Could 2015 see the end of Ebola as a killer?

Paris

AFTER decades making brief, murderous forays from central Africa's forests, Ebola erupted into a global emergency in 2014. Yet its success could spell its downfall as scientists scramble to relegate it to a footnote of medical history.

From a single infection in impoverished west Africa, the epidemic swept into bustling cities, killed thousands and unleashed a wave of fear in far-off Europe and America. From a standing start in August, the World Health Organization (WHO) gave the green light for the use of experimental treatments, and with vaccines being developed there are already a dozen leading candidates for anti-Ebola medication.