Essay about The Ebola Virus

Ebola, a virus which acquires its name from the Ebola River (located in Zaire, Africa), first emerged in September 1976, when it erupted simultaneously in 55 villages near the headwaters of the river. It seemed to come out of nowhere, and resulted in the deaths of nine out of every ten victims. Although it originated over 20 years

Historically Ebola has had a serious impact on human health and hygiene and still does due to the fact of no vaccine or treatment being discovered, but thanks to improvements in scientific and medical knowledge the virus itself is now controllable.

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

First discovered in the 1970’s, the ebola virus was contained to West Africa (“About Ebola Virus Disease”). Villagers’ diets consisted primarily of the resources readily available. Among these resources were fruit, vegetables, and animals, namely monkeys. Monkeys carried the ebola virus, and when people ate them, without proper cleaning and cooking techniques, they became infected. Ebola, formally known as Zaire Ebola Virus, is transmitted through bodily fluids like saliva, blood, semen, breast milk, mucus, sweat, tears, feces and urine. ("Ebola in West Africa."). Since it was introduced to a third world country, where hygiene is not regarded as important as survival. Without education, protection and segregated sewage, the virus began to spread. In days people were dying after spreading the virus to those closest to them (Waterman). The bodies, though dead, were still harboring the virus and

Ebola is described by the author in deep detail telling the progression of which it goes through. It starts with a headache and backache and ends with all of your internal organs failing “bleeding out” like Charles Monet. There are four filoviruses: Ebola virus (EBOV), Sudan virus (SUDV), Marburg virus (MARV), and Ravn virus (RAVV). They are all Level 4 biohazard, which means they are extremely dangerous to humans especially because they are so infectious, have a high death rate, and there are no medicines, treatments, or cures.

Although Ebola caught the world’s attention during the 1995 outbreak in Zaire, the first outbreak occurred in 1976. As the chart below displays, 71% of the people infected died as a result of Ebola during this first outbreak (Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 56 (2): 247-270, 1978). With the current outbreak, this ratio has dramatically decreased as a result of scientific research leading to early detection, but the current infected population is more than 20 times the amount of any previous outbreak and this number continues to grow as no vaccine exists to prevent the disease.

The first two Ebola outbreaks were in 1976, in the countries of Zaire and western Sudan. These were large outbreaks, resulting in more than 550 cases and 340 deaths. In 1979, Ebola mysteriously appeared in

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.

Ebola was and still is a greatly talked about problem. Most people know that it is very contagious. The Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola river in Congo.The greatest outbreak of Ebola started in Guinea in December 2013.Ebola is a virus with several strains and it can cause the disease Ebola hemorrhagic fever. People that are infected with the Ebola virus get their immune system destroyed and eventually start bleeding internally and externally .Depending on the outbreak from 50 - 90% of the infected die from (EBV)

When this disease was first identified it had only affected a few hundred people.As 2014 went along thousands of people were getting killed by it. Most of the people that diagnosed with Ebola are scared to go and get treated.As

Diagnosis of the Ebola virus is very hard to do. You need a specialized laboratory to perform the blood test. These laboratories are not available commercially, so basically only the government can do it. The lab is an extreme bio hazard. It is conducted under maximum containment conditions.

Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, 2017), Ebola is a blood borne virus that is spread to others through direct contact. Its symptoms include fever, severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and unexplained hemorrhage. There is no documented treatment for the Ebola disease. The best care for the Ebola disease is to provide intravenous fluids (IV) and balancing electrolytes (body salts); maintain oxygen status and blood pressure and treating other infections if they occur. The best prevention from the Ebola disease is to use universal precautions.

The Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is now currently found in many African countries. The first EVD outbreaks occurred in small, remote villages in Central Africa near rainforests, but the recent 2014 outbreak began in West Africa, involving more urban areas than before. The most severely affected countries include Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, largely due to the fact that they lack strong health and sanitation systems. The Zaire, Bundibugyo, and Sudan species, previously mentioned, have been associated with the outbreaks in Africa. The recent 2014 outbreak belongs to the Zaire species.

During the 70’s, the DRC and Sudan were affected by Ebola viruses causing 637 human cases and 454 deaths. The first two major epidemics occurred in Africa in 1976. There were no EVD outbreaks reported within a 15-year period. (Galan-Huerta, 2014)

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