Ebola virus disease is a severe, often fatal illness, with a case fatality rate of up to 90%. It is one of the world’s most virulent diseases. EVD outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.
The infection is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected animals or people. Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care. During an outbreak, those at higher risk of infection are health workers, family members and others in close contact with sick people and deceased patients.
No licensed vaccine for EVD is available. Several vaccines are being tested, but none are available for clinical use.
There is no vaccine and no cure for the disease!
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. Laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes.
People are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus. Ebola virus was isolated from semen 61 days after onset of illness in a man who was infected in a laboratory.
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