Ebola Virus
Ebola virus is an infectious disease that occurred in the following countries ivory coast in 1994, Zaire or Congo since 1976 to 2020. There have been several outbreaks—Gabon, in 2001, Guinea in 2014, Italy in 2014. The following countries had outbreaks discovered in 2014 United States of America, the United Kingdom, Spain, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Liberia, Mali, and Nigeria. In 2004 Sudan and Russia had outbreaks. Uganda had an outbreak in 2019, South Africa, in 1996, and the Philippines in 2008.
Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976 in Zaire, the present Democratic Republic of Congo. The virus was discovered near a river called the Ebola river (CDC, 2019). Since its discovery, it has spread to most of the West African countries and others abroad.
Epidemiological Determinants
Ebola virus is spread through contact with an infected person or animal. The signs and symptoms of the diseases may take a while before presenting themselves; therefore, an infected person may innocently spread it. The virus is highly virulent, with the ability to induce lethal hemorrhagic fever syndrome. The virus disables the immune response of the animal or human, and in the process, harmful inflammatory responses are activated that directly cause tissue damage. Eventually, the immune system of a person is overwhelmed by the combination of inflammatory responses and virus-induced cell damage, particularly in the liver and vasculature. Such damage leads to death by septic shock. Ebola virus outbreak has been associated with two different climatic conditions. The climatic condition result was arrived by assessing the different countries that have been affected by the virus. The first condition is areas with low temperatures like in Congo. The country is located in central Africa, where there is a rain forest suggesting lower temperatures. The forest is also home to many primates. The second condition is high absolute humidity, like most of the countries in West Africa.
Route of Transmission
The virus can be spread through the following ways: body fluids or blood of an infected person or someone who has died from the virus. Objects such a cloths bedding, medical equipment, or needles of an infected person or one that has died from the virus (CDC, 2019). Contact with infected bats or non-human primates like monkeys and semen from a man who has recovered from the virus, since research shows that the virus can remain in the body fluid sometimes even after a person has recovered.
Ebola virus can also be transmitted through food. In many parts of the world, people get their food through hunting (CDC, 2019). Meat from such hunted animals may cause the Ebola virus. The animals hunted my carriers of the virus, and contact with them or consume the meat will result in the transmission of the virus. When considering animals, it is essential to note that mosquitoes’ bites do not spread the Ebola virus.
Considering the virus’s persistence, it is crucial to note it can remain the body of a patient for some time even when they are showing no signs or symptoms. The same way the virus stays long in the human body the same way it stays in objects such as doorknobs medical equipment or clothes. Therefore touching surfaces and infected objects is another in which the virus can be spread.
Risk Factors
There are several risks associated with the Ebola virus because it can be spread to the person who is attending to the victim of the virus. The health workers who tend to the patient without proper infection control are at a high risk of contracting the virus. Apart from the health workers, the Ebola patients’ families and close friends are also at a higher risk of contracting the Ebola virus if they come to close contact with the patients (CDC, 2019). the other risk is to the people who share the same transport means; if enough distance is not reserved, then the travelers are at high risk of getting the virus.
How Outbreak can Affect a Community
Ebola virus outbreak affected the community in several ways. For children, they were profoundly affected, with 20% of the cases being children under the age of 15 years (CDC, 2019). The reason for this is because they did not have enough time to learn how to protect themselves. The other effect on children is that the virus forced most schools to close, and the children went for a year or two without education due to the virus.
The business was also affected mainly by air traveling since all the countries affected had to ground all the planes to avoid further spread of the virus (CDC, 2019). The impact the virus had on health care is that more personnel were trained to deal with the virus, more laboratories were set to help with the setting. With these are positive impacts on healthcare systems, the negative is that most resources were diverted to deal with the virus instead of equally being divided among all the diseases.
Reporting Protocol
The Ebola virus’s reporting protocol was through a web-based platform that was introduced for the local, state, and territorial health departments to use. The platform was the National Outbreak Reporting System. The system is put in place to report any outbreak that is transmitted by infected persons or unknown sources (CDC, 2019).
Prevention Strategies
Prevention of Ebola virus can adopt two strategies, which are patient education and community education. Patient education is for already infected people. They should ensure they adhere to the medication given by health workers for complete recovery. The cure for the Ebola virus requires the patient to follow instructions and have the discipline to take all the medication at the required time.
On the other hand, community education helps the people on how to handle themselves to avoid contracting the virus. Community education may entail people avoiding outbreak areas, washing had frequently, avoiding bush meat, and avoiding contact with infected persons (Mayo Clinic, 2020). Strict following of these education rules will ensure the Ebola virus has been managed.
References
CDC. (2019, November 14). National outbreak reporting system (NORS). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nors/
CDC. (2019, November 6). Transmission. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/index.html
Mayo Clinic. (2020, April 1). Ebola virus and Marburg virus – Symptoms and causes. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ebola-virus/symptoms-causes/syc-20356258