Ebola chain of infection

Break the chain:

Susceptible host (most vulnerable

• Treatment of underlying disease
• avoid traveling to places with known outbreaks
• avoid contact with nonhuman primates
• isolation
• patient education
• don't handle an infected persons remains
• avoid any type of contact with infected ones

What is Ebola?

• The most vulnerable populations for Ebola are defined by their occupation.
• Travelers who have close contact with nonhuman primates (such as monkeys, chimpanzees, and gorillas) or bats in tropical Africa are at risk.
• Care givers in medical facilities
• Mortuary and burial workers
• Home caregivers and decontamination workers would also be at a higher risk.
• Information is lacking on survival vulnerabilities such as age, gender, pregnancy, or pre-existing conditions.

• Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a rare and deadly zoonotic disease most commonly affecting people and nonhuman primates (monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees). It is caused by an infection with one of five known Ebola virus species within the genus ebolavirus, four of which can cause disease in people:

• Ebola virus (Zaire ebolavirus)
• Sudan virus (Sudan ebolavirus)
• Taï Forest virus (Taï Forest ebolavirus, formerly Côte d’Ivoire ebolavirus)
• Bundibugyo virus (Bundibugyo ebolavirus)
• Reston virus (Reston ebolavirus), known to cause disease in nonhuman primates and pigs, but not in people

Vaccine approval and research development

• The FDA U.S. recently approved an Ebola vaccine. It's given as a single dose and has been found to be effective and safe to use.
• Another Ebola vaccine has been developed and used in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a research study. It requires two doses, taken 56 days apart.
• Scientists continue to work on a variety of vaccines that would protect people from Ebola virus and Marburg virus. Research is ongoing.

What is Ebola Virus?

Signs and Symptoms

Symptoms may appear anywhere from 2 to 21 days after contact with the virus, with an average of 8 to 10 days. The course of the illness typically progresses from “dry” symptoms initially (such as fever, aches and pains, and fatigue), and then progresses to “wet” symptoms (such as diarrhea and vomiting) as the person becomes sicker.

Primary signs and symptoms of Ebola often include some or several of the following:

- Fever

- Aches and pains, such as severe headache, muscle and joint pain, and abdominal (stomach) pain

- Weakness and fatigue

- Gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhea and vomiting

- Abdominal pain

- Unexplained hemorrhaging, bleeding or bruising

Other symptoms may include red eyes, skin rash, and hiccups

Ebola Chain of Infection

Ebola virus (EBOV) is a member of the Filoviridae virus family along with Marburg virus (MARV). Together they are commonly known as filoviruses. EBOV is a virulent pathogen that causes fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a deadly disease with occasional outbreaks that occur primarily on the African continent. It is caused by an infection with a group of viruses within the genus Ebolavirus

Reservoir

Infectious Agent

• The CDC claims that that natural reservoir host has yet to be discovered. However, scientists believe that people first become infected with the Ebola virus by coming into contact with infected animals. The animals that can become infected and spread the disease are humans, moneys, apes, and bats.

• Fruit bats in Africa are believed to be the primary reservoir. Transmission between bats and other animals is poorly understood.

How to Break the chain?

• Virus: ebola virus is Ebola Virus is part of the Filoviridae virus family. Ebola is a pathogenic virus that can lead to death.
• Fruit bats in Africa are believed to be the primary reservoir. Transmission between bats and other animals is poorly understood.

• Get proper diagnosis and treatment

Portal of exit

Break the chain

Break The Chain

• Avoid contact with people exposed to the virus
• don't handle items that may have come in contact with a sick persons blood or bodily fluids
• waste disposal
• hand hygiene
• proper usage of personal protective equipment

• One can become infected by a living or a dead host.
• The virus is transmitted via bodily fluids. These fluids include: saliva, urine, blood, breast milk, sweat, feces, vomit, and semen.
• contact with contaminated surfaces/equipment
• Ebola leaves its reservoir by contact with body fluids of an infected animal, often by bush-meat hunters. The spill-over is usually very small with the vast majority of human cases being caused by human to human transmission.
• open wounds

Break the chain

• To avoid contact with infected patients/wild african animals without the use of recommended protective equipment.
• hand hygiene
• cleaning, disinfecting, sterilizing

Portal of entry

• Personal protective equipment
• Hand hygiene
• personal hygiene
• first aid to disinfect/clean and cover open wounds

• Ebola (Fluids such as blood, urine, sweat, semen, and saliva) enters the human body through breaks in the skin, including micro-abrasions and splashes on mucus membranes.
• Fluids need to come in contact with the mucus membrane or an open cut for one to become infected.

Mode of transmission

Citations:

• Ebola is spread through direct contact.
• Ebola cannot spread through the air or water.
• Transmission between humans occurs by contact of skin (broken) or mucus membranes with the body fluids of an infected person.
• Viral particles are found in all body fluids: blood, tears, saliva, sputum, breast milk, diarrhea, vomit, urine, sweat and oil glands of the skin, and semen.
• Ebola can be found in semen three months after recovery from an infection but transmission by this route is poorly understood.

Break the chain

• Hand hygiene
• wearing protective gear around infected person
• Avoid any type of contact with the infected person
• Isolation
• cleaning/disinfecting/sterilizing surfaces which the infected person may have come in contact with
• Food safety (avoid eating bush-meat)

• Alternatives Humanitaires, and Alternatives Humanitaires. “Breaking the Ebola Virus Transmission Chains: the Story of a Deployment in Sierra Leone.” Alternatives Humanitaires, 24 Aug. 2016, alternatives-humanitaires.org/en/2016/01/12/breaking-the-transmission-chains-of-the-ebola-virus-the-story-of-a-deployment-in-sierra-leone/.
• “Ebola Virus and Marburg Virus.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 22 Aug. 2020, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ebola-virus/symptoms-causes/syc-20356258.
• Ebola, acphd.org/ebola/.
• “Ebola.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/diseases/ebola.
• “Infectious Diseases: Breaking the Chain.” Ausmed, www.ausmed.com/cpd/articles/infectious-diseases.
• “Menu.” Infectionpreventionandyou.org, infectionpreventionandyou.org/protect-your-patients/break-the-chain-of-infection/.
• Published by Michelle ZieglerView all posts by Michelle Ziegler, et al. “Ebola's Chain of Infection.” Contagions, 18 Oct. 2014, contagions.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/ebolas-chain-of-infection/.
• Reportable Diseases & Conditions, acphd.org/communicable-disease/disease-reporting-and-control/reportable-diseases-and-conditions/.

Screen recording of my presentation with my voice over:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XhE9GkBJ5TriRcXLVUwkGPgfvBTRivZ-/view?usp=sharing