Ebola Virus: Transmission, Symptoms, and Prevention

Running Head: EBOLA VIRUS 1
Ebola Virus
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EBOLA VIRUS 2
Introduction
Ebola virus disease is currently known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever. It is a deadly
infection that quickly leads to the death of human beings. The mode of transmission of the virus
is human blood contact, and the virus spread from wild animals. Ebola was named after River
Ebola in the late seventies. River Ebola is found in Zaire where Ebola is believed to have
emerged from. Apart from Zaire, the virus is believed to originate from Sudan. The first outbreak
of Ebola was reported in Sudan where 285 people were infected and 52% of them dying (Judson,
Prescott, & Munster, 2015). The second outbreak was recorded in Zaire a few months afterward
killing an unknown number of people. Contact of infected blood is the only method of infection
of the virus.
Ebola can be found in body fluids such as sweat, milk, semen, feces, saliva, and mucus.
Despite the virus being in the universe for more than two decades, a vaccine has not been
established because of the dangerous nature of the virus. Health organizations should assist
management and prevention of the virus from spreading in the world. Scientists do not have an
accurate report of the Ebola virus originated from. According to their study, they assume that the
virus originated from wild animals and was transmitted to human beings. The bat is believed to
be the animal that carries the virus which can easily be transferred to other animals with the close
interaction of wild animals, the bat-transmitted the virus to other world animals that are strictly
related to human beings. The man used to depend on animals in the past decades, and they were
forced to hunt for animals to satisfy their needs. A long time ago in Africa, one human got
infected with the virus while hunting. Lack of prior knowledge of Ebola made other people affect
the virus by attempting to save him. That is a brief history regarding the sources of Ebola
(Brown, 2015).

EBOLA VIRUS 3
Fatal Ebola is caused by infection of a virus of the Filoviridae family with a generic name
Ebola virus. The killing rate of Ebola depends upon the strain. Not only blood is responsible for
the infection of Ebola but also tissues of infected animals and body fluids. Animals infected with
Ebola have their tissues, blood and body fluids as host of the virus. Intensive care needs to be
observed for anyone who contracts the virus. Like many other infections, Ebola is accompanied
by given signs and symptoms. The extreme weakness of body parts and joints, frequent pain in
muscles, severe headache, sore throat, and fever are signs of a person infected with Ebola. Ebola
is known to be a virus that spreads faster than any other sickness within families and friends. The
case happens because of an attempt to take care of the infected. Ebola symptoms start to appear
from the second up to the twenty-first day after infection (Wu, Wang, Yang, Zheng, & Sha,
2015). It means that on the day of disease, one can transmit the virus to more than ten people
around him because there are no signs to show up for precaution.
Transmission of Ebola between human beings occurs in many ways. Evading a given
form of infecting does not guarantee one of being safe. The various ways of transmission
include; Direct contact with an infected person. The connection might occur at broken skin,
blood, body secretions, and any given type of body fluid. Secondly, the Ebola virus can be
transmitted by indirect contact with a contaminated environment. The environment may be
contaminated with blood from an infected person or body fluids. Exposure to unsterilized objects
that came in contact with the infected person can be a way of transmitting the infection. During
burial ceremonies, people mourn and touch the body of the dead person, and the virus can be
active despite the host not being alive (MCDONALD, 2019). Healthcare workers can infect the
virus while working on infected individuals, however careful they may be, the surrounding might
be careless.