Ebola Virus Disease

EVD:Ebola Virus Disease

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever. It is a severe and often fatal illness in humans. The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission. No licensed specific treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals.

EVD outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests. Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered to be the natural host of the Ebola virus.

Ebola first appeared in 1976, in Nzara and Sudan. Later it was reported in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Symptoms
EVD is a severe acute viral illness often characterized by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.

The Filoviridae family consists of 3 members
• Marburgvirus
• Genus Cuevavirus
• Genus Ebolavirus, its family includes
1. Bundibugyo ebolavirus
2. Zaire ebolavirus
3. Reston ebolavirus
4. Sudan ebolavirus
5. Tai Forest ebolavirus