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Ebola Disease Occurs In Humans And Nonhuman Primates

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EBOLA FACT FILE
Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a severe and often fatal disease that can occur in humans and nonhuman primates (such as monkeys and gorillas). The outbreaks of EVD occur predominantly in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests and where contact with animals is more likely to take place. EVD is transmitted into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals (typically nonhuman primates and fruit bats). Once a human is infected it spreads in the community through skin-to-skin contact, direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected individual, or contact with environments that are contaminated with such fluids. The incubation …show more content…

It is one of three members of the ‘Filoviridae’ family and comprises of 5 distinct species, three of which are fatal to humans. These fatal species are the ‘Zaire Ebolavirus (EBOV)’, the Reston Ebolavirus (RESTV), and the Sudan Ebolavirus (SUDV). Due to the difficulty in obtaining samples and studying the disease because of the remote areas in which it outbreaks, the cause of Ebola is not yet defined. However, it is greatly suspected that fruit bats carry and spread the virus (through their droppings) without being affected. As mentioned above, the virus is then transmitted to humans through contact with the infected bodily fluids of an infected organism or …show more content…

Diagnosing Ebola in an individual who has been infected for only a few days is difficult, as the early symptoms such as a skin rash and fevers are nonspecific to the Ebola virus and are seen often in patients with more commonly occurring diseases. This can cause the virus to develop so much that it can no longer be treated and the high death toll is a direct result of this. Death of Ebola victims usually occurs during the second week of Ebola symptoms and is mostly due to extreme blood loss.

Pathogenesis of Ebola

Treatment of Ebola
The standard treatment for Ebola is still limited to supportive therapy as no vaccines are yet available for clinical use. The supportive therapy consists of balancing the patient’s fluids and electrolytes, maintaining the patient’s oxygen status and blood pressure, and treating the patient for any complicating infections. Treatment from the day the virus is contracted is important but extremely challenging due to the fact that Ebola is very difficult to diagnose in its early stages of infection. However, if a person has the early symptoms of Ebola and there is reason to believe that Ebola should be considered it is extremely important that the patient is isolated

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