1. The Effect of American Military Intervention in the 2014 West Africa Ebola
Outbreak
Savannah Maxwell
May 8, 2015
POLS 413

2. Literature Review
Since the first case of the Ebola virus was discovered in the 1970’s, the virus has
continued to rear it’s ugly head time and time again, creating multiple outbreaks amongst
humans and Ape and Chimpanzee populations in Central and West Africa. When does a disease
become so dangerous that it warrants more than the healthcare intervention that a country can
provide? The nearly forty-year history of the Ebola virus is the perfect setting in which to
examine this particular concept.
What we know about the Ebola Virus is growing everyday, given that the virus has a
fairly short history in scientific context, only having been discovered nearly forty years ago in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). (Peters, LeDuc Pg. 9) The Ebola virus
triggers hemorrhagic fever in its host, causing the patient to suffer bleeding (notably internal in
the gastrointestinal tract), high fever, soar throat, and inconsolable abdominal pain. So what
makes Ebola so deadly? These symptoms appear to be easy to control from an outsider
viewpoint, but often it is that the virus wears the host’s system down so far that their organ
systems can no longer fight and begin to shut down. The best means for fighting Ebola is simply
system support such as fluids and oxygen. What makes Ebola the deadly virus that it is known as
is how quickly the virus tends to spread. Ebola is spread through the contact with the bodily
fluids of a person infected with the virus. In environments where hygiene is not necessarily a
priority, or where access to proper medical care is available, the virus is able to flourish and
spread rapidly from person to person. The early epidemics of Ebola in Zaire provided evidence
early on of the just how deadly the Ebola virus had the potential to become if an outbreak was
allowed to get out of hand and not under control early on. The outbreak in Zaire had a case-
fatality rate of 88% (Heymann et. al. Pg. 372). Access to proper medical equipment, medical

3. care, and sanitation is essential during an Ebola outbreak. Unfortunately this is not always
accessible in rural (or even urban) areas of Africa where the Ebola virus tends to have a
prevalent presence. The Ebola Zaire (1976) outbreak would not have been as fatal were there
access to clean needles. It was found that the disease was spread in a hospital by the sharing of a
needle used on an infected person with other hospital patients. (Heymann et. al. Pg. 372)
One of the major issues present when there is an outbreak of Ebola is the access to
sanitation and sanitary medical supplies. Up until 2014, there had been little to no outside
intervention in any previous Ebola outbreak (save for what help the WHO offered). The most
attention given to Ebola up until 2014 was during an outbreak of Ebola-Reston in 1989 at a
primate facility in Reston, Virginia where monkeys that had been imported became ill with the
virus. The virus was then seen again at this same site in 1996 (Peters, Leduc, Pg.9). Until the
outbreaks in Virginia, the United States government had turned a relatively blind eye to the
Ebola virus and the havoc it had wrecked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan.
An outbreak, large in comparison to previous, in the DRC city of Kikwit in 1995 was the largest
outbreak at the time that had been observed. More than 300 people fell ill with the virus in this
particular incident. The WHO was contacted regarding the mysterious illness that had plagued so
many, and when the samples were sent to the CDC, Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever was confirmed to
be the culprit. (Bwaka et. al. Pg. 1). Also in 1995, an outbreak in Mosango, DRC showed a
different side to the virus, the side that could be controlled with proper hygienic practices among
medical personnel and in hospitals. The outbreak remained small because of the conditions at the
hospital in Mosango. The sanitary conditions under which the patients were seen and treated, as
well as the way in which waste was disposed of provided the proper environment for the virus to
be stopped in its tracks. (Ndambi et. al. Pg 8). Another example of poor health measures

4. resulting in a lengthy outbreak is the outbreak of Ebola in Gabon in the years of 1994-1997. The
lack of health care supply, sanitation, and medical workers posed quite the challenge in fighting
back against the virus during the Gabon outbreaks. (Georges et. al. Pg 65).
The consensus amongst the examination of past Ebola outbreaks is the need for
consistent and quality medical care and sanitation in any incident of Ebola being diagnosed. The
way to stop the virus is through sanitary health care measures, unfortunately the regions in which
Ebola presents itself do not consistently have access to quality medical care and proper sanitary
medical practices, posing a need for outside intervention.
Research Design
The effect of the use of the American military for civilian purposes has been observed in
many instances, but never in such a way that shows the effect that the American military can
have during an epidemic of a deadly disease in another country, operating on foreign soil. The
Ebola virus has wrecked havoc in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and
Guinea. With casualties of over 9,000, the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa has no doubt been
the most deadly of the virus’ history. With the outbreak of Ebola threatening not just domestic
security in West Africa, but international security and the health of other countries, President
Obama announced the deployment of United States military servicemen and women to help aid
medical workers in areas most affected by the virus with the hopes of ending the further spread
of the virus.
In order to determine whether or not American military intervention in the West African
Ebola outbreak (2014) significantly contributed to the slowing of the spread of the Ebola virus in
Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, there are several sets of data that will need to be looked at and

5. studied to determine just the effect that the American intervention has made on the epidemic and
conditions in West Africa. United States military intervention in the Ebola outbreak has not only
had an effect on the ground in West Africa because of the American military servicemen and
women that were sent to aid in the crisis, but also because of the influence that the decision to
send American military to aid in ending the epidemic had on the decision made by other
countries to send aid to West Africa.
For this particular study, only the data concerning the timeline of the spread of the Ebola
virus in the outbreak in West Africa before United States military intervention, and the timeline
of the spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa when United States military intervention began to
current times will be used to provide answers to the research question. The independent variable
of the study is United States military intervention in the Ebola outbreak in the West African
countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, while the dependent variable of the study is the
spread of the Ebola virus and death counts in the Ebola outbreak in the West African countries of
Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Data concerning the current West African Ebola outbreak in
Guinea, the only country of the three most affected that did not experience any intervention by
the United States military is used for comparison.
To measure the independent and the dependent variables of the study, a few different
sources were used to gather data on the current Ebola outbreak and past Ebola outbreaks, namely
the Center for Disease Control at www.cdc.gov and the European Center for Disease Control at
ecdc.europa.eu. Using the data provided concerning the amount of cases of Ebola in comparison
to the timeline of the outbreak, the effect of United States military intervention in terms of the
spread of the Ebola virus will be determined.

6. Data Analysis
In the case of the ongoing West African Ebola outbreak, the most important pieces of
data to analyze are the death count and case counts for each of the three main countries in West
Africa that were affected by the outbreak; Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. By placing the data
found through the European Center for Disease Control website into graphs where the data is
shown over time, the leveling off of death counts after American intervention in Liberia can be
seen in comparison to the death count in Guinea, where there was very little to no American
military intervention in the crisis. In the graphs below, the death counts for the three most
affected countries are displayed over time.
Figure 1: The death count for the ongoing Ebola Outbreak in Guinea is displayed for the
dates ranging from March 2014 to March 2015.
80
141
193
303
339
430
710
1018
1327
1739
1937
2127
2279
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Number
of
Cases
Guinea
Monthly
Death
Count

7. Figure 2: The death count for the ongoing Ebola Outbreak in Liberia is displayed for the
dates ranging from March 2014 to March 2015.
Figure 3: The death count for the ongoing Ebola Outbreak in Sierra Leone is displayed
for the dates ranging from March 2014 to March 2015.
0
0
9
65
156
694
1998
2697
3155
3423
3739
4057
4301
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
Number
of
Cases
Liberia
Monthly
Death
Count
0
0
6
99
233
422
622
1510
1583
2827
3274
3530
3764
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
Number
of
Cases
Sierra
Leone
Death
Count

8. American military intervention in Sierra Leone and Liberia (main base for the relief efforts was
based out of Liberia) began in mid October of 2014. In the graphs displayed above, the death
count from the outbreak continues to rise even through November, but in Sierra Leone’s case
through much of December as well. After this time however, which I would like to refer to as an
“adjustment period”, the death count for Liberia and Sierra Leone largely begins to level off and
slow down, aligned with the timing of the arrival of American military aid to West Africa. Also
aligned with this is the death count in Guinea. Guinea, where the outbreak began, was not
affected as greatly as Sierra Leone and Liberia with the spread of the Virus; therefore the
American aid was concentrated in Liberia and Sierra Leone, which I believe the data accurately
shows.
Though the death count leveled off in correct correlation to the timing of American aid, it
can be argued that there were many other factors involved with the death rate of the Virus
slowing in the two most affected countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone. When President Barack
Obama announced that the United States would be sending American military to aid in the relief
efforts, many other international governments also became involved in the relief efforts
including countries such as China and Cuba. With this in mind however, the connection between
the death rate of the virus slowing in Liberia and Sierra Leone where the majority of the
American military aid was sent, and the death rate of the virus remaining relatively the same in
Guinea where little American military aid was sent cannot be denied.
The death rate of the virus was significantly lowered and appears to have leveled off, and
in addition to this, the rate of new confirmed cases also appears to have lowered and leveled off
in Sierra Leone and Liberia while remaining relatively high and stable in Guinea, consistent with
the death count data. I believe this to be a result of several different factors. Firstly, the main

9. effort of American military aid for the Ebola outbreak was to build hospitals and provide medical
services and supplies to hospitals to aid those that were infected. In addition to this, educational
services were offered by the American military officials that were sent to aid in the outbreak in
order to better educate medical personnel that were directly involved in treating Ebola patients to
create a more uniform set of information distributed to medical personnel on how to safely and
effectively treat patients infected with the virus. Therefore, with most aid that was sent for the
relief efforts going towards those persons that were already ill with the virus, not much was done
on the part of the American military to essentially stop the spread of the virus, but by lowering
the death rate of the virus, a lowering of the infection rate of the virus should in essence happen
as well, as shown below in the graphs of Case Count data.
In the graphs below, the case counts for the outbreak for the three most affected countries
are displayed in graph form over time.
Figure 4: The case counts for the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Guinea is displayed over
time from January 2014 to March 2015.
10
39
122
218
291
413
460
648
1157
1667
2164
2730
2959
3205
3459
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
Number
of
Cases
Guinea
Monthly
Case
Count
Increase

10. Figure 5: The case counts for the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Liberia is displayed over
time from January 2014 to March 2015.
Figure 6: The case counts for the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone is displayed
over time from January 2014 to March 2015.
0
0
12
0
12
107
329
1378
3696
6525
7650
8018
8729
9265
9602
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Number
of
Cases
Liberia
Monthly
Case
Count
Increase
0
0
0
0
50
239
533
1026
2304
5338
7312
9633
10707
11443
11866
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
Number
of
Cases
Sierra
Leone
Monthly
Case
Counts

11. As earlier mentioned, figures 4-6 do in fact show a slow in the spread of the virus and newly
confirmed cases. Based on the graphs and the data, American military intervention does appear
to have affected the spread of the virus and the reduction in deaths from the virus.
Conclusion(s)
Each of the affected countries—Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone—experienced a rapid
increase in virus infection rates from October-December 2014. While the spike was experienced,
Liberia and Sierra Leone—the two countries that received aid from the American military during
the crisis, experience a significant drop in case increase and death increase each month following
this spike. The American military did not intervene in Guinea’s efforts to stop the spread of the
virus, and the data that was collected reflects this. Though Guinea also experienced the same
spike in cases and deaths from October-December 2014, the rate of the spread of the virus in
Guinea did not decrease after the speak, instead it continued to remain at a steady rate rather than
slowing down.
At the time that America intervened in the crisis and sent aid to West Africa, an
international movement started and after American aid had arrived, much other international aid
began to arrive. With this in mind, though there may have been other contributing factors, the
correlation between the decrease in death and infection rates in Liberia and Sierra Leone to the
arrival of American military aid cannot be denied. Though access is currently limited, it is
possible that with more comprehensive data regarding the American military intervention in the
West African Ebola crisis a more concrete conclusion can be reached as to whether or not the
American military sparked a decline in infection and death rates in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

12. Sources
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Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vol. 179, Supplement 1. Ebola: The Virus and the
Disease (Feb., 1999), pp. 9-16.
2. D. L. Heymann, J. S. Weisfeld, P. A. Webb, K. M. Johnson, T. Cairns and H. Berquist, Ebola
Hemorrhagic Fever: Tandala, Zaire, 1977-1978, The Journal of Infectious Diseases,
Vol. 142, No. 3 (Sep., 1980), pp. 372-376.
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Guimard, Kasongo R. Katwiki, Kapay Kibadi, Mungala A. Kipasa, Kivudi J. Kuvula,
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Tamfum, Edouard Ndaberey, Clarence J. Peters, Pierre E. Rollin and Erwin Van den
Enden, Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever in Kikwit, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Clinical
Observations in 103 Patients, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vol. 179, Supplement
1. Ebola: The Virus and the Disease (Feb., 1999), pp. 1-7.
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Muyembe-Tamfum and Robert Colebunders
The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Epidemiologic and Clinical Aspects of the Ebola Virus
Epidemic in Mosango, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1995, Vol. 179, Supplement 1.
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Minh Trinh Ngoc, Paul I. Obiang, J. P. M. Lepage, Eric J. Bertherat, David D. Bénoni, E.
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Baize and Marie-Claude Georges-Courbot, Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever Outbreaks in
Gabon, 1994-1997: Epidemiologic and Health Control Issues, The Journal of Infectious
Diseases, Vol. 179, Supplement 1. Ebola: The Virus and the Disease (Feb., 1999), pp. 65-
75.
6. European Center for Disease Control, “Ebola Outbreak in West Africa” 2015.
http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/healthtopics/ebola_marburg_fevers/Pages/ebola-outbreak-west-
africa.aspx (March 23, 2015).
7. Center For Disease Control, “2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa” 2015.
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/index.html (March 10, 2015).