How Ebola Roared Back

For a fleeting moment last spring, the epidemic sweeping West Africa might have been stopped. But the opportunity to control the virus, which has now caused more than 7,800 deaths, was lost....

...well-intentioned veterans of past Ebola campaigns had tragically underestimated this outbreak, overlooking clues that now seem apparent. Viewing the West Africa epidemic through the prism of nearly two dozen previous outbreaks across the continent, they failed to appreciate that the 2014 version would be unique in catastrophic ways.

...With the affected countries often lacking the most basic medical infrastructure, the health care challenges proved staggering. But the most tragically missed opportunities stemmed from the poor flow of information about who was infected and whom they might have exposed....