Informative Speech on Ebola - Essay Example

Ebola virus informative speech Ebola virus was first discovered in the year 1976 in Sudan and Zaire. It got d after the river Ebola which is in Zaire. Its first outbreak saw 284 infected with 53 % of them people killed by the virus in Sudan. Few months later the Ebola Zaire emerged in Yambuku. It was more virulent and had a higher mortality rate of 88 % with 318 people infected by the Ebola Zaire virus. Tremendous effort was put in place then by researchers with the aim of identifying the virus natural reservoir but all in vain.

The third strain of Ebola termed as Ebola Reston emerged in Reston Virginia where it got identified in monkeys that were imported from Mindanao in Philippines. However, the people who were seroconverted by the Ebola virus did not develop the Ebola hemorrhagic fever. The last known strain Ebola virus strain is the Ebola Cote d’Ivoire that was discovered in the year 1994 (Li and Chen, pg 8). It occurred when an ethnologist was performing a necropsy in Tai forest on a dead chimpanzee infected herself in the process.

Ebola outbreak in 2014 is the largest ever in the history of Ebola. It became the first ever Ebola outbreak in West Africa countries and recorded as the world’s first epidemic ever. There are few cases reported in Nigerians Port Harcourt and Lagos. The cases in Nigeria have been associated with a man who had visited Liberia and died of Ebola days later in Lagos. However, the virus has not spread widely in Nigeria. In Senegal, one case of Ebola was reported from a man who had traveled from guinea (Center for Disease control and Prevention factsheets).

As per September 18th, 2014, the number of cases counted had risen to 5347 with total deaths of 2630. Among the counted people, 3095 have been confirmed in the laboratory to have been infected by the Ebola virus. The deaths have been experienced across five countries in West Africa among the affect countries are Nigeria, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Guinea (Gatherer, pg 5). Prevention and treatment So far the food and drugs association has not approved a safe vaccine for Ebola virus.

Therefore, the prevention modalities are guided by the behavior of individuals when in the Ebola outbreak affected areas. To prevent spreading of the virus, a number of behavioral practices have to be integrated to the people visiting the outbreak areas. According to Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reports, preventive measures involves careful hygiene without any contact with body fluids of infected people, avoid handling items used on the affected people’s body fluids, avoid touching the dead body of an Ebola victim with bare hands.

Avoid the Ebola treating hospitals and avoid eating the wild animals in the affected area. Monitor health for 21 days and seek medical care in case of developing Ebola symptoms. For the health care providers, it is mandatory for them to use personal protective equipment when handling these patients. To prevent spreading of the virus further, the health care provider should isolate the Ebola cases from the other patients (Qiu and Kobinger,pg 5).There has been no medicine or vaccine developed for the Ebola virus; therefore, the management entails only alleviation of symptoms or reducing the severity.

However, to improve chances so patient survival the following is done to them: balancing the body salts (electrolytes) and intravenous fluids. Maintenance of the oxygen status and pressure and treating any other infections. The immune response of the patients determines their recovery. The patients who recover develop antibodies lasting up to ten years (Qiu and Kobinger, pg 966). Works citedCDC response to Ebola outbreak, Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/24-7/protectingpeople/disease-detectives/Gatherer, Derek.

“The 2014 Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in West Africa.” The Journal of general virology (2014): 1–13. Web.Li, Y H, and S P Chen. “Evolutionary History of Ebola Virus.” Epidemiology and infection (2013): 1–8. Web.Qiu, Xiangguo, and Gary P. Kobinger. “Antibody Therapy for Ebola: Is the Tide Turning Around?” Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics 2014: 964–967. Web.