ARE WE WITNESSING GROUND ZERO IN WEST AFRICA

In the movie Ground Zero which was released in the US in October 2010, a small group of cleaners were hired to clean up five dead bodies in an old warehouse only to find out later that, the bodies were quite not dead. This lead to a spread the virus hosted by the dead bodies from country to country and eventually became global. A battle for survival came in place.

Now let’s come a bit into a real life situation being witnessed in West Africa. Currently an outbreak of a viral strain is being spread in parts of West Africa. Although this viral strain not so new is believed to be spread by contact with chimpanzees and fruit bat. This is The Ebola Virus. The Ebola virus is a filo virus, forming a long, curly, rope like shape. The virus can cause Ebola hemorrhagic fever, one of several newly emerging diseases that lead to high fever and massive internal bleeding.

 Caption: The long, curly and rope like shaped Ebola virus

The virus is named after Ebola River in Democratic Republic of Congo which is near the town where the viral strain was discovered in 1976 when a team of scientist led by Dr. Lyle Conrad travelled to Congo to inspect an epidemic that has led to many deaths in that West African country. With blood samples in shiny blue thermos transported ignorantly on a passenger plane, the samples arrived in Europe in September 29^th that same year.

These samples arriving in Antwerp, Belgium were opened by three lab workers in an environment appropriate for handling organisms similar to tuberculosis, without any protective clothing associated with manipulating Biosafety Level 4 pathogens being used of late. Well these scientist testing the viral strain injected samples into mice looking out for symptoms of yellow fever which never showed up. The incubation period for the viral strain to show full symptoms is within 21 days.

In a 1995 outbreak in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), three out of four who became infected with the virus died. The number of outbreaks and reported death have being on-going although not continuously until the current initial outbreak in 2014 in parts of West Africa. However it is believed by scientist that the current Ebola outbreak was originated from a 2-year old boy who died on 6^th December, 2013 in a village of Meliandou, Guekedou Prefecture, Guinea. Researchers also believed that his mother and 3 year old sister and grandmother became ill and died with symptoms consistent with the viral strain, Ebola. The virus was believed to have spread during the funeral which saw friends and relatives traveling from neighboring villages for the funeral. As customary practiced in most West African countries, touching of the dead is allowed, thereby when they traveled back to their villages, they were all carrying the disease unknown to them.

Ebola Virus Infection

The Ebola virus is highly infectious and can spread through the use of unsterilized needles or through contact with an infected individual or the corpse of someone who has died from the disease. About one week after infection, the virus begins attacking blood and liver cells (1). As the disease swiftly progresses, the virus may destroy vital organs such as the liver and kidneys (2), leading to massive internal bleeding (3). Shock and respiratory arrest soon follow, then death.

On March 19 this year, the Guinea Ministry of health acknowledged a local outbreak of an undetermined viral hemorrhagic fever. The outbreak since February has killed 23 people with more reported cases in neighboring Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. So far as of 20^th August, Guinea with 2,615 reported cases has seen 1,427 deaths; Liberia with 1,082 cases has seen 624 deaths; Nigeria with 16 cases with 5 deaths and Sierra Leone with 910 cases witnessing 392 deaths. However local Health Ministries believe that these statistics would have being more if family members were willing to report cases to them. The World Health Organization on 8 August formally designated the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern.

Caption: West Africa Ebola virus outbreak situation map

So far various aid organizations and international bodies including Doctors without borders, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Union and Economic Community of West African States have donated various relief items and personnel’s to combat this viral disease. So far ECOWAS on their recent summit on 30^th March have disbursed US$250,000 to deal with the outbreak. At this same event the Nigerian government donated US$500,000 to the Liberian government, which is currently crippled not only by the disease, but by economic challenges to help aid the fight against Ebola.

The WHO in July conveyed a meeting of sub-regional meeting between health ministers in Accra, Ghana. This was followed by another meeting in Guinea to set-up a sub-regional center to co-ordinate technical support in Conakry on 24 July. The WHO and West African Nations on 31 July announced a $100 million in aid to help contain the disease

Since the spread many West African States have closed their borders to nations with reported cases of infections. Many airliners including Arik Air in Nigeria, British Airways, and Korean Air have also temporarily suspended flights to countries with reported cases. Many of the countries have also taken precautions at various entry points to strain symptoms of the disease.

So far no proven Ebola virus-specific treatment exists as of August, 2014. Treatment has basically being aided at supporting the strength of the human antibodies to fight the viral strain. A number of experimental treatments are being studied including ZMapp and an RNA interference drug called “”TKM-Ebola”. Some are of the view that the experimental drugs should be made widely available in all parts of Africa but some critics have warned of the dangers of making such untested drugs widely available. However two American aid workers who were diagnosed with confirmed symptoms received these experimental drugs have so far being discharged as of 21 August. Three Liberian health workers also same treatment later in August.  However one of the three infected African doctors, Dr. Abraham Borbor treated with ZMapp has died in Monrovia on Sunday 24 August.

As there is yet to be confirmed a treatment or vaccine for this viral strain it is highly recommend that people put in place measures to avoid contact with the disease. Some of them are:

For citizens other than health workers:

·         Practice careful hygiene. Avoid contact with blood and body fluids.

·         Avoid funerals or burials that involves people coming into contact with dead bodies

·         Avoid contact with bats and nonhuman primates or blood, fluids and raw meat prepared from these animals

·         Avoid eating meat or dishes prepared with bush meat

·         Avoid unnecessary visit to hospitals or isolation centers with confirmed cases

For health workers

·         wearing of protective clothing (such as masks, gloves, gowns and goggles)

·         using infectious control measures such as complete sterilization and routine use of disinfectant

·         isolation of Ebola infected patients

With economic activities coming to a halt in most affected countries, we are yet to witness the real impact of this viral strain. While we all wait for a break through, it will be in citizens own interest to report likely symptoms to any health facility nearby to contain the disease.

References

1.       2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa- Outbreak Distribution Map.

2.       Grady, Denise; Fink, Sheri ( 9 August, 2014) Tracing Ebola’s Outbreak to an African 2-Year-Old. The New York Times

3.       Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response (ERP)- Outbreak News (WHO)

4.       Roy-Macaulay, Clearance (31 July 2014) Ebola Triggers Health Emergency. Drug Discovery Development. (Highlands Ranch, CO, US: Cahners Business Information)

5.       Chronology of Ebola Hamorrhagic Fever outbreak. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

6.       http://www.wikipedia.org: 2014 West Africa Ebola virus outbreak.

7.       Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. (Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever: Preventive measure against Ebola- www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/prevention/?mobile=nocontent

8.       Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia