Definition of Fever, Ebola virus
< b>Fever, Ebola virus: A notoriously deadly virus that causes fearsome symptoms,
the most prominent being high fever and massive internal bleeding. Ebola virus kills
as many as 90% of the people it infects. It is one of the viruses that is capable
of causing hemorrhagic (bloody) fever.
Epidemics of Ebola virus have occurred mainly in African countries including
Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), Gabon, Uganda, the Ivory Coast, and
Sudan. Ebola virus is a hazard to laboratory workers and, for that matter, anyone
who is exposed to it.
Infection with Ebola virus in humans is incidental -- humans do not "carry" the
virus. The way in which the virus first appears in a human at the start of an outbreak
has not been determined. However, it has been hypothesized that the first patient
(the index case) becomes infected through contact with an infected animal.
Ebola virus is transmitted by contact with blood, feces or body fluids from an
infected person or by direct contact with the virus, as in a laboratory. People
can be exposed to Ebola virus from direct contact with the blood or secretions of
an infected person. This is why the virus has often been spread through the families
and friends of infected persons: in the course of feeding, holding, or otherwise
caring for them, family members and friends would come into close contact with such
secretions. People can also be exposed to Ebola virus through contact with objects,
such as needles, that have been contaminated with infected secretions.
The incubation period --the period between contact with the virus and the appearance
of symptoms -- ranges from 2 to 21 days.
The initial symptoms are usually high fever, headache, muscle aches, stomach
pain, and diarrhea. There may also be sore throat, hiccups, and red and itchy eyes.
The symptoms that tend to follow include vomiting and rash and bleeding problems
with bloody nose (epistaxis), spitting up blood from the lungs (hemoptysis) and
vomiting it up from the stomach (hematemesis), and bloody eyes (conjunctival hemorrhages).
Then finally come chest pain, shock, and death.
A protein on the surface of the virus has been discovered that is responsible
for the severe internal bleeding (the death-dealing feature of the disease). The
protein attacks and destroys the endothelial cells lining blood vessels, causing
the vessels to leak and bleed.
There is no specific treatment for the disease. Currently, patients receive supportive
therapy. This consists of balancing the patient's fluids and electrolytes, maintaining
their oxygen level and blood pressure, and treating them for any complicating infections.
Death can occur within 10 days of the onset of symptoms.
The prevention of the spread of Ebola fever involves practical viral hemorrhagic
fever isolation precautions, or barrier nursing techniques. These techniques include
the wearing of protective clothing, such as masks, gloves, gowns, and goggles; the
use of infection-control measures, including complete equipment sterilization; and
the isolation of Ebola fever patients from contact with unprotected persons. The
aim of all of these techniques is to avoid any person's contact with the blood or
secretions of any patient. If a patient with Ebola fever dies, it is equally important
that direct contact with the body of the deceased patient be prevented.
Bioterrorism -- There has been concern about Ebola virus as a possible
weapon for bioterrorism. However, the General Accounting Office, the investigative
arm of the US Congress, in a 1999 report considered Ebola virus to be an "unlikely"
biologic threat for terrorism, because the virus is very difficult to obtain and
process, unsafe to handle, and relatively unstable.
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