From the time I started reading a Spillover book, I liked every single chapter we have gone through. But, the Thirteen Gorillas was my favorite one so far as it covered so many details about Ebola, and I never thought of how unaware I was until reading the chapter. I had no idea that Ebola was a zoonotic disease. I knew it was infectious just from humans to humans, but not informed the origin of the disease. Ebola has been a deadly disease in my continent, and people have heard it in different ways, but the majority in my country are unformed about it. I was informed that Ebola became an outbreak in DRC when people ate a dead chimp that was killed by French Soldiers, and people have believed the chemical weaponry to be the main root of the problem. And But, they barely analyzed on Ebola independent outbreaks in different countries like Uganda, Sudan, DRC- to name few. But now I know that Ebola spreads through the spillover events and transmit through direct contact with the blood of an infected person, which is different from what I knew.
I always wondered how humans get deadly diseases like Ebola and others but found out that it all happens when humans cross the line of the ecosystem. Which is something we humans should be careful about because we never know what every single animal is carrying, who knows that primates; most touristic attraction animals would transmit some viruses or the little animals like fruit bat! The Good news is that at the end of 2019, the FDA approved the vaccination, Ervebo, for prevention of Ebola virus disease, which can only be taken by 18 years of age and older (Mcseveney, 2019). Ervebo was assessed for about 15000 people, and scientist has proved to be significantly safe. As far as I know, my country neighboring DRC and the ministry of health has tried the possible ways to prevent the Ebola virus from crossing the border from DRC, and Rwanda has managed it by using other protection. Today, all Rwandans who are 18 years age and older are encouraged to take Ervebo vaccination, and the hope is that the Ebola virus disease can come to an end in Africa.
Mcseveney, M. (2019, December 19). First FDA-approved vaccine for the prevention of Ebola virus disease, marking a critical milestone in public health preparedness and response. U.S. Food and Drug, p. 3.