Ebola

The Discovery of Ebola Ebola was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River In what now is the Republic Democratic of Congo. Although, Ebola was known to be a thing long before this, before we knew what a pathogen even was.

Symptoms & Diagnostics Diagnosing someone that has been infected is difficult for the first few days as the symptoms are similar to other more common diseases like malaria. Symptoms of Ebola include Fever Severe headache Muscle pain Weakness Fatigue Diarrhea Vomiting stomach pain Unexplained hemorrhage

Contraction & Spread of Ebola For now, Ebola is not airborne and there is no evidence of Ebola being able to spread through coughing or sneezing. To get Ebola, you have to have direct contact with infected fluids in your mouth, eyes, nose, etc. Ebola can also be transmitted through sexual contact.

Prognosis of Ebola Someone who has gotten Ebola has little hope of a future with a mortality rate of 90%. From the point of contraction, Ebola takes about two weeks to kill the host. The symptoms of Ebola are present for usually about two days before the victim is highly contagious. For the very few that do survive, they are immune to the disease for about ten years.

Treating & Curing Ebola Currently, there’s no cure for Ebola, although researchers are constantly experimenting and working on it. As for treatment, doctors use a serum that destroys infected cells. Doctors also manage the symptoms of Ebola with fluid and electrolytes.

Prevention of Ebola There is no vaccine for Ebola so far, although researchers are working on this too. Here are some simple ways to prevent contracting the disease in the first place.

The Future of Ebola Although there was a worldwide scare of a huge Ebola epidemic happening in 2014, there isn’t any threat of it happening now, due to the amount of control we have at the source when signs of Ebola are found. A cure or vaccine has not yet been discovered but researchers are on it, but at the moment Ebola isn’t as much of a threat to mankind as other diseases and viruses, so there is not much funding or work that goes into finding a cure.