Why containment is the only counter to Ebola

Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda has resulted in 617 confirmed cases and 117 deaths. The Trump administration has proposed a quarantine and treatment facility at a U.S. military base in Kenya for Americans who may have been exposed to the virus — a move that is drawing criticism and legal pushback.

U.S. healthcare officials who have public health experience with Ebola warn that this policy “raises profound clinical, ethical, operational, and legal concerns.” 

Ebola disease outbreaks are not new. The current situation is reminiscent of the outbreak that occurred in Western Africa from 2014 to 2016, when more than 28,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths were reported — a 39 percent fatality rate. As is often the case, lessons learned from the past are ignored. Suboptimal plans are proposed lacking actions necessary to stem the spread of the virus. 

Recall that in 2014, the federal government instituted screening at international airports to prevent the virus from spreading into the country. Prior to this policy, four cases had been confirmed in the U.S., with one person dying. The federal government provided resources to establish several world-class medical facilities domestically, all designed to treat and manage the care of infected people while containing the virus’s spread.

Such facilities remain available today, which would provide robust care for those infected. Of greater significance is that the U.S.-led a global coalition that created and relied on a robust humanitarian aid infrastructure in place at that time.  

Twelve years later, the nation is in a different situation. Indeed, the challenge today is that the U.S. public health infrastructure has been systematically dismantled over the........

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