Transmission of Ebola Virus - Research Paper Example

TRANSMISSION OF EBOLA VIRUS Unit: The paper is based on the analysis of an article on Ebola virus transmission. The virus is believed to be spread by way of body contacts through symptomatic patients’ body fluids body fluids. Transmission can be stopped by way of early diagnosis, isolation and care of patient, contact tracing, control of infections and a burial that is safe (Fauci, 2014). The EVD outbreak had been small in size and area in central Africa prior to the West Africa Outbreak. The disease has been majorly affecting about one to hundred persons especially in the interior places that are remote. The analysis therefore involves looking at the article and analyzing it. The researchers, subjects, methods and the results and conclusion of the research are all discussed in this paper. The study was carried due to the prevalence of the Ebola disease in the countries the West Africa. There was a total of 4507 of confirmed Ebola cases together with 2296 death caused by the virus. These statistics had been reported from five countries including: Nigeria, Senegal, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone (Team, 2014). The recent epidemic however had been reported to be high as compared to the past ones in terms of mortality and morbidity. There had been reports of symptomatic individuals escaping treatment and diagnosis of laboratory diagnosis provided in the national databases. Several persons have been suspected buried from the disease before the diagnosis was carried out. The largest past outbreak was seen in districts of Mbarara, Masindi and Gulu in Uganda. There were about 425 cases over a three month course from October 2000 to January 2001. This outbreak was being controlled through meticulous application of intervention to reduce further transmission. This was delivered by way of care system at the local health level with support provided by the international partners (Gire et al. 2014) . The research was carried out by WHO when they were alerted of the high rates of evolving EVD outbreak in the 23rd of March, 2014. The epidemic was pronounced to be an international concern public health emergency. In between September, nine months later after the occurrence of the first phase, there were still high growths of the numbers of deaths and cases resulting from the disease on weekly basis in spite of efforts of multisectoral and multinational to bring the disease spread under control. The epidemic has grown to the extent of causing huge challenges in control measures implementation to the level expected to prevent transmission and give clinical care to EDV patients in countries such as Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. The research was carried with the individuals showing any symptoms as the major subjects. The WHO considered several cases in the individuals to qualify for the study. A suspected illness case in any individual dead or alive with a particular high fever onset and have been in contact with someone who is suspected or confirmed to have Ebola case or with a sick or dead animal. Any individual with abrupt inception of high fever and in any case having three of the following signs; vomiting, headache, diarrhea, stomach pain, lethargy, hiccupping, and difficulty in breathing (Jamieson et al. 2014). Another qualification to a subject was any person experiencing a bleeding that cannot be explained or whose death resulted from cause that cannot be explained. A probable case is a sickness in any individual with suspected cases of EVD examined by clinician or any individual who passed on from suspected Ebola of had an epidemiological connection with someone with proved case that had no laboratory disease confirmation. The suspected case was grouped as proved when the sample got from person showed to be Ebola positive under laboratory testing. The frequency of symptoms of a patient with proved and probable EVD cases generally and by country was reported. Examination of capable risk factors for bad outcomes including age groups, sex and hemorrhagic and the general symptoms and occupation were carried out. Analysis was performed by the use of logistic-regression models, with patients’ data for which distinct outcome was available. The case fatality rate was computed as percentage of serious EVD case of the given cases with known perfective clinical outcomes. WHO reported a total of 4507 cases of probable EVD in a span of one year that is between December 2013, to September 2014; Probable and confirmed cases together with 289 deaths were reported. The medium age of an individual suffering from EVD was 32 years and there were no connotation difference in the individuals’ age distribution of EVD persons among the countries. The majority of people suffering from EVD were between the age of 15 and 44 years (Team, 2014). There were only important difference among countries in the total population of females and males with EVD that were reported. The rate of EVD infections has risen among Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia health workers. The report in September included a total of 318 cases with 151 deaths reported among the health workers. The September 14 analysis showed a total of 70.8% cases of patients with ultimate outcomes have died and this rate showed consistency among Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. The Nigerian fatality rate cases were lower with about 45.5%, however the approximate is rooted to the only 11 current cases. The case fatality rate in the patients that are hospitalized was about 64.3% (Team, 2014). The research team encountered some instances of biasness during the study. This made some details concerning the study to continue unconfirmed. A 15.3 days estimate for serial periods is to some extent longer as compared to the previous estimates. This may be due to difficulty in temporally collection of unbiased data on disclosure to contact tracing. A longer serial interval may also indicate that the isolation of case has been less helpful in the recent epidemic. This resulted in a higher percentage of events of transmission taking place late in the line of the illness. Many of the cases had not been reported meaning the data given and the estimations made are incomplete. This shows some instances of biasness in the estimations given. Measures put to reduce the instances of such biases are the increase of the study period to cover all the cases to give a correct estimation. In my analysis, the researchers were able to provide answers to their questions. The presence of the epidemic was concluded to be large due to the features of the affected population and not biological nature of the virus. The prevalence had also been due to limited control efforts to stop the spread of the infection. The research proved the interconnection within population leading to high geographic dissemination of the disease. The large intermixing of population has enhanced the spread of the infection. This is true as the countries under the study are interconnected by the roads within the rural areas with nation capitals that are densely populated. The research comparison with the previous studies shows that the past studies proved the capabilities of reduction of the infection incidences through implementation of control measures. This view is strengthened by the approximations case reproduction digits given in the analysis of the study. The study has shown greater reductions in the transmission to be possible. The research has also achieved through its analysis to give the recommendations of the control measures in the prevention of Ebola transmission. The results provided have also promoted the understanding of the spread of infections and the control potential. Many cases however had not been detected by the research. This calls for care in the interpretation of interpretation of data. The collection of data has been done under extreme conditions. Furthermore, the top considerations were given to contact tracing and patient care rather than the investigations of the epidemic. In my conclusions, the WHO has provided good information on the transmission of Ebola and given recommendations to minimize the transmission. This is an effective step towards the fight against the deadly infection. The research has also proved to the addition of value to the previous researches carried out. The prevalence of Ebola especially in the West Africa countries can be deduced from the study. The study has shown the prevalence to be related to the dense population. This has therefore brought in the precautions of avoiding crowded places during the outbreak of such deadly diseases. The research however having faced various challenges have come up with recommendations to such challenges. This therefore welcomes a new study in the future. REFERENCES Fauci, A. S. (2014). Ebola—underscoring the global disparities in health care resources. New England Journal of Medicine, 371(12), 1084-1086. Gire, S. K., Goba, A., Andersen, K. G., Sealfon, R. S., Park, D. J., Kanneh, L., ... & Scheiffelin, J. S. (2014). Genomic surveillance elucidates Ebola virus origin and transmission during the 2014 outbreak. Science, 345(6202), 1369-1372. Jamieson, D. J., Uyeki, T. M., Callaghan, W. M., Meaney-Delman, D., & Rasmussen, S. A. (2014). What obstetrician–gynecologists should know about Ebola: a perspective from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 124(5), 1005-1010. Team, W. E. R. (2014). Ebola virus disease in West Africa—the first 9 months of the epidemic and forward projections. N Engl J Med, 371(16), 1481-95. Read More