Ebola

Question 1

case study

Answer 1

• West Africa 2014 Outbreak
• Location: Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone in the west of Africa off the Gulf of Guinea
• Ebola is zoonosis
• 70% of patients die especially those over 44 and under 5
• By end of 2014, approx. 20,000 cases

Question 2

key words

Answer 2

• Fomites: physical objects that carry infection

- Zoonosis: infection transmitted from animals to man

Question 3

physical causes of Ebola

Answer 3

• Reservoir is fruit bats
• Contact with animals eaten as bush meat that have been infected by the fruit bat
• Spreads from person to person via body fluids, fomites and over short distances as droplets

Question 4

causes of the spread

Answer 4

• Weak health care system
• Slow reaction from government and international community
• Distrust of foreigners
• Distrust of government
• Traditional beliefs about the source of the disease
• Denial

Question 5

SHEEPT factors

Answer 5

• S: population movement, cultural practices education levels lead to ignorance, perception towards treatment
• H: no previous outbreaks in the region so no experience
• E: only in rural areas
• E: poor health, transport and communication infrastructure
• P: decades of civil war, corruption, no trust in government
• T: Vaccines are being trailed and tested but there was no working vaccine before the outbreak

Question 6

Ebola impacts on economy, people, environment

Answer 6

• No schools
• No touching/shaking hands
• Market closed
• Affected farming (food is more expensive)
• Not attending funerals
• Strain on economy to accommodate the needs of people

Question 7

Symptoms

Answer 7

• Day 0-3: fever, malaise, fatigue and body aches
• Day 3-10: Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headache and other pains, fever, and confusions
• Day 7-12: either shock (circuitry system failure which leads to organ damage, decreased consciousness, coma and death) or improvement (diarrhoea and vomiting stop)
• Most people who make it to 13 days survived

Question 8

can be stopped by these three strategies

Answer 8

• Patient identification and isolation
• Contact tracing with diagnosis and isolation
• Community understanding with safe patient and body transport systems, and safe burials

Question 9

PPE

Answer 9

• Personal Protective Equipment
• Contains gown, mask, gloves and face shield
• Use as protection against Ebola
• Must be carefully donned and doffed to control the spread

Question 10

contact tracing

Answer 10

• Main purpose is to identify new cases among close contacts of known Ebola patients
• Key element to control to isolate people as soon as possible
• Takes 5-8 days for people to seek treatment
• Treatment early on increase likelihood to survive
• Contact team will follow contacts for 21 days (door to door visits, ask about symptoms)
• Awareness
• Stop at peak of epidemic (too big)

Question 11

non-government response

Answer 11

• Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders)
• Treated around 4400 confirmed Ebola patients in Guinea, Liberia, Mali and Sierra Leone
• WHO declared public health emergency and provided field teams to Guinea

Question 12

grassroot response

Answer 12

• Home kits with bleach, water, etc.
• Providing food
• Training traditional healers