In light of today’s meeting with Dr Borg, Head of Infectious Control Unit at Mater Dei, which was organised for hospital staff, here are ten facts about the Ebola Virus.
- It’s a zoonotic disease — it originated in animals and is now transmittable to and between humans. It is thought to have started mainly in the fruit bat and chimpanzee populations in Western Africa.
- It was first identified in 1976 and there have been major outbreaks in 1978, 1995 and 2007 since then. The survival rate of these outbreaks was around 10%!
- The current outbreak is occurring in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. These are three of the poorest countries on Earth.
- The virus is spread through bodily fluids and mucus membranes (eyes, mouth, nose, genital tract, etc.) of the living or dead! There is no evidence that shows that it is spread through air like the common flu.
- Early symptoms of Ebola include a fever of more than 38 °C, generalised aches and pains, joint pain, lethargy and other symptoms similar to those of the flu.
- Later symptoms include a rash, blood loss from gums, bloody diarrhoea, bloody urine and other forms of blood loss.
- Unless you’ve been to Guinea, Liberia or Sierra Leone in the last twenty-one days, the chances that you have Ebola are close to zero.
- Asylum seekers reaching our shores are mainly from eastern Africa, rather than western Africa. Moreover, the ones arriving from western Africa take longer than twenty-one days to get to Malta.
- There’s no cure for Ebola. However, that does not mean that it is impossible for one to survive the virus. It requires intensive care and hydration. The current outbreak has a survival rate of around 40%.
- It is good to be informed, but there is no need to panic!
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