When medical authorities thought that Ebola might finally be dissipating, a couple of infected fishermen started a new outbreak in Freetown, Sierra Leon, after returning from the sea at the beginning of the month. These fishermen had apparently been infected before leaving and had not shown symptoms until they were already navigating. After their captain got severely sick, they decided to return to shore, which opened the gate for Ebola again. Many of the volunteers and public health workers had seen a significant improvement in the population of Sierra Leon, which left them off guard when this new outbreak appeared. Experts say that this is the perfect example of cultural difficulties that arise during epidemics such as Ebola. People make it harder to treat the disease for cultural reasons; sometimes they are afraid to be marginalized, they would rather receive traditional medicinal treatments, or they are simply irresponsible and do not take the appropriate safety measures. It is possible that future outbreaks like this will keep happening, we can't stop looking out for Ebola just yet.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/world/africa/nearly-beaten-in-sierra-leone-ebola-makes-a-comeback-by-sea.html?_r=0
-Ricardo Morales
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