Key facts to know about the biggest Ebola outbreak yet
Four West African countries Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Guinea
are struggling with the worst Ebola outbreak in history, one that has begun to spread to other nations.
Below are some facts regarding the outbreak:
i. The virus is transmitted through direct contact by
blood or other body fluids. It is not airborne.
ii. The outbreak has so far killed 932 people - or around 55 percent
of those known to have been infected - and sickened hundreds more.
The disease emerged in the remote forest regions of Guinea, but has
since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
iii. There is no vaccine or cure for Ebola - a hemorrhagic fever
with a fatality rate of up to 90 percent that causes symptoms ranging
from flu-like pains to internal and external bleeding caused by kidney and liver failure.
iv. Ebola's suspected origin is forest bats and it can be transmitted
between humans by touching victims or through bodily fluids.
The virus was first identified in 1976 in what is now known as
the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
v. Since 1976, there have been 34 known cases and outbreaks
of Ebola, according to the US Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Before the latest outbreak, the deadliest
episode was the first, in 1976, which killed 280 people in Central Africa.
vi. Two American aid workers stricken with Ebola in West Africa
are now being treated at an Atlanta hospital. Their conditions
improved by varying degrees after they received an experimental
drug developed by San Diego-based private biotech firm Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc.
The World Health Organization said it is considering the
implications of making experimental drugs more widely
available to patients in Africa.
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