Infectious Diseases : Ebola Virus Disease

In 2014, Ebola hemorrhagic fever caused an outbreak in West Africa that officially ended in 2016. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says, “Ebola is a rare and deadly disease caused by infection with one of the Ebola virus species” (“Ebola (Ebola Virus Disease)”). Ebola is caused when a person is in contact with an infected person’s blood or other body fluids. Prevention of contracting the disease include, not touching the dead body of an infected person, not touching body fluids of an infected person, avoiding places infected people are being treated, not touching bats or nonhuman primates

The infected person should be in separated from other people. All equipment, medical waste, patient waste and surfaces that may have come into contact with body fluids need to be disinfected. During the 2014 outbreak, kits were put together to help families treat Ebola disease in their homes, which include protective clothing as well as chlorine powder and other cleaning supplies. Education of those who provide care in these techniques, and the establishment of such barrier-separation supplies has been a priority of Doctors without Borders.

Prevention of the Ebola virus is more useful than the treatments. Improving sanitation is an important thing to do in rural African countries. Any victims need to be isolated as soon as possible. Quarantining of infected people from others plays a major role. People who have been in close contact with the infected

In 2014, Center for Disease Control and Prevention diagnosed the first Ebola case in the United Stated, from a man in Dallas, Texas that came from Liberia. It came to the United States and in many ways it appears that the country was not ready for this kind of outbreak (CNN). CDC recognized the Ebola cases in the United States a lot of concerns were raised, and death is too many. In order to protect Medical Professionals and Public Health Professionals across the country, strategies and preparations with dedicated teams to undergo extensive training that would help reduce the chance of infection, and rigorous donning of personal protection equipment (PPE) training to ensure that it would stop spreading the disease. This research will outline

In 2014 there was an Ebola outbreak in Africa, which spread to the USA, making our entire nation fearful because it is a fatal and deadly virus if left untreated. Ebola, also know as hemorrhagic fever, is caused by ebolavirus. It is spread though direct contact with bodily fluids, which includes droplets of fluid. Symptoms include muscle pains, fever, vomiting, and diarrhea internal\external bleeding leading to death. Unfortunately, there is no current vaccine but early treatment and interventions improves chances of survival. Ebola is not only affecting the safety of USA airlines but also affecting healthcare workers especially nurses who have the most direct contact with Ebola patients. This subject brought to my attention the question:

The last Ebola outbreak was merely a year ago. This tragedy is fresh; I remember watching the news in fear that Ebola would come to America…until it did. First in Texas then again when two American doctors were flown from Africa to Emory. The idea of Ebola being in my back yard was absolutely terrifying! I couldn’t stop imagining what I’m going to do when I’m a medical student and a biohazard level four patient is in the same hospital as me.

Now that Ebola patients are being treated in the U.S. and missionary doctors are returning from Africa, new procedures and guidelines are being developed.

The Ebola outbreak that started in Guinea in March 2014 and that spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia later, is not the first Ebola outbreak in human history. In fact, 25 Ebola outbreaks were recorded since the virus was first discovered in 1976. But this year’s outbreak has been the severest one because of its widely geographic spread[ http://time.com/47018/ebola-breaks-out-in-west-africa/] and the lack of health infrastructure in those three countries hardest hit. Although in February, the United States and 28 other countries announced the Global Health Security Agenda, one of whose goals was to prevent and reduce the likelihood of outbreaks, the US response in the early months was not enough given the size of the disaster.[ http://ic.galegroup.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ic/ovic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=News&limiter=&u=psucic&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CA382718305]

The four major strategies for managing Ebola patients include: isolation, malaria treatment, broad spectrum antibiotics and antipyretics before diagnosis. Present management for ebola is mainly symptomatic and supportive. Isolation includes keeping the patient in a single room with a private bathroom and closed door. Facilities should keep a log of all healthcare workers and others that enter the patients room. The room should have dedicated medical equipment for the patient care, and nondedicated items need to be thorurougly cleaned and disinfected. All healthcare workers need to use personal protective equipment and appropriate precautions. This strategy helps in containment of the virus and prevents outbreaks in communities. Another strategy

The Ebola virus, which is native to regions of Africa, causes an illness resulting in severe bleeding, organ failure, and even death. Outbreaks in Africa and other regions occur often. The virus is transferred from person to person through contact with infected bodily fluids of sharing needles. Once contracted, a patient will experience sudden symptoms such as fever, headache, aches, chills, and weakness. As the disease progresses, the symptoms become more severe. The symptoms of later cases of Ebola include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, red eyes, rashes, chest or stomach pain, cough, severe weight loss, and internal; bleeding. There is no medication that can effectively treat the disease. Care for Ebola patients may include

The symptoms of Ebola are a fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, vomiting, stomach pain, sore throat, diarrhea, weakness and occasionally read eyes, rashes, hiccups, and internal and external bleeding and since these symptoms are not specific to Ebola, it is difficult to clinically diagnose and can often be confused with other viruses. The ELISA testing, short for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and virus isolation are a couple of examples of the types of laboratory testing that can be done to diagnose and Ebola patient. Because of how easily it can be transmitted, it is extremely difficult to treat and there is no approved, official treatment. As of now, there is not standard treatment but usually the patients are given fluids and oxygen, have their blood pressure monitored and other necessary treatment. To prevent transmission and spreading the virus, the doctors use extreme caution and wear head to toe protective gear and isolate the patient. Even though the Ebola virus is common in Africa, there has been no known outbreak in the United States. Another difficulty facing scientists and the treatment for Ebola is that the natural reservoir for the virus unknown. The natural reservoir of a virus is it’s long term host of the

Chances are, you are more likely to get struck by lightning than to catch Ebola. Up until now, there are only two case of who have caught Ebola in the United States, both were nurses who took care of Thomas Eric Duncan, who is diagnosed with Ebola while traveling. It all depends on your work circumstances and where you travel. Community engagement is the key to successfully controlling outbreaks. Good outbreaks control relies on applying a package of intervention, namely case management, surveillance and contact tracing, a good laboratory service, safe burials and social mobilization. Nigeria has already dealt with the outbreak of Ebola, and stopped it. The important thing to remember is that authorities may have an eye on hundreds of people, but most of them are at a very low risk of developing Ebola. The idea is to not let a single case slip through the crack.

Of the four strains, Ebola-Zaire is the most lethal form, with death rates as high as 90 per cent (Dobson, 2007). Due to its lethality, Ebola-Zaire would be the biological pathogen weapon selected for the attack. The symptoms of infection are: fever, chills and muscle aches. Usually about five days after becoming symptomatic, the infected person may develop a skin rash, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, sore throat, abdominal pain and diarrhea. More severe symptoms include: jaundice, severe weight loss, mental confusion, internal and external bleeding, shock, and multi-organ failure leading up to death (World Health Organization, 2015). The virus is transmitted person to person by contact with body fluids such as blood, tears, vomit, sweat or semen (CDC, 2015). A contaminated person is contagious once the carrier has developed a fever. Symptom onset can be from as soon as 2 days to as long as 21 days after contamination. Currently, there are no scanning or testing procedures available to test for the Ebola virus without laboratory tests. There are two test drugs to treat Ebola, but results are currently mixed (LINA, 2015). Studies in Africa, the locations of the first infections of three of the four Ebola virus types, have shown that common hospital sterilization (bleach) successfully kills the Ebola virus on exposed

THIRD POINT: There is no FDA approved vaccine currently available for Ebola. It is very important that everyone practices careful hygiene. Always wash hands with soap and

Since there is no  preventative treatment for the Ebola virus currently and treatment is only experimental, we have to take careful measures in