Public Health Assignment: Ebola Virus Disease Analysis

This assignment delves into the public health aspects of the Ebola virus, examining its transmission dynamics through the lens of the epidemiological triad: agent, host, and environment. It identifies the Ebola virus as the agent, transmitted via bodily fluids from infected humans, primates, and fruit bats. The solution differentiates between direct and indirect transmission routes, emphasizing the communicable nature of the disease through close contact, and discusses methods to reduce the risk of infection. The assignment also highlights the importance of cleaning and disinfection to minimize indirect transmission risks. The provided solution cites relevant research to support its claims, offering a comprehensive analysis of Ebola's public health implications, and is a valuable resource for students studying public health and infectious diseases. This document is available on Desklib, a platform providing AI-powered study tools.

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PUBLIC HEALTH
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Question 1:
Public health triad is demarcated as the interface among the environment, human and the
animals in order to evaluate the health related consequences. The health triad is based on the
three factors that is agent, host and the surroundings (Kaur et al., 2017). The agent responsible
for the Ebola is Ebola virus which goes to the family of the filoviridae and belongs to the order
of mononegavirales. The virus spread from one human to another through the body fluids which
include urine, blood, vomit, feces, sweat, breast milk, , semen and saliva (Rosen, 2015). The host
responsible for the transmission of ebola is infected human, infected primates that is monkey and
fruit bats. Interaction of these three aspects result to Ebola infection (Godlee & Waters, 2018).
According to the US department of the veterans affairs (2019), the risk of Ebola outbreak is less
in Us as compared to the other countries, which is analysed by the survey conducted by CDC.
Question 2:
The Ebola virus can be transmitted both directly that is by physical contact or the indirect
contact. In direct or close contact with the individuals who has been already suffering with
Ebola, might get transmitted. It get transmitted through the body fluids, such as semen, breast
milk and urine. In the semen, the virus can persist for about 60 to 70 hours. Tears and saliva of
the individual suffering from Ebola is also considered to contain the bola virus and is transmitted
to the healthy individual (Lawrence et al., 2017). Ebola can also be transmitted through the
infectious blood of the individual. Hence, coming in close contact with the infected individual
should be reduced in order to prevent the communication of Ebola Virus.
Apart from the direct interaction with the individual, the Ebola virus is also transmitted
by indirect contact. If the person who has been suffering from Ebola is in contact with the

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surface, it can harm the individual who will come in contact with that surface. However, the risk
of transmission of Ebola virus is less in indirect interaction as compared to the direct contact
(Park et al., 2015). The risk of transfer of the Ebola virus in indirect transmission can be reduced
by cleaning the surface or by disinfecting the surface.
It can also be transmitted from the object such as, syringes or needles. Infected primates
or fruit bats are also responsible for the transmission (Rajak et al., 2015).
Question 3:
Based on the mode of transmission explained above, it can be said that Ebola is the
communicable disease. As explained above, it is transmitted through tears, saliva, infectious
blood and other medium. These can be spread from the individual suffering from Ebola to the
healthy individual by direct contact with the individual in terms of mucous membrane or broken
skin, mouth, nose or eyes (Rachah & Torres, 2017). However, it is not spread through water,
food, air or in general from the affected individual and is only spread in direct contact with the
affected individual. Hence, it can be said that, it is communicable but only when in close contact
with the individual.

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Reference:
Godlee, F., & Waters, A. (2018). Healthy people, healthy animals, and a healthy environment:
One Health.
Kaur, D., Sachdeva, S., Jha, D., & Sulania, A. (2017). Ebola virus disease in the light of
epidemiological triad. Trop J Med Res, 20, 1-9.
Lawrence, P., Danet, N., Reynard, O., Volchkova, V., & Volchkov, V. (2017). Human
transmission of Ebola virus. Current opinion in virology, 22, 51-58.
Park, D. J., Dudas, G., Wohl, S., Goba, A., Whitmer, S. L., Andersen, K. G., ... & Winnicki, S.
M. (2015). Ebola virus epidemiology, transmission, and evolution during
seven months in Sierra Leone. Cell, 161(7), 1516-1526.
Rachah, A., & Torres, D. F. (2017). Predicting and controlling the Ebola infection.
Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences, 40(17), 6155-6164.
Rajak, H., Jain, D. K., Singh, A., Sharma, A. K., & Dixit, A. (2015). Ebola virus disease: past,
present and future. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine, 5(5),
337-343.
Rosen, G. (2015). A history of public health. JHU Press.
US Department of Veterans Affairs. (2019). Ebola Virus Disease - Public Health. Retrieved from
https://www.publichealth.va.gov/ebola/index.asp