The 2014 Ebola Outbreak and Mental Health

Abstract

citingsymptomaticpatientsescap-ing from treatment units, families concealing sick rela-tives at home, preferential use of traditional healers,andphysicalcontactwithinfectiouscorpses.Neverthe-less, the Roadmap includes few recommendations toalleviate fear behaviors and address mental healthneedsinEbola-affectedcommunities.InWestAfrica,Ebolavirusdiseasearousesfearbe-haviors, in part because many have witnessed thegraphic hemorrhagic manifestations of those infectedandthebodiesofthosewhohavedied.Thecorpsesandbeddingofpatientswhohavediedposeinfectionhaz-ardstohealthcareworkersandfamilymembers.AsofDecember14,2014,649front-linehealthcareworkershavebecomeilland365havedied.