A Global Effort to Understand the Ebola Virus

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The world is scared.  The fears surrounding Ebola are those of the unknown, as a concerted global effort is under way to better understand the virus, contain it and treat victims in the absence of an approved vaccine or drug.

According to Knowledge@Wharton:

Beginning in March this year, Ebola has thus far claimed 867 lives in the four West African nations of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria; another 1,603 people are suspected of, or have a confirmed, Ebola infection, according to latest updates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is the worst Ebola outbreak since the virus was first discovered 38 years ago in Sudan and Congo.

Learn more on Kent Brantly, the 33-year-old American doctor infected with the Ebola virus and 59-year-old Nancy Writebol, another Ebola-infected American aid worker.

Read:  Weighing the Risks in the Ebola Battle

Are you scheduled to travel internationally any time soon?  Be sure to check the U.S. Passports and International Travel before you book your flight to consider very carefully whether you should go to a country at all.

More on what's happening with the Ebola virus:

• Ebola virus:  British experts urge US and WHO to 'give Africans experimental cure'
• Death Toll in Ebola Virus Outbreak Reach 932
• Ebola Virus Obsession
• Ebola Virus Outbreak 2014:  NYC Mount Sinai Patient Tests Negative
• Ebola drug likely saved American patients