It appears we are well along on having this disease mastered. A successful vaccine will work best to eliminate losses amount medical workers in particular.
That whole process has still taken decades.
We may never completely control these Monsters, but we can catch them and preven them from taking off to produce an out of control epidemic.
This is an example of proper vaccine research. Proper application includes a halo of vaccination around those exposed to a victim. That can stop it cold. .
That whole process has still taken decades.
We may never completely control these Monsters, but we can catch them and preven them from taking off to produce an out of control epidemic.
This is an example of proper vaccine research. Proper application includes a halo of vaccination around those exposed to a victim. That can stop it cold. .
A modern plague
Ebola. The very word evokes fear, and with good reason. To date, the virus has been fatal for the majority of those who have contracted it.
Still, outbreaks are difficult to control, particularly when they occur in countries that lack infrastructure. Systems that aren’t equipped to deal with routine health needs, like preventative care, birth, and vaccinations, struggle even more during emergencies, especially ones that leave very contagious people dead on the streets. Distrust in government and in medical workers compounds the deadliness of the virus. Public health experts warn that emergency response is a more like a Band-Aid than a vaccine, and that investing in local health systems is the only way to ensure that Ebola—or another virus—doesn’t become a pandemic. Will we listen?
By the digits
431: Death toll of the first two Ebola outbreaks, in 1976
6: Known strains of the Ebola virus 4: Known strains of the Ebola virus that humans can contract
21: Maximum days of incubation for the virus
19: Countries where Ebola has been detected
25 months: Duration of the largest Ebola epidemic, which occurred in West Africa between 2014-2016
11,310: Registered deaths in the 2014-2016 epidemic
2,142: Deaths in the ongoing epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as of Oct. 5, 2019
8%: Share of Liberia’s doctors, nurses, and midwives who died during the 2014-2016 epidemic
$3.6 billion: International aid contributed by the US, Germany, and the UK for Ebola response in the 2014-2016 epidemic
40%: Mortality rate during the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa
67%: Mortality rate in the current epidemic in the DRC
90%: Typical mortality rate without medical care
Origin Story
The dawn of Ebola
In August 1976, Mabalo Lokela,
a headmaster from Yambuku, Zaire checked into his local hospital with
malaria-like symptoms. He died two weeks later and was the first
recorded patient of a disease so horrific it would inspire zombie tales. Several people who had contact with Lokela also got sick. “The
illness is characterized with a high temperature of about 39°C (102°F),
hematemesis [vomiting blood], diarrhea with blood, retrosternal
abdominal pain, prostration with ‘heavy’ articulations, and rapid
evolution death after a mean of three days,” wrote Ngoy Mushola, a doctor from Bumba who traveled to Yambuku to observe the outbreak.
Almost at the same time, in Maridi and Nzara in Sudan, another outbreak of the virus occurred. Doctors enumerated the symptoms:
high fevers, aches, nausea, bleeding, delirium, and a “mask-like” or
“ghost-like” face. These first two outbreaks highlighted two especially
scary features of Ebola: The medical infrastructure is usually poor in
the areas where the virus thrives, and it exposes healthcare workers to
tremendous risk.
“This is not an African disease. This is a virus that is a threat to all humanity.”
—Gayle Smith, senior director of the National Security Council under Barack Obama
Explain it like I’m five!
What is Ebola and what does it do?
Ebola
is a type of hemorrhagic fever, a class of virus that also includes
Marburg, Lassa, and yellow fever. It enters the host’s cells to
replicate itself, targeting the liver, immune system, and blood vessels
first. Once inside a cell, the virus produces a protein, called Ebola
virus glycoprotein, which affects cell adhesion. Blood vessels become
porous, and blood leaks out of them, causing internal hemorrhage.
The first symptoms of Ebola—fever,
sore throat, muscle pain—can easily be confused with malaria or flu. The
symptoms that follow are more severe: bleeding (both internal and
external), diarrhea, vomiting, and impaired organ function.
Senga
Omeonga, a surgeon in Liberia who contracted and survived Ebola told NPR
that the combination of near-constant vomiting, diarrhea, and fever,
plus the isolation of being in quarantine makes the virus emotionally as
well as physically taxing. “It’s like you’re living in hell,” he said in a 2014 interview.
“The only person you see is the nurse, and they even stay a distance
from you when you talk, so no touch. So you feel like… I don’t know how
to describe it… maybe a ghost.” Survivors are likely to be immune to the
strain of Ebola they contracted, and some are putting their immunity to work by caring for new patients. They may, however, be susceptible to one of the other strains that can infect humans.
Reuters/Axel Schmidt
Pop quiz
In which of these bodily fluids can Ebola be found long after a patient has recovered?
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If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email.
Brief history
1976: The first recognized outbreaks of a highly deadly hemorrhagic fever occur in Sudan (now South Sudan) and Zaire (now DRC). The virus is named after the Ebola River in the north of DRC.
1989: The Reston strain of Ebola (not contagious to humans) is first detected outside Africa, in the Philippines and US.1994: Health workers are broadly equipped with protective gear like gloves and masks for the first time.
1994-1995: The strain of virus responsible for the epidemic in DRC is isolated; it will be used to create the first Ebola vaccine.
1995: Antibodies found in a survivor are isolated and used to create one of two experimental retroviral treatments currently being tested.
2002: The development of the Ebola vaccine begins in the US.
2014: The first clinical trial for the vaccine is scheduled in West Africa.
2014-2016: West Africa experiences the largest Ebola epidemic to date with 28,000 people infected and 11,000 dead.
2018: The DRC announces the second Ebola outbreak of the year, which will go on to become the worst in the DRC’s history, and is still ongoing.
2019:
A team of researchers announces that two medications being used in the
ongoing epidemic in the DRC have had up to 90% success in treating
early-stage Ebola patients.
Have a friend who would enjoy our Obsession with Ebola?
How does Ebola spread so quickly, and how can it be contained?
Ebola
is contracted through direct contact with bodily fluids of a sick
person. The virus is not airborne, but it survives a relatively long
time—days, even—outside the body of the host. Sterilization is
fundamental in the control of the epidemic, which is why the virus has
spread less quickly, and been better contained in countries with more robust health systems, such as Nigeria.
One of the
scariest aspects of Ebola is also what has prevented it from turning
into a pandemic—it’s too deadly. Ebola patients are only contagious once
they start showing symptoms, but often they are immediately bedridden,
and can’t unknowingly spread the virus.
Even
though the flu kills far more people (80,000 in the US alone in 2018),
Ebola is so horrific that some scientists have theorized that it was
responsible for everything from the Plague of Athens in 430 BC to the Black Death.
The compassionate use
An experimental vaccine for Ebola is expected to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the end of 2019.
In the US, three rounds of clinical trials—the first done on a few
dozen volunteers, the second on hundreds, and the third on
thousands—need to be successful before a new drug can be presented for
approval to a commission, and after that, accepted for commercial use.
It can take many years, and if the medication is being developed in the
US, as in the case of many Ebola vaccines, it needs FDA approval to be
licensed.
When a treatment is being researched for a very deadly disease, and early testing has shown promising results, the FDA can use the “animal rule”
and allow human use based on animal models, making the drug available
even before completing the human trial. The treatment isn’t commercially
available, but can be used it in an emergency context, for instance
during the ongoing outbreak.
The World Health Organization (WHO) calls this “compassionate use”
or “expanded access.”
Volunteers can access a treatment that is still being developed with the idea that the danger they face with no treatment is so great that the risks of an ineffective treatment pale in comparison.
Volunteers can access a treatment that is still being developed with the idea that the danger they face with no treatment is so great that the risks of an ineffective treatment pale in comparison.
Watch this!
In
the DRC, rumors have spread that Ebola doesn’t exist, and that it was
planted by foreign governments to eradicate the local population, making
the current outbreak even more difficult to curb. France 24 looks at
the political infrastructure fostering campaigns of misinformation.
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