EBOLA: HISTORY AND EXTENT OF DAMAGE
The genesis of Ebola cases had origin from September 1st, 1976 and occurred five days after receiving an injection of chloroquine for presumptive malaria at the outpatient clinic at Yambuku Mission Hospital (YMH).
The first victim of this outbreak was a 44 year old teacher who had just returned from a tour in northern Zaire and had a clinical remission of his malaria symptoms. Within one week, several other persons who had received injections at YMH or had close contacts with other cases also suffered from Ebola hemorrhaging fever.
YMH was closed down leaving only 6 of the 17 staff alive. All ages and both sexes were affected, but women within the age brackets of 15-29 had the highest incidence of the disease, a phenomenon strongly related to attendance at prenatal and outpatient clinics at the hospital where they received injections.
However, there had been a disturbing re-occurrence of the Ebola outbreak from time to time in different African countries. Table 1 shows a summary of the reported cases and reported number of deaths in different countries from 1976 and counting.
Table 1 showing the countries summarized Reported number of human cases and Reported number (%) of deaths among cases from 1976 till date.
Country
|
Reported number of human
cases
|
Reported number (%) of
deaths among cases
|
Zaire (Democratic
Republic of the Congo - DRC)
|
1203
|
946 (79%)
|
Sudan (South Sudan)
|
335
|
180 (54%)
|
Gabon
|
214
|
150 (70%)
|
South Africa
|
3
|
2 (66%)
|
Russia
|
2
|
2 (100%)
|
Uganda
|
592
|
269 (45%)
|
Guinea, Liberia, and
Sierra Leone
|
1603
|
887 (55%)
|
TOTAL
|
3952
|
2436 (62%)
|
Ebola Facts:
1. Ebola Virus has it's origin and is mostly recurrent in Africa.
2. An outbreak usually starts with the handling of a primate e.g Chimpanzees, monkeys or pigs (in the case of Ebola-Reston) for purposes like performing an autopsy or eating of the dead animals.
3. The spread of Ebola is mainly through laboratory test of blood samples (in the case of the Sudan virus or Russia), contact with case patients and providing medical care to Ebola case patients without using adequate personal protective measures.
Unanswered Questions:
1. What triggers and stops the Ebola virus?
2. What seasons favors this virus? Rainy? Dry?
3. There must be a cure. Why is it taking so long to be discovered?
CREDITS:
- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EbolaSubmit2.png
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease
- http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/
- http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/resources/outbreak-table.html
Comments
Post a Comment