What is Ebola Virus? How does it spread?
What is Ebola?The Ebola virus is among the most lethal diseases known to man. There is no vaccine, no cure, and it kill 90% of infected patients. Outbreaks typically occur in remote villages in Central and west Africa, near tropical rain forests. The spread of the disease is worsened by mistrust of western medicine in some African communities.
How does it spread?
Outbreaks start when the disease is passed to humans from wild animals. It then spreads through communities by direct contact with blood, bodily fluids or corpse of an infected person. The illness often starts with a fever, weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore thrat. This develops into vomiting, diarrhoea, rashes, failing liver and kidney function and bleeding.
Where did the outbreak start?
The epidemic is thought to have begun in Guinea in March, before spreading to Liberia and Sierra Leone. It's the worst outbreak of the disease on recurs, according to the World Health Organisation, Who say it has infected 1201 people and killed 672. The current outbreak is thought to have been passed to humans from the region's fruit bat population.
What contributed to the crisis?
The spread of the disease is thought to have quickened due to local people mistrusting medical teams. Some believe the outbreak is a hoax-or even that health workers are killing patients. Health workers were attacked in Zango Town last month while they were trying to spray the are a with chlorine. Citizens of the town tried to set their car on fire.
What is the toll so far?
The number of Ebola-related deaths has reached an even 6,900 in the three most-affected countries in West Africa, the Centers for Disease Control and prevention reported Thursday, the same day the U.N. secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a U.S. senator kicked off tours of the devastated region.