Is a Total Ban on Business and Consumption of Bushmeat a Sustainable End Game for Ebola Outbreak in West Africa: But Why Now?
The Ebola disease outbreak in West Africa has been the largest in the history of the disease since the first case in 1976. Circumstantial evidence points to the source of the current outbreak to physical contact with secretions from wild fruit bats and not actual consumption of meat of the suspected reservoir or infected animal. The commonest mode of transmission of Ebola disease is through person to person contact. Social mobilization and communication has however focused on banning consumption of wild meat instead of breaking the chain of transmission from human-to-human.
For validity and exhaustiveness-related stakes, we have combined several data collection methods, including those of ethnography, qualitative interviews and in-depth case studies. We also carried out observation of the use of the devices of chlorinated water buckets in rural communities. In urban settings, we also carried out observation of the search for suspected cases as well as of collection and transportation of the dead.
The urban sites focused on were Kailahun city and the suburban communities living around the Ebola treatment center. In Kenema district, investigations followed the pattern of the predominantly urban trend of the Ebola outbreak. We focused on the most affected neighborhood, that of Nyandeyama, and on the town center.
These investigations revealed that very often there was no distinction made between contact with fluids from wild animals while processing and eating bushmeat, even cooked. This made it difficult to articulate the cause and effect relationships that would guide targeted intervention.
Public Health Open J. 2016; 1(1): 4-7. doi: 10.17140/PHOJ-1-102
