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Half of isolated Ebola cases have gone undetected since the disease was first discovered in 1976, according to an analysis of outbreaks by scientists published last week (June 13) in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
The virus circulates in wildlife all the time, and the rate of such spillover is intimately linked with its public health consequences. But it’s unclear how often it happens. By modelling patterns of Ebola outbreaks, the team estimated that many spillover events are overlooked entirely.
“We estimate that outbreaks are unlikely to be detected within their first few cases, and this has important public health consequences,” says lead author Emma Glennon, a disease ecologist at the University of Cambridge.
People with undocumented cases of Ebola most likely die of the disease as they don’t receive care at health facilities, says Yap Boum, regional representative of the Uganda-based Epicenter Africa, the research arm ...
