Ebola Prevention and Symptoms Explained

Ebola Virus Disease (updated on 19 October 2014)
AlvinChew slideshare presentation
alvinworks2006@yahoo.com

In the absence of effective treatment and a human
vaccine, raising awareness of the risk factors for
Ebola infection and the protective measures
individuals can take is the only way to reduce
human infection and death.

What is Ebola
Key facts
• Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola
haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) handout photo of the Ebola virus
• EVD outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%.

• EVD outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in
Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.

• The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and
spreads in the human population through human-to-human
transmission.
• Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered to
be the natural host of the Ebola virus.

• Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care. No
licensed specific treatment or vaccine is available for use in
people or animals.

• Ebola first appeared in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks,
in Nzara, Sudan, and in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of
Congo. The latter was in a village situated near the Ebola
River, from which the disease takes its name.
• An ongoing epidemic of the Ebola virus disease has spread
throughout Guinea and beyond the nation's borders in
West Africa. The outbreak, which began in Guinea in
February 2014 and has spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and
Nigeria, is the most severe in recorded history, both in the
number of cases and fatalities.
• A suspected 1,323 cases with 729 deaths have been
reported as of 27 July 2014, with 909 cases and 485
deaths confirmed to be Ebola.

Signs & Symptoms
Symptoms of EVD typically include:
•Fever
•Headache
•Joint and muscle aches
•Weakness
•Diarrhea
•Vomiting
•Stomach pain
•Lack of appetite

Some patients may experience:
•A Rash
•Red Eyes
•Hiccups
•Cough
•Sore throat
•Chest pain
•Difficulty breathing
•Difficulty swallowing
•Bleeding inside and outside of the body

Symptoms may appear anywhere from 2 to 21 days after
exposure to ebolavirus though 8-10 days is most
common.
Some who become sick with Ebola HF are able to
recover, while others do not. The reasons behind this are
not yet fully understood.
However, it is known that patients who die usually have
not developed a significant immune response to the virus
at the time of death.

Prevention
Prevention focuses on avoiding contact with the viruses. The
following precautions can help prevent infection and spread
of Ebola
•Avoid areas of known outbreaks. Before traveling to Africa,
find out about current epidemics by checking the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention website.
•Wash your hands frequently. As with other infectious diseases,
one of the most important preventive measures is frequent hand-washing.
Use soap and water, or use alcohol-based hand rubs
containing at least 60 percent alcohol when soap and water aren't
available.
•Avoid wildlife /bush meat. In developing countries, avoid
buying or eating the wild animals, including nonhuman primates,
sold in local markets.

•Avoid contact with infected people. In particular, caregivers
should avoid contact with the person's body fluids and tissues,
including blood, semen, vaginal secretions and saliva. People with
Ebola are most contagious in the later stages of the disease.
•Follow infection-control procedures. If you're a health care
worker, wear protective clothing, such as gloves, masks, gowns and
eye shields. Keep infected people isolated from others. Dispose of
needles and sterilize other instruments.
•Don't handle remains. The bodies of people who have died of
Ebola disease are still contagious. Specially organized and trained
teams should bury the remains, using appropriate safety equipment.

UPDATE ON EBOLA
On 17 October, 2014 the WHO said Ebola death toll soars to 4,555 out of
9,216 cases in seven (7) countries.
The WHO splits the seven affected countries into two groups.
Group 1 (Worst affected countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone & Guinea)
• Liberia is the worst-hit of all, with 4,262 cases and 2,484 deaths, as of
October 13.
• Sierra Leone meanwhile counted 3,410 cases as of October 14, 1,200
of whom had died.
• Guinea, where the epidemic originated in December, had seen 1,519
cases and 862 deaths as of October 14.

The second group counts countries with far fewer cases:
1. Senegal, which was declared Ebola-free by the WHO on 17 October.
2. Nigeria, which has seen 20 cases, including eight deaths, and which
looks set to be declared Ebola-free by 20 October, 2014.
That declaration could be made after the benchmark of 42 days passed
without any new cases since Senegal's single, non-fatal Ebola case in
August.
3. Spain, where a nurse has been confirmed to have contracted the
disease from a missionary she cared for and who died from Ebola after
returning from Liberia.

4. United States, where two nurses have fallen ill after caring for a
Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, who died on October 8 after becoming
the first Ebola case diagnosed in thecountry.
5. Democratic Republic of Congo, hit by a separate strain of Ebola from
the one raging in west Africa, the WHO said there have been 68 cases and
49 deaths up to October 9.
Health workers has very high risks of being infected, there are 239 deaths
out of 423 cases across the countries.

Ebola Prevention and Symptoms Explained

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