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Sub-Saharan African medical and nursing schools are building capacity that is essential to containing future outbreaks of Ebola and other infectious diseases
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is an acute viral disease that often leads to severe illness and death in humans and other primates. The infection typically affects multiple organs in the body and is often accompanied by hemorrhage. Once the virus has been transmitted from an animal host to a human, it can then spread through person-to-person contact.
Scientists employed and funded by NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have been working for decades to develop tests to diagnose Ebola virus early, therapies to treat illness caused by the virus, and vaccines to prevent infection. Because of the past outbreaks in West Africa, NIAID's Vaccine Research Center is supporting the development and testing of investigational vaccines. NIAID is also researching the long-term health effects of Ebola on survivors.
Fogarty is supporting grants to plan research training and capacity building programs focused on emerging viral epidemics in collaboration with institutions in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Updated March 2019
From the NIH research archives: