The many who have been infected and fortunately survived are no less worthy of mention. Khan’s brother Sahid has stated “My sincere prayer is that his death will not be in vain,” a wish undoubtedly shared by his family, friends and colleagues. Khan and Fonnie would certainly have agreed that, if anything good can come from this tragedy, it is that we must emerge with more options, more hope, for future victims of EVD and other dangerous diseases in West Africa. If there is a silver lining, it is that the outbreak has pushed this terrible disease to the forefront of attention of the lay and scientific communities, prompting accelerated research and development of promising

treatments and vaccines. The availability of effective therapeutics would have an effect far beyond decreases in morbidity and mortality, especially given the unprecedented resistance, sometimes

violent, Sirtuin inhibitor selleck screening library of local populations to case isolation and contact tracing (Fauci, 2014). Such therapies would serve as public health tools, replacing the “stick” of confinement in an isolation center with the “carrot” of treatment on a hospital ward; instead of trying to convince people to be isolated, they will be knocking on the door to be tested, because they will know there is a cure. Even better, we can imagine a scenario, somewhat akin to the response to a yellow fever epidemic, in which the confirmation of a case of EVD is met with a prompt vaccination campaign in the area of risk and the outbreak rapidly aborted. The present epidemic of EVD is the largest ever recorded. We can make sure that such an outbreak never happens again. Beyond specific treatments and vaccines, the extensive economic and societal impacts of the EVD outbreak in West Africa

will require a veritable “Marshall Plan” to set the region again on the path to recovery, at a minimum in the domain of provision of health services and advancement of scientific research. The death of Khan and so many other healthcare workers represents much more than a tragic Megestrol Acetate personal loss; their absence threatens to severely undermine the region’s ability to combat a host of serious diseases, including such killers as malaria, acute respiratory and enteric disease, HIV/AIDS, and malnutrition. West Africa will need extensive international support to rebuild the healthcare infrastructure and to create stable job and training opportunities and safe working environments to foster the development of local expertise to help fill the role vacated by the death of Khan and his colleagues. The immediate focus will, of course, be the fight to control and better understand the epidemiology and pathogenesis of EVD, but the approach must ultimately be broader.