EBOLA HEMORRHAGIC FEVER
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a severe and often deadly illness that can also occur in humans and primates (e.g. monkeys, gorillas). Ebola hemorrhagic fever has made worldwide news because of its destructive potential. It’s source of transmittal is believed (99.99%) to be first transmitted from a bat to a human child and then spreads in it’s contagious stage human to human.
The information available on ebola is long, lengthy, and in some cases misleading and wrong. We have a situation in which we have little information other than what we gleaned or we learn about it’s treatment on case by case, given day. It is a long and potentially dangerous learning process.
This is a epidemic that needs to adhere to common sense.
A) Keep the outbreak where it started in Africa, thats the best way to keep it out of the US.
B) It must be science-driven and let the Doctors, Nurses, Responders, Scientists, and Laboratories set the protocols and do their job. They have been studying it for years. The Governors and those making wrong decisions couldn’t spell it two weeks ago.
C) Politicians and media people. Gag, impale, hang, neuter, sew their mouths up, use tape, rope and any other means possible to shut these morons down and spreading fear that is not needed. Ebola has very distinct signs, false positives, and a fever could simply mean the flu, or a head cold. The medical folks should be making the decisions. Not our photo-op politicians during an electoral year.
Simple, our politicians have made it that way already with the usual accusations about the President, travel restrictions, the new Czar, blamesmanship, pure re-election bloviation and a huge amount of wrong information with our friend Ted Cruz in the forefront. Add Governors Perry, Cuomo and the mouth Christie flooding press conferences with fear, mis-information and accusations.
And, I just watched the Whitehouse press meeting and how many times do they have to ask the same question, one after another. Also the tone of their questions is directly traceable to the station or rag they work for.
I PLEAD GUILTY
SHOOT ME for borrowing from others, I am updating and researching the best possible sources and clipping, borrowing, plagiarizing, stealing, republishing the good information but using the information to spread the facts, not the rhetorical BS by those who wish to gain from this possible pandemic of unique proportion. I do this for public service by sorting through the BS and presenting what is known to be truth and verified.
The BBC ONCE AGAIN has the best history on the subject and here are some excerpts By Melissa Hogenboom
Ebola: Is bushmeat behind the outbreak? Bush-meat is believed to be the origin of the current Ebola outbreak. The first victim's family hunted bats, which carry the virus. Could the practice of eating bush-meat, which is popular across Africa, be responsible for the current crisis? The origin has been traced to a two-year-old child from the village of Gueckedou in southeastern Guinea, an area where bat-meat is frequently hunted and eaten.
The infant, dubbed Child Zero, died on 6 December 2013. The child's family stated they had hunted two species of bat that carry the Ebola virus. Bush-meat or wild animal meat covers any animal that is killed for consumption, principally chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats and monkeys. It can even include porcupines, rats and snakes. In some remote areas it is a necessary source of food - in others it has become a delicacy.
In
Africa's Congo Basin, people eat an estimated five million tons of bushmeat per
year, according to the
Centre of International Forestry Research.
But some
of these animals can harbor deadly diseases. Bats carry a whole range of
viruses and studies
have shown that some species of fruit bats can harbor Ebola. Via their
droppings or fruit they have touched, bats can then in turn infect other
non-human primates such as gorillas and chimpanzees. For them, like us, this
can be deadly. Bats on the other hand can escape from it unscathed. This makes
them an ideal host for the virus.
BUSH-MEAT IS COOKED
Cooked or
smoked bush-meat is not usually harmful so exactly how the virus "spills over" into humans is still not clear. There's often an intermediate species
involved, like primates such as chimpanzees, but evidence shows people can get
the virus directly from bats. But it is
difficult for the virus to jump the species barrier from animals into humans,
he adds. The virus first has to "somehow gain access to the cells in which
it can replicate" by contact with infected blood.
Most people buy bush-meat from markets once it has already been cooked, so it is those hunting or preparing the raw meat that are at highest risk because they may be bitten and scratchedThe current outbreak shows that, however difficult or rare it is, infection is clearly possible - though it must be remembered that each further infection, from Child Zero to today, has been caused by contact with an infected person.
BANNING - TWO OPINIONS
There has
been talk of banning bush-meat, but that may simply drive it
underground, experts have previously warned. Hunting
bush-meat is also a longstanding
tradition, explains Dr Marcus Rowcliffe from the Zoological Society of London, "It's
a meat-eating society - there's a feeling that if you do not have meat every
day, you haven't properly eaten. Although you can get other forms of meat,
there's traditionally very little livestock production."
Many West Africans eat bush-meat, it is sold in markets across the region and a large portion are the bats. More than 100,000 bats are thought to be eaten in Ghana each year, In Ghana, for example, currently unaffected by the outbreak, fruit bats are widely hunted.
To understand how people interact with this particular type of bushmeat, researchers surveyed nearly 600 Ghanaians about their practices relating to bats. The study found that hunters used several different techniques to kill their prey including shooting, netting, scavenging and catapulting.
"People who eat bat bush-meat are rarely aware of any potential risk associated with consumption. They tend to see it as healthy food," he told the BBC's Health Check program. This survey was carried out before the current outbreak but the team says that understanding the perceived risks could help control future epidemics.
BUSH-MEAT MAY NOT BE THE PROBLEM
It's not a disease spread by eating bush-meat. As
far as we know it originated in one spillover event from one bat to a child in
Guinea” Prof
Melissa Leach, University of Sussex. While
there is a risk, this study exemplifies that it is low. The estimate of more
than 100,000 bats consumed has not resulted in a single case of Ebola in Ghana. Researchers
have also monitored populations of bats to test for Ebola and found very few
animals with detectable levels of the virus. Since the first recorded outbreak
in 1976 there have been only 30 single spillover events from animals into
humans, according to new research which has mapped all previous
outbreaks.
But given Ebola's animal origin, it is perhaps not surprising that bush-meat has been cited as a core danger associated with the outbreak. An opinion piece in the New Scientist said: "The Ebola outbreak is an opportunity to clamp down on a practice which both causes disease outbreaks and empties forests of wildlife. At a minimum, governments should zealously enforce bans on the hunting and consumption of bats and apes.”
Bush-meat is often smoked before eaten or sold at market. The Washington Post questioned "why West Africans keep hunting and eating bush-meat despite Ebola concerns". Media coverage like this is not only unhelpful but dangerous, warns Prof Melissa Leach, an anthropologist at the University of Sussex. "It's not a disease spread by eating bush-meat. As far as we know it originated in one spillover event from one bat to a child in Guinea.
"Subsequent to that it's been a human-to-human disease. People are more vulnerable to Ebola by interacting with people than by eating bats." She says negative coverage of bush-meat "has deterred people from understanding the real risk of infection". However, despite the current outbreak, the very fact that bats are carriers means there is always a risk of further infection.
Dr. Rowcliff says: "For any given contact the risk is quite low but given the scale of contact it is inevitable that there will be new emergences of Ebola or potentially other diseases that the bats harbor. The risks may be low but the consequences are severe as we are seeing at the moment.” This view is echoed by Dr. Restif, who argues that because the world's population is expanding, close contract with wildlife will increase, which is often "the first driver of these events”.
NOT THE ONLY BAD-BOY •••••
A milder strain of Ebola has been discovered in monkeys and pigs in the Philippines. It is called Reston Virus. Also a milder form of ebola called Marburg virus and has been found in monkeys, chimps and fruit bats in Africa. It is believed these other strains are transmitted to humans through an infected animal's bodily fluids. Examples include:
- Blood. Butchering or eating infected animals can spread the viruses. Scientists who have operated on infected animals as part of their research have also contracted the virus.
- Waste products. Tourists in certain African caves and some underground mine workers have been infected with the Marburg virus, possibly through contact with the feces or urine of infected bats.
Medical personnel can be infected if they don't use protective gear, such as surgical masks and gloves. Medical centers in Africa are often so poor that they must reuse needles and syringes. Some of the worst Ebola epidemics have occurred because contaminated injection equipment wasn't sterilized between uses. There's no evidence that Ebola virus or Marburg virus can be spread via insect bites.
TODAY WE DO KNOW
• Ebola hemorrhagic fever (Ebola fever) is caused by a virus belonging to the family called Filoviridae. Scientists have identified five types of Ebola virus. Four have been reported to cause disease in humans:
• Ebola-Zaire virus • Ebola-Sudan virus • Ebola-Ivory Coast virus • Ebola-Bundibugyo • Reston Ebola virus has found in the Philippines.
• The human disease has so far been limited to parts of Africa.
• The virus is acquired by contact with blood or other body fluids of an infected human or other animal.
• This may also occur by direct contact with a recently contaminated item. Spread through the air has not been documented in the natural environment.
• Fruit bats are believed to be the normal carrier in nature, able to spread the virus without being affected.
• Humans become infected by contact with the bats or a living or dead animal that has been infected by bats.
• Once human infection occurs, the disease may spread between people as well.
• Male survivors may be able to transmit the disease via semen for nearly two months.
• To diagnose EVD, other diseases with similar symptoms such as malaria, cholera and other viral hemorrhagic fevers are first excluded.
*Blood samples are tested for viral antibodies, viral RNA, or the virus itself to confirm the diagnosis.
• The disease can be passed to humans from close contact with infected body fluids or through infected needles in the hospital.
BACKGROUND
The Ebola virus causes an acute, serious illness which is often fatal if untreated. Ebola virus disease (EVD) first appeared in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks, one in Nzara, Sudan, and the other in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter occurred in a village near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name.
The current outbreak in west Africa, (first cases notified in March 2014), is the largest and most complex Ebola outbreak since the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976. There have been more cases and deaths in this outbreak than all others combined. It has also spread between countries starting in Guinea then spreading across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia, by air to Nigeria, and by land to Senegal.
The most severely affected countries, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have very weak health systems, lacking human and infrastructural resources, having only recently emerged from long periods of conflict and instability. On August 8, the WHO Director-General declared this outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
A separate, unrelated Ebola outbreak began in Boende, Equateur, an isolated part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The virus family Filoviridae includes 3 genera: Cuevavirus, Marburgvirus, and Ebolavirus. There are 5 species that have been identified: Zaire, Bundibugyo, Sudan, Reston and Taï Forest. The first 3, Bundibugyo ebolavirus, Zaire ebolavirus, and Sudan ebolavirus have been associated with large outbreaks in Africa. The virus causing the 2014 west African outbreak belongs to the Zaire species.
TRANSMISSION
The Ebola virus causes an acute, serious illness which is often fatal if untreated. Ebola virus disease (EVD) first appeared in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks, one in Nzara, Sudan, and the other in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter occurred in a village near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name. The current outbreak in west Africa, (first cases notified in March 2014), is the largest and most complex Ebola outbreak since the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976. There have been more cases and deaths in this outbreak than all others combined. It has also spread between countries starting in Guinea then spreading across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia, by air (1 traveller only) to Nigeria, and by land (1 traveller) to Senegal.
The most severely affected countries, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have very weak health systems, lacking human and infrastructural resources, having only recently emerged from long periods of conflict and instability. On August 8, the WHO Director-General declared this outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
A separate, unrelated Ebola outbreak began in Boende, Equateur, an isolated part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The virus family Filoviridae includes 3 genera: Cuevavirus, Marburgvirus, and Ebolavirus. There are 5 species that have been identified: Zaire, Bundibugyo, Sudan, Reston and Taï Forest. The first 3, Bundibugyo ebolavirus, Zaire ebolavirus, and Sudan ebolavirus have been associated with large outbreaks in Africa. The virus causing the 2014 west African outbreak belongs to the Zaire species.
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.
INCUBATION
During the incubation period, which can last about 1 week (rarely up to 2 weeks) after infection, symptoms might appear, the general consensus is 21 days, no signs OK.
• Arthritis • Backache (low-back pain) • Chills • Diarrhea • Fatigue • Fever • Headache • Malaise • Nausea • Sore throat • Vomiting
LATE SYMPTOMS INCLUDE
• Bleeding from eyes, ears, and nose • Bleeding from the mouth and rectum (gastrointestinal bleeding) • Eye swelling (conjunctivitis) • Genital swelling (labia and scrotum) • Increased feeling of pain in the skin • Rash over the entire body that often contains blood (hemorrhagic) • Roof of mouth looks red
• There may be signs and symptoms of: Coma, Disseminated intravascular coagulation, Shock
EXAMS AND TESTS
Tests used to diagnose Ebola fever include:
• CBC • Electrolytes • Tests of how well the blood clots (coagulation studies) • Liver function tests • Tests to show whether someone has been exposed to the Ebola virus (virus-specific antibodies).
TREATMENT
There is no known cure. Existing medicines that fight viruses (antivirals) do not work well against Ebola virus. The patient is usually hospitalized and will most likely need intensive care. Supportive measures for shock include medications and fluids given through a vein. Bleeding problems may require transfusions of platelets or fresh blood.
• As many as 90% of patients die from the disease.
• Patients usually die from low blood pressure (shock) rather than from blood loss.
• Survivors may have unusual problems, such as hair loss and sensory changes.