ebola is that the most recent outbreak could have been avoided.

The virus has been known for over 40 years or something and yet very little was done to develop a vaccine before it blew up in 2014.

So many crisis situations out there that just never get proper attention until people start dying and those with money and power feel threatened.

This is a good thing. Scientists really cracked this egg open for future outbreaks.

Don't tell ISIS. They might go to Sierra Leone next.   

Teams fighting the disease in west African country say they may have seen the last cases

The long-running Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone is all but over after nearly 13,500 cases and almost 4,000 deaths, those fighting the disease believe.

The last case in Sierra Leone was an eight-month-old child, who was hospitalised nearly two weeks ago and died four days later.

Twenty-nine people who had contact with the child were moved from the densely packed slum of Magazine Wharf in the capital, Freetown, to a voluntary quarantine facility. None have so far shown signs of illness.

“We will wait to see if any of those high-risk people develop [Ebola] but if not, and even if they do, we have them safely out of the community. Our hope is that that is the last bit of this outbreak,” said Marshall Elliott, director of the UK government’s interagency taskforce, which is running the response with the Sierra Leone government and army.

In Magazine Wharf – a stepped hill of concrete, wood and corrugated iron shacks leading down from Freetown’s biggest market to the sea – men, women, children and dozens of pigs wander the concrete steps. Some of the families washing children in plastic bowls in a front room or just sitting in the sun have returned from a 21-day period of quarantine having lost one or more of their relatives. But all of those who left temporarily have been able to tell their neighbours that they were not imprisoned, maltreated or starved.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/20/ebola-epidemic-in-sierra-leone-may-be-over-say-health-workers