Back in 2014, the largest Ebola outbreak happened in West Africa. There has been 28,652 reported cases, and 11,325 total deaths since of the outbreak. Scientists are currently trying to understand what brought about the massive epidemic.
"We were all taken by surprise"
Scientists are currently trying to understand why the outbreak was so massive, and they think that it might be due to the fact that the virus is evolving to target humans specifically.
They suspect that the virus mutated from targeting fruit bats to specifically targeting humans, which caused the outbreak back in 2014.
Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine shares that “We were all taken by surprise in 2014, when the epidemic was found in West Africa. "I looked at the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) facts, they said it was out of control. I knew this was completely different and we needed extreme measures."
Ebola might now have a preference for human cells
Based on 2 papers that studied the epidemic, scientists think that three months after the start of the epidemic, the Ebola virus mutated to have a preference for human cells.
Pardis Sabeti, a geneticist who also co-authored one of the papers said that "The virus has never had this many human-to-human transmissions before, and there are a lot of mutations happening."
She adds that the findings "raise the possibility that this mutation contributed directly to greater transmission and thus to the severity of the outbreak."
The researchers are still continuing their research on the virus to find out the exact cause of the epidemic back in 2014. Since then, the virus has just become more infectious and learning about what happened might be the key to preventing future outbreaks.
Go to the next page to learn more about the Ebola virus.
What is the Ebola virus?
According to the WHO, The Ebola virus causes an acute, serious illness which is often fatal if untreated. It first appeared back in 1976, in 2 different outbreaks, the first one happened in Nzara, South Sudan, and the second one in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. The second outbreak occurred in a village near the Ebola River, where the virus got its name.
Ebola is commonly transmitted through direct contact with the following:
- Body fluids, such as blood, urine, saliva, sweat, feces, vomit, breast milk, and semen of someone that has been infected or has died from Ebola.
- Needles or syringes that have been contaminated with body fluids from someone who has been infected with Ebola.
- Infected animals, namely bats and primates (chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys)
- Contact with semen from a man that has survived Ebola.
How can we prevent it?
While the spread of Ebola has mostly happened within Africa, there have been a few cases of health workers outside of Africa that have been infected. That's why it's very important to know what steps to take so that we can make sure that we and our families don't get infected.
Here are some things to consider:
- Hygiene is very important. Make sure to always wash your hands and avoid contact with anyone that's infected with Ebola.
- Avoid contact with anything that an infected person might have touched. Anything that an infected person has touched might possibly carry the virus, so it's best to avoid those things.
- Rituals that involve touching the body of someone that has died from Ebola should be avoided. People that died from Ebola should be buried immediately since their bodies still carry the virus. Ebola is highly contagious.
- When traveling, avoid going to places near the facilities in West Africa where patients are being treated.
- If you travel to any places close to an Ebola outbreak, make sure to monitor your health and seek medical care if you think you have the symptoms of Ebola.
Here are some of the symptoms that you need to watch out for:
- Fever
- Severe headache
- Muscle pain
- Weakness
- Fatigue
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Abdominal pain
- Unexplained hemorrhage
These symptoms can manifest anywhere between 2 and 21 days after you get infected by Ebola. On average, it's usually 8-10 days.
Sources: wired.co.uk, sciencemag.org, cdc.gov
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