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Ebola Epidemics – Challenges & Containment In Nigeria
Ebola and Its Origins
There is no known origin of the Ebola virus that emerged with a vengeance in 2014 in West Africa. And while there had been numerous other documented cases of Ebola in Africa, the outbreaks had always been much smaller and confined to a particular locale. In 2014, however, tens of thousands of infections occurred, ranging across seven different African countries (Mari-Saez, Weiss & Nowak, 2015). What caused the outbreak is unclear, though some researchers have speculated that the fruit bat may be, if not the primary source of the virus, at least a transmitter of the virus to humans (Hassanin et al., 2016).
Transmission, Symptoms of Ebola
The fruit has been shown to be a host carrier of the Ebola virus in Africa (Hassanin et al., 2016). As the fruit bat is a source of food in Africa and considered a delicacy, it has been identified as the likeliest source of transmission. Other sources of transmission include the “ingestion of fruit contaminated with Ebola-infected bat saliva or feces” (Alexander et al., 2015). Symptoms of the virus include “headache, myalgias, arthralgias, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, new skin rash, and unexplained bruising or bleeding,”...
After spreading from Guinea, Ebola penetrated Liberia. A traveler from Liberia flew into Lagos, Nigeria on 20 July 2014, was identified as being very sick and died 5 days later. This was the “index patient” in Nigeria and was believed to have “potentially exposed 72 persons at the airport and the hospital” (Shuaib et al., 2014, p. 867). The potential outbreak was contained, however, thanks to the swift action of the Federal Ministry of Health, which received oversight from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. An Ebola emergency was declared. 19 lab-confirmed cases followed the death of the index patient on 25 July 2014. Nearly 900 more contacts were identified. 8 more patients died. 11 patients were effectively treated and discharged. No new cases emerged (Shuaib et al., 2014).
Nigerian Containment Strategy
The containment strategy in Nigeria was to quickly identify the virus and enact an Ebola emergency by establishing an Ebola Incident Management Center, which would become the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Using this…
References
Alexander, K. A., Sanderson, C. E., Marathe, M., Lewis, B. L., Rivers, C. M., Shaman, J., ... & Eubank, S. (2015). What factors might have led to the emergence of Ebola in West Africa?. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 9(6), e0003652.
Cardile, A. P., Murray, C. K., Littell, C. T., Shah, N. J., Fandre, M. N., Drinkwater, D.C., ... & Vento, T. J. (2015). Monitoring exposure to Ebola and health of US military personnel deployed in support of Ebola control efforts—Liberia, October 25, 2014–February 27, 2015. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 64(25), 690.
Hassanin, A., Nesi, N., Marin, J., Kadjo, B., Pourrut, X., Leroy, É., ... & Ruedi, M. (2016). Comparative phylogeography of African fruit bats (Chiroptera, Pteropodidae) provide new insights into the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa, 2014–2016. Comptes Rendus Biologies, 339(11-12), 517-528.
Marí Sáez, A., Weiss, S., & Nowak, K. (2015). Investigating the zoonotic origin of the West African Ebola epidemic. EMBO Molecular Medicine, 7, 17-23.
Shuaib, F., Gunnala, R., Musa, E. O., Mahoney, F. J., Oguntimehin, O., Nguku, P. M., ...& Nasidi, A. (2014). Ebola virus disease outbreak-Nigeria, July-September 2014. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 63(39), 867-872.
Ebola Intelligence The author of this report has been tasked with garnering and collecting business intelligence as it pertains to the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa. Countries that will be of particular focus will include Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. As part of the process and results of this report, there will be a location and collection of the data, and analysis of the data using techniques and software of
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