Relevance:
After 4 months and 55 deaths, the latest Ebola epidemic in Uganda (worst in 2 decades) was declared over by the WHO.
About Ebola:
- Former Name – Ebola haemorrhagic fever
- 1st discovered – Ebola River (Democratic Republic of Congo) – 1976
- Most common in people and non-human primates (such as monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees).
- Types –
- Ebola virus
- Sudan virus
- Taï Forest virus
- Bundibugyo virus
- Reston virus
- Bombali virus
- Host – Fruit bats.
- Transmission – Animal to Human and Human-to-Human Transmission
- Signs and Symptoms – Fever, Fatigue, Muscle pain, Body weakness, Headache, Sore throat, Vomiting, Diarrhoea, Symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function etc.
- Diagnostic methods –
- ELISA (antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay)
- Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay etc.
- Vaccine: Ervebo (rVSV-ZEBOV) [Only to protect against the Zaire strain of the virus]
Among the following, which were frequently mentioned in the news for the outbreak of Ebola virus recently? (2015)
(a) Syria and Jordan
(b) Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia
(c) Philippines and Papua New Guinea
(d) Jamaica, Haiti and Surinam
Reference: The Hindu
