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466 postsEbola is a disease caused by an ebolavirus. Symptoms start two days to three weeks after contracting the virus, with a fever, sore throat, muscle pain and headaches. Vomiting, diarrhea and rash follow, along with decreased function of the liver and kidneys. Victims bleed both within the body and externally. From 1976 through 2013, the World Health Organization reported a total of 1,716 cases. In 2013 an outbreak started in Guinea, spreading to neighboring African countries and infectied doctors, some of who were transported back to the US for treatment. The virus continues to claim victims as it spreads to more countries.
A total of 248 suspected cases and 148 deaths due to the virus are reported in West Africa. Guinea reports 197 clinical cases, including 122 deaths, with a growing amount in Conakry. Of 24 health workers infected, 13 have died. In Sierra Leone, 15 people are under surveillance but no confirmed cases are found. Tests are negative in several deaths in Mali feared to have been caused by the disease.
An angry crowd attacks an Ebola treatment center in Macenta, around 425 km (265 miles) southeast of Guinea’s capital Conakry. The crowd accused staff of bringing the disease to the town. Medecins Sans Frontieres spokesman:
We have evacuated all our staff and closed the treatment center. We have the full support of the local leaders and we’re working with the authorities to try and resolve this problem as quickly as possible so we can start treating people again.
A total of 112 suspected Ebola cases and 71 deaths from the virus are reported in West Africa. Guinea’s Health Ministry confirms that the virus has killed 59 people, four of them health workers, and there are 86 cases including three suspected in the capital, Conakry.
A total of 75 Ebola cases and 41 deaths are reported. There are 49 cases and 29 deaths in Guinea, eight cases and six deaths in Liberia, 16 cases and five deaths in Sierra Leone, one death in Nigeria and one case in Senegal.
Reuters reports that an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever has killed at least 23 people in Guinea’s southeastern forest region since February when the first case was reported. Sakoba Keita, the doctor in charge of the prevention of epidemics in Guinea’s Health Ministry says at least 35 cases have been recorded by local health officials:
Symptoms appear as diarrhea and vomiting, with a very high fever. Some cases showed relatively heavy bleeding. We thought it was Lassa fever or another form of cholera but this disease seems to strike like lightning. We are looking at all possibilities, including Ebola, because bushmeat is consumed in that region and Guinea is in the Ebola belt.
No cases of the highly contagious Ebola fever have ever been recorded in the country. Most of the victims had been in contact with the deceased or had handled the bodies.
Patient Zero, a two-year-old boy dies a few days after falling ill in a village in Guéckédou, a village in southeastern Guinea that borders Sierra Leone and Liberia. A week later, the virus kils the boy’s mother, then his three-year-old sister, then his grandmother. All have symptoms of the virus, including fever, vomiting and diarrhea, but at the time, no one knew what had made them ill. Two mourners at the grandmother’s funeral take the virus home to their village. A health worker carries it to another village, where he dies, as does his doctor. They both infect relatives from other towns. WHO releases the chart of infection in August 2014.