Can I get Ebola through bananas and other imported foods?

It’s quite difficult for a modern person to live. Indeed, danger is waiting for him on every corner. This is transport, various kinds of radiation, and, of course, the most diverse viruses and infections. In this article, I would like to answer a question that most of the planet’s inhabitants are probably interested in: “Is it possible to get Ebola through bananas or other food products?”

Terminology

First of all, it is necessary to talk about how correctly the disease “Ebola fever” is called in medical practice. So, a special prefix “hemorrhagic” goes to this disease. This means that the virus is associated with blood. Bruising may appear on the patient’s body, and hemorrhages in other organs are also possible. It is important to say that at the moment this is still a rare disease, however, it is very dangerous. And although scientists around the world are looking for an effective cure, mortality from the virus is very high. Mortality is approximately 50-90%. Surprisingly, in addition to humans and primates, the Ebola virus also infects pigs.

A bit of history

Many people are also interested in the question of where the Ebola fever came from. The virus was discovered back in 1976. For the first time, physicians isolated it in Zaire near the Ebola River. Hence the name of the disease. Then in Zaire more than 300 people fell ill with a fever, only 40 survived. And in Sudan more than 280 people were infected, 151 of them died.

Virus properties

Having figured out where the Ebola fever came from, and in what year it happened, I want to give more accurate information about this disease. So, Ebola is the common name for the viruses of the Ebolavirus family. They are referred to filoviruses, which cause hemorrhagic fever. It is also worth mentioning that in its morphological properties the Ebola virus coincides with the Marburg virus, however, they differ in the antigenic ratio.

Kinds

Ebola has five different subspecies, four of which affect humans.

1. Zaire virus. The name was due to the fact that it was first recorded in Zaire. Here the highest mortality rate is about 90% (during the time when the virus was raging on the planet, the mortality rate increased from 83 to 90%). The first patient, a 44-year-old school teacher, lived in the small town of Yambuku. The symptomatology of the disease was very similar to malaria. Doctors called the cause of the disease the repeated use of unsterilized needles for injection.
2. Sudanese virus. The first outbreak of the virus was recorded in the small working town of Nzara, in Sudan. The carrier of the infection was never detected, although scientists examined all animals and insects in the area. Mortality from this subspecies of the virus is approximately 51-63%.
3. Reston virus. Today, doctors do not have a common point of view about this subspecies. Some scientists classify it as an Ebola virus, while others claim that it is a new Asian virus. Feature: it affects only primates, people can not get infected with it. For the first time, an outbreak of the virus was recorded in 1989, when green macaques were brought to Germany in a research laboratory. After this, sick animals were found in Texas (USA), Italy and the Philippines.
4. Cote d'Ivoire virus. It was first discovered in 1994, when two dead chimpanzees were found in the forest of Côte d'Ivoire. An autopsy showed that primates in some organs turned out to have blood (as well as in people who became ill with the Zaire subtype of the virus). One of the women who performed the autopsy discovered a few weeks later that she herself was infected with the most dangerous virus. However, everything ended well, the doctor recovered after a course of treatment.
5. Bundibugio virus. In the fall of 2007, Uganda authorities announced an outbreak of Ebola in Bundibugio. After research, scientists came to the conclusion that this is a new subtype of the virus that infects humans. A year later, the focus of infection was eliminated. For all time, nearly 150 people fell ill with fever, 37 deaths.

Infection mechanism

Information on how Ebola fever spreads is very important to many people. First of all, it is worth saying that the virus has been quite many years - almost 40, but scientists still do not have complete information about it. So, the mechanism of its transmission can be very different. Doctors believe that it can be transmitted by aerosol, in contact with the patient’s blood, during the use of common household items with an infected person, with joint nutrition. The greatest risk is for medical personnel who work with infected people. The most dangerous is contact with the blood of the patient. It is also worth mentioning that the disease is very contagious, so you can get infected even by touching the patient’s skin or mucous membranes. At risk are also scientists who catch infected monkeys and work with them during the quarantine period. However, studies have shown that people who were in the same room with patients, but did not contact closely with them, remained healthy. So we can make a simple conclusion that the virus is not transmitted by airborne droplets.

About Products

Based on the foregoing, one can answer the question that has interested many people about whether it is possible to contract Ebola through bananas? The answer is completely negative. Any food products, including bananas, are not carriers of infection. The only way of infection through food in this case: if it was tried first by an infected, and then a healthy person.

Susceptibility

Having understood how they become infected with Ebola, it is also worth saying that the susceptibility of people to the virus is very high. This means that infection by contact with infected fluids of the patient's body is almost 100%. However, no cases of recurrence were found. Based on this, we can draw a simple conclusion that the body is able to develop immunity to this disease.

Where and when?

Be sure to consider those countries where Ebola is recorded. So, first of all, the most dangerous in this case is the African continent. Most often, foci of infection have been found in the central and western tropical forests of Africa. These are mainly countries such as Sudan, Zaire, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Cameroon, Kenya, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic. The time of year is spring and summer. In Sudan, cotton factory workers contracted the virus, spreading the infection to their families. In Zaire, the infection was nosocomial. In this case, several people infected with an unknown virus were taken to a medical institution, where not only the medical staff who worked with the blood and other fluids of the patients, but also other hospitalized citizens were infected. Secondary foci were families of those patients who cared for the carriers of the virus. In 1994, an outbreak of fever occurred in Zaire due to the fact that the inhabitants of the country ate the brain of monkeys infected with the virus. Other countries where Ebola is recorded: Germany, USA, Italy. Here the experiments and studies of the virus were carried out, the infection was intralaboratory (in this case, the virus "did not get out" outside the research centers). Recently, however, in various countries of the world, one can find isolated cases of virus infections. It is carried by people who have recently visited African countries.

Symptomatology

The incubation period of Ebola is 4-16 days. In the early days, the virus manifests itself acutely, the symptoms appear brightly. At the very beginning, a person begins to feel a severe headache, the temperature rises sharply - up to 38-39 ° C, nausea, general malaise can also be observed. Many patients also experience symptoms similar to tonsillitis: it can be an inflammation of the tonsils, a sensation of the so-called “ball in the throat”, or difficulty swallowing. When the virus gains strength, the patient has severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea of ​​a hemorrhagic nature. Skin and internal bleeding, bloody vomiting are also possible. In many infected, the nervous system is disturbed. They become agitated, aggressive. Often this condition persists for a while after a full recovery. Approximately on the 5th day of the development of fever, patients develop exanthema - skin rashes. We further study what is Ebola fever: symptoms, how the disease is transmitted and some other aspects. There are two possible outcomes of the disease:

1. A fatal outcome occurs around the 2nd week of illness. This happens as a result of bleeding, intoxication, shock conditions.
2. The patient’s recovery process begins after the acute phase of the disease lasts for several weeks. The full recovery period can be delayed up to three months. In this case, the patient may develop anorexia. Quite often, even after a full recovery, a person has mental disorders.

Complications

Having understood what Ebola fever is (symptoms, how the disease is transmitted), we can draw a simple conclusion that it is extremely difficult to recover. The prognosis for patients is extremely unfavorable. After all, mortality from the virus is high and ranges from 50 to 90% of cases.

Diagnostics

Differential diagnosis of Ebola is complicated. After all, the disease has a fleeting nature and is developing rapidly. The area of ​​suspicion most often includes people who have been on the African continent for some time. At risk are also specialists who worked with contaminated fluids. The presence of the virus can only be determined by one blood test. However, in such cases, research should be carried out at the highest level of biological protection. Modern scientists have learned to recognize fever using non-penetrating diagnostic methods (using urine tests and patient saliva samples).

Treatment methods

At home, it is impossible to cope with the virus. For this, special equipment and medicines are needed. Since the course of the disease is most often accompanied by dehydration of the body, it is important for the patient to maintain the water-salt balance at the required level. In this case, you may need intravenous infusion of solutions that contain electrolytes. As for the vaccine against the virus, it is not there yet. However, scientists around the world are working on its invention. And the latest developments suggest that an effective medicine will be found soon. But for its full implementation and dissemination, many more years must pass.

About Doctors

Today, from almost any source, you can find out how Ebola fever occurs. Photos and videos, articles and scientific papers on this topic - all this is available to every inhabitant of the planet. After all, scientists are confident that the more information a person has, the more he is protected. So, once again I want to answer the question of whether it is possible to get Ebola through bananas and other foods? No. The possibility of infection is very, very low. But if a person has traveled abroad to countries where there were previously foci of infection and is observing at least one of the above symptoms, then you should immediately seek medical help. It is very important to immediately go to see an infectious disease specialist. And the very first thing a sick doctor should notify: where did he come from recently.

What to do?

Every doctor knows what Ebola fever is, where it can come from and what needs to be done in the first place. So, at the first symptoms of the patient are hospitalized. However, an ordinary hospital will not be enough here. The infected person must be placed in a box, separate from all patients (as is the case with malaria or smallpox). Only a narrow circle of people will work with the patient. The patient can be discharged no earlier than the 21st day from the onset of the disease (often the process of complete recovery is delayed to three months). Precautions will be important:

1. All household items, the patient’s clothing will be marked. No one except the infected will dare to take advantage of all this.
2. For the treatment and conduct of all medical manipulations, only single-use tools will be used. After that, they must either be burned or autoclaved (sterilized, and then disposed of).
3. All patient body fluids (which are taken for research) require special treatment.
4. Personnel who work with an infected person must be in a special type 1 anti-plague suit.
5. In the box where the patient lies, clean air is required.
6. During blood testing, specialists should be especially careful.

Suspicions

Having figured out whether it is possible to get Ebola through bananas or food, and having learned the main ways of transmitting the virus, it is also worth talking about how specialists will deal with people who have contacted the patient. Everyone who was in close proximity with the infected for a certain time is also placed in a special box and watched for three weeks. Moreover, all household items are also strictly individual, marked. In all cases of suspected disease, the patient will be given a specific immunoglobulin, which consists of the serum of hyperimmunized horses. The duration of this tool is approximately a week - ten days.

Prevention

What preventive measures can be in this case? The best way to avoid the disease is not to appear in places where foci of infection have previously been observed. However, if, nevertheless, a person travels to African countries, one must remember that as little as possible contact with body fluids of local residents, to avoid all kinds of contact with primates. Caution must also be observed in the tropical forests of Africa and in caves. All household items in this case should be individual, it is better - disposable. All these precautions apply to ordinary people. Professionals who work directly with patients should follow the job description and safety measures designed specifically for such cases.

Latest data

It is worth saying that cases of infection with Ebola are observed today. At risk are mainly West African countries. Recently, patients with this virus have been identified in North America - the United States and Canada, as well as in some European countries. Experts confidently say that Ebola is the most serious modern threat to all of humanity. Only in the period from February to August this year, more than 1,700 people were infected with this virus, of which 932 died.