Ebola Research Paper

In late 2013, Ebola virus disease (EVD), a deadly and lethal disease, remerged in West Africa spreading to various countries in the region. In humans, the disease is spread through contact with infected bodily fluids leading to haemorrhagic fever (World Health Organization [WHO], 2015). Originating in 1976 in equatorial Africa, past outbreaks with a few hundred cases had been contained within rural, forested areas in Uganda and Congo (Piot, 2012). In 2014, a total of 20, 206 cases and 7,905 deaths were reported to have occurred in up to eight countries worldwide. Of all cases and deaths resulting from the disease, 99.8% occurred in three neighbouring West African countries - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea (WHO, 2014). With a case fatality rate from about 50% to 90%, and the absence of preventative or curative therapies, the Ebola epidemic has led to overall global alarm and further elucidated existing global health disparities that perpetuated the epidemic with these West African countries.

Ebola is a virus that is transmitted to other individuals through direct contact with blood and body fluids of those infected (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). In the most recent outbreak in 2014, the video Ebola Outbreak (2014) illustrated that the virus quickly became a worldwide epidemic. As the virus became so widespread throughout Africa, Ebola-infected so many people in such a short time frame. While the organization, Doctors without Borders was intimately involved early on, they quickly learned that the manpower they had to offer was not nearly enough. The group identified that they had no way of performing contact tracing, which is a way of following patients that were contaminated and quickly led to additional cases of infection in astronomical numbers. According to the follow-up video, Outbreak (2014) the organization Doctors without Borders communicated to the World Health Organization (WHO) made a valiant

The Ebola virus is the most feared virus of our time. What exactly is Ebola? Ebola is a viral hemorrhagic fever actually named after the River Ebola in Zaire, Africa, where it was first discovered. It belongs to a genus of ribonucleic viruses called filoviruses, under the family Filofiridae, which are characterized by their filament-like (thread-like) appearance with a little hook or loop at the end. Only five viruses exist in this family: the not-as-deadly Marburg, and the four Ebola strains: Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Tai and Ebola Reston. The latter

Ebola is the global killer and communicable disease of the world with 69 % case fatality rate, whereas only Zaire strain virus has 90% case fatality rate. It attacks Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, especially the west African’s region as

Ebola is one of the harshest and most deadly viruses in the world. It is extremely contagious, but only through close contact with infected people’s bodily fluids (WHO). Major countries that are affected with Ebola include: Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone (WHO). 13, 700 people have been cursed with Ebola, and of those 5,000have not been able to fight it (Hanna and Fantz).

tested to confirm infection. Ebola virus is detected in blood only after onset of symptoms, most notably

The source of the Ebola virus is not completely known. Research has pointed to several possible carriers of the virus. "Among the suspected reservoirs for Ebola are bats, primates, rodents, and insects that inhabit tropical forests in Africa"(1). It is initially spread to people by coming into contact with body fluids or waste of one of the carriers and then it is transferred from person to person very easily and very quickly through similar avenues(2).

Ebola is the better-known member of a small family of viruses known as Filoviridae. The other lesser-known member is Marburg. The Ebola virus has five known subtypes, four of which are highly pathogenic to humans. The fifth, Ebola Reston Virus was first isolated in a group of primates that had been imported from the Philippines to a research laboratory in Reston, Virginia. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, within weeks, the same virus was isolated during similar outbreaks in labs in Pennsylvania, Texas and Siena, Italy. In each case, the affected animals had been imported from a facility in the Philippines. (CDC, 2008) The four species that are pathogenic to humans are Zaire, Sudan, Tai Forest and Bundibugyo.

Ebolavirus is a member of the Filoviridae virus family and there are five strains known. Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV) is the virus currently being battled in west africa and across the world. Ebola is a deadly and rare disease that is caused by infection with one of the five Ebola Virus strains. Ebola is considered a viral disease that can be highly contractible when in contact with bodily fluids of the infected. EBOV is the most deadly of the five strains with a mortality rate between fifty and ninety percent. Ebolavirus is a zoonosis, which is an innocuous agent that lives in animals, only infecting humans on rare occasions. The disease originated in Africa, but has effected many areas around the world.

The areas Ebola originated is being deforested at a very high rate (Solutions for Global Warming Africa, n.d). The deforestation of this region causes loss of habitat to creatures that are known to be carriers of Ebola, which means that the animals must locate a new habitat to live in. With the loss of species in the area to inhabit and infect, the virus spread to humans will decrease. Also the lack of rainfall and drought is also resulting in the deaths of the animal species vulnerable to the Ebola virus. With the decrease in species to infect, and the environment around the virus adapting to fight against Ebola, there is a strong likelihood of the virus disappearing from the local environment. However, this does not mean that the virus will completely stop. As said before, the deforestation is causing the animals that are common carriers of Ebola to relocate their habitats. The animals could migrate to Southern Africa or the Middle East, where the environment may be more hospitable for the virus to flourish. In that case the virus could spread to new species and infect new communities of humans. The other variable that the spread of Ebola relies on is the how the public is educated on the virus and how to stay safe. For example many people is Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa, when their family members came down with the Ebola virus, they would stay

The virus is transmitted to human society from close contact with fluids from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission. In the human demographic, the elderly and children under 10 are less likely to fight off the disease. Additionally, risk is greatly heightened for health workers (especially in Africa), handlers of wild animals, and people practicing unprotected sex. Symptoms are plausible to appear in any span of time up to 21 days, although the average is about 10 days. These symptoms include a first wave of fever, headache, and pain in the muscles and throat. Following, hosts experience more intense symptoms such as vomiting, rash, impaired function of inner extremities, and internal and external bleeding. On many occasions, the effects of Ebola are fatal.

When ebola gets into your body your immune response sends specialised cells to attack the ebola virus but the ebola uses these cells to replicate and continue growing and spreading in the body, eventually your body can’t go on for much longer so they use all their power at once to destroy the ebola virus but it most of the time does more damage than good. The ebola virus infects people thru contact with bodily fluids and enters thru cracks in the skin like a cut, the fluid can be from sexual reproductive fluids to a simple sneeze. Ebola will start with a high fever and eventually lead to internal bleeding and fluids you will throw up alot and have diarrhea.

Part of the reason why is it is very fatal (9 out of 10 people die from it), and it spreads like a wildfire. CNN news broadcast mentioned that the Ebola virus was like a cycle, it starts with the main organism then spreads to the victim, then he has it and and possibly any of the people at the medical center like workers or other patients could get it too. Then the person that cleaned the dead body or people who touched the body at the funeral all have it so it jumped from 1 to possibly 20-30 people all within about 30 days. Also just the fear and ignorance helped spread the disease. These pictures will help show how big of an impact Ebola had on western

Global health rose to the forefront during the recent Ebola outbreak in the United States. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency on an international level. Healthcare providers in the United States knew little about controlling

In the past couple of months, the internet, the social media, the news all had been swarmed by a disease called Ebola. What exactly is Ebola and why is everyone frightened by it? Some background information, Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola Hemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans if untreated. It is thought that fruits bats are the natural Ebola virus hosts. It is introduced to the human population through close contact with the blood secretions, organs and other bodily fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope, and porcupines found ill or dead in the rainforest. Ebola then spreads through human via direct contact.