Year in Review: Efforts to stop Ebola are gaining ground, but the fight isn't won

Ebola: Year in Review of 2014 developments
LOS ANGELES TIMES      by Alexandra Zavis                   Dec. 28, 2014

...As 2015 approaches, there is reason to hope that what at first was a plodding international response is finally catching up with the virus. In Liberia, where just a few months ago bodies were left in the streets for days and patients were turned away from treatment facilities because there weren't enough beds or personnel, the number of cases has been dropping rapidly. There are also signs that the disease may be slowing in Sierra Leone, which has overtaken Liberia as the country with the biggest caseload.

...Although the tactics being used have stemmed smaller Ebola outbreaks, some experts are beginning to question whether this one has spread too far to be fully contained without a vaccine or cure.

Stephen S. Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, said it has been encouraging to see new resources devoted to identifying better ways to fight Ebola.

The loss of life has been devastating in parts of West Africa, he said, but the survival rate has been higher in the U.S. Only two of at least 10 patients treated in the U.S. have died.

"Ebola for the first time is a manageable disease," Morse said. "Once we have real treatments for it, it will become much different."

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http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-year-ahead-ebola-20141227-story.html