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The recent spreading of Ebola through West Africa has been deemed the largest Ebola outbreak in history. Ebola is a deadly disease which has no known vaccine and precisely known origins. About a month after the outbreak started in West Africa, Ebola reached the U.S. and is continuing to spread.
Ebola is caused by an infection from one of the Ebola virus strains. There are four Ebola viruses found in several African countries: the Ebola virus, the Sudan virus, the Taï Forest virus, and the Bundibugyo virus. Researchers believe that the virus is zoomorphic, coming most likely from a bat. Ebola was first identified in the Ebola River (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) in 1976. Since then, outbreaks have been reported sporadically throughout Africa; however, none of these outbreaks have been as severe as the current one. The Ebola outbreak has brought attention to the virus all across the world.
The first sign of the outbreak was on August 26th, 2014 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The primary case of the outbreak was a pregnant woman who butchered a bush animal. She fell sick and died from the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). Due to the customs and rituals of death in her village, many health care workers were subsequently exposed to the virus, prompting the Ministry of Health to notify the World Health Organization of an outbreak of EVD This is the first EVD outbreak to occur in West Africa and the largest EVD outbreak recorded. The Centers for Disease Control have assigned teams of public health experts to West Africa and will continue to send experts to the affected countries. There have been many precautions taken in order to restrict the transmission of EVD. While we do not know that much about the outbreak, we do know that it’s spreading – more than 2,600 people have now died from Ebola in West Africa.
All the cases ending in death due to EVD have occurred in Africa, but other countries are still affected by the disease. A man in Dallas was recently diagnosed with Ebola, and officials are looking into the exposure he may have had. The healthcare providers in Africa have the highest risk of becoming infected with Ebola because they are in constant contact with patients’ bodily fluids. As a zoomorphic virus, EVD has the potential to infect more people through wildlife. Symptoms of EVD include: a high fever, severe headaches, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pains, and unexplained hemorrhages (such as bleeding or bruising). These can appear from 2 to 21 days after the exposure with EVD. Recovery from Ebola largely depends on the patient’s immune response, and those who recover develop antibodies for 10 years.
The outbreak of Ebola has the highest level of transmission in West Africa, specifically Guinea, Liberia, Sierra, Leone, Nigeria, Senegal. In order to find a vaccine for EVD, the National Institutes of Heath has begun human testing on an investigational drug. Meanwhile, Ebola has reached the U.S., causing widespread fear. So the question now is, what are the chances it will spread across the country?
UPDATED: October 14th, 2014
As Ebola has spread outside of West Africa, multiple people diagnosed with Ebola have died. The World Heath Organization has tweeted that 8,914 Ebola cases and 4,447 deaths have been reported, worldwide. A United Nations worker, who was being treated in Germany has died, and the man in Dallas, TX who was diagnosed with Ebola died on Wednesday, October 8th. One of the nurses who was treating him while wearing the protective suit has also now contracted the virus. When the patient was being treated, the hospital did not have a protocol for using the suits to treat the patients. Another nurse in Dallas who treated the patient has also tested positive for the virus. A Spanish health worker also contracted the disease after being in contact with a patient with the virus in Madrid. She is now in critical condition, struggling to breathe in a Madrid hospital.
In the media, Dr. Nancy Snyderman is getting a lot of backlash for having ignored a voluntary 21-day quarantine after returning from West Africa. She left the quarantine and was spotted in New Jersey on October 8th, and has since been placed in mandatory quarantine, along with her crew, by the New Jersey Department of Health.
President Obama commented on the emergence of Ebola in the US: “We are surging resources into Dallas to examine what exactly has happened that ended up infecting the nurse there. Obviously, our thoughts and prayers are with her.”