The end of an epidemic?

The last patient in Guinea has tested negative twice, so if no new cases pop up in the next 6 weeks, the epidemic will be over. The 21 day old girl, according to the BBC, was born the day her mother died of the disease, and if she survives, she will be the first baby to survive more than a couple of days beyond her mother's death.

The Ebola Epidemic that started over a year ago in Meliandou, a small village in south-eastern Guinea. There, a two year old boy, Emile Ouamouno, died after a fever, headache and bloody diarrhea. It was in December 2013, despite his family's best efforts, he died - followed within days by his three-year-old sister Philomene and their pregnant mother Sia. 

Since their deaths, over 11,000 people died in six countries and many survivors have suffered permanent harm.

There were heros.  One was Dr Ameyo Stella Adadevoh in Nigeria, who gave her life, but stopped the virus in its tracks there.

There were miracle drugs: Zmapp saved lives. TKM saved lives.

It is hard to believe two years will have passed by the time it is all over. Harder still, I am sure most people think it already is. Just as it took months for the world to realize there was a serious epidemic in Western Africa, the epidemic disappeared from the headlines long ago- no longer the top story, even as the deaths continued.

And the rebuilding has just begun.