The virus for which there is no medicine
An outbreak of a deadly epidemic caused by the Ebola virus has been recorded in West Africa. The scale of the 2014 epidemic has no parallel in the geographical distribution of the virus, the number of people infected and the deaths from this virus. At the same time, the Doctors Without Borders organization already at the end of June reported that the outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in West Africa had gotten out of control of medical professionals and could threaten the entire region. It is worth noting that Ebola fever is a deadly disease, the mortality rate during infection reaches 90%. Vaccines against this virus currently simply do not exist.
“Doctors without Borders” at the end of June 2014 revealed more than 60 sites that had confirmed this deadly virus infection. The organizations presented warned that they no longer have the opportunity to send teams of doctors to the points where suspicious cases are detected. The spread of the Ebola virus has ceased to be limited to the territory of Guinea, threatening the whole of West Africa.
An outbreak of hemorrhagic fever Ebola was recorded in January of this year in Guinea, over time it spread to the neighboring states of Liberia and Sierra Leone. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), this outbreak has become the longest and deadliest history observations in Africa. The death toll has already exceeded mortality in DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), in which, in 1995, the human 254 became victims of the Ebola virus.
The spread of the virus does not end there. On July 8, Reuters reported, citing WHO data, that since July 3 new 50 infections have been reported, as well as 25 deaths from the Ebola virus. All of them are fixed in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. In total, since February 2014, the epidemic has affected 844 people, of whom 518 died. At the same time, the authorities of Guinea for the period from 3 July reported only about two new deaths caused by the Ebola virus, noting that over the past two weeks no longer recorded cases of infection. According to doctors from WHO, this makes it possible to attribute the situation in West Africa to “mixed”.
Understanding the danger of this disease and the threat of its spread, at the beginning of July this year, the 11 ministers of health of the countries of West Africa held an emergency meeting at which the outbreak strategy was approved. Journalists reported that under the new strategy, the World Health Organization is going to open a new preventive center in this region of the world, whose headquarters will be just Guinea. The initiator of the ministerial meeting was WHO, the meeting itself lasted for two days. It also resulted in the agreement reached by the parties that the countries of the continent will strengthen cooperation among themselves in the fight against the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.
In addition to opening a regional preventive center in Guinea, WHO is going to provide its logistical support on a regular basis. According to Dr. Keiji Fukuda, who holds the post of WHO Director-General for Health Security, it is currently not possible to accurately assess the extent of the damage that could have spread to Ebola fever. In this case, the official expressed the hope that in the next few weeks we will all witness a decrease in mortality from this disease. According to WHO experts, it is the work with the population, and not the closure of borders between countries, that can be the most effective way to combat the epidemic and contain it. Despite the fact that the situation is currently under medical control, WHO doctors called on the countries of West Africa, including Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal, to be ready for a possible outbreak and spread of the virus.
Transmission electron microscopy image of Ebola virus
Ebola virus
The Ebola virus, which for quite a long time was called Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a deadly disease, the death rate in which reaches 90% of cases. This virus was first detected only in 1976, in Africa in the countries of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and Sudan in the Ebola region, it was the river that gave the name to the virus. In Sudan, 284 cases of infection were recorded (151 people died), in Zaire - 318 cases of infection (280 people died). Since then, there have been several major epidemics of this virus in Africa. Currently there is no vaccine for the virus and no adequate treatment. It was found that the virus is able to infect not only humans, but also primates, as well as pigs.
It has a very high contagiousness index (infectiousness), which reaches 95%. From person to person, the virus is transmitted through microtraumas on the skin, mucous membranes, getting into the lymph and blood of both humans and animals. At the same time, the Zairian virus subtype is also transmitted by airborne droplets. This Zairian subtype is the most dangerous and deadly. In total, 5 subtypes of this virus, which differ from each other in the percentage of mortality, are currently allocated.
The spread of the virus is facilitated by funeral rituals in which direct contact with the body of the deceased takes place. The virus is released from patients during 3's weeks. Doctors have documented cases of human infection from chimpanzees, gorillas and duikers. Quite often there were cases of infection of health workers who went on close contact with patients without observing the proper level of protection.
The incubation period of the disease is usually from two days to a day 21. The clinical symptoms of the disease are similar to another extremely dangerous disease for a person - Marburg fever. Differences in the frequency of deaths and the severity of the course of the disease during epidemics in various African countries are associated with antigenic and biological differences in the identified strains of the virus. At the same time, the disease always begins with severe weakness, muscle aches, severe headaches, abdominal pains, diarrhea, and sore throats. Later, a person is diagnosed with a dry cough and stitching pains in the chest area. Signs of dehydration appear. In the study of the blood of sick people marked thrombocytopenia, neutrophilic leukocytosis and anemia. Death from the disease usually occurs already in the second week amid shock and bleeding.
There is simply no vaccine or treatment for this disease in nature. At the same time, none of the largest pharmacological companies in the world invested money in the creation of such a vaccine. Such behavior of companies is explained by the fact that the vaccine has a very limited potential sales market, which means that its release does not promise large profits.
Ebola vaccine research has long been funded mainly by funds from the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Defense. In America, they seriously feared that a new virus could be the basis for someone to create the strongest biological weapons. Thanks to the allocated funds, a number of relatively small pharmacological companies were able to create their own prototypes of a vaccine against this virus. It is reported that they have passed a series of successful animal tests. And two companies, Tekmira and Sarepta, were even going to test the vaccine in humans.
In 2012, the virologist Gene Olinger, who works at the Institute of Infectious Diseases of the US Army, told us that while maintaining the current level of funding for programs, the vaccine could be developed in 5-7 years. But already in August of 2012, information appeared that the US Department of Defense was stopping funding for the creation of a vaccine due to the appearance of "financial difficulties."
In Russia, for the entire time since the discovery of this virus, 2 deaths from the Ebola virus have been reported. Both times, lab technicians became victims of a dangerous disease. In 1996, a laboratory assistant at the virology center of the Research Institute of Microbiology of the Russian Ministry of Defense died in Sergiev Posad. She infected the virus through negligence, pricking her finger at the moment when she injected rabbits.
Another similar case occurred on 19 May 2004. An 46-year-old senior laboratory technician died from an African virus who worked in the department of especially dangerous viral infections at the Research Institute of Molecular Biology of the State Vector Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology, located in the Koltsovo village in the Novosibirsk Region. It was later determined that 5, a senior lab technician in May 2004, injected the experimental guinea pigs already infected with the Ebola virus and began to put a plastic cap on the needle of the syringe. At that instant, her hand fluttered, and the needle pierced both pairs of gloves, punctures, and skin on her left hand. All this tells us that even the study of a virus can be fraught with mortal danger.
Information sources:
http://rusplt.ru/news/voz-chislo-pogibshih-ot-virusa-ebola-v-zapadnoy-afrike-prevyisilo-500-chelovek-161963.html
http://news.mail.ru/incident/18647481/?frommail=1
http://ria.ru/world/20140704/1014718171.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/rolling_news/2014/07/140703_rn_africa_ebola_strategy.shtml
http://ru.wikipedia.org
“Doctors without Borders” at the end of June 2014 revealed more than 60 sites that had confirmed this deadly virus infection. The organizations presented warned that they no longer have the opportunity to send teams of doctors to the points where suspicious cases are detected. The spread of the Ebola virus has ceased to be limited to the territory of Guinea, threatening the whole of West Africa.
An outbreak of hemorrhagic fever Ebola was recorded in January of this year in Guinea, over time it spread to the neighboring states of Liberia and Sierra Leone. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), this outbreak has become the longest and deadliest history observations in Africa. The death toll has already exceeded mortality in DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), in which, in 1995, the human 254 became victims of the Ebola virus.
The spread of the virus does not end there. On July 8, Reuters reported, citing WHO data, that since July 3 new 50 infections have been reported, as well as 25 deaths from the Ebola virus. All of them are fixed in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. In total, since February 2014, the epidemic has affected 844 people, of whom 518 died. At the same time, the authorities of Guinea for the period from 3 July reported only about two new deaths caused by the Ebola virus, noting that over the past two weeks no longer recorded cases of infection. According to doctors from WHO, this makes it possible to attribute the situation in West Africa to “mixed”.
Understanding the danger of this disease and the threat of its spread, at the beginning of July this year, the 11 ministers of health of the countries of West Africa held an emergency meeting at which the outbreak strategy was approved. Journalists reported that under the new strategy, the World Health Organization is going to open a new preventive center in this region of the world, whose headquarters will be just Guinea. The initiator of the ministerial meeting was WHO, the meeting itself lasted for two days. It also resulted in the agreement reached by the parties that the countries of the continent will strengthen cooperation among themselves in the fight against the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.
In addition to opening a regional preventive center in Guinea, WHO is going to provide its logistical support on a regular basis. According to Dr. Keiji Fukuda, who holds the post of WHO Director-General for Health Security, it is currently not possible to accurately assess the extent of the damage that could have spread to Ebola fever. In this case, the official expressed the hope that in the next few weeks we will all witness a decrease in mortality from this disease. According to WHO experts, it is the work with the population, and not the closure of borders between countries, that can be the most effective way to combat the epidemic and contain it. Despite the fact that the situation is currently under medical control, WHO doctors called on the countries of West Africa, including Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal, to be ready for a possible outbreak and spread of the virus.
Transmission electron microscopy image of Ebola virus
Ebola virus
The Ebola virus, which for quite a long time was called Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a deadly disease, the death rate in which reaches 90% of cases. This virus was first detected only in 1976, in Africa in the countries of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and Sudan in the Ebola region, it was the river that gave the name to the virus. In Sudan, 284 cases of infection were recorded (151 people died), in Zaire - 318 cases of infection (280 people died). Since then, there have been several major epidemics of this virus in Africa. Currently there is no vaccine for the virus and no adequate treatment. It was found that the virus is able to infect not only humans, but also primates, as well as pigs.
It has a very high contagiousness index (infectiousness), which reaches 95%. From person to person, the virus is transmitted through microtraumas on the skin, mucous membranes, getting into the lymph and blood of both humans and animals. At the same time, the Zairian virus subtype is also transmitted by airborne droplets. This Zairian subtype is the most dangerous and deadly. In total, 5 subtypes of this virus, which differ from each other in the percentage of mortality, are currently allocated.
The spread of the virus is facilitated by funeral rituals in which direct contact with the body of the deceased takes place. The virus is released from patients during 3's weeks. Doctors have documented cases of human infection from chimpanzees, gorillas and duikers. Quite often there were cases of infection of health workers who went on close contact with patients without observing the proper level of protection.
The incubation period of the disease is usually from two days to a day 21. The clinical symptoms of the disease are similar to another extremely dangerous disease for a person - Marburg fever. Differences in the frequency of deaths and the severity of the course of the disease during epidemics in various African countries are associated with antigenic and biological differences in the identified strains of the virus. At the same time, the disease always begins with severe weakness, muscle aches, severe headaches, abdominal pains, diarrhea, and sore throats. Later, a person is diagnosed with a dry cough and stitching pains in the chest area. Signs of dehydration appear. In the study of the blood of sick people marked thrombocytopenia, neutrophilic leukocytosis and anemia. Death from the disease usually occurs already in the second week amid shock and bleeding.
There is simply no vaccine or treatment for this disease in nature. At the same time, none of the largest pharmacological companies in the world invested money in the creation of such a vaccine. Such behavior of companies is explained by the fact that the vaccine has a very limited potential sales market, which means that its release does not promise large profits.
Ebola vaccine research has long been funded mainly by funds from the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Defense. In America, they seriously feared that a new virus could be the basis for someone to create the strongest biological weapons. Thanks to the allocated funds, a number of relatively small pharmacological companies were able to create their own prototypes of a vaccine against this virus. It is reported that they have passed a series of successful animal tests. And two companies, Tekmira and Sarepta, were even going to test the vaccine in humans.
In 2012, the virologist Gene Olinger, who works at the Institute of Infectious Diseases of the US Army, told us that while maintaining the current level of funding for programs, the vaccine could be developed in 5-7 years. But already in August of 2012, information appeared that the US Department of Defense was stopping funding for the creation of a vaccine due to the appearance of "financial difficulties."
In Russia, for the entire time since the discovery of this virus, 2 deaths from the Ebola virus have been reported. Both times, lab technicians became victims of a dangerous disease. In 1996, a laboratory assistant at the virology center of the Research Institute of Microbiology of the Russian Ministry of Defense died in Sergiev Posad. She infected the virus through negligence, pricking her finger at the moment when she injected rabbits.
Another similar case occurred on 19 May 2004. An 46-year-old senior laboratory technician died from an African virus who worked in the department of especially dangerous viral infections at the Research Institute of Molecular Biology of the State Vector Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology, located in the Koltsovo village in the Novosibirsk Region. It was later determined that 5, a senior lab technician in May 2004, injected the experimental guinea pigs already infected with the Ebola virus and began to put a plastic cap on the needle of the syringe. At that instant, her hand fluttered, and the needle pierced both pairs of gloves, punctures, and skin on her left hand. All this tells us that even the study of a virus can be fraught with mortal danger.
Information sources:
http://rusplt.ru/news/voz-chislo-pogibshih-ot-virusa-ebola-v-zapadnoy-afrike-prevyisilo-500-chelovek-161963.html
http://news.mail.ru/incident/18647481/?frommail=1
http://ria.ru/world/20140704/1014718171.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/rolling_news/2014/07/140703_rn_africa_ebola_strategy.shtml
http://ru.wikipedia.org
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