It can be called a cruel irony of fate that humanity arose on the African continent and such terrible, incurable diseases as AIDS and the Ebola virus. Although it is believed that not only nature helped them to be born, but also the intervention of a certain circle of scientists who want to create a new bacterial weapon, but the fact remains that these are deadly diseases. The only good news in this situation is the Ebola virus, unlike AIDS, until it has spread to other continents. It was first discovered in the corpses of anthropoid apes (as well as AIDS) and some antelopes in 1976.
This terrible disease is a killer of the human body at the subcellular level. Its mortality reaches 90%. Scientists have not yet established how individual people still manage to survive after it. It is believed that this virus went through several stages of scientific research and only after that it was "released". Whether it is so or not, it is unlikely that we will ever be able to find out, although it greatly surprises its peculiarity, it will not spread outside of Africa, as happened with HIV (AIDS). It is believed that the Ebola virus did not spread en masse due to the fact that it has an almost asymptomatic period when the patient who is the carrier of the disease does not know about its presence and spreads the pathogens around it.
An infected person very quickly learns about a disease, but even with medical assistance in most cases, he soon dies. The virus that causes this disease is very undemanding. It feels great both in living human tissues and in the dead. Doctors refer to the Ebola virus as a family of filoviruses (Filoviridae) and are divided into 5 different types: Sudan, Zaire, Côte d'Ivoire, Bundibuzhio, Reston. They are named after the area where the largest outbreaks of the disease occurred. The most massive epidemics are associated with highly pathogenic species such as Sudan, Zaire, Bundibuzhio.
Ebola virus causes hemorrhagic fever disease . Infection occurs through direct contact with the secretions, blood, organs and tissues of an infected object. The most common way of infection remains the consumption of foods infected with this virus. A serious problem for Africa is the lack of a centralized wastewater and sewage system in many countries. Products of human life are often simply defended and used to fertilize the fields, and the virus, which is excreted, spreads freely in very large areas. Another problem for residents is the ingress of sewage into rivers and reservoirs, from where people and animals use water.
The disease can be manifested by internal and external bleeding. It is characterized by severe hyperthermia, headaches and muscle pain, severe weakness. Often it is accompanied by diarrhea, vomiting, rash, impaired functioning of the liver and kidneys. There is no effective treatment for this disease. Doctors most often only slightly alleviate the patient’s condition, eliminating some of the symptoms that accompany him.
Unfortunately, even in Russia severe viral diseases often arise. These include, for example, Omsk hemorrhagic fever. Natural foci of infection have been identified in many areas: Omsk, Tyumen, Novosibirsk, Kurgan, Orenburg. The causes of the disease were established by isolating from the blood of infected people and ixodid ticks of a virus close to tick-borne encephalitis. It belongs to the genus Flavivirus of the family Togaviridae. The main sources of infection are water rats, waterfowl. The virus enters a person through ixodid ticks Dermacentor marginatus and pictus at the time of their bite. It is possible that people can be infected by getting liquids from infected animals through wounds on the skin and mucous membranes during the treatment of skins, bathing in ponds, as well as by food and water. The disease is recorded from April to September, with a peak in May and August.
The incubation period of the virus is 2-12 days. The disease has an acute onset with 40 ° C fever, chills, facial flushing, headache, injection of sclera. Patients develop muscle pain, especially in the limbs and back. High temperature is observed for 3-4 days, then decreases and reaches normal levels for 10-12 days. Most patients have a 2 wave of fever with all the symptoms, albeit in a less severe form. From the first days of the disease, bleeding (most often nosebleeds) is observed. Almost a third of patients develop SARS.
The diagnosis is made on the basis of an epidemiological history, serological examination and clinical presentation. Patients are immediately hospitalized. Treatment is carried out with the help of detoxification therapy, calcium chloride, vitamin K, ascorbic acid, glucocorticoids. Often used blood serum or immunoglobulin in people who have had this disease. The prognosis for recovery is usually favorable. In patients with this fever, there is a stable immunity to this virus.
Prevention consists in improving work in the foci of the disease (systematic destruction of aquatic animals - possible sources of the virus). In the foci of the disease, repellents, protective clothing, and examinations are used to detect and destroy ticks. If a tick is detected, the patient is immunized with serum from the blood of people who have been ill.