Facts We Must Know About Ebola Virus

• The dangerous virus is named after the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where one of the initial outbreaks took place in 1976. The same year there was one more outbreak in Sudan.

  

• It is a extremely infectious virus that can wipe out up to 90% of the individuals who are suffering with it, resulting in terror among infected communities
• It started as a few cases in Guinea in March but rapidly propagate to neighbouring countries Sierra Leone and Liberia

Ebola Sub types

• The WHO states that there are 5 various strains of the virus, named after the places they originated in. 3 of these have been related with large outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever in Africa.
• Of Ebola’s 5 subtypes, the Zaire strain the initial to be recognized and it is regarded the most deadly.
• The second ebola subtype identified was Sudan ebola virus and it was identified in Sudan in 1976.
• There has been an individual case of Ivory Coast Ebola. This sub-type was identified when an investigator examining wild chimpanzees became sick in 1994 following an autopsy on one of the animals. The investigator recovered.
• Next one is Bundibugyo ebola virus. Bundibugyo a place of Uganda where the virus was identified in 2007 -Sudan and Zaire sub-types.
• Lastly, Reston Ebola is titled after Reston in the U.S. state of Virginia, where this 5th strain of the Ebola virus was recognized in monkeys brought in from the Philippines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says while people have been attacked with Ebola Reston, there have been no cases of human sickness or death from this sub-type.

Symptoms of Ebola Virus

• The Ebola virus triggers viral hemorrhagic fever, which according to CDC, refers to a group of viruses that impact multiple organ systems in the human body and are generally accompanied by bleeding.
• Earlier symptoms consist of unexpected onset of fever, muscle pain, head-aches, weakness and a sore throat. These symptoms can seem 2 to 21 days soon after infection.
• The World Health Organisation says these nonspecific initial symptoms can be mistaken for symptoms of conditions such as malaria, plague, meningitis or even the typhoid fever.
• Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says some sufferers may also develop rashes, chest pains, hiccups, red eyes and problem in breathing and swallowing.
• The initial symptoms lead to vomiting, diarrhea, reduced kidney and liver function and often internal and external bleeding.

 Diagnosis for Ebola

Ebola virus infections can be identified definitively in a laboratory via various types of tests:

• Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay
• Antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
• Serum neutralization test
• Antigen detection tests
• Virus isolation by cell culture
• Electron microscopy

Treatment for Ebola

• There are no particular therapies available for Ebola. Generally sufferers are isolated and then backed by health care workers.

  

• “This comprises of hydrating the sufferer, keeping their oxygen status and blood pressure and healing them for any further complicating infections,”
• There have been few cases of healthcare staff contracting the virus from sufferers, and the WHO has released guidance for dealing with proved or suspected cases of the virus.
• Care providers are recommended to wear waterproof gowns and gloves and to put on facial protection like as goggles or a medical mask to avoid splashes to the nose, mouth and eyes.

Stats Concerned to Ebola

• According to CDC there have been over 3,000 cases of Ebola and more than 2,000 deaths were reported since 1976.
• The last noted outbreaks prior to the present one in Guinea were in 2012 in Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo.
• The Uganda outbreak concerned a total of 24 possible and confirmed cases, and 18 deaths, with respect to the WHO, which announced it had ended in October 2012.
• MSF mentioned the Uganda outbreak had been the Sudan strain, while the virus identified in Democratic Republic of Congo was the Bundibugyo sub-type.
• Before 2014, the very deadly epidemic was the 1976 epidemic in then Zaire, where around 280 of 318 infected patients died, with respect to the CDC. In 2000, there were around 425 cases of Ebola Sudan in Uganda, which resulted in 225 deaths.