What Was Before the Ebola Virus? The Past of the First Supervirus May Lead To Answers for the Current Pandemic

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Don't recognize this little foe? Well you should. Because as it stands, it has collected a death toll of an estimated 200 million people, peaking in its infection during the 1346-1353 European pandemic. That's right, you're looking Yersinia pestis bacterium, more commonly known as the "Bubonic Plague"! Known to have decimated the European population during the "Black Death", the most devastating pandemic in human history, Yersinia pestis is a formidable zoonotic disease that circulates in and out of the human species courtesy of pesky fleas carried by small rodents and rats. Though the bacterium is unlike Ebola in that it is not virulent, researchers have found that studying past pandemics can help not only point to better treatments for the disease, but also valuable containment methods necessary for keeping the pathogen at bay.

Revealing systemic issues throughout all of Europe in terms of healthcare and hygiene practices, the Black Death claimed an estimated 30-60% of the European population, whom historians believe were exposed to the disease as a result to faulty understandings of the pestilent pathogen. Much like the infection of the Black Death, today's Ebola outbreak in a developing part of the world has shown that third-world nations lack proper healthcare systems and disaster precautions not put in place in the event of major catastrophe. Not understanding the disease, nor the spread of infection, many of the first carriers of the current Ebola pandemic were cared for at home and their bodies were later lining the streets of major cities, as families tried to dispose of the infectious dead.

Though practices like flagellants and leeches are no longer seen, as they caused mass disease transmittance in the 14^th century bubonic plague epidemic, a misunderstanding of the viral pathogen Ebola is just as lethal to West African populations. As scientists worldwide search for a distant cure, that is at best months from being ready for human subjects, the disease rages on and the question of containment persists. Can the spread of infection be stopped? And when will we reach the tipping point?

Though governments and researchers are hopeful that increased humanitarian efforts will abate the spread of the disease, poor hygiene practices and inefficient removal/treatment of the infected increases the likelihood that the viral pathogen will have time to mutate within the human population. While much remains unclear as to an end in sight for the Ebola epidemic, a global effort is essential in bringing an end to the disease. And with the recent that President Obama will deploy 3,000 military personnel to help fight against the Ebola infection in West Africa, the Obama administration and leaders of Liberia and other nations are hopeful that they can bring an end to the spread of infection and help treat patients who are "just sitting, waiting to die."

"This is a daunting task, but here's what gives us hope. The world knows how to fight this disease. It's not a mystery" President Obama says. "We know the science. We know how to prevent it from spreading. We know how to care for those who contract it. We know that if we take the proper steps, we can save lives, but we have to act fast."

"We can't dawdle on this one. We have to move with force and make sure that we are catching this as best we can, given that it has already broken out in ways that we have not seen before."