Ebola: Inside the deadly

outbreak
Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe,
often fatal illness in humans.

A "mysterious" disease began silently spreading in a small village in Guinea

on 26 December 2013 but was not identified as Ebola until 21 March 2014.
Retrospective studies conducted by WHO staff and Guinean health officials identified
the index case in West Africas Ebola epidemic as an 18-month-old boy who lived in
Meliandou, Guinea. The boy developed an illness characterized by fever, black stools,
and vomiting and died two days later. The exact source of his infection has not been
identified but likely involved contact with wild animals.

By the second week of January 2014, several members of the boys immediate family
had developed a similar illness followed by rapid death. The same was true for several
midwives, traditional healers, and staff at a hospital in the city of Gueckedou who
treated them.

During the following week, members of the boys extended family, who attended funerals
or took care of ill relatives, also fell sick and died. By then, the virus had spread to four
sub-districts via additional transmission chains. A pattern of unprotected exposure, more
cases and deaths, more funerals, and further spread had been established.
The Ministry of Health issued its first alert to the unidentified disease on 13 March 2014.
On that same day, staff at WHOs Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) formally opened an
Emergency Management System event for a disease suspected to be Lassa fever.

A major investigation, involving staff from the Ministry of Health, WHO AFRO, and MSF,
took place from 14 to 25 March, involving site visits to Kissidougou, Macenta,
Gueckedou City and Nzerekore. That investigation found epidemiological links among
outbreaks previously not known to be connected and identified Gueckedou City as the
epicentre for transmission of a disease that still had no known cause.

On 21 March, the Institut Pasteur in Lyon, France, a WHO Collaborating Centre,

confirmed that the causative agent was a filovirus, narrowing the diagnosis down to
either Ebola virus disease or Marburg haemorrhagic fever.

The next day, the laboratory confirmed that the causative agent was the Zaire species,
the most lethal virus in the Ebola family. That same day, the government alerted WHO
to what was described as a rapidly evolving outbreak of Ebola virus disease. When
WHO publicly announced the outbreak on its website on 23 March, 49 cases and 29
deaths were officially reported.

Transmission
It is thought that fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are natural Ebola virus hosts.
Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood,
secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees,
gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the
rainforest.
Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through
broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily
fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing)
contaminated with these fluids.
Health-care workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with
suspected or confirmed EVD. This has occurred through close contact with patients
when infection control precautions are not strictly practiced.
Burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased
person can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola.
People remain infectious as long as their blood contains the virus.
The symptoms and signs of this virus tend to show within as little as two days or as late as
three weeks once you have contracted it. First off you can experience a sore throat, a
fever, some headaches and then some muscle pain. This will be followed up by a possible
rash, some diarrhea and even some vomiting. Your kidneys as well as your liver will start
slowing down and then you will begin to bleed both on the inside and on the outside. This
disease is a very high risk disease and has been known to kill up to ninety percent of those
who become infected with it. The one main reason this disease is linked to so many
deaths is because of the sudden drop in the persons blood pressure due to a loss in
fluids. This symptom usually occurs between the sixth and sixteenth day of having
contracted this disease.

In the media today the Ebola virus is all over, it seems there is something new and or
another case of it somewhere else every day. It is obvious to not always believe the news
but one should always be prepared for anything. Simply stay as clean as possible and do
not go anywhere that has been linked to the virus any time soon. Also be sure to avoid
possible injuries in any way, a transfer of blood or other bodily fluids is how this disease is
contracted. Keep an eye on the media, do your own research and be safe but do not let
the media make you believe that everything is alright.

Daniel N Martinez Henriquez 11B