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Health Alert Briefing Note
Ebola Virus Outbreak – information sheet
The World Health Organisation has declared the Ebola outbreak an international public health
emergency, but it is not recommending general bans on travel or trade.
The global body said the Ebola outbreak – the largest and longest in history – was happening in
countries without the resources to manage the infections, and called on the international
community to help.
Although the WHO said that "there should be no general ban on international travel or trade," it
issued a long list of recommendations on travel and contacts, including urging that all travellers
leaving the countries affected by the outbreak should be screened for fever, and that no corpses
should be transported across borders.
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Ebola outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical
rainforests.
The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population
through human-to-human transmission.
Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered to be the natural host of the Ebola
virus.
No licensed specific treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals.
Background
Ebola first appeared in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks, in Nzara, Sudan, and in Yambuku,
Democratic Republic of Congo. The second outbreak was in a village near the Ebola River, from
which the disease takes its name.
Transmission
Humans are infected with Ebola through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other
bodily fluids of infected animals. It then spreads through human-to-human contact through broken
skin or mucous via the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people. It can also
be spread by indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids. Health-care
workers can be infected through close contact while treating patients with Ebola where infection
control precautions are not strictly practiced. Humans are infectious while their blood and body
secretions contain the virus. Symptoms can appear between 2 - 21 days from infection.
Signs and symptoms
Ebola is a severe acute viral illness with initial symptoms including:
• Fever
• Intense weakness
• Muscle pain
• Headache
• Sore throat
Followed by:
• Vomiting and diarrhoea
• Rash
• Impaired kidney and liver function
• Internal and external bleeding
Treatment
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There is currently no licensed vaccine for Ebola available, several vaccines are being tested
but none are available for clinical use at this time.
Sufferers require rehydration (oral or intravenous) with solutions containing electrolytes
No specific treatment is available, however new drug therapies are being evaluated at the
present time.
Prevention and control
In ‘at risk’ areas, there is general advice on preventing and controlling the disease which includes:
Animals
• Routine cleaning and disinfection of pig or monkey farms are usually effective in inactivating
the virus but quarantine is necessary if an outbreak is suspected.
• Culling of infected animals with appropriate burial or incineration of the carcasses may be
necessary.
• Restricting or banning the movement of animals from infected farms to other areas can
reduce the spread of the disease.
People
• Raising awareness of the risk factors and the protective measures individuals can take
• Reducing the risk of wildlife-to-human transmission from contact with infected animals and
the consumption of their raw meat.
• Appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) when in contact with infected animals or
humans.
• Animal products (blood and meat) should be thoroughly cooked before consumption.
• Regular hand washing is required after visiting patients in hospital, as well as after taking
care of patients at home.
• Safe burial/incineration of dead animals and people
• Strict infection control measures for health care workers, including hand hygiene, use of
personal protective equipment to avoid direct contact with blood and body fluids,
prevention of needle stick and injuries from other sharp instruments, and a set of
environmental controls.
Is it safe to travel?
The World Health Organisation reviews the public health situation regularly, and recommends any
travel or trade restrictions if necessary. The risk of infection for travellers is very low since person-toperson transmission results from direct contact with the body fluids or secretions of an infected
living or dead person or animal. In any event, tourists are advised to avoid all such contacts.
If you are visiting family or friends or carrying out business in an affected areas and have direct
physical contact with a person who is ill or who has died you should notify public health authorities
so they can trace the contact and confirm whether you have been exposed.
The World Health Organisation gives this general travel advice:
• Travellers should avoid all contact with infected patients.
• Health workers traveling to affected areas should strictly follow WHO-recommended
infection control guidance.
• Anyone who has stayed in areas where cases were recently reported should be aware of the
symptoms of infection and seek medical attention at the first sign of illness.
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Clinicians caring for travellers returning from affected areas with compatible symptoms are
advised to consider the possibility of Ebola virus disease.
It is important to note that no cases of imported Ebola have ever been reported in the UK.
Dr Brian McCloskey, director of global health at Public Health England, says:
The risk to UK travellers and people working in these countries of contracting Ebola is very low but
we have alerted UK medical practitioners about the situation in West Africa and requested they
remain vigilant for unexplained illness in those who have visited the affected area.
People who have returned from affected areas who have a sudden onset of symptoms such as fever,
headache, sore throat and general malaise within three weeks of their return should immediately
seek medical assistance.
For further information visit:
https://www.gov.uk
http://www.who.int
(References: World Health Organisation, Public Health England)
Occupational Health, Santia Consulting Ltd, Santia House, Parc Nantgarw, Cardiff CF15 7QX
T: 029 2085 2852 F: 029 2086 7738 E: [email protected]
www.santia.co.uk
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