Ebola - Sierra Leone

By: Aryan and Jay

Ebola Virus Disease
- ETIOLOGY and PATHOPHYSIOLOGY:
- Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe and fatal
illness to humans.
- It is thought that fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are natural Ebola virus hosts. Ebola is
introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs
or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, and
monkeys.
- ORGANS AFFECTED:
- It mainly wecks the immune system, which causes heavy bleeding inside the body and
damages almost every organ system.
- SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS:
- First symptoms are the sudden onset of fever fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat.
- Followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in
some cases, both internal and external bleeding.
- The symptoms will occur from 2 to 21 days after making contact with the disease.
Where and When
- The disease originated in Guinea but soon spread to Sierra Leone due to
transmission of the disease
- An Index case (first documented patient) reported an 18 month old male from
Guinea who was infected due to contact from insectivorous bats
- An extended family member contracted the disease from the index case and
transmitted the disease to multiple other people
- Ebola largely affected West Africa and some parts of Europe and North
America
- The Ebola Epidemic was mainly prevalent in the years 2014 through 2015
Impact of the disease
- In Sierra Leone, there were 8 706 confirmed cases of the Ebola virus. 3 956
of those cases were fatal
- The Ebola virus contributed to 11 325 deaths globally between 2014 and
2016 although less than one percent of deaths reported were outside of West
Africa
- Factors that contributed to the wide spread breakout of the disease in Sierra
Leone include cultural beliefs and practices
- Certain burial practices are high risk in terms of disease prevention (bathing in water used to
wash corpses)
- Dependance on traditional healers due to poor access to government run health facilities
UNICEF Initiatives
- WHO ARE UNICEF?
- UNICEF was established on December 11 1946 by the United Nations to meet the emergency
needs of children in post-war Europe and China. Its full name was the United Nations
International Children's Emergency Fund.
- UNICEF responds to Ebola in Sierra Leone by launching a three-day
campaign to raise awareness of the disease and help prevent its further
spread.
- In Bombali District, Sierra Leone, UNICEF established 10 Community Care
Centres with approximately trained 200 clinical health workers and hygienists.
- The workers objective was to isolate the uninfected from the infected patients.
They brought the infected patients to the CCC to provide them proper health
care and treatments at critical stages.
References
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/ebola/76145.html

Ebola (Ebola Virus Disease). (2017, December 27). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/history/2014-2016-

outbreak/index.html

Ebola virus disease. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ebola-virus-disease

Ebola Virus Infection. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/ebola-fever-virus-infection

References Contd.
Factors that contributed to undetected spread of the Ebola virus and impeded rapid containment. (2015, September

22). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/one-year-report/factors/en/

FAQ. (2017, October 03). Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/about/who/index_faq.html

https://globalizationandhealth.biomedcentral.com

Kaner, J., & Schaack, S. (2016). Understanding Ebola: The 2014 epidemic.