ABSTRACT
Several major outbreaks of viral illnesses are reportedly “new” to medicine over the past 20 years. To some extent, the recognition of these new viral illnesses can be attributed to improved communications, both generally and medically, by international sources such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and others. For example, even though the virus causing a new haemorrhagic fever has been identified and characterised, the natural history of the eponymic Ebola virus is still largely unknown. There are sporadic outbreaks of the deadly Ebola virus disease (EVD), which is primarily observed on the African continent. People and non-human primates (such as monkeys, gorillas, and chimps) are most commonly affected by EVD, which is caused by an infection with a group of viruses belonging to the filovirus family in the genus Ebolavirus. Infectious Ebola virions are typically 920 nm long and 80 nm wide, with a membrane stolen from the host cell via budding. A nucleoprotein, a glycoprotein, seven polypeptides, a polymerase, and four unidentified proteins are encoded by the virus. Symptoms can appear anywhere between 2 and 21 days after virus contact, with an average from 8 to 10 days. As the person becomes sicker, the illness typically progresses from “dry” symptoms (fever, aches and pains, and fatigue) to “wet” symptoms (diarrhoea and vomiting). The FDA has approved two treatments for routine use in adults and children to treat Ebola, species Zaire Ebola virus, namely, Inmazeb and Ebanga.
