Ebola virus disease is a serious illness that originated in Africa, where there is currently an outbreak. But for people living in countries outside Africa, it continues to be a very low threat. The current outbreak of the Ebola virus mainly affects three countries in West Africa: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Around 13,567 cases and more than 4,951 deaths have been reported by the World Health Organization. This is the largest known outbreak of Ebola. Experts studying the virus believe it is highly unlikely the disease. A person infected with Ebola virus will typically develop a fever, headache, joint and muscle pain, a sore throat, and intense muscle weakness. These symptoms start suddenly, between two and 21 days after becoming infected. If you feel unwell with the above symptoms within 21 days of coming back from Guinea, Liberia or Sierra Leone. People can become infected with the Ebola virus if they come into contact with the blood, body fluids or organs of an infected person. Most people are infected by giving care to other infected people, either by directly touching the victim's body or by cleaning up body fluids (stools, urine or vomit) that carry infectious blood.
Here are 9 essential facts about Ebola that may ease your fears:
1. The current Ebola outbreak is most widespread and intense in West Africa.
The countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia have reported the most infections, with additional cases in Nigeria, Senegal, one in Spain, and four in the United States. To date, the current outbreak includes 13,567 cases of Ebola as of October 31, 2014, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The first case confirmed within the United States was in a person who had travelled from West Africa to Dallas, and died of the illness. Two nurses who cared for him fell ill at the same hospital. One was diagnosed with Ebola on Oct 11, recovered and released virus free Oct 24. A second was diagnosed on Oct 15, released virus free Oct 28. A doctor just back from Guinea fell ill Oct 24, diagnosed with Ebola in New York City.
People who are most at risk are those in close physical contact with an infected person, like family members and the healthcare workers taking care of the patient.
2. Travel warnings have been issued for Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Because of the increasing numbers of Ebola cases in these West African countries, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises against all “nonessential” travel to these countries while the Ebola outbreak is ongoing.
Five major U.S. international airports will now screen patients coming from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone for fever and possible Ebola exposure, announced the CDC and Department of Homeland Security, Oct 8. Screening began at New York's JFK International Airport, followed by Washington-Dulles, Newark, Chicago-O'Hare, and Altanta. As of Oct 21, these five airports are the only U.S. entry points available to travelers coming from Guinea, Liberia, or Siera Leone. After arrival, public health workers will monitor all of these travelers daily for 21 days for any signs of fever or other symptoms, and any intent to travel, the CDC announced.
The U.S. case of Ebola was not apparent during travel, because the patient did not have symptoms until several days after arriving in the United States from West Africa, the CDC notes.
Screening could be implemented by checking for fever in any passengers to airports whose flights began in West Africa, says David C. Pigott, MD, professor of emergency medicine at the University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB). Dr. Pigott published a 2005 review of the virus in Critical Care Clinics journal.
4. Ebola is caused by an RNA virus.
This emerging health threat is the result of a RNA (ribonucleic acid) virus that infects wild animals — like fruit bats, monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees — as well as people. Contact with an infected animal’s blood or body fluids is probably the original source of the infectious disease. Outbreaks of Ebola began in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo on the Ebola River, and Sudan, with later outbreaks in Uganda and other African nations, according to World Health Organization data.
“It is not a casual contact-acquired infection,” notes Safdar. Rather, in its later stages, the Ebola virus is passed from person to person via bodily fluids. "There is no known Ebola transmission through coughing or sneezing, like with influenza or tuberculosis," he says. The virus can live on surfaces that are soiled with blood or other body fluids, but sterilizing hospital equipment with bleach kills Ebola.
5. Early Ebola symptoms are also symptoms of other viral infections.
Early Ebola symptoms include fever, headache, body aches, cough, stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. Because these could be symptoms of other diseases, it's difficult to diagnose Ebola early on. The time it takes from exposure to Ebola to actually getting sick, known as the incubation period, is anywhere from 2 to 21 days, says UAB's Pigott. Most people who are infected with Ebola will develop early symptoms eight to nine days after exposure to the virus, according to the CDC. Specific tests for antibodies against Ebola and viral DNA help doctors make a conclusive diagnosis.
6. Bleeding is common in the later stages of Ebola.
Later symptoms of Ebola can appear quickly, within a few days after onset of early symptoms. Due to internal and external bleeding, the patient's eyes may become red, and they may vomit blood, have bloody diarrhea, and suffer cardiovascular collapse and death, explains Pigott. The only treatment doctors can provide is supportive care — they give the patient fluids and oxygen, and keep their blood pressure steady.
7. Ebola is often fatal.
Almost half of the cases of Ebola viral infection in West Africa have resulted in death, based on WHO data. Of the 13,567 cases in the current outbreak, 4,951 deaths were reported as of Oct 31, according to WHO statistics.
Health workers often succumb to the disease because of close contact with sick patients. Among those infected with Ebola was the doctor who was the head of Ebola virus treatment in Sierra Leone, Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, who died on July 29. The head doctor for Ebola treatments in Liberia, Dr. Samuel Brisbane, died from the disease three days earlier.
8. New Ebola medications are in development.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved any treatments for Ebola, notes Pigott, who adds that there is “nothing that’s been tried in humans at all.” But two American health workers who were infected in Liberia, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, are being treated with a drug that’s still under study.
The drug is called ZMapp, and it's made by Mapp Biopharmacuetical Inc. “It’s an experimental, antibody-based medication,” explains Pigott, but it has not been tested in human trials for effectiveness. Developed in early 2014, ZMapp is produced in plants and has not yet been found to be safe for use in people, according to the manufacturer.
9. There is no vaccine to prevent Ebola.
Vaccines in development have been effective at preventing Ebola infections in animal studies, researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) report. The research, on apes in particular, is controversial because ape populations are dwindling and in danger of extinction. It would be very difficult to test effectiveness of an experimental vaccine in people, Pigott says, because it's unlikely anyone is going to let you inject them with Ebola and later see whether or not they get the infection. However, safety testing of new vaccines in people is now underway.
10. Ebola virus is believed to have started to go to Indonesia.
News of the Indonesian labor force experienced a severe fever and other symptoms similar to the disease Ebola patients. Description hospitals mentioned, this patient had worked at a lumber company in Liberia, eastern Africa, one of the Ebola virus endemic countries. Because based on the classification of the World Health Organization (WHO), patients with high fever Ebola endemic countries, included as a suspect Ebola, ".
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