The Ebola virus was first reported from the African country, Sudan. This virus infection has become one of the most dreaded diseases in the world of late. The destructive potential of this virus is high with almost 80% of the victims reported dead. The virus has the potential to infect millions of people across the world if proper screening measures are not adopted by the countries of the globe.

Know About Ebola

Ebola virus diseases were earlier known as Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever and are caused by the virus belonging to Filoviridae family. This is a disease known to spread from animals to humans. The RNA virus infects the wild animals such as gorillas, monkeys, chimpanzees and fruit bats and can also spread to humans. According to World Health Organization, this disease is transmitted through direct contact with the body fluids such as blood, secretions and organs of an infected animal or person. Migratory populations are most likely to get the infection and they may transmit the Ebola virus.

Early Symptoms

The early symptoms may appear one week after the virus infects your body. The symptoms include headache, fever, rashes, nausea, stomach pain, vomiting, body ache, cough, etc. It is difficult to identify the disease in the early stages as the early symptoms are similar to the symptoms of other diseases. The diagnosis is usually made on the basis of tests for antibodies against viral DNA and Ebola.

Later Symptoms

Within a few days of the patient expressing the early symptoms, the later symptoms appear. Later symptoms include: impaired liver and kidney functions, redness of the eye due to internal and external bleeding, bloody vomit and bloody diarrhea, etc. The patient may experience cardiovascular collapse and finally death.

Who Is At Risk?

The persons with high risk of Ebola infection are family members of the infected persons and the health workers who is in close contact with infected individuals and mourners of the deceased person who have direct contact with the body. People who are handling the meat of the infected animals are also at the risk of exposure to the virus.

The Countries Affected By the Virus

The present Ebola virus outbreak is the largest outbreak reported and is mainly limited to West Africa. The African countries like Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Libya has reported more than 1600 cases of Ebola till August 2014. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises to avoid all “nonessential” travel to these West African countries.

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