Updated: 19-05-2025
Author : Ashritha Pendkar
Ebola virus disease is a deadly disease. The Ebola virus is a fatal virus that triggers a serious illness.
Two simultaneous outbreaks of Ebola virus disease were first found in 1976.
The first one was in Nzara, Sudan, while the second one was found in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Since the second case was found in a village located near a river named Ebola, this disease was named after it.
Five strains of Ebola have been discovered until now out of which four have affected humans with Ebola.
These four regions include.Zaire, Tai Forest, Sudan and Bundibugyo.
The fifth strain is named Reston and has been recently discovered among the monkeys in Virginia.
No Proven Treatment for Ebola disease
There is no proven treatment available for this disease.
Only supportive care with rehydration and symptomatic treatment is available.
The fatality rate of the case of Ebola virus disease is around 50 percent.
The symptoms of Ebola virus disease erupt suddenly between 2 and 21 days.
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The human population gets into contact with the Ebola virus disease by means of close contact with the secretions, blood, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected animals like gorillas, monkeys, chimpanzees, fruit bats, forest antelopes, etc.
What is Ebola virus disease?
Ebola virus disease, or EVD, also known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a fatal illness that is found in humans as well as in other primates like gorillas, monkeys, and chimpanzees.
Triggered by the Ebola virus, it is most commonly called simply Ebola.
As there is no licensed treatment for this fatal illness, the death rate is as high as 90%.
There is no evidence of the origin of the Ebola virus, but researchers believe that fruit bats are most likely the hosts of the Ebola virus.
This is such a fatal disease that it progresses systematically and may affect one or more organs (liver, lung, or kidney) of your body and disable them.
How Does Ebola Virus Disease Affect People?
β The people affected by the Ebola virus disease have to go through weakness, fatigue, headache, or joint pain.
β Several proactive measures are recommended to be used in the clinics and hospitals so that this infection can be controlled from spreading.
β The people who come into contact with the Ebola virus may have to face the symptoms within 2 to 3 weeks.
β They feel muscle pain, fever, headache, sore throat, a spell of vomiting, rash, and diarrhoea.
β The functionality of the liver as well as the kidneys also gets affected.
β It has been observed that the low blood pressure caused by fluid loss is the reason for death in Ebola.
β No vaccine or treatment has been discovered; however, scientists have been working on several possible treatments through which people can get rid of this fatal disease.
Symptoms of Ebola
- Studies disclose that symptoms of the fatal Ebola disease come to the fore within 2 to 21 days from the day of close contact with the Ebola virus.
- When people come into close contact with the Ebola virus, they suddenly feel tired and experience muscle pain, joint pain, sore throat, and headache as well.
- In most cases, the fever has been found to go beyond 100.9 Β°F.
- Apart from vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea, the patients also suffer from chest pain and shortness of breath in conjunction with the swelling, confusion, and headaches.
- Half of the people with Ebola suffer from some flat red spots with small bumps on their skin.
- In some of the cases, people may suffer from internal as well as external bleeding that is typically seen in 5 to 7 days since the first symptom comes into existence.
- If people with Ebola go through the bleeding stage, it indicates the worst condition, and loss of blood in this way can prove fatal.
- People near the end of life go into a coma.
- People who stay alive go through several difficulties, like decreased hearing, muscle pain, joint pain, and liver inflammation as well.
- Antibodies developed among the survivors, and these antibodies may take at least 10 years.
Note: It is yet to be cleared whether Ebola virus disease may or may not cause repeated infection.
Β Β Β Β Β However, one thing is clear: those who survive this disease cannot transmit the disease.
Treatment For Ebola
- The Ebola virus disease has no exact treatment. However, early supportive care, along with rehydration and symptomatic treatment, is the way through which survival can be improved.
- The World Health Organisation advises against the use of ibuprofen or aspirin if people experience the pain.
- In the developed world, intensive care is used, in which the blood volume and electrolyte balance are maintained.
- People are also given the treatment that prevents bacterial infections.
- In case of kidney failure, dialysis is recommended.
- The Food and Drug Administration has advised that people should be alert to any advertisement that makes unverified claims about the anti-Ebola products.
- Research is in the process of finding a cure for Ebola. Some experimental treatments have been discovered, and hopes are high that these treatments will prove to be beneficial and effective in restricting the progress of Ebola.
Note: ZMapp is one among those experimental treatments that can be beneficial; however, it has yet to be tested on human beings, so its effectiveness and safety are still not guaranteed.Β
Diagnosis of Ebola
β As it is a disease that is triggered by an infection, it is not easy to differentiate it from the diseases caused by infections like typhoid fever, malaria, and meningitis.
β Two types of examinations confirm that the symptoms belong to the Ebola virus disease.
β The first is nonspecific laboratory testing, and the other is specific laboratory testing.
β Tests of antibody, virus isolation by cell culture, electron microscopy, etc. are recommended along with antigen (capture detection test) and serum neutralisation tests.
Complications of Ebola
- Anyone affected by this disease has only a 10 to 50 % chance of survival.
- With the progress of the illness, it affects multiples, such as the lungs, liver, and kidneys, one by one, and disrupts their functioning.
- People affected by the Ebola virus disease may also suffer from other diseases like jaundice, coma, low blood pressure, and seizures.
- It is still a mystery for researchers working on the Ebola virus disease as to what causes such complications in some people while some remain unaffected.
- However, some people who escape from this disease have a slow rate of recovery.
- It is also seen that people who survived may be affected with inflammation of the liver or hepatitis, or the eyes or uveitis, or the testicles or orchitis.
- They may have symptoms like weakness, headaches, chronic joint pain, and fatigue.
Why Ebola Affects Women More Than Men?
- Ebola attacks more women than men.
- As this is a disease that affects people through infection, people who come in contact with infected people or animals are affected by this disease.
- According to a health team that was working in Liberia, around 70 percent of victims affected by Ebola and who succumbed to this disease were women.
- One of the biggest reasons behind this is that women are carers; they have to look after their family members and stay with the patient.
- Besides, there are more women nurses, health officials, and cross-border traders, which makes women more vulnerable to diseases.
- Women work as laundry workers and cleaners in the hospital, which also increases their risk.
- Pregnant women have a greater chance of being affected by this disease because they have more contact with health workers.
Diet for Ebola
Health experts have advised that you should get trustworthy health advice on the subject of the Ebola virus disease from the public health authority.
- The food products should be prepared and cooked appropriately, as cooking inactivates the Ebola virus.
- You can prevent Ebola by following basic hygiene, such as preventing yourself from coming in direct contact with raw meat, infected animals, and by-products.
- Other customs of basic hygiene include always washing your hands with disinfectant before eating anything, changing your shoes and clothes after being exposed to such infected products and animals, and cleaning them with disinfectant and warm water before using those clothes and shoes again.
- Never consume diseased and sick animals.
- According to some researchers, it is easy to inactivate the Ebola virus by increasing the intake of vitamin C and several other antioxidants that are commonly found in citrus fruits, causing virucidal effects.
- Since no specific drug has been discovered for Ebola, intensive supportive treatment is the best treatment, which is given by the health worker in the hospital. This treatment pursues strict infection control procedures.
Thus, to overcome the Ebola virus disease-related health issues, the health departments of different countries should take serious steps to reach out to people and explain the truth and prevention measures related to this disease to common people.
