Did You Know?
The natural host of Ebola is the fruit bat.
Ebola is a terrible disease which is reported about from time to time in the international press. It’s a killer virus that was only discovered in 1976. It is named after the Ebola River found in the African state of the Democratic Republic of the Congo – once known as Zaire.
Ebola is dangerous because it is extremely infectious. The smallest amount of the virus can cause serious illness or death. However, Ebola can only be spread through physical contact; it is not spread through the air. Humans become infected when they come into contact with an infected person.
Symptoms of the virus include a fever, diarrhoea, vomiting and stomach pains. Usually, these symptoms will appear between eight and ten days after exposure to the virus.
Five hundred kilometres south of Beijing, a female factory employee works on a protective suit that medical workers will wear when dealing with people infected with the Ebola virus.
Ebola outbreaks have been significant in recent years – the biggest in the disease’s 40-year history. Over 2,000 people have died from it in just one year in West Africa.
While there is no cure for Ebola virus disease, advancements in treatments and vaccines have significantly improved survival rates and prevention. Supportive care and the use of approved therapies have shown to be effective in treating the disease. Vaccination campaigns have also been crucial in controlling the spread of the virus. Research continues to focus on finding more effective treatments and vaccines to combat Ebola virus disease.
The challenge of tackling the Ebola virus:
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