As you all know, the recent outbreak of Ebola virus has
caused terror amongst infected communities. With the recent outbreak in March
2014, which is undoubtedly the worst outbreak by far, over 1000 people in
Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria were killed by mid-August 2014. For
the few who are infected and recover, they then become immune to the strain of
the virus.
Ebola is a viral illness, which affects humans who have been
in contact with infected animals including fruit bats and chimpanzees. It then spreads quickly amongst humans through
contact with bodily fluids, secretions and blood of an infected person. The initial
symptoms include fever and headaches, intense weakness, muscle pain and sore
throats. To follow is diarrhoea, vomiting, rashes, stomach pain and kidney and
liver failure. The patient will then bleed internally and externally, usually
from the ears, eyes, nose and mouth. Ebola virus is fatal in 50%-90% of cases
as there is no specific vaccine against the disease or treatment aimed to cure
the disease. Furthermore, the treatment that is available to those infected by
this fatal virus is very limited and mainly consists of supportive therapy.
Dehydration is a very common side effect so fluids much be given intravenously
(directly into the vein). As well as that, blood oxygen levels and blood
pressure need to be maintained, with body organs needing to be supported whilst
the body concentrates on fighting the disease and other complicating
infections. As Ebola is very infectious, patients must be treated in isolation
by doctors and staff wearing protective clothing, goggles and gloves.
With no treatment or vaccines available, major research is
being carried out in order to evaluate potential vaccines and treatments for
clinical use. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is providing expertise and
documentation to support the virus investigation and control. In June,
scientists in Canada announced a treatment that worked on monkeys but as the
origin of the virus remains unknown, the primary prevention and treatment
remains undiscovered. The encouraging results from Canada is definitely a big
step forward, however there are still many challenges to overcome before the
treatment can be applied to an outbreak in humans.
