Ebola: Fears and Facts

Gr 4–8—Claiming the lives of thousands, the Ebola epidemic of 2014 had devastating consequences for three countries in Western Africa and transfixed the world. With straightforward language and eye-catching photographs, maps, and charts on almost every page, this work tells the distressing story of Ebola. Like many other infectious diseases, Ebola crosses from animals to humans. Highly contagious, it is difficult to contain. Newman describes the first emergence of the disease in 1976 and then traces the path of the virus during the 2014 outbreak, beginning with Patient Zero, two-year-old Emile Ouamouno from Guinea. The author discusses the doctors and nurses, as well as other workers and volunteers on the front line, who worked tirelessly, braving stigma and fear to aid the sick and contain the outbreak. Newman also addresses preventative measures, the development of drugs to combat the disease, the fear of an outbreak in the United States, and our responsibility as global citizens to aid poorer countries. Titles that provide up-to-the-moment information run the risk of becoming outdated quickly. To counter that potential problem, Newman supplies websites from organizations such as the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Agency for International Development, and Doctors Without Borders, which will keep readers updated with the latest material available on Ebola.