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Africa Case Study

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EPIDEMIOLOGY OF THE OUTBREAK IN W. AFRICA
In December 2013, the first cases occurred in Guéckédou and Macenta districts, the focus of the epidemic in Guinea. During March 2014, a rise in the numbers of cases in these two districts, in addition to the first reports from Lofa and other districts in Liberia, was followed by the discovery of cases in the capital, Conakry. A second increase in case incidence in
Guinea — first in Guéckédou and Macenta and then in the capital — occurred in May and
June. During May, the focus of the epidemic in Guinea expanded to the neighboring districts of
Kenema and Kailahun in Sierra Leone and in June further cases were reported in Lofa district in Liberia. These five districts have remained the focus …show more content…

However, after natural infection, the virus can transmit from one human to another (epidemic).outbreaks of human cases of haemorrhagic fever occurs sporadically unpredictable and irregularly. There is generally no cure or established drug treatment for VHFs, but dramatic successes in research have predicted that the virus may be controlled using vaccines underway.
Also, other viral & bacterial infections can cause an HF (e.g.: scrub typhus) . VHFs are zoonotic, totally dependent on their hosts for replication & survival. Bats, rodents, arthropods are the main reservoirs/vectors of VHFs. Rodents in the field as Multimammate rat, deer mouse, house mouse, cotton rat are examples of host reservoir of the virus. Mosquitoes and ticks also serves as vectors of some VHF’s. People usually become infected in enzootic areas, & infected occasionally by a reservoir host exported from it native habitats. Example is the outbreak of Marburg haemorrhagic fever for the first time occurred in Germany when laboratory workers from Africa imported infected monkeys. A person might be infected in an area where the pathogen occurs naturally and then migrate somewhere else.
Also, a person becomes infected in an area where the virus occurs naturally and then travels elsewhere. After an incubation period of 7–10 days, Range 3–21 days, the patient abruptly develops a fever. The

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