Paula Jardine November 24, 2023 READ

This is the first of a two-part series.

NOTHING creates public panic or sells pulp fiction quite like a horror disease, and the haemorrhagic fever Ebola is a peerless example. Before 1995, Ebola was a rare occurrence but epidemics now occur with increasing regularity thanks to a global network of disease surveillance laboratories established since the start of this century which provide diagnoses using antigen or PCR testing. 

Any illness with high fever is no longer a sign that an individual’s immune system is doing its job: it’s to be treated as a siren signalling a potential catastrophic pathogenic outbreak that must be stopped in its tracks before it spreads around the world. Over the last decade Ebola has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare two Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEIC) to facilitate the testing of vaccines and therapeutics under emergency use authorisations.