Signs and symptoms

EVD is a severe acute viral illness often characterized by the sudden arrival of fever, severe weakness, headache, muscle pain and sore throat. This is followed by diarrhoea, vomiting, impaired kidney rash and liver function, and in few cases, together internal and external bleeding. Laboratory result comprises low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes.

People are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus. Ebola virus was secluded from semen 61 days after arrival of illness in a man who was infected in a laboratory.

The evolution period, i.e., the time interval from infection with the virus to arrival of symptoms is two to twenty one days.

Diagnosis

Additional diseases that must be lined out prior to a diagnosis of EVD can be made comprise: malaria, rickettsiosis, shigellosis, leptospirosis, typhoid fever, meningitis, cholera, plague, hepatitis ,relapsing fever and many  other hemorrhagic fever.

Ebola virus infections might be identified in a laboratory through several types of tests which are:

• antibody capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
• electron microscopy
• antigen detection tests
• serum neutralization test
• virus isolation by cell culture.
• reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay

Samples from patients are a great biohazard risk; testing should be conducted under maximum biological containment conditions.

Vaccine and treatment

No licensed vaccine for EVD is available. Numerous vaccines have been tested, but none are accessible for clinical use.Severely ill patients require intensive helpful care. Patients are regularly dehydrated and need oral re hydration with solutions containing electrolytes or intravenous fluids.No specific treatment is available. Latest drug therapies are being assessed.

Natural host of Ebola virus

In Africa, fruit bats, particularly species of the general Epomops franqueti, Hypsignathus monstrosus and Myonycteris torquata, are considered probable natural hosts for Ebola virus. As a consequence, the geographic allocation of Ebola viruses may overlap with the range of the fruit bats.

Prevention and control

Restraining Reston ebolavirus in domestic animals

No animal vaccine against RESTV is obtainable. Scheduled cleaning and disinfection of pig or monkey farms (with sodium hypochlorite or other detergents) should be effective in inactivating the virus.

If an outbreak is suspected, the premises should be quarantined instantly. Killing of contaminated animals, with close supervision of burial or incineration of carcasses, may be essential to decrease the danger of animal-to-human transmission. Restricting or prohibiting the movement of animals from infected farms to other areas can reduce the spread of the disease.

As RESTV outbreaks in pigs and monkeys comprise human infections, the establishment of an active animal health surveillance system to detect new cases is essential in providing early warning for veterinary and human public health authorities.

Reducing risk of Ebola in people

In the lack of successful treatment and a human vaccine, raising awareness of the risk factors for Ebola infection and the protective measures individuals can take is the only way to reduce human infection and death.

In Africa, during EVD outbreaks, educational community health messages for danger reduction should focus on several factors:

Reducing the risk of wildlife-to-human transmission from contact with infected fruit bats or monkeys/apes and the consumption of their raw meat. Animals must be managed with gloves and other appropriate protective clothing. Animal products (blood and meat) should be thoroughly cooked before consumption.

Reducing the risk of human-to-human transmission in the community arising from direct or close contact with contaminated patients, mainly with their body fluids. Close bodily contact with Ebola patients must be avoided. Gloves and suitable personal defensive equipment should be worn when taking care of ill patients at residence. Habitual hand washing is necessary after visiting patients in the hospital, as well as while taking care of the patients at home.

Communities affected by Ebola should inform the population about the nature of the disease and about outbreak repression measures, counting burial of the dead. People who have died from Ebola should be promptly and safely buried.

Pig farms in Africa can play a role in the amplification of infection because of the presence of fruit bats on these farms. Suitable bio security actions should be in place to limit diffusion. For RESTV, educational community health messages should focus on reducing the risk of pig-to-human transmission as a result of unsafe animal husbandry and killing practices, and dangerous consumption of fresh blood, animal tissue or raw milk .Gloves and other appropriate protective clothing should be worn when handling sick animals or their tissues and when slaughtering animals. In areas where RESTV has been found in pigs, all animal products (blood, meat and milk) should be thoroughly cooked before eating.

Should people in India worry?

It s not prevalent in India, but people living in remote areas, where livelihood situations are poor, are always at danger of getting infected. But mainly there is no need to worry as such.