EBOLA VIRUS

All about EBOLA

History of Ebola

• Ebola is a rare and deadly disease caused by infection with one of the Ebola virus strains (Zaire, Sudan, Bundibugyo, or Tai Forest virus). 
• Ebola viruses are found in several African countries. 
• Ebola was discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since then, outbreaks have appeared sporadically in several African countries. Till now , no successful vaccine has been developed .
• More than 4500 people in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone have been deceased , according to the World Health Organization, making this the biggest outbreak on record. 

Symptoms

First symptoms are fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat (generally, flulike
symptoms) followed by even worse symptoms, like vomiting, diarrhea, rash, and impaired kidney and liver function. Then (of course) there comes the internal and (slightly more traumatizing) external bleeding.In most cases, but not all, death follows shortly thereafter.

Important Points to Note

• Started from Sudan in 1976 
• Peter Piot codiscovered Ebola virus in Zaire 
• The Ebola virus is named after the Ebola River, where the first outbreaks occurred in 1976.
• The natural host of the Ebola virus is Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family.
• Ebola was first discovered in 1976, and it was once thought to originate in gorillas, because human outbreaks began after people ate gorilla meat.
• Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals.
• Incubation period: 2 to 21 days after infection.
• Ebola kills 90% of its victims
• Puts victim in lots of pain There is no cure and the cause is unknown. It can reproduce in 8
• hours and when it does millions of new viruses come out. out.
• It is a threat and 10 outbreaks have been reported in last 10 years.
• Person infected with ebola may die any were from 3-30 days or even longer.
• No licensed vaccine for EVD is available. Several vaccines are being tested, but none are available for clinical use.
• Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) describes Ebola as "one of the world's most deadly diseases".
• WHO (World Health Organization) provides expertise and documentation to support disease investigation and control.
• "Extreme amplification" is the term used by scientists to indicate that the host has been infected by the virus.
• " Laboratory Monkeys" brought the Ebola to USA .
• GUINEA is the first country to report ebola in current Ebola Outbreak .
• CDC ( center for disease Control ) , WHO and  USAMRIID ( US army medical research institute of infectious disease) are 3 agencies investigates for possible outbreak of ebola.
• After recovering from Ebola ,someone can still transfer virus to other person upto 2 months ( so person recovered from Ebola should be kept quarantine for 2 months).
• WHO spending $100million to control current ebola outbreak 
• India pledge to contribute $12 million to United Nations  to fight Ebola virus in western african countries.

2014 OUTBREAKS :-