Download the FAQ on Ebola in pdf format pdf, 204kb Ebola virus disease (formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever) is a severe, often fatal illness, with a death rate of up to 90%. The illness affects humans and nonhuman primates (monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees).
Ebola first appeared in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks, one in a village near the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the other in a remote area of Sudan.
The origin of the virus is unknown but fruit bats (Pteropodidae) are considered the likely host of the Ebola virus, based on available evidence.
2. How do people become infected with the virus?
In the current outbreak in West Africa, the majority of cases in humans have occurred as a result of human-to-human transmission.
Infection occurs from direct contact through broken skin or mucous membranes with the blood, or other bodily fluids or secretions (stool, urine, saliva, semen) of infected people. Infection can also occur if broken skin or mucous membranes of a healthy person come into contact with environments that have become contaminated with an Ebola patient’s infectious fluids such as soiled clothing, bed linen, or used needles.
More than 100 health-care workers have been exposed to the virus while caring for Ebola patients. This happens because they may not have been wearing personal protection equipment or were not properly applying infection prevention and control measures when caring for the patients. Health-care providers at all levels of the health system – hospitals, clinics, and health posts – should be briefed on the nature of the disease and how it is transmitted, and strictly follow recommended infection control precautions.
WHO does not advise families or communities to care for individuals who may present with symptoms of Ebola virus disease in their homes. Rather, seek treatment in a hospital or treatment centre staffed by doctors and nurses qualified and equipped to treat Ebola virus victims. If you do choose to care for your loved one at home, WHO strongly advises you to notify your local public health authority and receive appropriate training, equipment (gloves and personal protective equipment [PPE]) for treatment, instructions on proper removal and disposal of PPE, and information on how to prevent further infection and transmission of the disease to yourself, other family members, or the community.
Additional transmission has occurred in communities during funerals and burial rituals. Burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person have played a role in the transmission of Ebola. Persons who have died of Ebola must be handled using strong protective clothing and gloves and must be buried immediately. WHO advises that the deceased be handled and buried by trained case management professionals, who are equipped to properly bury the dead.
People are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus. For this reason, infected patients receive close monitoring from medical professionals and receive laboratory tests to ensure the virus is no longer circulating in their systems before they return home. When the medical professionals determine it is okay for the patient to return home, they are no longer infectious and cannot infect anyone else in their communities. Men who have recovered from the illness can still spread the virus to their partner through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery. For this reason, it is important for men to avoid sexual intercourse for at least 7 weeks after recovery or to wear condoms if having sexual intercourse during 7 weeks after recovery.
Generally, a person must come into contact with an animal that has Ebola and it can then spread within the community from human to human.
3. Who is most at risk?
During an outbreak, those at higher risk of infection are:
health workers; family members or others in close contact with infected people; mourners who have direct contact with the bodies of the deceased as part of burial ceremonies. More research is needed to understand if some groups, such as immuno-compromised people or those with other underlying health conditions, are more susceptible than others to contracting the virus.
Exposure to the virus can be controlled through the use of protective measures in clinics and hospitals, at community gatherings, or at home.
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Percentage of the U.S. population that will get the flu, on average, each year: between 5% and 20%. Number of Americans hospitalized each year because of flu complications: 200,000, on average. The number of people who die each year from flu-related causes in the U.S.: ranges from 3,000 to 49,000. In the U.S., influenza and pneumonia were the eighth leading cause of death in males in 2009. Number of flu vaccine doses available in the U.S. for the 2013-2014 flu season: Between 135 and 139 million.
Quoted Text
When the clock strikes midnight and we move from 2013 into 2014 the United States population will have reached a new record of more than 317 million people, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. That will keep us as the third most populous country on the planet, behind only China (1.35 billion) and India (1.23 billion). Overall, the world population will top 7.1 billion at the start of 2014.
interesting math.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
It takes about two weeks after vaccination for an adult to develop antibodies against the flu. The typical incubation period for the flu is one to four days. Adults can be contagious from the day before symptoms begin through five to 10 days after the illness starts. A regular case of the flu typically resolves after three to seven days for the majority of people, although cough and fatigue can persist for more than two weeks.
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
anyone here ready to bet their families lives on our government approved facts concerning this one?
Yes, it can mutate but in order for it to mutate to airborne the entire structure of the virus would have to change. This would mean that everything about it would change. It would take a series of mutation in order to change and there is no history of this kind of mutation, changing mode of transition, from being a reality.
Hey....question.....what ever happened to that Duncan guy's family? Ya know, the guy who died of Ebola? He was WITH his family BEFORE he was hospitalized. Do they have Ebola?
Why isn't the LAME STREAM MEDIA investigating these FACTS???
Actually there are many stories about them, their quarantine time is up and they are fine. I think they are free to go today or tomorrow.
i know you weren't asking me....but i don't get one....never did.
the way i see it.....if everyone else got theirs.....why do i need one? (tic)
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I get mine. Almost died from the flu, ended up with a trach so I could breathe. I have a scar that reminds me how serious the flu can be. I know it doesn't cover every strain but I still like trying to stack the odds in my favor.
LMAO reading this thread, so I'll just throw this out there. You have a greater chance of dying from a refrigerator falling from the sky than contracting and succumbing to Ebola.
That being said, keep posting. They've been priceless so far.
OMG, you won't believe this but I got trapped under a refrigerator that fell on me in 1959.
I was a much younger dumbasss than today and was swinging on the refrigerator door when it tipped over and pinned me.
Luckily the doors didn't open all the way it or would have really hurt.
And of course the entire contents of the refrigerator all fell out and onto me.
I forgot all about it until you mentioned a refrigerator falling on a person.
I have to....I'm part of the medical army.....however my question is, why do I need to get one if everyone else got one?
when has everyone else ever gotten one? Over 60% of the U.S. population does not get the flu shot on any given year. Heard immunity doesn't kick in until around a 95% immunization rate.
I have to....I'm part of the medical army.....however my question is, why do I need to get one if everyone else got one?
and HIPPA does not apply to me.....our name badge is colored to show that we got the flu shot....if you don't get the flu shot you don't have the colored badge then everyone knows your healthcare choice.....and once the flu season is declared in NYS and you don't have a flu shot, you're required to wear a mask where ever you may come in contact with patients.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
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