New Delhi: Ebola virus disease (EVD) has spread over several key countries in the African continent such as Uganda and Congo in the last couple of months. Uganda has imposed overnight curfew and travel lockdown in two Ebola-hit districts to stop the spread of the contagious disease.
Considering the fatality rates linked with the virus, experts are concerned about the possible spread of the virus to other countries. In this context, the discussions around ‘Ebola’ on social media have spiked more than 500% over last 30 days (19 Sep – 19 Oct 2022), reveals the Social Media Analytics Platform of GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
The recent spike in social media conversations was noticed in the second week of October, following the confirmation of Ebola cases in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Prior to this, in August and April, new cases were found in Congo, which led to a rise in social media discussions on Ebola.
Smitarani Tripathy, Social Media Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The newest outbreak of Sudan strain of Ebola has raised concern among the health experts, as no vaccine or treatment available for this strain till now. Twitter influencers opined that the lesson learned from the past for COVID-19, and other epidemics can be utilized for the containment of this new strain of Ebola and also advised strict screening of travelers at airports from the affected African countries, meanwhile they also stated that global funding is necessary to effectively counteract the challenges of Ebola.”
GlobalData’s Social Media Analytics Platform captured a few popular influencer opinions on Ebola:
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Amy Maxmen, a Science Journalist, has opined that reported death implies significant spread as the vaccine for the Sudan Virus has not yet been approved.
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Yaneer Bar-Yam, Professor and President at New England Complex System Institute, stated that international spread cannot be ruled out with rising death cases.
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Ian Weissman, a Radiologist, has suggested that richer countries should help to stop the spread as the virus are world travelers.
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Boghuma Titanji, Physician Scientist at Emory University School of Medicine, said that the trajectory of this outbreak continues to be very worrisome.
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Devi Sridhar, Professor at University of Edinburg, has suggested other countries connected to Kampala, to follow the screening in Airport, which may help to prevent the spread.
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Ellie Murray, Epidemiologist at Boston University School of Public Health, has said that the fight against Ebola is similar to other epidemics such as cholera, monkeypox or polio but funding is needed for on public health.
