1. What is Ebola? * Ebola is a disease of humans and other animals caused by Ebola viruses. It is called Ebola Virus Disease/EVD or Ebola Hemorrhagic fever/EHF or simply Ebola.

2. Where does the 2014 Ebola outbreak take place? * “The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the world’s deadliest to date” says a BBC News. EVD outbreaks occur intermittently in Tropical regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The largest out break to date is the 2014 ongoing epidemic in West Africa. The outbreak began in Guinea in February and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

3. How many Ebola patients and Ebola deaths have been reported across the countries inside and outside of Africa since the 2014 Ebola outbreak? * The scale of Ebola outbreak appears to be “vastly underestimated” says the UN’s health agency. As of January 2015, this outbreak has 21,724 reported cases resulting in 8641 deaths.
4. How can the cultural practices in the West African countries spread Ebola? * Cultural practices of burial ceremonies where mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person do increase the threat of spreading Ebola if the deceased was infected. Other cultural practices that give rise to human to human contact, through broken skin or mucous membrane, through sharing bedding and clothing.

5. How long does a patient start showing a sign of the disease after becoming infected, describe early and final signs and symptoms? * Signs and symptoms typically start between 2 days and 3 weeks after contracting the virus with a fever, sore throat, muscle pain and headaches. Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external hemorrhaging from areas such as eyes and gums and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure. The vomiting, diarrhea and rash usually follow along with decreased function of the liver and kidneys. The disease has high risk of death, killing between 25 and 90% of those infected with an average of 50%. This is due to low blood pressure from fluid loss, and typically follows six to sixteen days after symptoms appear. People after recovering from EVD may still carry the virus for several weeks or months.
6. What animals are believed to be the natural hosts of the disease? How does this disease pass on to people? * The virus spreads by direct contact with body fluid, such as blood of an infected animal or through the contact of an item recently contaminated with bodily fluids. Fruit bats are believed to be the normal host in nature, able to spread the virus without being affected by it. Ebola is introduced into humans through close contact with the blood, secretion, organ, or other bodily fluid of infected animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead in the forest.

7. Why is Ebola difficult to treat or control?
A big part of the challenge is the fact that the outbreak was in “settings characterized by extreme poverty, dysfunctional health systems, severe shortage of doctors and rampant fear and panic.
It is very difficult to treat or control Ebola because: * it requires a great deal of coordinated medical services alongside a certain level of community engagements. * EVD is a disease that requires quick detection. Unfortunately this Ebola virus is very difficult to distinguish from other infectious diseases such as meningitis, typhoid fever and malaria. So much precious time is lost in the confusion. * EVD treatment and control requires contact tracing which takes a lot of time and money * EVD treatment requires quick access to lab services, and proper health care for the infected * EVD control requires proper disposal of dead bodies through cremation or burial. * EVD requires blood samples to be conducted under maximum biological containment conditions. Infection control precautions must be very strictly practiced by wearing gloves and protective clothing. Unfortunately, * Medical facilities and expertise are always short in supply. * Since health-care workers are frequently getting infected, there is a short-fall of health workers. * Most of all, EVD is so difficult to control or treat because no specific treatment or vaccine for the virus is currently available.

8. How does the Ebola outbreak cause negative economic impact in the global scale and local scale? * Economic Impact could be devastating. The World Bank made a press release, “Economic Impact already Serious; could be catastrophic without swift response by countries and the international community”. * EVD is dealing an economic blow to the families because closed borders and abandoned farms are driving up food costs leaving many people in rural communities hungry. EVD is dealing an economic blow to the government because emergency spending on health services is using up precious money or government budget. The epidemic could reverse years of economic growth made in this part of the world. * The service sector in the region has been affected. For example, Liberia has incoming commercial flights slump from 27 flights in a week to barely six flights a week. Some hotels have reported occupancy rate as low as 10% causing many people to lose jobs.
9. References: www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheet/fs103 www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola-Virus-Disease
www.bbc.com/news