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Ebola

I am really worried about Ebola.

It is always trying to get out.

In 2014 it came close to taking out Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Texas but was stopped.
 
May be from a survivor.

An Ebola outbreak in Guinea that has so far sickened at least 18 people and killed nine has stirred difficult memories of the devastating epidemic that struck the West African country between 2013 and 2016, along with neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone, leaving more than 11,000 people dead.

But it may not just be the trauma that has persisted. The virus causing the new outbreak barely differs from the strain seen 5 to 6 years ago, genomic analyses by three independent research groups have shown, suggesting the virus lay dormant in a survivor of the epidemic all that time. “This is pretty shocking,” says virologist Angela Rasmussen of Georgetown University. “Ebolaviruses aren’t herpesviruses”—which are known to cause long-lasting infections—“and generally RNA viruses don’t just hang around not replicating at all.”

Scientists knew the Ebola virus can persist for a long time in the human body; a resurgence in Guinea in 2016 originated from a survivor who shed the virus in his semen more than 500 days after his infection and infected a partner through sexual intercourse. “But to have a new outbreak start from latent infection 5 years after the end of an epidemic is scary and new,” says Eric Delaporte, an infectious disease physician at the University of Montpellier who has studied Ebola survivors and is a member of one of the three teams. Outbreaks ignited by Ebola survivors are still very rare, Delaporte says, but the finding raises tricky questions about how to prevent them without further stigmatizing Ebola survivors.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...ak-likely-sparked-person-infected-5-years-ago
 
Guinea again, this times it's Marburg.

Guinea health officials have confirmed West Africa's first case of Marburg, a highly infectious disease in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the virus needed to be "stopped in its tracks".

Marburg virus disease is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads between humans through the transmission of bodily fluids.
Cases are extremely rare with the last major outbreak in Angola in 2005. It is a severe, often fatal illness that causes fever and bleeding disorders.

Samples taken from the patient in Guinea, who has since died, were tested in the country's laboratories, and returned a positive result for the Marburg virus. It was identified in Guéckédou, the same region where recent Ebola cases were found in an outbreak which is now over.

The WHO's Africa director Dr Matshidiso Moeti said the virus had the potential to "spread far and wide". But she praised "the alertness and the quick investigative action by Guinea's health workers".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58156499
 
A newly reported study indicates the Ebola virus can linger in cerebrospinal fluid and other niches and then activate to cause relapses, even after treatment with current best countermeasures.
Ebola can linger in brain fluid and trigger deadly relapse, monkey study suggests

The researchers suspect the same applies to humans. ...

Ebola can lurk in fluid-filled cavities in the brain and kill monkeys, even after the animals have been treated for the disease and seem to have recovered, a new study shows.

The study, conducted in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), hints at why some human Ebola survivors relapse and die months or years after recovering from their initial infections ... Past studies of monkeys and humans suggested that the Ebola virus can lurk in various places in the body — including the testes, eyes and brain — and the new report may reveal where in the brain the virus persists. ...

The presence of Ebola RNA in the CSF has been linked to at least one case in which a person's infection relapsed following their initial recovery, according to a 2021 report published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Because of this, [ one study author ] told The Scientist that he suspects that the virus may hide in the ventricles of humans just as his team observed in macaques.

In the future, improved Ebola treatments could include a combination of monoclonal antibodies and powerful antivirals that can flush the virus from these brain regions, as well as the eyes and testes. ...
Click to expand...
FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/ebola-persists-in-cerebrospinal-fluid-macaque-study
 
Here are the bibliographic details and abstract for the published research report.
Ebola virus persistence and disease recrudescence in the brains of antibody-treated nonhuman primate survivors
Jun Liu, John C. Trefry, April M. Babka, Christopher W. Schell, Hasekayla M. Coffin, Janice A. Williams et al.
SCIENCE TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE • 9 Feb 2022 • Vol 14, Issue 631
DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abi5229

Abstract
Effective therapeutics have been developed against acute Ebola virus disease (EVD) in both humans and experimentally infected nonhuman primates. However, the risk of viral persistence and associated disease recrudescence in survivors receiving these therapeutics remains unclear. In contrast to rhesus macaques that survived Ebola virus (EBOV) exposure in the absence of treatment, we discovered that EBOV, despite being cleared from all other organs, persisted in the brain ventricular system of rhesus macaque survivors that had received monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment. In mAb-treated macaque survivors, EBOV persisted in macrophages infiltrating the brain ventricular system, including the choroid plexuses. This macrophage infiltration was accompanied by severe tissue damage, including ventriculitis, choroid plexitis, and meningoencephalitis. Specifically, choroid plexus endothelium-derived EBOV infection led to viral persistence in the macaque brain ventricular system. This resulted in apoptosis of ependymal cells, which constitute the blood–cerebrospinal fluid barrier of the choroid plexuses. Fatal brain-confined recrudescence of EBOV infection manifested as severe inflammation, local pathology, and widespread infection of the ventricular system and adjacent neuropil in some of the mAb-treated macaque survivors. This study highlights organ-specific EBOV persistence and fatal recrudescent disease in rhesus macaque survivors after therapeutic treatment and has implications for the long-term follow-up of human survivors of EVD.

SOURCE: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.abi5229
 
A new Ebola outbreak has been declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
New Ebola outbreak declared in DRC after single case confirmed

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared a new Ebola outbreak on Friday, after a case was confirmed in the city of Mbandaka, in the northwestern Equateur Province, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement Saturday.

This is the third outbreak in the province since 2018 and the 14th Ebola outbreak for the country since 1976, the WHO said.

“Time is not on our side,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “The disease has had a two-week head start and we are now playing catch-up. The positive news is that health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have more experience than anyone else in the world at controlling Ebola outbreaks quickly.” ...

So far, only one case has been confirmed, the WHO said. The patient was a 31-year-old man, who began experiencing symptoms on April 5. He sought treatment at a local health facility after being sick for more than a week at home. The man was admitted to an Ebola treatment center on April 21 for intensive care but died later that day, the WHO said.

Health workers recognized the symptoms of Ebola and “immediately” submitted samples for testing, WHO said. “Efforts to stem the current outbreak are already underway,” the organization said, and vaccinations will start in the coming days. ...
Click to expand...
FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/23/africa/new-ebola-outbreak-drc-intl/index.html
 
It hasn't gone away you know.

The health ministry in Uganda says three more Ebola patients have died bringing the total number to four since an outbreak was declared earlier this week.

Eleven cases have been confirmed.

Seven other deaths are being investigated to see if they're linked to the outbreak in Mubende west of the capital Kampala.

The World Health Organization says the Ebola Sudan strain which is present in Uganda is less transmissible and has shown a lower fatality rate in previous outbreaks of a different strain, Ebola Zaire.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world...2dcafe59bb920430c25447&pinned_post_type=share
 
Ebola medical workers under pressure.

The president of the Uganda Medical Association has expressed support for medical workers who have taken industrial action, accusing the government of not creating a safe working environment for them to handle the ongoing Ebola outbreak.

Dr Sam Oledo, the president of the professional grouping of all medical workers in the country says that while doctors are dedicated to keep offering care, they need to be safe first.

“Health workers are demotivated and worried. All the medical workers in the Ebola hot spots must have the safety kit."

"They have to be fully dressed up in a mask, goggles, apron, rubber boots, and double surgical gloves. In the first days of the outbreak several of our colleagues were exposed to the virus. Two medics who worked on a surgical case and are now showing symptoms of Ebola,” Dr Oledo said.

At least seven medical workers have potentially been exposed to the virus.

Dr Oledo added that the striking interns need to be assured of a risk allowance.

“The risk allowances even for health workers who handled Covid-19 were never paid. This is worse, and yet there are no resources available,” he said.

He also said that the Ebola hot spots should be put under quarantine to avoid further spread.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world?ns_m...32e5a059bb920430c25a1c&pinned_post_type=share
 
Now a medic dies from Ebola.

A trainee doctor who worked on the frontline battling the Ebola outbreak in Uganda has died from the virus, the health ministry confirms.

Ali Mohammed, 37, had come from Tanzania to study for a master's degree in surgery.

He was one of six of medical trainees working at Mubende regional hospital who contracted Ebola and were moved to a quarantine centre.

Mr Mohammed is the second health worker to die of the virus. The first was a midwife from a private clinic in Mubende district.

Official figures indicate that the total number of confirmed Ebola cases stands at 35, with eight deaths.

Mubende is at the centre of this outbreak, and medical students there warned the government they were putting their lives at risk because they lacked proper equipment and sometimes had to handle patients with bare hands.

The medical association and the surgeons' association in the country have issued messages of condolence on their Twitter accounts.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world...381764e5f7325d62a0278c&pinned_post_type=share
 
Things are looking bleak.

A three-week lockdown has been declared in two districts of Uganda as the country battles an Ebola outbreak.

Bars, nightclubs, places of worship and entertainment venues will be closed in Mubende and neighbouring Kassanda, and a curfew will come into force. The move is a U-turn for Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, who previously said there was no need for such measures.

This latest outbreak has killed 19 people among 58 recorded cases. However, the real number of deaths and cases may be higher.

The outbreak began in early September in Mubende, about 80km (50 miles) from the capital Kampala, and has remained the epicentre.

President Museveni had previously ruled out lockdowns, saying Ebola was not an airborne virus so did not require the same measures as Covid-19. But on Saturday he halted all movement in and out of Mubende and Kassanda districts for 21 days. Cargo trucks will still be allowed to enter and leave the areas, he said, but all other transport will be stopped.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-63273603
 
Lockdown extended, Vid at link.

Ebola outbreak in Uganda: Mubende, a district under lockdown

In Uganda, the government has extended a 21-day lockdown in the two districts at the epicentre of the ongoing Ebola outbreak.
The BBC got rare access to one of the districts, Mubende, and its community.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-63583403


 
I share your concerns Ramon.
In today’s Telegraph
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-...-ebola-case-investigated-colchester-hospital/

Possible Ebola case investigated in UK​


Includes this classic head-in-the-sand line “At the weekend, Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni said the infection rate is slowing – although three cases with no known link to known patients have emerged in a region 150 miles from the epicentre, suggesting the virus may be spreading undetected.”
 
Things seem to be getting better.

Health experts say it has not been possible to begin a trial in Uganda of three experimental Ebola vaccines due to a lack of cases of the virus.

An outbreak of the Sudan strain of Ebola has caused at least 55 deaths since September.

But there have been no new cases since late last month, and the World Health Organization has praised efforts to contain the outbreak.

It says if no further cases are reported in the next few weeks, it will have to look at other ways to test the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines.

Uganda has received more than 5,000 doses and was planning to vaccinate close contacts of those infected.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world?ns_m...a5b779ec9e5a36a23b6709&pinned_post_type=share
 
ramonmercado said:
Guinea again, this times it's Marburg.

Guinea health officials have confirmed West Africa's first case of Marburg, a highly infectious disease in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the virus needed to be "stopped in its tracks".

Marburg virus disease is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads between humans through the transmission of bodily fluids.
Cases are extremely rare with the last major outbreak in Angola in 2005. It is a severe, often fatal illness that causes fever and bleeding disorders.

Samples taken from the patient in Guinea, who has since died, were tested in the country's laboratories, and returned a positive result for the Marburg virus. It was identified in Guéckédou, the same region where recent Ebola cases were found in an outbreak which is now over.

The WHO's Africa director Dr Matshidiso Moeti said the virus had the potential to "spread far and wide". But she praised "the alertness and the quick investigative action by Guinea's health workers".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58156499
Click to expand...

Marburg hits Tanzania.

Marburg virus has killed five people in Tanzania's north-western Kagera region, the health ministry has said.

High fever is a common symptom of the deadly Ebola-like virus, often followed by bleeding and organ failure.

Tanzania's health minister, Ummy Mwalimu, said the disease had been contained and she was confident it would not spread further. Three people are being treated in hospital and authorities are tracing 161 contacts, Ms Mwalimu added.

Tanzania's strategy to control the spread was praised by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO's regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said: "The efforts by Tanzania's health authorities to establish the cause of the disease is a clear indication of the determination to effectively respond to the outbreak."

The Marburg virus is a cousin of the equally deadly Ebola virus - part of the filovirus family - and it kills on average half of those infected, the WHO says. It is a severe, often fatal illness with symptoms including headache, fever, muscle pains, vomiting blood and bleeding.
No vaccines or anti-viral treatments have been approved to treat the virus, the WHO has said, but it adds that rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids has improved survival.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65037537
 
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