What is it about?
Epidemiologists have tried to explain the spread of Ebola Virus Disease in Sierra Leone in 2014-15 through numerical analysis of infection data. Our paper reports an anthropological approach - retracing spread through interviewing key eye-witnesses in infection chains. This brings out human and social elements missed by numerical modellers. These anthropological data suggest that there was not a single epidemic, but a series of local outbreaks which either played out in isolation or were connected by contingencies.
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Why is it important?
Our fieldwork identified some of the contingencies connecting local outbreaks into a larger epidemic. Understanding how these contingent connections arise should lead to more effective control of this dangerous disease.
Perspectives
I hope this paper will help show the benefit of the application of anthropological field research methods in the explanation of disease epidemics.
Paul Richards
Njala University Sierra Leone
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Re-analysing Ebola spread in Sierra Leone: The importance of local social dynamics, PLoS ONE, November 2020, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234823.
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