Hundreds
of people are dead as the worst Ebola virus outbreak in history sweeps
through West Africa.It began as a handful of cases in Guinea in March
but quickly spread to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Here are vital information to know about what the World Health Organisation calls “one of the world’s most virulent diseases.”
The Medicins Sans Frontieres describes Ebola as “one of the world’s most deadly diseases.”
“It is a highly infectious virus that can
kill up to 90 per cent of the people who catch it, causing terror among
infected communities,” it says.
There is also no vaccination against
it.Of Ebola’s five subtypes, the Zaire strain – the first to be
identified – is considered the most deadly.
The WHO said preliminary tests on the
Ebola virus in Guinea in March suggested that the outbreak there was
this strain, though that has not been confirmed.
What is Ebola?
The Ebola virus causes viral hemorrhagic
fever, which according to the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, refers to a group of viruses that affect multiple organ
systems in the body and are often accompanied by bleeding.
The virus is named after the Ebola River
in the Democratic Republic of Congo , where one of the first outbreaks
occurred in 1976. The same year there was another outbreak in Sudan.
The WHO says there are five different
strains of the virus – named after the areas they originated in. Three
of these have been associated with large outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever
in Africa.
These are the Bundibugyo, Sudan and Zaire
sub-types.There has been a solitary case of Ivory Coast Ebola. This
subtype was discovered when a researcher studying wild chimpanzees
became ill in 1994 after an autopsy on one of the animals. The
researcher recovered.
Finally, Reston Ebola is named after
Reston in the US state of Virginia, where this fifth strain of the Ebola
virus was identified in monkeys imported from the Philippines. The CDC
says while humans have been infected with Ebola Reston, there have been
no cases of human illness or death from this sub-type.
What are Ebola’s symptoms?
Early symptoms include sudden onset of
fever, weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat. These
symptoms can appear two to 21 days after infection.
The WHO says these nonspecific early
symptoms can be mistaken for signs of diseases such as malaria, typhoid
fever, meningitis or even the plague.
MSF says some patients may also develop a rash, red eyes, hiccups, chest pains and difficulty breathing and swallowing.
The early symptoms progress to vomiting,
diarrhea, impaired kidney and liver function and sometimes internal and
external bleeding.
Ebola can only be definitively confirmed by five different laboratory tests.
How is it treated?
There are no specific treatments for Ebola. The WHO says patients are isolated and then supported by health care workers.
“This consists of hydrating the patient,
maintaining their oxygen status and blood pressure and treating them for
any complicating infections,” it says.
There have been cases of health care
workers contracting the virus from patients, and the WHO has issued
guidance for dealing with confirmed or suspected cases of the virus.
Caregivers are advised to wear
impermeable gowns and gloves and to wear facial protection such as
goggles or a medical mask to prevent splashes to the nose, mouth and
eyes.
MSF says it contained a 2012 outbreak in
Uganda by placing a control area around its treatment center. An
outbreak is considered over once 42 days – double the incubation period
of the disease – have passed without any new cases.
What drugs exist to combat the disease?
Two American missionary workers infected
with Ebola were given an experimental drug called ZMapp, which seems to
have saved their lives. The drug, developed by a San Diego firm, had
never been tried before on humans, but it showed promise in small
experiments on monkeys.
But rolling out an untested drug during a
massive outbreak would also be very difficult, according to MSF.
Experimental drugs are typically not mass-produced, and tracking the
success of such a drug if used would require extra medical staff where
resources are already scarce. ZMapp’s maker says it has very few doses
ready for patient use.
There are other experimental drugs.
Tekmira, a Vancouver-based company that has a $140 million contract with
the U.S. Department of Defense to develop an Ebola drug, began Phase 1
trials with its drug in January. But the FDA recently halted the trial,
asking for more information.
At least one potential Ebola vaccine has
been tested in healthy human volunteers, according to Thomas Geisbert, a
leading researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch. And last
week, the NIH announced that a safety trial of another Ebola vaccine
will start as early as September.
And in March, the US National Institute
of Health awarded a five-year, $28 million grant to establish a
collaboration between researchers from 15 institutions who were working
to fight Ebola.
“A whole menu of antibodies have been
identified as potentially therapeutic, and researchers are eager to
figure out which combinations are most effective and why,” a news
release about the grant said.
How does Ebola spread?
The WHO says it is believed that fruit
bats may be the natural host of the Ebola virus in Africa, passing on
the virus to other animals.
Humans contract Ebola through contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals or the bodily fluids of infected humans.
MSF says that while the virus is believed
to be able to survive for some days in liquid outside an infected
organism, chlorine disinfection, heat, direct sunlight, soaps and
detergents can kill it.
MSF epidemiologist Kamiliny Kalahne said
outbreaks usually spread in areas where hospitals have poor infection
control and limited access to resources such as running water.
“People who become sick with it almost
always know how they got sick: because they looked after someone in
their family who was very sick – who had diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding
– or because they were health staff who had a lot of contact with a
sick patient,” she said.
Can plane passengers become infected?
While the CDC acknowledges it’s possible a
person infected with Ebola in West Africa could get on a plane and
arrive in another country, the chances of the virus spreading during the
journey are low.
“It’s very unlikely that they would be
able to spread the disease to fellow passengers,” said Stephen Monroe,
deputy director of CDC’s National Center for Emerging Zoonotic and
Infectious Diseases.
“The Ebola virus spreads through direct
contact with the blood, secretions, or other body fluids of ill people,
and indirect contact – for example with needles and other things that
may be contaminated with these fluids.”
He added that most people who have become infected with Ebola lived with or cared for an ill patient.
“This is not an airborne transmission,”
said Dr. Marty Cetron, director of CDC’s Division of Global Migration
and Quarantine. “There needs to be direct contact frequently with body
fluids or blood.”
Travelers should take precautions by avoiding areas experiencing outbreaks and avoid contact with Ebola patients.
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