EBOLA VIRUS - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
News: Vaccine trial soon amid fear of Ebola virus spread to other countries
What's in the news?
● The
Ebola virus outbreak that began in Uganda
on September 20 after one case was confirmed in Mubende district the previous
day has spread to at least 130 people (lab confirmed) and caused 43 deaths as
on November 2.
● The
increase in fatalities has in turn
increased the case fatality rate among lab-confirmed cases to 33% (43/130); the
case fatality rate was 26.5% (34/128) as on October 29.
● It is not the increase in case fatality rate alone that is causing concern - the deadly virus has now reached the capital city Kampala; the virus was restricted to the rural areas of Uganda since the outbreak began in September.
Ebola virus:
● Ebola
virus disease (EVD) or Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) is a viral hemorrhagic fever caused by ebola viruses in humans and
other primates.
● Ebola
virus was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Transmission:
● Animal
to human transmission occurs through close contact with the blood, secretions,
organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as fruit bats,
chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, forest antelope or porcupines found ill or dead
or in the rainforest.
● Human-to-human
transmission occurs via direct contact (through
broken skin or mucous membranes) with Blood or body fluids of a person who is
sick with or has died from Ebola.
Host:
● Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are natural Ebola virus hosts.
Symptoms:
● Symptoms may appear anywhere from 2 to 21 days after contact with the virus, with an average of 8 to 10 days which include Fever, Fatigue, Muscle pain, Body weakness, Headache, Sore throat, Vomiting, Diarrhoea, Symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, in some cases, both internal and external bleeding
Treatment:
● The
Ervebo vaccine has been shown to be
effective in protecting people from the species Zaire ebolavirus.
● Two monoclonal antibodies
(Inmazeb and Ebanga) were approved for the treatment of Zaire ebolavirus
(Ebolavirus) infection in adults.
● Remdesivir
was also tested as an Ebola treatment.