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Ebola yet exists in Africa, years after the last heavily publicized epidemic impacted the earth from 2014 to 2016. Scientists cannot pinpoint exactly where an Ebola outbreak begins, but they know that Ebola is transmitted through contact with infected actual fluids. Ebola can spread quickly if customs members and healthcare workers do not take preventive measures.

However, Ebola is nonetheless considered a rare disease, and there are many ways to protect yourself against the virus in the event of an outbreak or as a traveler to a country affected by Ebola.

In this department, nosotros volition provide an overview of the Ebola virus, how it affects the trunk and how the virus is transmitted. We'll likewise explore means to protect oneself against the virus. It is possible to command Ebola — commencement past agreement how the virus works.

What exactly is Ebola?

The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a rare and lethal disease caused by a virus, and mostly affects people and nonhuman primates. It is besides known as hemorrhagic fever considering the virus causes problems with how blood clots and might lead to internal haemorrhage. Ebola likewise causes tissue damage and inflammation. The average fatality rate is around l per centum.

In humans, EVD is acquired past the Ebola virus, Sudan virus, Tai Forest virus or Bundibugyo virus. Scientists do not know where the Ebola virus comes from, however, they believe it is animal-borne. Infected fruit bats are thought to be the nigh likely source of Ebola.

What happens to your body when you become Ebola?

Ebola symptoms do not necessarily announced immediately after exposure. It may have anywhere from two to 21 days after exposure to the virus for symptoms to appear. On average, well-nigh people start to experience symptoms eight to 10 days after coming into contact with the virus.

Some individuals might suspect they have the influenza or malaria at showtime considering these illnesses share many mutual symptoms with Ebola. Ebola symptoms may include the following:

  • Fever
  • Headache
  • Weakness
  • Diarrhea
  • Airsickness
  • Stomach pain
  • Muscle pain
  • Unexplained bleeding or bruising

Virtually a week after the showtime symptoms appear, almost people develop a rash followed past hemorrhagic fever. The term hemorrhagic fever refers to a group of illnesses caused past four families of viruses. Ebola is 1 of the viruses that cause hemorrhagic fever. In itself, hemorrhagic fever refers to the interference of the trunk's ability to clot.

Because Ebola attacks the immune system, and leads to uncontrolled bleeding and organ damage, up to l per centum of people who get infected with Ebola will die. Factors such every bit quality medical care and quick intervention greatly touch on a person's gamble of survival.

What causes an Ebola outbreak to kickoff?

Scientists believe an Ebola outbreak begins when a human comes into contact with an infected animal. This might be an infected fruit bat or a not-man primate. Fifty-fifty though animals are thought to beginning Ebola outbreaks, scientists are still non sure exactly how the virus is transmitted by an animal. They suspect the disease spreads from beast to person by eating something that had contacted infected bodily fluid from an animal, or by getting blood in the optics from butchering an infected animal for meat.

In a review published in 2015, during the largest Ebola outbreak in Africa, researchers evaluated the connection between Ebola virus transmission and food. They institute that there is a far greater relationship betwixt food and Ebola than they had expected. Meat from wildlife such as rodents, bats, shrews and nonhuman primates take been found to be infected with the Ebola virus. The Centers for Illness Control and Prevention (CDC) have noted that eating and treatment infected meat has led to transmission. Furthermore, bats can transmit Ebola to other animals, which then spread the virus to humans.

Women presenting ebola poster in liberia
Mamu Paasewe, 35, and Bendu Fahnbulleh, 36, are ii community educators who have been trained past Mercy Corps to assist educate people in their community about the dangers and prevention of the Ebola virus."The problem is that some people all the same don't believe Ebola is real," Paasawe says. "And it spreads." Photo: Sean Sheridan for Mercy Corps

What causes Ebola to spread?

Infographic with text: bodily fluids from an infected person; contaminated objects, such as needles; infected fruit bats and primates; semen from a person recently recovered

In one case a person becomes infected with the Ebola virus, they can spread the virus to another person through directly contact with bodily fluids. The infected bodily fluid needs to enter a person'due south body to take issue and may enter through cleaved skin or the eyes, olfactory organ or mouth. A person might get Ebola if they come up into contact with any of the post-obit:

  • Blood or bodily fluid such as urine, saliva or sweat from a person who is infected with EVD or who has died from EVD
  • Objects such equally needles that are contaminated with infected bodily fluid
  • Infected fruit bats or nonhuman primates
  • Semen from a person who recovered from EVD

How can you protect yourself against Ebola?

There are several ways to prevent getting infected during an Ebola outbreak. First, information technology's worth noting that although Ebola is contagious, it cannot spread to others when a person does not bear witness symptoms. Also, in that location is no evidence that the virus can spread through water or air, and Ebola is not usually spread through nutrient. Currently, in that location is no evidence that Ebola tin be spread through insects. Ebola can merely spread through direct contact with infected actual fluids and is not as easy to grab as the influenza or the mutual cold.

If you alive in or plan to travel to a country where Ebola has been institute, you tin take steps to protect yourself from the disease past:

  • Washing your easily often
  • Avoiding contact with actual fluids
  • Fugitive contact with individuals who appear ill or who have a fever
  • Avoiding objects that have come in contact with an infected private such every bit bedding, wear or medical equipment
  • Not treatment someone who has died from Ebola
  • Avoiding contact with bats and nonhuman primates, and raw meat from these animals
  • Avoiding seeking medical care at hospitals where patients are existence treated for Ebola
  • Paying attention to your health for 21 days later returning from a state where Ebola has been found
  • Seeking medical attention immediately if you lot experience any Ebola symptoms

Healthcare workers are especially vulnerable to Ebola. Healthcare workers and volunteers can protect themselves by taking the post-obit steps:

  • Wearable personal protective equipment such equally gloves, masks and eye protection
  • Do proper infection control
  • Ensure medical supplies, surfaces and equipment are sterilized
  • Avoid handling bodies of those who died from Ebola
  • Allow health officials know if you come into contact with the bodily fluid of an infected patient

Mercy Corps prioritizes the value of hygiene through its piece of work in Ebola-affected areas. During past outbreaks and the current one, we provide handwashing stations, access to make clean water, and hygiene educational activity to curb the spread of the disease.

Image: close-up of hand washing at a hand washing station
Mercy Corps provides the Malepe Wellness Center with hand wash kits. Regular handwashing with chlorinated h2o is one of the almost effective ways to prevent the spread of the Ebola outbreak. Photo: Rudy Nkombo/Mercy Corps

Is there a vaccine to prevent Ebola?

According to the CDC, there currently is no approved vaccine for Ebola. Even so, the Earth Wellness Organisation (WHO) mentions the use of a vaccine named rVSV-ZEBOV during an Ebola outbreak. This vaccine has shown to be safety and effective in countries fighting the Zaire strain of Ebola. The vaccine is recommended for use during outbreaks if a licensed vaccine is not available. The vaccine has been engineered to contain a protein from the Zaire strain and to elicit an immune response to the virus. The vaccine was used during the Ebola epidemic in 2015 and was given to more than 16,000 volunteers.

Even though the vaccine was shown to be safe and prevents infection, more research is needed before it tin get licensed. It is but used to protect individuals who are at high risk of contracting the affliction, such every bit shut family members of Ebola patients or frontline healthcare workers. Individuals who receive this vaccine notwithstanding need to accept proper protective measures against Ebola. Scientists still do not know for sure how long the vaccine lasts, but studies suggest that patients feel protection for upwards to a twelvemonth.

What are the long-term health effects of Ebola?

Ebola leaves a lasting bear on on survivors and can stay in certain bodily fluids subsequently a person has recovered. Scientists are studying how long Ebola stays in the body of Ebola survivors. It is known that Ebola survivors accept antibodies for up to x years after recovery which ways they may be able to provide care to sick individuals in the upshot of an outbreak. However, they should still take precautions, and the antibodies only provide protection against the aforementioned strain that the caused the infection.

Many survivors face long-lasting wellness effects after battling Ebola. The time information technology takes to completely overcome the virus varies between individuals. Ebola survivors may experience health complications afterward recovery such as:

  • Fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Muscle, joint or stomach pain
  • Vision problems or eye pain
  • Inflammation
  • Low
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Likewise, Ebola survivors may face stigma when they re-enter their communities. For instance, some survivors written report feeling rejected past friends, family unit and other members of the customs after Ebola. Many face discrimination and grief, particularly if they lost loved ones during an outbreak.

A survey published in BMJ Global Health found that PTSD and low were mutual amidst survivors and family members a year afterward coping with the effects of Ebola, and they may need psychosocial support in addition to handling for concrete symptoms. Survivors should keep in listen that they are critical to preventing future outbreaks and spreading hope throughout communities. They show communities across the globe that Ebola can be beaten, and they can use their experiences to educate others almost the virus.

Can Ebola be treated?

Currently, there is no canonical treatment for Ebola, and a cure has not yet been discovered. Researchers are working on developing drugs that would stop the virus from copying itself.

In the meantime, Ebola symptoms are treated as they announced. Treatment usually includes providing fluids intravenously, oxygen therapy, medication to reduce vomiting and diarrhea, and treating other infections if present. The goal of treatment is to support a person's ain immune system until information technology tin can eradicate the virus and replace fluid loss. Recovery depends on a person's immune organisation and the quality of care and support they receive. Also, the before someone seeks treatment for Ebola, the amend the outcome.

Tin you lot survive Ebola without treatment?

Surviving Ebola depends largely on a person's immune system, maintaining blood force per unit area and replacing lost fluids. While experiencing Ebola symptoms, a person loses fluids rapidly. They need about 12 ounces of intravenous fluids every hr to support organ functioning. Therefore, it's non prophylactic to say that 1 could survive Ebola without handling.

How much does it price to treat Ebola?

Co-ordinate to an commodity published in Pathogens and Global Health, researchers estimate that the total societal costs of an Ebola case with full recovery range from $480 to $912. Cases where the patient does not survive range from an estimated $v,929 to $eighteen,929 depending on the patient'southward age and country. Costs include care, additional personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, wages and productivity loss resulting from absenteeism or decease. The study looked at costs in Guinea, Republic of liberia and Sierra Leone — the three countries nigh afflicted past the 2014 Ebola epidemic — with the goal to gain understanding and reduce the economic impact of an Ebola outbreak.

In the United States, Ebola treatment is far more costly. It'south estimated to take cost around $30,000 a day to care for ane Ebola patient during the epidemic. This corporeality also includes coin lost as a result of taking beds out of a ward where an Ebola patient was treated. How many Ebola survivors are at that place?

According to a WHO 2016 publication, there are over 10,000 Ebola survivors. Early intervention is central to surviving Ebola. That's why Mercy Corps values early response and hygiene education.