So far, we have understand the natural reservoir for the Ebola virus was fruit bats, which I have already discuss in Chapter 4. In addition, there have been research and studies being conducted to find the "why and how" Ebola was transmitted from fruit bats to primates, primates to humans, and human to human. Accordingly to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) websites, both institutes provided a decent and relevant information on the transmission processes and facts on how do we prevent the spread of Ebola. Both institutes emphasizes that fruit bats, the host of the Ebola virus would pass the strands of the Ebola virus to wild animals such as primates by eating fruits and these unfinished fruits including the saliva of the fruit bats would drop to the ground when the fruits becomes ripe. And these bitten fruits would be consume by wild animals. Thus, this wild animals would be consume by humans by the process of wild hunting. A terminology that academic officials used is "bushmeat." According to FreeDictionary.com, the definition of "bushmeat" is meat taken from any animal native to African forests, including species that may be endangered or not usually eaten outside Africa. Therefore, by eating these meats that came in contact with fruit bats would pass on the Ebola virus to humans. Since the symptoms of the Ebola would not appear to 2-21 days, the humans are unaware of the disease/illness, thus, the human would tend to transmits the Ebola virus to other family members, friends, and strangers. Accordingly to the WHO and CDC's websites which includes several methods on how Ebola is transmitted. They indicated that Ebola is spread through direct contact of a patient who is sick with Ebola, in terms of broken skin or mucous membranes by:
- Body fluids (e.g. saliva, feces, urine, vomit, and semen)
- Blood
- Contaminated objects (e.g. needles and syringes)
- Infected animals (especially fruit bats)
IMPORTANT FACTS: Ebola is not spread by airborne or water.
Usually, individuals like healthcare providers, people that are responsible in disposing the dead bodies of patients with Ebola would tend to have the highest risk of getting infected by the Ebola virus because they have the highest rates in coming in contact with patients with Ebola. Therefore, the WHO and CDC proposes a strict protocol of protection for healthcare providers and other individuals that also comes in contact with patients with Ebola. Prevention and protection includes: the healthcare providers must wear protective equipments such as the space suits, gowns, masks, gloves, and anything that literally covered your entire body. Healthcare providers are instructed to dispose any syringes, needles, or anything instruments that have been performed on a patients must be completely removed. Also the patients that are recovering from Ebola should abstain themselves from having sex because evidence shows that the Ebola virus has been found in semen for up to 3 months, thus, physicians proposes that these patients should avoid having sexual intercourse or use a condom for 3 months or more.
Photo courtesy of UNICEF. Shows the signs and symptoms of Ebola. Including transmission and prevention.
Reference:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bushmeat
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Brd0BoVCIAE9QaJ.jpg
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/index.html
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/prevention/index.html
