Hey y’all! I know that there has been a lot of talk about the coronavirus, however, I want to shine a light on another virus. Does the Ebola virus ring a bell? The Ebola virus outbreak you a probably most familiar with is the 2014-2016 outbreak in West Africa that claimed more than 2,200 lives. I know that number is nothing compared to the more than 100,000 deaths that the current pandemic, but that’s not the point. The point is that we need not to neglect other diseases that we are facing in the world currently. Even though this may not affect you directly, there’s someone else’s loved one who going through this right now so we cannot forget about them.
The Ebola virus disease (EVD) is deadly disease that usually has outbreaks that primarily happen in Africa. The EVD was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River, which is in the current Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and spread to surrounding countries. Researchers believe people are initially infected with the virus through contact with an infected animal like a nonhuman primate or fruit bat. Soon after, the virus spreads from person to person which could potentially affect large groups of people leading to outbreaks. The virus spreads through direct contact with blood and other bodily fluids, items contaminated with bodily fluids or even the body of a person who died from Ebola. Health-care workers have frequently been infected when treating patients with EVD when infection control precautions are not strictly enforced.
Signs and symptoms usually appear within 2 to 21 days after exposure, which is variable so you may or may not know who infected you. The main signs and symptoms you receive are fever, aches, fatigue, diarrhea and vomiting and unexplained hemorrhaging.
The current outbreak in the DRC is very perplexing. It has declared its 10th outbreak within 40 years in 2018. As of March 6, 2020 there hadn’t been any confirmed new cases in the last 18 consecutive days. Outbreaks are declared over if there have been no recorded cases for 42 days straight across all areas, but something happened. A new case of EVD was confirmed just 3 days before the DRC was expected to declare an end to the outbreak.
I know this must be devastating. To feel like you’re near the end, only to find out that the beginning has just begun once again. Truth be told, I think that were still cases of Ebola during the period of not having any records. I just feel like it always happens and this case as well as others just flew under the radar. I also think that people could have been transmitting the virus asymptomatically, because I feel like that’s one of the only other ways that there was a “random” new case. I just hope that everything gets better with the virus and all the other outbreaks going on around the world. All we can do is help and support each other as much as possible.
Kalayah's Krazy Microbes 