Robert Locklear: Experts warn Ebola epidemic could return with a vengeance unless lessons about medical trials are learned

Friday, April 17, 2015

Experts warn Ebola epidemic could return with a vengeance unless lessons about medical trials are learned

Health experts have warned that a greater flexibility must be brought to medical trials to combat diseases like Ebola to avoid facing another nightmare outbreak. The rapidity and spread of the Ebola outbreak and the urgency of a response led to many challenges not least of which was to advise those managing people on the ground of the best way to treat the illness and which treatments might be effective. Medical experts and academics say: “Even if somehow the present epidemic is eventually contained (over a time course that is currently uncertain), the world will still be largely unprepared for the next epidemic that could strike again at any time in an equally explosive manner.”