Ebola virus disease

Ebola virus disease
Dr. Ameer kadhim Hussein.M.B.Ch.B. FICMS (Community Medicine).
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 last 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.
Ebola spread between countries starting in Guinea then spreading across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia, by air (1 traveller) to Nigeria and USA (1 traveller), and by land to Senegal (1 traveller) and Mali (2 travellers).
The most severely affected countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, have very weak health systems, lack human and infrastructural resources, and have only recently emerged from long periods of conflict and instability.
The family of virus is Filoviridae which includes three virus genera; Ebolavirus, Marburgvirus and Cuevavirus.
The Ebolavirus has 5 species. The Zaire species is responsible for the West African outbreak 2014.
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 body fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees, fruit bats, monkeys.
Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other body fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.