EBOLA - CLINICAL SYMPTOMS:
Ebola was discovered in 1976 in Zaire and Sudan.
The virus called Ebola takes its name from the Ebola River, which flows into Zaire, where the virus was isolated for the first time.
There are 4 variants of the virus whose differences are due to the type of host they infect: Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Tai, that cause disease in humans and primates, and Ebola Reston, which causes the disease only in primates.
During the past 30 years have been recorded periodic epidemics of Ebola in central Africa particularly in Gabon, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Sudan and Angola.
Probably cause the virus in bats was later manifested in the great apes and finally in humans. It is transmitted among humans through contact with bodily fluids (blood, vomit, diarrhea ...), which may occur during the care of the sick. This means that during an outbreak of Ebola virus tends to spread to health workers and family members of patients.
The disease presents as flu. Begins with fever, headache, pain in the muscles, then the patient starts to vomit and diarrhea.
In the final stage in the capillaries of the patient form tiny clots that produce bruises on the skin and become blisters. After 1-2 days the bleeding arteries and blood flowing from every orifice of the body: eyes, ears, nose. At this point the patient vomits a black liquid, a sign of the disintegration of tissues.
Onset of symptoms death occurs between 7 and 14 days incubation varies from 2 to 21 days, but more commonly between 5 and 10.
The virus has a high transmissibility, and attacks with the direct contact of the fluids of an infected person (blood, secretions, organ transplantation, sexual intercourse), and although highly contagious, is not transmitted by air.
Up to 90% of people whith Ebola die, depending on the strain of the virus.
Crimean fever virus, because of the similarity with the Ebola virus, has been renamed fever virus Crimean-Congo.
There is no specific therapy.
MARPURG - CLINICAL SYMPTOMS:
The virus is named Marpurg, German city, where was isolated for the first time, 1967.
The incubation period of the disease is about 3-9 days after appearing frontal and temporal headache accompanied by general malaise and myalgias. Characteristic is a high temperature (39-40 ° C) that appears from the first day of illness followed by a strong and rapid debilitation. About half of patients may complain of conjuntivite.
In the third day appears watery diarrhea with abdominal pain and cramping, nausea and vomiting, lethargy, and mental changes. In the first week you can have cervical lymphadenopathy and the appearance of enanthema of the tonsil and palate. A hallmark is the appearance of a maculopapular non-pruritic rash that appears, usually by the fifth day, on the face and neck and then spreads to the limbs. The hemorrhagic manifestations appeared from the fifth day of illness.
Usually death occurs cardiovascular collapse due to multiple bleedings. After the first week, the fever begins to subside and then reappear in the twelfth or fourteenth days of illness.
In the second week may also occur: hepatosplenomegaly, facial and scrotal edema.
Usually death occurs mainly between the eighth and ninth to sixteenth days because of continuous bleeding.
HAEMORRHAGIC FEVER VIRUS:
It is unknown whether these viruses have always existed in nature and have always represented a risk to humans or whether these viruses have appeared recently. Were considered as probable zoonotic agents. It is assumed that the filoviruses are endemic mammals in some areas of Africa and who subsequently have adapted to humans. At present knowledge about the origin of these pathogens is still unclear.
There is no antidote or a cure for this disease, so the care that we provide are only supportive and palliative care. Most of our efforts are directed at controlling the epidemic, through the identification of patients and their isolation from the rest of the population. This is being done at this time in the province of Western Kasai.
The incubation period is 3 to 9 days in Marburg virus disease and from 2 to 21 days in the Ebola virus. Symptoms are frequently related to the digestive system (nausea, vomiting, pain, diarrhea) and upper respiratory tract (cough, chest pain, pharyngitis) occurs, then fever associated with myalgia and headache. They may also experience photophobia, conjunctival hemorrhage, jaundice, pancreatitis, and lymphadenopathy. Delirium, sensory disturbances and coma indicate the involvement of the CNS. The next stage is represented by haemorrhage, affecting various organs: nose, intestines, genitals. During the second week of illness, the patient becomes apyretic and start the healing or develop multiorgan failure leading to death.
The diagnosis can be done by the ELISA method (with the identification of both specific antibodies), through the identification of the antigen on immunohistochemical examinations using biopsy resampled to show the virus by electron microscopy and PCR.
The lethality varies between 25 and 90%.
There is currently no specific therapy.
