Acute Specialized Care of Patients with Ebola Virus Disease: Gaps and Opportunities

The World Health Organization received the first notification of an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Guinea on March 23, 2014.1 By June 18, the outbreak was considered the largest outbreak of Ebola virus disease.2 On August 8, the epidemic was categorized as a "public health emergency of international concern."1 There were 3343 confirmed and 667 probable Ebola cases in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone identified until September 14. Considerable attention has been focused on prevention of spread of Ebola virus within and outside the countries predominantly involved in the epidemic. There appears to be a lack of understanding of steps required and effort placed on reducing case fatality estimated at 70.8% among patients with known Ebola infection through specialized care