Panic; major social, economic and political disruptions; border closures and violent protests; this summarizes the state of affairs in the three countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where the Ebola epidemic is raging.

目前的埃博拉病例数量远远超过了所有以前所有埃博拉病毒疫情报告的案例总数，并且它继续增加。最近发表的评论Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases,从1976年的第一次爆发开始，追溯埃博拉流行病的历史和进步。研究人员和客座博客作者让·菲利普·奇帕（Jean-Philippe Chippaux）解释了为什么开始时流行病的传播在开始时的传播很慢，爆炸性且此后难以控制。

The West African epidemic began in December 2013 in Guinea along the border of Liberia and Sierra Leone. As in most outbreaks, it spread slowly from the index case (the first case reported by epidemiological surveys). But even slow, it is highly infectious, passed from person to person only through bodily fluids including saliva, sweat, blood and semen. Each patient is likely to contaminate the people who provide him health care, including family members, if they do not protect themselves properly. So, the first patient contaminates others, creating new cases and the epidemic spreads exponentially in a few months.

Fruit bats are the believed reservoirs, harboring the Ebola virus in their natural habitat. The species, in which antibodies or DNA of Ebola virus have been found, live in the two forest blocks where epidemics are encountered: the West African Guinean and Central African Congolese. We also know that epidemics occur in forest monkeys that share the same habitat as bats. Human infection arises by the hunting and consumption of infected bush meat.

识别爆发的延迟促进了几个变速箱链，以不受限制地进行跨多孔边界。有几个因素。首先，许多人从未经历过埃博拉病毒爆发的事实严重限制了社区水平的知识。其次，早期症状通常与疟疾，伤寒或杂技疾病混淆，所有这些疾病都是赤道非洲的常见疾病。最后，贫困国家缺乏流行病学监测系统和诊断测试，进一步加剧了检测暴发的延迟。

The difficulty of stopping the outbreak arises from two key factors. Close proximity with Ebola victims and the funeral customs increases risk of contracting the virus. The poor public health infrastructure characteristic of many African countries meant lack of resources and training of medical personnel led to high risk of hospital transmissions. As a consequence, about 10% of deaths occur amongst health workers. Protection using appropriate clothing and disinfection during patient care and burial ceremonies should prevent the spread of the virus, as well as following the recommended incubation period of 2-21 days. The implementation of good clinical practice should dramatically limit hospital transmission.

2014年6月，又一次爆发袭击了赤道省刚果民主共和国。令人惊讶的是，这涉及到与西非不幸危机的那一场不同的压力。已经提出了一些假设来解释过去二十年来出现的出现和爆发。最可信的是森林砍伐的森林砍伐，它使森林野生动植物越来越亲密和频繁接触。气候变化可能是另一个因素。尽管关于埃博拉病毒的不确定性存在许多不确定性，但可以肯定的是，诊断出埃博拉病毒疾病后的早期管理应该会更好，更快地控制流行病。