ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2017
Ebola virus disease contact tracing activities, lessons learned and best practices during the Duport Road outbreak in Monrovia, Liberia, November 2015.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Using mHealth Technologies for Case Finding in Tuberculosis and Other Infectious Diseases in Africa: Systematic Review.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Pooled it
- The practice of evaluating epidemic response in humanitarian and low-income settings: a systematic review.BMC medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Contact tracing strategies for infectious diseases: A systematic literature review.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Article
- COVID-19 and global mental health.The lancet. Psychiatry · 2021Article
- COVID-19 contact tracing: The Welsh experience.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2020Article
- The implications of silent transmission for the control of COVID-19 outbreaks.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- Establishing Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) diagnostics using GeneXpert technology at a mobile laboratory in Liberia: Impact on outbreak response, case management and laboratory systems strengthening.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
23 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundContact tracing is one of the key response activities necessary for halting Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) transmission. Key elements of contact tracing include identification of persons who have been in contact with confirmed EVD cases and careful monitoring for EVD symptoms, but the details of implementation likely influence their effectiveness. In November 2015, several months after a major Ebola outbreak was controlled in Liberia, three members of a family were confirmed positive for EVD in the Duport Road area of Monrovia. The cluster provided an opportunity to implement and evaluate modified approaches to contact tracing.
methodsThe approaches employed for improved contact tracing included classification and risk-based management of identified contacts (including facility based isolation of some high risk contacts, provision of support to persons being monitored, and school-based surveillance for some persons with potential exposure but not listed as contacts), use of phone records to help locate missing contacts, and modifications to data management tools. We recorded details about the implementation of these approaches, report the overall outcomes of the contact tracing efforts and the challenges encountered, and provide recommendations for management of future outbreaks.
results165 contacts were identified (with over 150 identified within 48 hours of confirmation of the EVD cases) and all initially missing contacts were located. Contacts were closely monitored and promptly tested if symptomatic; no contacts developed disease. Encountered challenges related to knowledge gaps among contact tracing staff, data management, and coordination of contact tracing activities with efforts to offer Ebola vaccine.
conclusionsThe Duport Road EVD cluster was promptly controlled. Missing contacts were effectively identified, and identified contacts were effectively monitored and rapidly tested. There is a persistent risk of EVD reemergence in Liberia; the experience controlling each cluster can help inform future Ebola control efforts in Liberia and elsewhere.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.