WHO, 2020. Ebola virus disease. World Health Organization (WHO). Accessed 19 November 2019.
" }, "editorialNote": { "en": [ "source:UNDRR HIPS" ] }, "scopeNote": { "en": [ "The Ebola virus causes an acute, serious illness which is often fatal if untreated. Ebola virus disease (EVD) first appeared in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks, one in what is now Nzara, South Sudan, and the other in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The latter occurred in a village near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name (WHO, 2020a). The 2014–2016 outbreak in West Africa was the largest Ebola outbreak since the virus was first discovered in 1976. The outbreak started in Guinea and then moved across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia. The current 2018–2019 outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is highly complex, with insecurity adversely affecting public health response activities (WHO, 2020a). The virus family Filoviridae includes three genera: Cuevavirus, Marburgvirus, and Ebolavirus. Within the genus Ebolavirus, six species have been identified: Zaire, Bundibugyo, Sudan, Taï Forest, Reston and Bombali. The virus causing the current outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo and the 2014–2016 West African outbreak belongs to the Zaire ebolavirus species (WHO, 2020a). Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as fruit bats, chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, forest antelope or porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest (WHO, 2020a). Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with or has died from Ebola, or objects that have been contaminated with body fluids (such as blood, faeces, vomit) from a person sick with Ebola or the body of a person who died from Ebola (WHO, 2020a). Health-care workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with suspected or confirmed EVD. This occurs through close contact with patients when infection control precautions are not strictly practiced. Burial ceremonies that involve direct contact with the body of the deceased can also contribute in the transmission of Ebola. People remain infectious as long as their blood contains the virus. Pregnant women who get acute Ebola and recover from the disease may still carry the virus in breastmilk, or in pregnancy related fluids and tissues. This poses a risk of transmission to the baby they carry, and to others. Women who become pregnant after surviving Ebola disease are not at risk of carrying the virus (WHO, 2020a). The incubation period is from 2 to 21 days. A person infected with Ebola virus cannot spread the disease until they develop symptoms. The symptoms of EVD can be sudden and include flu-like symptoms followed by diarrhoea, vomiting, rash, internal and external bleeding (such as oozing from the gums or blood in stools), and symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function. The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks (WHO, 2020a). It can be difficult to clinically distinguish EVD from other infectious diseases such as malaria, typhoid fever and meningitis. Laboratory confirmation that symptoms are caused by Ebola virus infection are made using diagnostic serological and virological tests. Careful consideration should be given to the selection of diagnostic tests, which take into account technical specifications, disease incidence and prevalence, and social and medical implications of test results. It is strongly recommended that diagnostic tests that have undergone an independent and international evaluation be considered for use (WHO, 2020a). The World Health Organization (WHO) has published case definitions for EVD (WHO, 2014)." ] }, "broader": { "id": "http://connectivity-hub.com/terms/c7bc7063-df64-431c-806a-3967121be5ca", "prefLabel": { "en": "Zoonotic Diseases" } }, "inScheme": [ { "id": "http://connectivity-hub.com/terms/", "title": { "en": "Climate Connectivity Taxonomy" } } ], "inSchemeAll": [ { "id": "http://connectivity-hub.com/terms/" } ], "@context": { "@version": 1.1, "id": "@id", "type": "@type", "@vocab": "http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#", "xsd": "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#", "dct": "http://purl.org/dc/terms/", "dc": "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/", "schema": "https://schema.org/", "vann": "http://purl.org/vocab/vann/", "ldp": "http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#", "owl": "http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#", "title": { "@id": "dct:title", "@container": "@language" }, "dc:title": { "@id": "dc:title", "@container": "@language" }, "dc:description": { "@id": "dc:description", "@container": "@language" }, "description": { "@id": "dct:description", "@container": "@language" }, "license": { "@id": "dct:license", "@container": "@language" }, "issued": { "@id": "dct:issued", "@type": "xsd:date" }, "created": { "@id": "dct:created", "@type": "xsd:date" }, "modified": { "@id": "dct:modified", "@type": "xsd:date" }, "creator": "dct:creator", "publisher": "dct:publisher", "preferredNamespacePrefix": "vann:preferredNamespacePrefix", "preferredNamespaceUri": "vann:preferredNamespaceUri", "isBasedOn": "schema:isBasedOn", "source": "dct:source", "prefLabel": { "@container": "@language" }, "altLabel": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "hiddenLabel": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "definition": { "@container": "@language" }, "note": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "changeNote": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "editorialNote": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "historyNote": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "scopeNote": { "@container": [ "@language", "@set" ] }, "notation": { "@container": "@set" }, "example": { "@container": "@language" }, "narrower": { "@container": "@set" }, "related": { "@container": "@set" }, "relatedMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "narrowerTransitive": { "@container": "@set" }, "broaderTransitive": { "@container": "@set" }, "broadMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "narrowMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "closeMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "exactMatch": { "@container": "@set" }, "hasTopConcept": { "@container": "@set" }, "inScheme": { "@container": "@set" }, "topConceptOf": { "@container": "@set" }, "deprecated": { "@id": "owl:deprecated", "@type": "xsd:boolean" }, "isReplacedBy": { "@id": "dct:isReplacedBy", "@container": "@set" } } }