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VICE on HBO: Evolution of a Plague

From patient zero to future global pandemics, VICE heads to West Africa in this week's episode for a look at the evolution of the Ebola outbreak that burned through Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.
Photo by VICE on HBO

In March 2014 the World Health Organization declared the first ever Ebola outbreak in West Africa after the hemorrhagic fever began its spread in Guinea. This week, VICE on HBO heads to the region to trace the evolution of the recent outbreak that wreaked havoc on the countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea over the last 18 months, killing more than 11,000 people to date.

VICE correspondent Danny Gold went to the Liberian capital of Monrovia in September — during the height of the Ebola outbreak in the country — to follow some Liberians fighting the spread of the disease, as treatment centers and hospitals overflowed with infected patients. What we found was a chaotic scene. Severely lacking in medical infrastructure, the city of Monrovia was struggling to combat a disease it wasn't prepared to fight. Meanwhile, the international community scrambled to make up for lost time as it became clear the delayed global response had hindered local efforts.

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In this week's episode, VICE returns to Liberia and also heads to Sierra Leone and Guinea as the Ebola outbreak persists more than a year after its onset. We investigate the hemorrhagic fever's rapid spread through the region and the devastation it caused, while looking at what went wrong and what could have been done to stop the outbreak from getting so far out of control.

Related: The Fight Against Ebola (Full Length)

In Meliandou, the rural village in Guinea where the outbreak started, we meet the father of patient zero and hear how the Ebola virus first entered the community. Later, we head to Sierra Leone to see how one infection can spread through an entire village and cause dozens of deaths, while learning why sometimes the measures put in place to contain the disease fail. We also return to Liberia to catch back up with some of the people we first met back in September and learn how they were able to stop the spread of the disease through community-organized efforts.

We also examine the failure of the international community to heed the warning signs of the Ebola outbreak, and talk to experts about what needs to be done in the future to stop the next outbreak from being even worse and becoming a global epidemic.