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Monday, August 18, 2014

EBOLA - FASTER THAN ECOMMERCE AND EFINANCE

Where does the disease come from?
Ebola was first discovered in 1976, and it was once thought to originate in gorillas, because human outbreaks began after people ate gorilla meat. But scientists have since ruled out that theory, partly because apes that become infected are even more likely to die than humans.

Scientists now believe that bats are the natural reservoir for the virus, and that apes and humans catch it from eating food that bats have drooled or defecated on, or by coming in contact with surfaces covered in infected bat droppings and then touching their eyes or mouths.

The current outbreak seems to have started in a village near Guéckédou, Guinea, where bat hunting is common, according to Doctors Without Borders.
How does the disease progress?
Symptoms usually appear about eight to 10 days after exposure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At first, it seems much like the flu: a headache, fever and aches and pains. Sometimes there is also a rash. Diarrhea and vomiting follow.

Then, in about half of the cases, Ebola takes a severe turn, causing victims to hemorrhage. They may vomit blood or pass it in urine, or bleed under the skin or from their eyes or mouths. But bleeding is not usually what kills patients. Rather, blood vessels deep in the body begin leaking fluid, causing blood pressure to plummet so low that the heart, kidneys, liver and other organs begin to fail.
How is the disease treated?
There is no vaccine or definitive cure for Ebola, and in past outbreaks the virus has been fatal in 60 to 90 percent of cases. The United States government plans to fast-track development of a vaccine shown to protect macaque monkeys, but there is no guarantee it will be effective in humans. The question of who should have access to the scarce supplies of an experimental medicine has become a hotly debated ethical question. Beyond this, all physicians can do is try to nurse people through the illness, using fluids and medicines to maintain blood pressure, and treat other infections that often strike their weakened bodies. A small percentage of people appear to have an immunity to the Ebola virus.
How contagious is the virus?
You are not likely to catch Ebola just by being in proximity with someone who has the virus; it is not airborne, like the flu or respiratory viruses such as SARS.

Instead, Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids. If an infected person’s blood or vomit gets in another person’s eyes, nose or mouth, the infection may be transmitted. In the current outbreak, most new cases are occurring among people who have been taking care of sick relatives or who have prepared an infected body for burial.

Health care workers are at high risk, especially if they have not been properly equipped with or trained to use and decontaminate protective gear correctly.

The virus can survive on surfaces, so any object contaminated with bodily fluids, like a latex glove or a hypodermic needle, may spread the disease.
Why is Ebola so difficult to contain?
The epidemic is growing faster than efforts to keep up with it, and it will take months before governments and health workers in the region can get the upper hand, according to Doctors Without Borders.
How does Ebola compare with other infectious diseases in the news?
The biggest headlines have tended to involve outbreaks of deadly viruses that medical workers have few, if any, tools to combat. The four most prominent are compared below. No cure is known for any of them, nor has any vaccine yet been approved for human use.

Ebola
Marburg
MERS
SARS
Emerged / identified
1976; latest outbreak in 2014
1967; latest major outbreak in 2005
2012-2013
2002-2003
Locus
Originally, Congo Basin and central Africa; latest strain, West Africa
Originally, central Europe; latest major outbreak, Angola
Arabian peninsula
Southern China
Suspected source
Fruit bats, by way of monkeys and other animals
Fruit bats, sometimes by way of monkeys
Bats, by way of camels
Bats, by way of civets
Type of virus
Filovirus
Filovirus
Coronavirus
Coronavirus
Type of illness
Hemorrhagic fever
Hemorrhagic fever
Respiratory syndrome
Respiratory syndrome
Fatality rate in outbreaks
50% to 90%
24% to 88%
About 30%
About 10%
Known cases
4,000+
570+
830+
8,200+
Known deaths
2700+
470+
290+
775+
Person-to-person transmission
Readily by close contact or fluids; not by aerosol
Readily by close contact or fluids; not by aerosol
Not very readily; mechanism unclear
Very readily by aerosol, fluids or close contact

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