ebola emerging disease :: Article Creator Ebola: How A Vaccine Turned A Terrifying Virus Into A Preventable Disease The Ebola virus devastated west Africa in 2014, claiming over 11,000 lives in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. It was the largest Ebola outbreak since the virus had first been discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976. Ebola is a terrifying virus which, if left untreated, causes bleeding inside the body and through the eyes, nose, mouth and rectum. Case fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks, depending on circumstances and the response. The 2014 outbreak in west Africa exposed a critical gap in global preparedness for infectious diseases: the absence of effective vaccines. There were no drugs or vaccines approved to treat or prevent Ebola or ready to enter into clinical trials at the outset of the epidemic. Therefore, many felt it was ethically necessary to conduct such research as quickl...