ReviewAfrican health sciences2017
Role of contact tracing in containing the 2014 Ebola outbreak: a review.
Review in African health sciences, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Communication to promote and support physical distancing for COVID-19 prevention and control: a rapid reviewThe Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Facilitators and barriers to engagement with contact tracing during infectious disease outbreaks: A rapid review of the evidence.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- Estimating the historical impact of outbreak response immunisation programmes across 210 outbreaks in low and middle-income countries.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Strategies Utilized During Sudan Virus Disease Outbreak Response in Kampala City, Uganda, 2022 - 2023.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2025Article
- Accounting for contact tracing in epidemiological birth-death models.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- Mathematical Contact Tracing Models for the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review of the Literature.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS TO PROVIDING COVID-19 CONTACT TRACING INFORMATION AMONG ADULT NIGERIANS.African journal of infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Factors Associated with Reliable Contact Tracing During the 2021 Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in Guinea.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2024Article
- Digital Mass Hysteria during Pandemic? A Study of Twitter Communication Patterns in the US during the Stages of COVID-19 Vaccination.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Challenges and opportunities for improved contact tracing in Ghana: experiences from Coronavirus disease-2019-related contact tracing in the Bono region.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Implementation and effectiveness of a COVID-19 case investigation and contact tracing program at a large, urban midwestern university.American journal of infection control · 2023Article
- Feasibility of digital contact tracing in low-income settings - pilot trial for a location-based DCT app.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Quantifying the value of viral genomics when inferring who infected whom in the 2014-16 Ebola virus outbreak in Guinea.Virus evolution · 2023Article
- Modeling the impact of surveillance activities combined with physical distancing interventions on COVID-19 epidemics at a local level.Infectious Disease Modelling · 2022Article
- Contact tracing using real-time location system (RTLS): a simulation exercise in a tertiary hospital in Singapore.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Strengthening government's response to COVID-19 in Indonesia: A modified Delphi study of medical and health academics.PloS one · 2022Article
- The Relative Importance of Vulnerability and Efficiency in COVID-19 Contact Tracing Programmes: A Discrete Choice Experiment.International journal of public health · 2022Article
- Contact tracing apps for the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic literature review of challenges and future directions for neo-liberal societies.Health information science and systems · 2021Review
- Effectiveness of Contact Tracing for Viral Disease Mitigation and Suppression: Evidence-Based Review.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2021Review
- Synergistic interventions to control COVID-19: Mass testing and isolation mitigates reliance on distancing.PLoS computational biology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe 2014 outbreak of Ebola virus disease which emerged in the month of March in the year 2014 in Guinea has been declared as a public health emergency of international concern.
objectivesThe objectives of the review article are to assess the role of contact tracing in the Ebola outbreak and to identify the challenges faced by the health workers while performing contact tracing.
methodsAn extensive search of all materials related to the Ebola outbreak and contact tracing was carried out in PubMed, Medline, World Health Organization website and Google Scholar search engines. Keywords used in the search included Ebola virus disease, West-Africa, contact tracing, World Health Organization. Overall 60 articles were selected and included in the discussion.
resultsContact tracing is an important strategy in epidemiology and refers to the identification and diagnosis of those individuals who have come in contact with an infected person. It ultimately aims to reduce the time span required to detect and treat a case of an infectious disease and hence significantly minimize the risk of transmission to the subsequent susceptible individuals. In-fact, contact tracing continues to remain an important measure, as it aids the epidemiologist in containing the infection.
conclusionThe strategy of contact tracing has a great potential to significantly reduce the incidence of cases of Ebola virus disease. However, its success is eventually determined by the level of trust between the community and the public health system and the quality of the diagnostic & treatment services.
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