Medexia Info series: EBOLA

VIRUS DISEASE (EVD)

EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE (EVD)

The Ebola virus causes severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks in humans which
causes death in 25-90% of all cases.
Ebola first appeared in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks in Sudan and Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC). The latter was in a village situated near the Ebola River, from
which the diseases takes its name.
TRANSMISSION

Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood,
secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals Chimpanzees,
Gorillas, Fruit Bats, Monkey, Forest Antelope.

It then spreads through human to human transmission, with infection resulting from
direct contact (through broken skin or mucus membrane) with the blood, secretion,
organs or other bodily fluid (sweat, saliva) of infected people and indirect contact
with environments contaminated with such fluids.

Burial ceremony where mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased
person can also play a role.

Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their
semen for up to seven weeks after recovery from illness.

Health-care workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with
suspected or confirmed EVD.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
EVD is a severe acute viral illness often characterized by the sudden onset of fever,
intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting,
diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and
external bleeding.
The incubation period (interval from infection to onsets of symptoms) varies between 2
to 21days. People are infected as long as their blood and secretion contain the virus.
DIAGNOSIS
Ebola virus infections can be diagnosed definitively in a laboratory through several
types of tests.
TREATMENT
No specific treatment is available. Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care.
PREVENTION

No vaccine for EVD is available for clinical use.

Avoid physical contact with the blood or secretions of any patient including those
who are deceased.

Burial of deceased should be safely done.

Be very careful in handling Bush Meat.

Avoid going to where there is information that there is an outbreak.

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