The Peak in Africa (September 2014)

Abstract

By September 2014, the Ebola outbreak had overwhelmed West African healthcare systems. Treatment centers were filled beyond capacity and new centers could not be opened fast enough to deal with the increasing number of cases. Overflowing medical facilities had to turn away newly arriving infected patients. Heartbreaking scenes occurred as sick patients crisscrossed cities looking for space in treatment centers only to find that no space was available. As conditions worsened, Sierra Leone took the unprecedented step of holding a 3-day, nationwide lockdown. During the lockdown, healthcare workers visited every house in the country. They gave residents information about Ebola and looked for new cases. Levels of foreign aid remained relatively low, but efforts were beginning to ramp up. In the middle of September, the United States launched a major Ebola offensive and began to send military personnel to Liberia. On the very last day of the month, news broke that an active Ebola case had been detected in Dallas, Texas. Ebola had left Africa and arrived in a western country.