Geography Test 2 Ebola

Define Ebola

An infectious and frequently fatal disease marked by fever and sever internal bleeding, spread through contact with infected body fluids by a filovirus (Ebola virus).

Other known name for Ebola

Ebola haemorrhagic fever

Incubation Period

time of infection with the virus to onset symptoms, is from 2-21 days

How long can a corpse be contagious for?

Up to 7 days

Can you Spread the disease without having developed symptoms?

No

Identify the symptoms

Day 7-9: headache, fatigue, fever, muscle soreness

Day 10: sudden high fever, vomiting blood, passive behavior

Day 11: Bruising, brain damage, bleeding from nose, mouth, eyes and anus.

Day 12: Loss of consciousness, seizures, massive internal bleeding, death.

Treatment

Vaccine

Ervebo vaccine approved in December 2020 for individuals 18 years or over for protection against Zaire Ebola Virus.

Vaccine administered to more than 350 000 people in guinea and in the 2018-2020 outbreaks in the DRC.

May 2020 two component vaccine was authorized to individuals 1 year and older. however not suitable for immediate outbreak response as it is taken in two separate doses.

Morbidity

The condition of being diseased

Mortality

The state of being subject to death, especially a large scale

When did Ebola first appear?

1976

Types of Ebola and Average death rate of each

Zaire Ebola virus 68%

Sudan Ebola virus 53%

Bundibugyo Ebola virus 27%

Reston Ebola virus 0%

Tai Forest Ebola virus 0%

How Ebola affects the body

Transmission

Natural Host: Fruit bats

Source of Human Infection: Blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals, bushmeat.

Epizootic Cycle

Ebola produces high mortality among other primates and animals.

Humans interaction with Ebola animal hunting.

Human to Human spread.

Zaire Ebola case fatality rate

68%

Spatial Distribution of Ebola

Has been isolated to the continent of Africa.

1. Democratic republic of congo

2. sudan

3. uganda

4. republic of congo

5. guinea

6. liberia

7. siera leone

8. nigeria

Post 2014-2016 outbreak Ebola has been recorder in

Sengal, USA, Spain, Italy

Due to exposed healthcare workers.

Outbreaks of Ebola have been found in monkeys and pigs in the Phillipines and China.

Temporal Distribution

Epidemic

When 3 or less countries are affected by a disease.

Pandemic

More than 3 countries are affected by the disease.

physical processes influencing distribution:

Climate - foraging behavior of species is strongly influenced by seasonally driven temporal and spatial clustering of scarce fruit resources which increases Ebola locations. Outbreaks are most likely to occur in times of high humidity due to the increased fruit production in the eating habitats of animals that can lead to transmit Ebola, making the virus become more active. Areas of higher rainfall: roads become impassable which is difficult to seek healthcare and implement infection contact measures which directly increase the risk of Ebola transmissions

Geographical location - most outbreaks contained to remote rural areas and were controlled rapidly with the help of the WHO and international partners. each outbreak has lasted for periods averaging 3 weeks to 3 months. West African outbreak different in that cases reached capital cities with higher levels of population density and the virus was able to spread quickly, fruit bat is the host for both human and animal disease making the spatial distribution of Ebola influenced by the natural territory of the bat.

Human processes influencing distribution:

Caring for the sick - Ebola is transmitted through biological fluids rapidly increasing the rate of infection within communities. e.g caring for sick relatives or community members, assisting with their cleaning and feeding during a period of illness.

Fleeing and seeking refuge - during height of Ebola epidemic the natural human response was to flee the outbreak with relatives and friends across borders where those spread the disease into neighboring countries and cities.

Economy - Ebola can be magnified due to the establishments of road networks, agricultural practices and population migration to urban areas. Changing dynamics resulted in rapid and widespread transmission of the virus from a single case in rural guinea to a total of 28 616 cases in 5 African nations and 4 international communities in 2014-16.

Health System - (in West Africa) weak healthcare system, poorly prepared, people did not believe Ebola was real, no familiarity for clinical diagnosis, laboratory support for clinical diagnosis was not established, facilities not adequately resourced.

Magnitude

high case of fatality rate of about 6.6%

3481 cases 2299 deaths and 1162 survivors

2018-2020 DRC outbreak second largest Ebola outbreak globally

Duration

began August 2018 ended 25th June 2020 lasting about 23 months

Frequency

high frequency and recurrent

DRC experienced 12 Ebola outbreaks since the virus was first identified in 1976

Probability

moderate to high in some regions

risk is higher in forested areas and areas with conflict, population movement, weak health systems and delayed treatmetn increase transmission