EBOLA VIRUS CAN STILL BE TRANSMITTED VIA SEMEN FOR UP TO 7 WEEKS AFTER RECOVERY FROM ILLNESS!

Eze V Uwaezuoke 8 December 2014

THE DEADLY EBOLA VIRUS IS NEARER YOU THAN YOU THINK! - KILLS FASTER THAN HIV!!

Some West African country citizens have gradually been killed by this deadly scourge, sometimes bleeding internally! Nigeria is at a high risk considering the health system in place. As at the time I posted this on the zeeny360.com Facebook group, Sawyer - who eventually was the first recorded death case from Ebola, hadn't been diagnosed.

RAISING AWARENESS OF THE RISK FACTORS FOR EBOLA INFECTION AND THE PROTECTIVE MEASURES INDIVIDUALS CAN TAKE IS THE ONLY WAY TO REDUCE HUMAN INFECTION AND DEATH.

Take out time and be educated about this.

KEY FACTS

The Ebola virus causes Ebola virus disease (EVD; formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever) in humans.

EVD outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%.
EVD outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rain forests.
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 specific treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals.

TRANSMISSION

Ebola then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other direct bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contacted with such fluids. Burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola. Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the BLOOD, SECRETIONS, ORGANS OR OTHER BODILY FLUIDS of infected animals. In Africa, the infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.

MEN WHO HAVE RECOVERED FROM THE DISEASE CAN STILL TRANSMIT THE VIRUS THROUGH THEIR SEMEN FOR UP TO 7 WEEKS AFTER RECOVERY FROM ILLNESS! DOES THAT TELL YOU ANYTHING ABOUT s£x? hmm...

Health-care workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with suspected or confirmed EVD. This has occurred through close contact with patients when infection control precautions are not strictly practised.

PREVENTION

Controlling Ebola Reston in domestic animals

No animal vaccine against RESTV is available. Routine cleaning and disinfection of pig or monkey farms (with sodium hypochlorite or other detergents) should be effective in inactivating the virus.

If an outbreak is suspected, the premises should be quarantined immediately. Culling of infected animals, with close supervision of burial or incineration of carcasses, may be necessary to reduce the risk of animal-to-human transmission. Restricting or banning the movement of animals from infected farms to other areas can reduce the spread of the disease.

As RESTV outbreaks in pigs and monkeys have preceded human infections, the establishment of an active animal health surveillance system to detect new cases is essential in providing early warning for veterinary and human public health authorities. I hope our vets and animal health agencies are taking note.

REDUCING THE RISK OF EBOLA INFECTION IN PEOPLE

In the absence of effective treatment and a human vaccine, RAISING AWARENESS OF THE RISK FACTORS FOR EBOLA INFECTION AND THE PROTECTIVE MEASURES INDIVIDUALS CAN TAKE IS THE ONLY WAY TO REDUCE HUMAN INFECTION AND DEATH.

In Africa, during EVD outbreaks, educational public health messages for risk reduction should focus on several factors:

Reducing the risk of wildlife-to-human transmission from contact with infected fruit bats or monkeys/apes and the consumption of their raw meat.
Animals should be handled with gloves and other appropriate protective clothing.
Animal products (blood and meat) should be thoroughly cooked before consumption. Including bush meats
Reducing the risk of human-to-human transmission in the community arising from direct or close contact with infected patients, particularly with their bodily fluids. Close physical contact with Ebola patients should be avoided.
Gloves and appropriate personal protective equipment should be worn when taking care of ill patients at home.
Regular hand washing is required after visiting patients in the hospital, as well as after taking care of patients at home.
Communities affected by Ebola should inform the population about the nature of the disease and about outbreak containment measures, including the burial of the dead. People who have died from Ebola should be promptly and safely buried.
Provide hand sanitizers for your kids and others in your home or establishments
Sanitize hands after handling money, ATM machines, public doors, and other utilities.
Before I forget, children are more vulnerable. Please teach them to wash their hands with hand sanitizers
especially before getting their hands to the mouth in anyway.