EBOLA FACTS
I - ______________ The news that a Dallas nurse who helped care for Thomas Eric Duncan was infected with the Ebola virus has fed fears of health care workers across the United States. The Dallas nurse was the second person — and second health care worker — to contract Ebola outside of West Africa. A nurse in Spain was infected in September while treating a missionary who had been infected in Sierra Leone and then flown to a hospital in Madrid. More than 400 health care workers in West Africa have been infected with Ebola during the current outbreak, and 233 have died as of Oct. 8. The World Health Organization said that the high rates of infection among medical workers could be attributed to shortages or improper use of protective equipment; not enough medical personnel; and long working hours in isolation wards.
II- _______________ At least 16 Ebola cases have been treated outside of West Africa in the current outbreak, including a Dallas hospital worker who tested positive for Ebola on Oct. 11. Most of these involve health and aid workers who contracted Ebola in West Africa and were transported back to their home country for treatment. Three cases were diagnosed outside of West Africa: A Liberian man who began showing symptoms four days after arriving in Dallas, a Spanish nurse who became ill after treating a missionary in a Madrid hospital and the Dallas hospital worker who wasinvolved in the treatment of a Liberian patient infected with Ebola. These cases are compiled from reports by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, Doctors Without Borders and other official agencies.
III- ______________ Ebola was discovered in 1976, and it was once thought to originate in gorillas, because human outbreaks began after people ate gorilla meat. But scientists have since ruled out that theory, partly because apes that become infected are even more likely to die than humans. Scientists now believe that bats are the natural reservoir for the virus, and that apes and humans catch it from eating food that bats have drooled or defecated on, or by coming in contact with surfaces covered in infected bat dropping and then touching their eyes or mouths.The current outbreak seems to have started in a village near Guéckédou, Guinea, where bat hunting is common, according to Doctors Without Borders.
IV- _______________ Officials have emphasized that there is no risk of transmission from people who have been exposed to the virus but are not yet showing symptoms. Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Oct. 2 that the odds of contracting Ebola in the United States were extremely low. Ebola spreads through direct contact with body fluids. If an infected person’s blood or vomit gets in another person’s eyes, nose or mouth, the virus may be transmitted. Although Ebola does not cause respiratory problems, a cough from a sick person could infect someone who has been sprayed with saliva. Because of that, being within three feet of a patient for a prolonged time without protective clothing is considered to be direct contact. Specialists at Emory University Medical Center in Atlanta have also found that the virus is present on a patient’s skin after symptoms develop, underlining how contagious the disease is once symptoms set in. The virus can survive for several hours on surfaces, so any object contaminated with bodily fluids may spread the disease. According to the C.D.C., the virus can survive for a few hours on dry surfaces like doorknobs and countertops and can survive for several days in puddles or other collections of body fluid. Bleach solutions can kill it. In the current outbreak, most new cases are occurring among people who have been taking care of sick relatives or who have prepared an infected body for burial. Health care workers are at high risk.
V- ________________ There are currently no drugs or vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat or prevent Ebola, and in past outbreaks the virus has been fatal in 60 percent to 90 percent of cases. An experimental drug called ZMapp might help infected patients, but the drug is unproven and is no longer available. The World Health Organization suggests that blood from Ebola survivors might be used to treat others, but there is no proof that such a treatment alone would work. The United States government plans to fasttrack development of a vaccine shown to protect macaque monkeys, but there is no guarantee it will be effective in humans. Beyond this, all physicians can do is try to nurse people through the illness, using fluids and medicines to maintain blood pressure, and treat other infections that often strike their weakened bodies. A small percentage of people appear to have an immunity to the Ebola virus.
Adapted from New York Times OCT. 14, 2014
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