The bottom line is this: You can’t depend on a pressured government to protect you against every sling and arrow that the uncertain future may hurl at you. Keeping yourself safe has to be in your hands. Luckily, it can be if you prepare yourself properly and take the proper precautions. With this guide, you will learn how to do just that.
I will provide a very specific understanding of the microbe that causes the disease, from its original appearance in the 1970s to the most recent epidemic. You’ll get the nuts and bolts of how Ebola spreads in a way that is easy to understand. In this book you will find strategies that will help you stop Ebola from being transmitted to you and your loved ones. You will learn how to identify Ebola, with a complete list of signs and symptoms. I will outline how it gets diagnosed (or misdiagnosed) and how the illness is treated. You will know what the requirements are for treatment facilities and be able to assess whether or not your local hospital is prepared for an outbreak.
This guide details the ugly truth of what can happen when treatment fails. I will give notes on how to put together an effective sick room as well as the supplies necessary to deal with the sick. This will give you a plan of action and list of resources should Ebola ever expand to a worldwide pandemic.
In the past, Ebola may have seemed to be an issue that doesn’t affect you or people you care about. That has changed. It’s a serious health issue that could take you down in your own backyard at any time. Unless you arm yourself properly with skills, knowledge, and some basic supplies, you and your loved ones could face a future where this disease is not just a humanitarian concern, but a concern in your own home.
It’s in your hands. Will you pick up the flag and get medically prepared? Someone has to. If you follow the advice in this book, you’ll keep it together, even if everything else falls apart.
PART 1: WHAT IS YOUR RISK?
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, Ebola was a disease that ravaged remote areas in the interior of the African continent. When Ebola moved closer to home, the days of no concern were over. The disease is now a global problem, and it pays to know more about it.
1. The History of Ebola—What Is It?
Ebola, also called Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a disease that has a high fatality rate. The cause of Ebola is a virus that belongs to the Filoviridae family, most of which cause “hemorrhagic fevers.” It can kill in several ways: internal bleeding, organ failure, and/or severe dehydration. When one contracts the disease, it will result in a massive viremia (large number of viruses in the blood) that damages the cells that form blood vessels. As the disease progresses, in some cases, uncontrolled bleeding leads to extreme fluid loss and can cause hypotensive shock. Most deaths, however, have occurred from organ failure and dehydration.
Ebola is “zoonotic,” which means that it passes between animals and humans. The main reservoir is thought to be fruit bats, but it has been found in gorillas, monkeys, forest antelope, chimpanzees, and even porcupines.
Humans and apes can get the disease by coming into close contact with the body or bodily fluids (blood, vomit, mucus, droppings, etc.) of an infected animal. Other animals (say, an antelope) can get it by eating grass that has bat droppings on it.
Once the virus spreads to a human, person-to-person transmission is possible. It is highly contagious, with a mortality rate of between 50 and 95 percent, depending on the strain, promptness of treatment, level of medical resources available, and other factors.
The Ebola virus was initially discovered by an international team of scientists, including Dr. Peter Piot, Dr. Joel Breman, and researcher Karl Johnson. They were asked to look into the outbreak of a mysterious illness among villagers in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. The first recorded case of Ebola was in 1976. A village schoolteacher had symptoms similar to those of malaria (a disease common in the region). The schoolteacher was treated with quinine, a drug commonly used on patients with malaria. However, the quinine did not clear up the problem. His condition worsened, and he succumbed to the disease two weeks later. A number of people who cared for him developed the illness, and soon it spread to the entire village. This new virus had no name. The scientists tossed names around over a bottle of bourbon, and narrowed the choices down to the village in which they stayed and studied (Yambuku), or a nearby river, the Ebola. They chose Ebola as they didn’t want the Yambuku villagers to be unfairly stigmatized.
Ebola isn’t the only disease that’s been named after the region where it was discovered.
| Bolivian Hemorrhagic Fever (a.k.a. Black Typhus, a.k.a. Machupo Virus) | An infectious disease caused by the Machupo virus that occurs in Bolivia and is transmitted through rodent droppings. |
| Coxsackievirus | Discovered in 1948 in Coxsackie, a town in New York, Coxsackie symptoms and signs include sore throat, rash, and blisters. |
| Hendra Virus | In 1944, Hendra virus was discovered following an outbreak of illness in horses in a large racing stable in the suburb of Hendra in Brisbane, Australia. |
| Marburg Virus | A hemorrhagic fever virus (similar to Ebola) discovered during small epidemics in the German cities Marburg and Frankfurt as well as in Yugoslav’s capital, Belgrade, in 1967. |
| MERS-CoV | Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus was first reported in 2012 after genome sequencing of a virus isolated from sputum samples in patients in twenty-two countries who had fallen in an outbreak of a new flu. However, all cases can be traced back to Saudi Arabia. |
| Ross River Virus | A virus named after a river in northern Queensland in Australia in 1937. It is an infection that causes major weakness in the body. |
| West Nile Virus | A virus transmitted by mosquitoes; most people infected may only experience fever and mild headache but others may develop a life-threatening illness that includes inflammation of the brain. It was first identified in the West Nile region of Uganda in 1937. |
TIP
There are currently five known strains of the Ebola virus: Taï Forest, Sudan, Bundibugyo, Zaire, and Reston. All, with the exception of Reston, have been identified in humans.
There are currently five known varieties (also known as “strains”) of the Ebola virus: Taï Forest, Sudan, Bundibugyo, Zaire, and Reston. All, with the exception of Reston, have been identified in humans.
TAÏ FOREST
Taï Forest (TAFV) virus was first identified as a new “strain” of Ebola virus in 1995 and has only had one known occurrence among humans, though it devastated the western chimpanzee population in Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire. While it is not known how TAFV infected these chimpanzees, bats are suspected.
SUDAN
This was identified in 1998 as Sudan Ebola virus and is endemic (a constant presence) in Sudan and Uganda.
BUNDIBUGYO
Bundibugyo (BDBV) was first discovered in August 2007 when an outbreak occurred in the Bundibugyo township in western Uganda. Blood samples sent to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that this was a new variety. Another outbreak in 2007 was also confirmed to be BDBV.