Ebola: the devastating epidemic

By Satuk Bugra Kutlugun

ANKARA

The Ebola virus – a potentially lethal disease with no known cure – has already claimed nearly 4,500 lives in West Africa alone, prompting the world to increase screening and treatment measures after cases were reported in Europe and America.

The disease has a 50 percent fatality rate; reports claim that out of 8,997 confirmed cases a total of 4,993 people have died; health officials have said the illness is spreading globally.

Ebola first appeared in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks: one in Nzara, Sudan (now South Sudan) and one in Yambuku in the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire). The disease takes its name from the Ebola river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The first Ebola case was seen in southern Guinea, when a two-year-old boy named Emile was diagnosed as ‘patient zero’, dying on December 28, 2013. The devastating disease killed the young boy's three-year-old sister, mother and grandmother and quickly spread across Guinea.

"Following the young boy’s death, the mysterious disease continued to smolder undetected, causing several chains of deadly transmission," said the World Health Organization.

"Though no one knew it at the time, the Ebola virus had found a new home in a highly vulnerable population. There have been more cases and deaths in this outbreak than all others combined," the WHO reports.

The most-recent outbreak started in West Africa in March 2014 after spreading to Guinea's neighbors: Sierra Leone and Liberia. On March 19, Guinea's Health Ministry designated the outbreak as an epidemic. By March 24, a total of 59 out of 86 people diagnosed with the disease died.

On August 8, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan declared this outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern.”
 

Ebola in Europe and the U.S.

Ebola spread to Europe when a 79-year-old Spanish priest working in Sierra Leone, Miguel Pajares, died in Madrid on August 12. Another 69-year-old Spanish priest and physician named Manuel Garcia Viejo, who had been working in the northwestern Sierra Leone city of Lunsar, died on September 25.

On October 6, Spanish media reported that a nurse who treated an Ebola victim in Madrid became the first person to have caught the virus within Europe.

Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. – on September 28, seven days after he arrived in Texas from Liberia – died on October 8.

On October 12, a woman named Nina Pham, 26, became the first person to be infected in America. She contracted the virus from Duncan, who was Liberian. On Wednesday, a second healthcare worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where Duncan died, was diagnosed with the disease. Officials did not give the name of the infected person, but said that the worker was among those who treated Duncan.

WHO assistant director general Dr. Bruce Aylward stated in a press conference in Geneva on Tuesday that the Ebola outbreak was still expanding geographically in many West African countries such as Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
 

Symptoms and diagnosis

Although humans are not infectious until they develop symptoms, there are some clear signs of the disease. The first symptoms are the sudden onset of fever, fatigue, muscle pain, sore throat and headache. According to the WHO, the following symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.

The Ebola virus can be transmitted four days after an infected person becomes sick. The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.

Ebola causes bleeding in the inner and outer parts of the human body. The virus spreads through the skin or fluids of an infected animal or through touching contaminated needles or surfaces.

Although researchers are developing dozens of drugs that will destroy infected cells, none have yet been formally approved.
 

How to reduce the risk

The WHO says following should be done to minimize the spreading risk:

"Reducing the risk of wildlife-to-human transmission from contact with infected fruit bats or monkeys/apes and the consumption of their raw meat. Animals should be handled with gloves and other appropriate protective clothing. Animal products (blood and meat) should be thoroughly cooked before consumption.

Reducing the risk of human-to-human transmission from direct or close contact with people with Ebola symptoms, particularly with their bodily fluids. Gloves and appropriate personal protective equipment should be worn when taking care of ill patients at home. Regular hand washing is required after visiting patients in hospital, as well as after taking care of patients at home.

Outbreak containment measures including prompt and safe burial of the dead, identifying people who may have been in contact with someone infected with Ebola, monitoring the health of contacts for 21 days, the importance of separating the healthy from the sick to prevent further spread, the importance of good hygiene and maintaining a clean environment."

The world on alert

World leaders have reacted to the Ebola virus. U.S. president Barack Obama has already floated the idea of an Ebola ‘czar’ to coordinate disease-control efforts.

"One case is too many, and we've got to keep on doing everything we can, particularly to protect our healthcare workers, because they're on the front lines in battling this disease," he said earlier this week.

"We've also now instituted some additional screening measures, starting at John F, Kennedy airport [New York], that will then apply to a number of other airports where we know the bulk of travelers that may have come in contact with Ebola would be coming through," he added.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said $1 billion is needed to fight the epidemic.

"We need more doctors, nurses, equipment, treatment centers and medevac capacities. I appeal to the international community to provide the $1 billion launch that will enable us to get ahead of the curve and meet our target of reducing the rate of transmission by December 1," he said on Thursday.

Turkey is also among the nations taking precautions against Ebola.

Director General of Health for Borders and Coasts Husem Hatioglu told the Anadolu Agency “serious measures” are taken by the Turkish health ministry.

"We are closely following our citizens who come from West African countries; we monitor them for a total of 21 days," he said.

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