The Ebola Virus Treatment - Essay Example

Accordingly, there exists up to five Ebola virus species. Out of the five, only four can be responsible for causing human diseases. The Ebola virus disease is known to affect West and Central African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and Guinea. Recently, there have been plentiful reports of the illness finding its way to Asian countries and the United States, a fact made possible through the global travel of infected persons out of Africa.

Ebola virus was initially revealed in 1976 in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo, near River Ebola, where the disease borrows its name (Peters and LeDuc ix). The illness was initially disregarded as a threat; consequently, no vaccine was developed. In addition, earlier disease cases could be contained quickly, and fewer deaths were reported in the event of fatalities. It took the attention of the United States military to study the possibilities of weaponizing the virus that made the disease widespread. However, the idea was dropped, and the current outbreaks are said to have originated from fruit bats. The virus was initially thought to be airborne; however, studies conducted by the University of Sussex revealed that it is transmitted through body fluids. Also, the virus finds its way into the human body through cuts on the skin and mucous membranes.

The Ebola virus has also been found to be transmitted through sexual intercourse, physical contact by the infected persons and ingestion of breast milk. The disease hinders the immune system of the host victim. Persons infected with the Ebola virus bear symptoms such as mild nausea, diarrhoea, abdominal pains, and eye bleeding. The disease also halts the body from clotting blood resulting in gastrointestinal bleeding. This result in increased wear out of the intestinal mucous membranes, and any cuts on the body will ooze blood endlessly (Brooks 32). The persons infected with the virus can take up to six days to ascertain their survival probability. At this point, the prevailing symptoms in the patient will either prove to be fatal or give a chance for survival. However, it is imperative to mention that most deaths result from organ failure and septic shock in patients.

Despite the lack of a licensed treatment method, successful prevention protocols have curbed the disease, especially in West Africa. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for example, has contained the disease, and there exist no reports of any significant infections. On the other hand, with over 170 million inhabitants, Nigeria has managed to report eight fatalities out of the reported twenty cases (Brooks 32). As a result, numerous types of research in establishing a feasible vaccine have been under development in various universities worldwide. Given that, the University of Oxford has come up with vaccines in the testing phase. The vaccines have shown positive results in numerous tests on humans and animals. If the vaccines’ performance offers possibilities of eradicating the disease, they will have to enter mass production before 2015.

Past studies indicate that the Ebola virus outbreak affected the Congo and Nile Basin by simultaneously stirring in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan. The fatality rates stood at 53 per cent for DRC and Sudan, recording higher speeds of up to 88 per cent. The early transmission of the Ebola virus remained unknown from 1980 – 1993. However, the sprout of new Ebola virus species became frequent in the West African country of Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda (Muyembe-Tamfum et al. 2). The viruses, namely, Côte d’Ivoire ebolavirus found in 1994 in Côte d’Ivoire and Bundibugyo ebolavirus recently discovered in 2007 in Uganda. The reemergence of the virus in the DRC and Gabon is attributed to the increased mortality rates of chimpanzees and gorillas infected with the Zaire ebolavirus.

Accordingly, human infections are associated with increasing human contact with primates. The Ebola virus has also been found to be contracted by feeding on fruit bats in areas where primates are not in existence in the human habitants of Gulu in Uganda, Yambio in Sudan, and Kikwit and Mweka in the DRC. For that reason, the Ebola virus has resulted in hundredths of deaths in the reported locations. For instance, the City of Kikwit said 315 cases, out of which 250 deaths were recorded in 1995. On the other hand, the Ebola infections that occurred in the town of Gulu reported 224 deaths out of the reported 425 cases (Muyembe-Tamfum et al. 2).