Ebola Virus Ravaging West Africa. 539 Deaths Reported & Counting [Video/Pics]

Video And Pics After The Jump
DAKAR, Senegal (Associated Press) — Deep in the forests of southern Guinea, the first victims fell ill with high fevers. People assumed it was the perennial killer malaria and had no reason to fear touching the bodies, as is the custom in traditional funerals.
Some desperate relatives brought their loved ones to the distant capital in search of better medical care, unknowingly spreading what ultimately was discovered to be Ebola, one of the world's most deadly diseases.

Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever that can cause its victims to bleed from the ears and nose, had never before been seen in this part of West Africa where medical clinics are few and far between. The disease has turned up in at least two other countries — Liberia and Sierra Leone — and 539 deaths have been attributed to the outbreak that is now the largest on record.

The key to halting Ebola is isolating the sick, but fear and panic have sent some patients into hiding, complicating efforts to stop its spread. Ebola has reached the capitals of all three countries, and the World Health Organization reported 44 new cases including 21 deaths on Friday.
There has been "a gross misjudgment across the board in gauging the severity and scale of damage the current Ebola outbreak can unleash," the aid group Plan International warned earlier this month.
"There are no cases from outside Africa to date. The threat of it spreading though is very much there," said Dr. Unni Krishnan, head of disaster preparedness and response for the aid group.
Preachers are calling for divine intervention, and panicked residents in remote areas have on multiple occasions attacked the very health workers sent to help them. In one town in Sierra Leone, residents partially burned down a treatment center over fears that the drugs given to victims were actually causing the disease.

Activists are trying to spread awareness in the countryside where literacy is low, even through a song penned about Ebola.

"It has no cure, but it can be prevented; let us fight it together. Let's protect ourselves, our families and our nation," sings the chorus.
"Do not touch people with the signs of Ebola," sings musician and activist Juli Endee. "Don't eat bush meat. Don't play with monkey and baboons. Plums that bats have bitten or half-eaten, don't eat them."
Guinea first notified WHO about the emergence of Ebola in March and soon after cases were reported in neighboring Liberia. Two months later there were hopes that the outbreak was waning, but then people began falling ill in Sierra Leone.
Doctors Without Borders says it fears the number of patients now being treated in Sierra Leone could be "just the tip of the iceberg." Nearly 40 were reported in a single village in the country's east.

"We're under massive time pressure: The longer it takes to find and follow up with people who have come in contact with sick people, the more difficult it will be to control the outbreak," said Anja Wolz, emergency coordinator for the group, also referred to by its French name Medecins Sans Frontieres.
This Ebola virus is a new strain and did not spread to West Africa from previous outbreaks in Uganda and Congo, researchers say. Many believe it is linked to the human consumption of bats carrying the virus. Many of those who have fallen ill in the current outbreak are family members of victims and the health workers who treated them.

There is no cure and no vaccine for Ebola, and those who have survived managed to do so only by receiving rehydration and other supportive treatment. Ebola's high fatality rate means many of those brought to health clinics have been merely kept as comfortable as possible in quarantine as they await death. As a result, some families have been afraid to take sick loved ones to the clinics.

"Let this warning go out: Anyone found or reported to be holding suspected Ebola cases in homes or prayer houses can be prosecuted under the law of Liberia," President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf stated recently.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Her comments came just days after Sierra Leone issued a similar warning, saying some patients had discharged themselves from the hospital and had gone into hiding.
At the airport in Guinea's capital, departing passengers must undergo temperature screening, and those with a fever are pulled aside for further evaluation. Still, the stigma of Ebola follows Guineans well outside the region.
"The police treated us like we were aliens. They said they didn't want us in their country because of the disease affecting Guinea," says Tafsir Sow, a businessman who was briefly detained at the airport in Casablanca, Morocco before continuing on to Paris. "I had tears in my eyes."
Still, WHO health officials are hopeful they will be able to get the situation under control in the next several weeks. A recent conference in the capital of Ghana brought together health authorities from across the affected areas, and the countries agreed on a common approach to fight Ebola.
"When you have it spread, of course it's moving in the wrong direction," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general for health security and environment. "You want to see the number of infections going down. So we really have to redouble our efforts. But saying that it's out of control makes it sound like there are no solutions. This is a virus for which there are very clear solutions."
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Associated Press writers John Heilprin in Geneva; Boubacar Diallo in Conakry, Guinea; Clarence Roy-Macaulay in Freetown, Sierra Leone; Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia and Francis Kokutse in Accra, Ghana contributed to this report.

Ebola 'out of control' in West Africa

Ebola virus explained in 60 seconds

Sex, kissing, shared needles can give you Ebola

Feature Pix

That Ebola virus is currently on the rampage in West Africa is no longer news. What is rather news — and very scary for that matter — is that the World Health Organisation has just confirmed a case of the infection in Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial capital and one of the most populous.

Though the patient has passed away, there are fears that many people he had come in contact with as he journeyed from Liberia to Nigeria may have been infected; while the medical workers that attended to him during his brief stay in the hospital also need to be examined!

The reasons are not far-fetched: Ebola virus is virulent — it is extremely dangerous and deadly, and usually spreads very quickly. The WHO estimates that the death rate is a whopping 90 per cent.

Indeed, the united States-based Centres for Disease Control warns that death through the virus can take place anytime between two to 21 days of infection, usually due to multiple organ failure, loss of blood or shock.

Mode of contact

Experts say Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. And once it enters an individual, s/he becomes a high risk to everyone s/he comes into contact with. And that’s why you can’t afford to be careless with the way you relate with people, especially when it comes to intimate relationships such as kissing, necking and sexual intercourse.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Jide Idris, warns that infection occurs from direct contact — through broken skin or mucous membranes — with the blood, or other bodily fluids or secretions such as poops, urine, saliva and semen of infected people. The WHO corroborates this claim.

Sex and the virus

How can Ebola in the semen infect you, whether it is outside or inside of the body? Experts proffer an answer. The WHO states that people are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus. All you need do to get infected is to have any form of contact with the infected semen and you are done!

A gynaecologist, Dr. Damilola Akinduro, adds that in normal sexual process, sperm ejaculated into a woman’s vagina can live in her cervical mucus or upper genital tract for three to five days, making fertilisation possible.

He also says sperm ejaculated outside the body might survive in semen — the fluid released during ejaculation — up to a few hours. So, even if you try to play safe by having a man ejaculate outside of your body in the name of coitus interruptus or through anal and oral sex, you may still be infected within the few hours that the sperm and the virus are still alive. Scary, isn’t it?

And as terrible as the situation is, WHO discloses that even men who have recovered from the (Ebola) illness can still spread the virus to their partner through their semen for up to seven weeks after recovery.

“For this reason, it is important for men to avoid sexual intercourse for at least seven weeks after recovery or to wear condoms if having sexual intercourse during seven weeks after recovery,” WHO counsels.

Wet dreams

Akinduro says that since most people may be ignorant of their Ebola status, parents should advise their male adolescents who may have wet dreams to wash their beddings and other clothing materials that may have been soiled in the process.

Indeed, experts at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control assure that Ebola virus is easily killed by soap, bleach, sunlight or drying.

“Machine washing clothes that have been contaminated with fluids will destroy Ebola,” they say; adding that “Ebola virus survives only a short time on surfaces that are in the sun or have dried.”

Akinduro also urges careful handling and safe disposal of used condoms, so that people don’t come into contact with them.

Signs and symptoms

As for knowing whether or not you have the virus, the WHO says if you have sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, don’t delay. Rather, visit the hospital and have a medical test. “It may make a difference between dying and staying alive,” Akinduro suggests.

The WHO also suggests that the aforementioned typical signs and symptoms are usually followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding. You don’t want to go through this painful experience; so, see the doctor without delay.

Drug addicts at risk

Experts note that needle-sharing among people who inject drugs is a very common phenomenon; and blood transfer is common as a result.

It is common knowledge that drug addicts who share needles risk a lot of infectious diseases ranging from HIV to Hepatitis B & C; but physicians are now warning that drug addicts are also at risk of contacting Ebola virus if they share unsterilised needles with infected person.

Akinduro adds that sharp objects such as blades may also not be shared. He even says since no one knows his Ebola status, it is advisable to never share sharp objects, even among family members.

“It doesn’t cost much to own a razor blade and use it personally, if only to prevent possible infection should someone close to you be infected with Ebola and you aren’t aware,” he says.