Since it was first discovered in 1976 and the strains of the Ebola virus wreaking havoc across Central Africa, especially in the Congo region, but previous accidents have affected a small percentage of people compared to what caused the epidemic latter since it began, which infected more than 1,700 people and killed more than 900 and perhaps more things about Ebola scare next to the alarming number of victims, the lack of our knowledge about this deadly virus.
As of August 6, 2014, World Health Organization confirmed that 932 people had died due to the Ebola virus so far in the summer of 2014, This number may seem insignificant statistically in a world of billions, but it is important to realize that small rural communities particularly affected, and are considered "Lagos" the most populous city in Africa, where an estimated population by 21 million people, and is seeking Nigeria is struggling to contain the plague, but it seems that the epidemic, which has claimed many lives in Guinea within months was able to cross the border, and moved to the neighboring countries of Sierra Leone Liberia and Ivory Coast, prompting the Center for Disease Control issued a warning to American travel to affected countries.
Ebola to America
When he arrived at the news of the outbreak of Ebola in 2014, the West listened to the news with caution, but with no great concern, as the Ebola appeared in more than 30 years and did not inflict significant damage, but when the announcement of the injury to one Americans did a Dr "Kent Brantley," and that he will be transferred to the United States, this was followed by a state of panic, but what has happened is that the doctor-old 33-year-old transfer from Liberia via air ambulance in the United States where he arrived on August 2, 2014 and taken to the Hospital of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which has been outfitted Bouhdhmttorh to take care of the patient to allay fears , despite the fact that experts contend that even if the epidemic was discharged from hospital, it will not have a lot of victims because of the lack of intimate family relationships and burial ceremonies and other traditional means of transmission of the epidemic.
The discovery of the virus
The first recorded case of Ebola in about the same time in 1976 in Zaire (DRC) and Sudan. When people began dying from a mysterious illness, sent a personal physician to the President of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko, a team of experts from the Belgian Institute for Tropical Medicine. Focused their research on the village of Yambuku, where the first case known infected Mabalo Lokela, headmaster of the village school, and quickly spread to other people in the village and decided to Belgian team named the virus "Ebola" for his appearance near the river Ebola, it is likely that the Ebola struck people much earlier than in the past where some historians have suggested that Ebola was responsible for the plague in Athens.
Porton Down laboratory accidents
There are a lot of theories and narratives being woven around the research laboratories of government secrecy are grown biological factors killer, but unlike many of the strange theories there one contains a grain of truth, and it comes Research Center Applied Microbiology at Porton Down in England, where it is the conducting research on Ebola, has been outfitted with the highest safety means with the system shower to sterilize the researchers before checkout, and system alarms in case of accidents, but when he appeared Ebola first time in 1976, no one was exactly sure of the seriousness of the virus, has been hit by one researcher for by mistake in Porton Down in the November 5, 1976 when he was pricked his thumb injection while he was working with laboratory animals, the world has been able to obtain preliminary data on the virus, thanks to body fluids researcher who luckily survived.
Impact on wildlife
Virus that kills its victims quickly always be terrifying, but it's not the most serious since the death in a matter of days a scary thing, but it means not terribly effective for spreading the disease, and therefore the virus fast-acting like Ebola has burned itself historically quickly and close to its original source, while the viruses that appear slowly, such as HIV (AIDS), is prevalent in all parts of the world, and experts believe that the reason for the ability of Ebola to float on the surface is that it found a place in bats in central and West Africa, and in the same manner that has become their bats vectors for disease dog in other parts of the world.
And the movement of the bat disease to animals such as small antelope and chimpanzees, gorillas, and in parts more fortunate economically in the world, these creatures die quickly, but in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, there is an active trade in wild animals that are caught and sold, and include bushmeat Meat bats, monkeys, mice, and while this sounds disgusting to many of us, it remains a far better option than starvation.
How Ebola kills?
Although the plague so far seems to favor and hospitals in the world on alert for symptoms of the Ebola virus, but unfortunately, the symptoms of the early stages of the virus so common that it is often overlooked or diagnosed incorrectly, especially that the initial symptoms are exactly like the symptoms of a cold or the flu: headache, fatigue, body aches, fever, sore throat, etc., and this kind of symptoms do not make a person usually running down to the nearest emergency room and, unfortunately, things become much worse after that where they appear stomach pain with vomiting, diarrhea, and pain in the digestive tract , then the patient suffers as a result of weak year-virus attack on all statutory functions in the body, and this is the most bloody, where it becomes the bleeding, fever and clear. The internal bleeding is common, and blisters appear on the skin has dripped blood from the patient's ears and eyes, as the death itself comes from various complications, including seizures and low blood pressure.
Vaccination against Ebola
In the past, spread the Ebola virus because animals bearing him, and usually affects a handful of people in rural areas before stopping, and despite everything we know about the disease, but it does not raise a great deal of concern in the West as to develop a treatment or vaccine was not historically viable option the application of the financial terms of the pharmaceutical companies, where there will be no profit in it, and in spite of the lack of possibilities of marketing the governments around the world took the disease seriously for years, has been pumping millions of dollars into research on how to stop the Ebola if it was used as a biological weapon, has shown some experimental vaccines have a significant impact, including those that prevented monkeys from infection strain Zaire, one of those responsible for the epidemic in 2014, and this vaccine is effective so that it led to the healing of four monkeys infected, but manufacture has not been given the attention of manufacturers that have other accounts .
Transmission of Ebola virus
The exact mechanisms of transmission of Ebola is not known, and most experts agree that it can only be transmitted between humans through the exchange of body fluids, although there is some debate about the spread aerobically from pigs to other species, and at first glance, it seems easy to isolate yourself from such a virus, even for primary caregivers, by reducing the transmission fluid, where those who did not witness the ravages of Ebola, do not know exactly how much of the liquid leaking from the body of the patient Ebola, especially in the latter stages, when blood seeps from every slot, Add to that one nurse or doctor often witness the presence of dozens of patients at one time, and because of the medical infrastructure is generally poor in central and West Africa, it is not surprising that doctors often find themselves patients.
Treatment of Ebola
In the past, the treatment of Ebola virus does not exist in practice, where patients are given fluids and electrolytes to keep the body moisture, in addition to painkillers such as ibuprofen to reduce fever, and antibiotics to soothe any other complications and keep the immune system strong enough to focus on the fight against the virus, has been received two victims Americas "Kent Brantley" and "Nancy Raitbool" some experimental drugs, where he was Brantley treated by transfusion of blood from a boy aged 14 was wounded and recovered from the virus, also were treated with serum derived from antibodies of animals exposed to Ebola, where it is supposed that the serum strengthens the immune system. Reportedly, it has proven effective in improving the situation of the case of Brantley and Raitbool as that other companies, such as Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, based in Vancouver and the United States are working fast to develop treatments Ebola virus before it's too late.
Alarming numbers about the Ebola crisis
Ebola virus threatens to become a nightmare world, and despite the large ignore the virus but who knew that the West finally acknowledged the Ebola crisis, with the following numbers to know about Ebola, published in the Business Insider site:
It is expected that the number of cases of Ebola million to the state before the January 20, 2015, if you have not changed the method of dealing with patients.
71 percent of those infected with Ebola, die as a direct result of the virus.
5,843 is the number of cases reported, including 2,803 deaths, according to the World Health Organization, and believes that the actual number of cases is much higher than the official figure.
Multiply cases of Ebola in Liberia, according to estimates by the CDC every 15 days, while in Sierra Leone, multiply cases every 30 days.
21 days: is the time that can develop in which a person infected with Ebola physical symptoms, and despite the fact that the patient is not contagious to develop symptoms, but just carry the virus reduces the chances of getting prompt treatment.
Last Ebola epidemic claimed 425 cases in Uganda in 2000 and this means that the number has quadrupled in the current crisis.
To defeat the epidemic of Ebola should be to double the number of medical teams 20 times.
WHO said that thousands of doses of vaccine Ebola demo of the two GSK British and American NewLink will be ready for use by early 2015 in the countries affected by the epidemic, said Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization Marie Paul Kenny: "If everything is oK, we will be able to start using some of these vaccines in some of the affected countries at the beginning of next year. "
The announcement of the vaccine supposed to Ebola
There is no cure or vaccine licensed against the virus, which has killed nearly 3,000 people in West Africa, and therefore the agency of the World Health rushing experimental vaccines in the absence of another option, Kieny said WHO focuses on two experimental vaccines, one made by the British company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and the other by a group of American NewLink and works with both companies to accelerate clinical trials, has begun some clinical trials in the United States, and is set again to start in Mali next week, and in the case of being safe must be some doses are available for use on the health care workers by November and wider use could be possible early next year.
Has donated the Canadian government already 800 experimental vaccine from NewLink to the World Health Organization, said Kenny that thousands of doses likely to be available in the coming months, pointing to the need to show a great deal of caution in the deployment of vaccines on a larger scale for being experimental vaccines only, and although they gave good results with monkeys that does not mean they are successful with humans.
