CAJ: The EBOLA virus

Most of you may have never heard of this kind of virus before, and so didn’t me. Only a few weeks ago I first heard about it when I was reading a newspaper article.

How dangerous is the Ebola virus?

With a mortality rate of about 90%, the Ebola virus is considered to be one of the most dangerous pathogens. “Luckily” it has only occurred in Africa so far, predominantly in the Republic of the Congo where it was discovered in 1976. In the past few months at least 59 people in Guinea were killed by the highly pathogenic virus. Moreover, six suspected cases were reported in neighboring Liberia, of which five resulted in death.

But how is the virus transmitted and how does it affect the people?

Fruit bats of a certain plant are considered to be the natural host of the virus. But primarily it is transmitted to people from wild animals and then spreads through human-to-human transmission (through blood and other body fluids). Having contracted the virus (the incubation period is typically two days to three weeks), it makes the people very sick within a very short time. The illness is characterized by fever, headache, muscle pain, weakness, sore throat and followed by impaired kidney and liver function and even internal and external bleeding. The patients need intensive supportive care, however, the problem is that, despite intensive research, there is no licensed specific treatment or vaccine available. That’s why Ebola virus outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%.

Why aren’t there any cases in Europe or on other continents yet?

The answer is simple: Due to the fact that the infected patients get severely ill within a very short time, they “fortunately” aren’t even able to travel to other countries. Thus, the risk of bringing the disease to other continents is very low. Once there has been a suspected case in Canada, but according to the authorities hasn’t been confirmed.