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Public Health and Viruses
Published in Patricia G. Melloy, Viruses and Society, 2023
In 2014, an Ebola outbreak started in Guinea and spread to two neighboring West African countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia. Ebola causes a hemorrhagic fever and is spread by bodily fluids. Once the Ebola outbreak began to move into more populated areas, the WHO declared it a public health emergency of international concern (an alarm sounded before a pandemic), and scientists and physicians from around the world were mobilized to help in the fight against the virus. International efforts on the ground in these countries were able to stop the virus from spreading worldwide. These efforts included healthcare workers and public health support from other countries, and the implementation of public health measures like increasing awareness of how to handle Ebola patients as well as those who died from the disease. Aggressive contact tracing and quarantining also helped put a stop to the virus in 2016, although 11,325 people died (Zimmer 2011; CDC 2022b).
Yellow Fever
Published in Rae-Ellen W. Kavey, Allison B. Kavey, Viral Pandemics, 2020
Rae-Ellen W. Kavey, Allison B. Kavey
Yellow fever was the first recognized viral hemorrhagic fever and is the prototype for this group of life-threatening diseases, represented most prominently at this time by Ebola. These pathogens combine multiple mechanisms to produce symptoms related to damage to the walls of small blood vessels and to the liver, interfering with the body’s ability to clot. The internal bleeding that results can range from relatively minor to life-threatening. Each hemorrhagic fever virus acts on the body in pathogen-specific ways, resulting in a variety of symptoms in association with bleeding.
Diagnostic Approach to Fulminant Hepatitis in the Critical Care Unit
Published in Cheston B. Cunha, Burke A. Cunha, Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Stewardship in Critical Care Medicine, 2020
Ebola, also called Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a viral hemorrhagic fever of humans caused by the Ebola virus, a member of the Filoviridae family. It is spread by direct contact with body fluids, such as blood, stool, and vomitus of an infected human. Ebola is characterized by fever, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, kidney, liver failure, and occasionally bleeding. It is associated with a high case fatality rate of 54.7%, with fatality rates reported to increase with age and high viral load [28]. Patients with Ebola virus disease were found to have AST/ALT levels of more than five times the upper limit of normal and, in severe cases, levels of more than 15 times the upper limit of normal [29]. Diagnosis of Ebola can be made by serum PCR on blood drawn within 3 days of the onset of symptoms. A rapid chromatographic immunoassay (ReEBOV) that detects Ebola virus antigen can provide results within 15 minutes; however, this has been associated with false-positive results in 10% of patients who tested negative by PCR [30]. On postmortem liver biopsy, hepatocellular necrosis with minimal inflammation is the primary histological finding. There is no specific therapy for Ebola, and treatment includes fluids and supportive care.
Managing thrombosis and cardiovascular complications of COVID-19: answering the questions in COVID-19-associated coagulopathy
Published in Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine, 2021
Toshiaki Iba, Jerrold H. Levy, Jean Marie Connors, Theodore E. Warkentin, Jecko Thachil, Marcel Levi
Virus infection is known to induce viral hemorrhagic fevers. COVID-19 is a mysterious virus infectious disease which is frequently associated with hypercoagulability and a high incidence of thromboembolic complications. The accumulated evidences have revealed besides localized proinflammatory consequences of severe lung damage, multiple other factors are involved in the pathophysiology of CAC, including cytokine storm, perturbed autoimmune system, platelet activation, fibrinolytic shutdown, and endothelial damage. Although the above pathophysiology is considerably overlapped with that seen in sepsis-associated DIC, the risk of VTE is higher, and the complications of arterial thrombosis and vascular diseases are unique feature of CAC. Perhaps, other than the host immune responses, unknown mechanisms still exist in CAC and further research is necessary.
Recent advances in the development and evaluation of molecular diagnostics for Ebola virus disease
Published in Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics, 2019
John Tembo, Edgar Simulundu, Katendi Changula, Dale Handley, Matthew Gilbert, Moses Chilufya, Danny Asogun, Rashid Ansumana, Nathan Kapata, Francine Ntoumi, Giuseppe Ippolito, Alimuddin Zumla, Matthew Bates
Viruses from the family Filoviridae can cause viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs), including Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Marburg virus disease (MVD) [1]. There are five known Ebolavirus species, namely Zaire ebolavirus, Sudan ebolavirus, Taï Forest ebolavirus, Bundibugyo ebolavirus, and Reston ebolavirus, represented by the following viruses, respectively, Ebola virus (EBOV), Sudan virus (SUDV), Taï Forest virus (TAFV), Bundibugyo virus (BDBV) and Reston virus (RESTV) [2]. There is also one newly proposed ebolavirus isolated from insectivorous bats, Bombali virus (BOMV), as yet not known to cause human disease [3]. There is only one known marburgvirus species, Marburg marburgvirus, with two known viruses, Marburg virus (MARV) and Ravn virus (RAVV) [2]. There is a third genus within the Filoviridae called Cuevavirus that is not linked to VHF in humans.
Treatment-focused Ebola trials, supportive care and future of filovirus care
Published in Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy, 2018
Maryam Keshtkar-Jahromi, Karen A.O Martins, Anthony P. Cardile, Ronald B. Reisler, George W Christopher, Sina Bavari
Prior to the 2014–2016 EBOV outbreak in West Africa, the medical literature only contained case reports, anecdotes, or case series related to providing supportive care. Typical supportive care has included medications to alleviate nausea/vomiting, dyspepsia, anxiety, pain, and fever. Anti-malarials and antibiotics have been given, as well as nutritional supplements. Frequently, oral rehydration, and occasionally intravenous (IV) fluids were given [54]. Over the past decade, various groups have developed consensus guidelines for the treatment of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) [55,56,57,58,59], sepsis [60,61,62,63], and tropical diseases [64,65,66] but these guidelines are not universally accepted by all groups providing care. Also, there are often differences in drug formularies and capabilities of each site to deliver care and diagnose coinfections. While effective supportive care in this outbreak and prior outbreaks appears to have had an impact upon survival, evaluation of the various treatment guidelines has not been attempted.