Fruit bats in particular are considered a delicacy in the area of Guinea where the outbreak started. In March, Liberia's health minister advised people to stop having sex, in addition to existing advice not to shake hands or kiss. The WHO says men can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to seven weeks after recovering from Ebola. The cap forms part of a protective hood covering the head and neck.
It offers medical workers an added layer of protection, ensuring that they cannot touch any part of their face whilst in the treatment centre. Goggles, or eye visors, are used to provide cover to the eyes, protecting them from splashes. The goggles are sprayed with an anti-fogging solution before being worn. In the new guidelines, health workers are advised to use a single use disposable full face shield as goggles may not provide complete skin coverage.
Covers the mouth to protect from sprays of blood or body fluids from patients. When wearing a respirator, the medical worker must tear this outer mask to allow the respirator through.
A respirator is worn to protect the wearer from a patient's coughs. According to guidelines from the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres MSF , the respirator should be put on second, right after donning the overalls. A surgical scrub suit, durable hospital clothing that absorbs liquid and is easily cleaned, is worn as a baselayer underneath the overalls. It is normally tucked into rubber boots to ensure no skin is exposed.
The overalls are placed on top of the scrubs. These suits are similar to hazardous material hazmat suits worn in toxic environments. The team member supervising the process should check that the equipment is not damaged. A minimum two sets of gloves are required, covering the suit cuff. When putting on the gloves, care must be taken to ensure that no skin is exposed and that they are worn in such a way that any fluid on the sleeve will run off the suit and glove.
Medical workers must change gloves between patients, performing thorough hand hygiene before donning a new pair. Heavy duty gloves are used whenever workers need to handle infectious waste. Ebola health workers typically wear rubber boots, with the scrubs tucked into the footwear. If boots are unavailable, workers must wear closed, puncture and fluid-resistant shoes. Fighting the fear and stigmatisation surrounding Ebola is one of the greatest challenges health workers face.
But health workers themselves are becoming scared of treating patients, and are demanding better protective clothing when exposed to patients. Ebola has already claimed the lives of dozens of doctors and nurses in the Ebola-hit region, including Sierra Leone's only virologist and Ebola expert, Sheik Umar Khan. This has put a further strain on the health services of these West African states, which have long faced a shortage of doctors and hospitals.
It's given as a single dose and has been found to be effective and safe to use. Another Ebola vaccine has been developed and used in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a research study.
It requires two doses, taken 56 days apart. Scientists continue to work on a variety of vaccines that would protect people from Ebola virus and Marburg virus. Research is ongoing. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. This content does not have an English version. This content does not have an Arabic version. Overview Ebola virus and Marburg virus are related viruses that may cause hemorrhagic fevers.
Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic. More Information Ebola transmission: Can Ebola spread through the air? Share on: Facebook Twitter. Show references Ebola Ebola virus disease. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After-effects have often been observed in survivors, including arthritis, problems with vision, eye inflammation and hearing difficulties.
At present there is no licenced drug to prevent or treat Ebola although a range of experimental drugs are in development. Developed by Merck laboratories, the vaccine is unlicensed but has been widely shown to be safe and effective, and the WHO has called for its deployment to be expanded.
To contain the spread of the virus, patients and people who have been in contact with them are routinely isolated. Medical personnel are meticulously protected with disposable full-body plastic suits, masks, goggles, gloves and disinfecting sprays. They named the virus after a river in the DRC -- then known as Zaire -- that was close to the location of the first known outbreak. Four of the virus species are known to cause disease in humans -- Zaire, Sudan, Bundibugyo and Tai Forest.
The world's worst Ebola outbreak started in December in southern Guinea and spread to neighbouring West African countries Liberia and Sierra Leone. It claimed the lives of more than 11, people from the nearly 29, registered cases, according to WHO estimates. More than 99 percent of victims were in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, although cases appeared all over the world, sparking panic. But long before the body begins to fail — around the time Ebola first enters the blood — the virus starts tripping up our defenses.
Here's how it kills, how it spreads, and how it can be treated. In every step of the way, this deadly virus is uniquely terrible. When someone is at the height of the illness typically after five or more days , one-fifth of a teaspoon of that person's blood can carry 10 billion viral Ebola particles, The New York Times reports.
An untreated HIV patient, by comparison, has just 50, to , particles in the same amount of blood; someone with untreated hepatitis C has between 5 million and 20 million. If those particles find an entry point, like a cut or scrape, or if a person touches his or her nose, mouth, or eyes with fluids that contain them, they get to work quickly.
The virus hijacks the delivery process — preventing the immune system from organizing a coordinated attack — by attaching a bulky protein to the messenger. In its misshapen form, the messenger can't enter the cell. The immune system remains unaware of the problem, and the virus gets free range to attack and destroy the rest of the body. This is when Ebola goes on a replication rampage. Once the virus starts growing, few things can stop it.
The virus starts infecting organs, killing the cells inside and causing them to burst. All of their viral content pours into the blood.
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