The Ebola Virus Essay

Ebola is classified as a type of viral hemorrhagic fever, filivirus. The natural host for Ebola is still yet to be defined, but in most cases of a viral hemorrhagic fever, arthropods and rodents, such as ticks and mosquitoes, are the common hosts.

Ebola was named for a small river near Maridi, Sudan. Since Ebola first appeared in 1967 there have been over 100 cases of Ebola with more than 50% of the patients dying within days of their acute symptoms. Ebola is classified as a biosafety level four agent because of its extreme pathogenicity and the lack of a vaccine or antiviral drug. Ebola virus (Zaire ebolavirus); Sudan virus (Sudan ebolavirus); Taï Forest virus (Taï Forest ebolavirus, formerly Côte d’Ivoire ebolavirus); and Bundibugyo virus (Bundibugyo ebolavirus). The fifth, Reston virus (Reston ebolavirus), has caused disease in nonhuman primates, but not in humans. Ebola has spread between countries starting in Guinea then spreading across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia, Nigeria, USA, Senegal and Mali. Ebola has been presented for more than 35 years; however, the largest outbreak began in West Africa in March 2014. Ebola was previously reported in: Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, United States, Mali, and United Kingdom. However, there are no current cases of Ebola in these countries. There were four people who were diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. The two brought ebola into the country while the other two contracted the disease after caring for an Ebola patient in the United States. One man however died from the disease and the other three recovered and are now free of Ebola. Most of these cases were due to people traveling from a country where ebola was present. This outbreak cause severe and

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

The whole world is at edge knowing that Ebola is a very lethal virus and it is very tough to treat and cure an infected person. But it has been seen that in countries were level of development is higher and health care is easily reached this disease can be fought.

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.

Ebola was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River which is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are five identified ebola virus species: Ebola virus (Zaire ebolavirus); Sudan virus (Sudan ebolavirus); Taï Forest virus (Taï Forest ebolavirus); and the Bundibugyo virus (Bundibugyo ebolavirus). The fifth, Reston virus (Reston ebolavirus), causes disease in nonhuman primates. There have been ebola outbreaks in Africa starting in 1976 and lasting until 2016. These outbreaks have occurred as a result of human to human contact with bodily fluids which happens mostly during funerals of the deceased and population migration between countries. Patterns between outbreaks could potentially

In the year 1976, Ebola climbed out of its unknown hiding place, and caused the death of 340 people. Fear gripped the victims' faces, and uncertainty tortured their minds. The people of Zaire waited outside clinics, churches and in their homes for a treatment of the horrible disease, but there was no cure. They were forced to watch people die, hoping that they would be saved from the violent death of the Ebola virus. From the year of 1976 to the present date of 1996, researchers have searched for origin and cure of the virus. Scientist have carried out numerous studies and investigations, but no one has been able to find the right explanations.

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

got sick and died. This outbreak infected 318 with a death rate of 93% (Le

The Ebola virus, also known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is often fatal to humans. The EVD (Ebola Virus Disease) is transmitted to people from wild animals and from human-to-human interaction. The symptoms of EVD include headaches, red eyes, fevers, lack of appetite, internal bleeding, aches, weakness, diarrhea, hiccups, sore throat, difficulty breathing, difficulty swallowing, chest pains, pain, vomiting, rash, and bleeding. Currently, there is no official cure for EVD, however there are viable treatments. Blood transfusions, supportive intensive care, oxygen therapy, and other fluid injections can help medicate the virus. Treating Ebola requires a good laboratory service and a safe burial service. The origin of the virus

From 2-21 days is the incubation period of EVD (3). Multisystem of the body are affected by Ebola virus including respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurological, and vascular system (10). The onset of the symptoms may involve; fever, chills, decrease of the appetite, headache, and weakness. Some of the previous symptoms might develop into the next level; bloody or non-bloody diarrhea, belly ache, vomiting, and rash. Unfortunately, some of the problems will affect permanently after recovering such as, headache, eye and joint pain, and tiredness (6). On the other hand, a cured person from EVD has a good benefit from his disease which is his immune system becomes stronger against the disease at least for 10 years due to the developed antibodies (11) . During 6-9 weeks the infected person may die, yet a high chance of survival from the disease via rehydration and earlier treatment for the symptoms

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

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

Normally infecting fruit bats, the Ebola virus found a mutation allowing it to spread to humans. This virus is an acute and often fatal illness. This virus first erupted in two outbreaks in 1976 (one occurring in Nzara and Sudan, while the other occurred in a village near the Ebola river, where the virus takes its name.) The current outbreak, starting in West Africa with the potential to spread throughout the world,  is  larger and more complex than previous outbreaks. This virus has caused more deaths than all other past Ebola outbreaks combined. With approximately five people infected with the virus every hour in Sierra Leone alone, how far – and how fast – will the Ebola virus go?