Question: is it scarry working with ebola

Verity Hill answered on 2 Nov 2018:

Hi!

So I don’t actually work with the virus in the lab – the data that I use was collected during the West African outbreak in 2014 and 2015.

Instead, I use computational techniques to try to work out what happened. In the genetic material of Ebola virus (called RNA – it’s similar to DNA but less stable), you can find signatures of transmission between people. Using these signatures you can build models and simulations and ask what would have happened if we’d done things differently – introduced public health interventions more quickly for example.

So it’s not scary for me! Sometimes it is very sad though – I research a lot about the treatment centres which were often badly run because there were so few doctors and nurses (and no money!) for the large numbers of patients that were very sick. Often these doctors and nurses themselves became sick and died, or were thrown out of their communities because everyone was so scared. It’s also very frustrating to find out about obvious missed chances that could have reduced the size of the outbreak, and saved so many lives.

I hope that answered your question!