Communication and communicable disease control: lessons from Ebola virus disease.

In her article “Ebola, Team Communication, and Shame: But Shame on Whom?” Shannon (2015) describes communication failures that contributed to delayed diagnosis—and, arguably, to the death—of the first patient in the United States to present with Ebola virus disease (EVD) (Shannon 2015). Contrary to her belief that medical errors due to communication failure are a particular problem in the United States, the problem is probably universal, albeit to varying degrees in different countries and health care settings.