Ebolavirus Disease (EVD)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz-Josef Schmitt ◽  
Khrystyna Hrynkevych

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a rare but severe, often fatal hemorrhagic illness occurring either sporadically or with large local outbreaks originating in (western) Africa. The virus is first transmitted from wild animals to humans (hunters; food handlers) followed by human-to-human transmission via blood or via body secretions. The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50% (range: 25% to 90% in past outbreaks). Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks using several interventions (case management, prevention and control practices, surveillance and contact tracing, good laboratory service, safe and dignified burials and social mobilization). Early supportive care with rehydration and symptomatic treatment improves survival. Two monoclonal antibodies (Inmazeb and Ebanga) were approved for the treatment of Zaire ebolavirus (Ebolavirus) infection in adults and children by the FDA in late 2020. Two vaccine regimens to protect against EVD were recently licensed and helped control outbreaks in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz-J. Schmitt ◽  
Khrystyna Hrynkevych

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a rare but severe, often fatal hemorrhagic illness occurring either sporadically or with large local outbreaks originating in (western) Africa. The virus is first transmitted from wild animals to humans (hunters; food handlers) followed by human-to-human transmission via blood or via body secretions. The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50% (range: 25% to 90% in past outbreaks). Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks using several interventions (case management, prevention and control practices, surveillance and contact tracing, good laboratory service, safe and dignified burials and social mobilization). Early supportive care with rehydration and symptomatic treatment improves survival. Two monoclonal antibodies (Inmazeb and Ebanga) were approved for the treatment of Zaire ebolavirus (Ebolavirus) infection in adults and children by the FDA in late 2020. Two vaccine regimens to protect against EVD were recently licensed and helped control outbreaks in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 228-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rabia Aftab

Ebola virus disease is responsible for a very high case fatality rate of around 50–90%; it presents as a severe, rapidly developing illness. Several outbreaks of Ebola virus disease have occurred in Central and recently West Africa. Infection is transmitted to humans from animals and spreads within the human population through direct contact with infected blood or bodily fluids. No curative treatment is yet available, but early supportive care with rehydration and symptomatic management improves the chance of survival. Community engagement is needed to control outbreaks. Control of outbreaks requires a package of interventions including case management, surveillance and contact tracing with a good laboratory service, safe burials and social mobilisation. An Ebola vaccination may become available in the near future. The very high case fatality rate and recent major outbreaks require GPs to be aware of the presentation and management of suspected Ebola virus disease.


Viruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 753
Author(s):  
Richard S. Bennett ◽  
James Logue ◽  
David X. Liu ◽  
Rebecca J. Reeder ◽  
Krisztina B. Janosko ◽  
...  

Ongoing Ebola virus disease outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo follow the largest recorded outbreak in Western Africa (2013–2016). To combat outbreaks, testing of medical countermeasures (therapeutics or vaccines) requires a well-defined, reproducible, animal model. Here we present Ebola virus disease kinetics in 24 Chinese-origin rhesus monkeys exposed intramuscularly to a highly characterized, commercially available Kikwit Ebola virus Filovirus Animal Non-Clinical Group (FANG) stock. Until reaching predetermined clinical disease endpoint criteria, six animals underwent anesthesia for repeated clinical sampling and were compared to six that did not. Groups of three animals were euthanized and necropsied on days 3, 4, 5, and 6 post-exposure, respectively. In addition, three uninfected animals served as controls. Here, we present detailed characterization of clinical and laboratory disease kinetics and complete blood counts, serum chemistries, Ebola virus titers, and disease kinetics for future medical countermeasure (MCM) study design and control data. We measured no statistical difference in hematology, chemistry values, or time to clinical endpoint in animals that were anesthetized for clinical sampling during the acute disease compared to those that were not.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harley Vossler ◽  
Pierre Akilimali ◽  
Yuhan Pan ◽  
Wasiur Khudabukhsh ◽  
Eben Kenah ◽  
...  

Abstract The 2018-2020 Ebola virus disease epidemic in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) resulted in 3481 cases (probable and confirmed) and 2299 deaths. In this paper, we use a novel statistical method to analyze the individual-level incidence and hospitalization data on DRC Ebola victims. Our analysis suggests that an increase in the rate of quarantine and isolation by approximately 12% during the epidemic’s third and final wave was likely responsible for the eventual containment of the outbreak. The analysis further reveals that the total effective population size or the average number of individuals at risk for the disease exposure in three epidemic waves over the period of 24 months was around 19,000—a much smaller number than previously estimated and likely an evidence of at least partial protection of the population at risk through ring vaccination and contact tracing as well as adherence to strict quarantine and isolation policies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (04) ◽  
pp. 587-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
YUSUKE ASAI ◽  
HIROSHI NISHIURA

The effective reproduction number [Formula: see text], the average number of secondary cases that are generated by a single primary case at calendar time [Formula: see text], plays a critical role in interpreting the temporal transmission dynamics of an infectious disease epidemic, while the case fatality risk (CFR) is an indispensable measure of the severity of disease. In many instances, [Formula: see text] is estimated using the reported number of cases (i.e., the incidence data), but such report often does not arrive on time, and moreover, the rate of diagnosis could change as a function of time, especially if we handle diseases that involve substantial number of asymptomatic and mild infections and large outbreaks that go beyond the local capacity of reporting. In addition, CFR is well known to be prone to ascertainment bias, often erroneously overestimated. In this paper, we propose a joint estimation method of [Formula: see text] and CFR of Ebola virus disease (EVD), analyzing the early epidemic data of EVD from March to October 2014 and addressing the ascertainment bias in real time. To assess the reliability of the proposed method, coverage probabilities were computed. When ascertainment effort plays a role in interpreting the epidemiological dynamics, it is useful to analyze not only reported (confirmed or suspected) cases, but also the temporal distribution of deceased individuals to avoid any strong impact of time dependent changes in diagnosis and reporting.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Célestin Kaputu-Kalala-Malu ◽  
Eric Mafuta Musalu ◽  
Tim Walker ◽  
Olga Ntumba-Tshitenge ◽  
Steve Ahuka-Mundeke

Abstract Background Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a deadly and feared infectious disease, which can be responsible of debilitating physical and psychological sequelae in survivors including depression and anxiety disorders. Unfortunately, there are scarce data on survivor sequelae in Democratic Republic of the Congo. So this study assessed PTSD, depression and anxiety symptoms among EVD survivors enrolled in the follow-up program of the psychosocial care team of Beni town’s general hospital. Methods A cross-sectional study used consecutive sampling to recruit 144 Ebola virus disease survivors who came for follow up from October 23 to November 13; 2019. Basic socio-demographic data, presence of headache and short-term memory function were assessed. The Post-traumatic Checklist Scale and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were used to assess psychological burden among participants. Descriptive statistics were used to summarized data and Pearson’s or likelihood chi-square were used to test association between psychiatric disorders and associated factors. Results The prevalence of PTSD, depression and anxiety was 24.3, 24.3 and 33.3% respectively. Being male (OR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.16, 0.95, p = 0.049), suffering from persistent headache (OR = 2.62, 95% CI: 1.12, 6.14, p = 0.014), losing a loved one because of EVD (OR: 2.60, 95% CI: 1.11, 6.15, p = 0. 015) and being young − 18-24 years - (OR: 0. 261, 95% CI: 0. 08, 0.82, p = 0,026) were statistically associated with PTSD diagnosis. Having short-term memory impairment and suffering from persistent headache were statistically associated with depression and anxiety diagnoses (OR = 2.44, 95% CI: 1.03, 5.82, p = 0.026); (OR = 2.24, 95% CI: 1.04, 4.85, p = 0.025); (OR = 2.62, 95% CI: 1.12, 6.14, p = 0.014); (OR = 2.31, 95% CI: 1.06, 5.01, p = 0.020). Conclusion The prevalence of PTSD, depression and anxiety is high among EVD survivors. Development of specialized psychiatric services to sustain psychiatric and psychological health amongst survivors in the cultural context of the Eastern part of the DRC should be considered by the teams fighting against EVD in the DRC.


Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 608
Author(s):  
Danielle Burton ◽  
Suzanne Lenhart ◽  
Christina J. Edholm ◽  
Benjamin Levy ◽  
Michael L. Washington ◽  
...  

The 2014–2016 West African outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was the largest and most deadly to date. Contact tracing, following up those who may have been infected through contact with an infected individual to prevent secondary spread, plays a vital role in controlling such outbreaks. Our aim in this work was to mechanistically represent the contact tracing process to illustrate potential areas of improvement in managing contact tracing efforts. We also explored the role contact tracing played in eventually ending the outbreak. We present a system of ordinary differential equations to model contact tracing in Sierra Leonne during the outbreak. Using data on cumulative cases and deaths, we estimate most of the parameters in our model. We include the novel features of counting the total number of people being traced and tying this directly to the number of tracers doing this work. Our work highlights the importance of incorporating changing behavior into one’s model as needed when indicated by the data and reported trends. Our results show that a larger contact tracing program would have reduced the death toll of the outbreak. Counting the total number of people being traced and including changes in behavior in our model led to better understanding of disease management.


PLoS Medicine ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. e1001908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oumar Faye ◽  
Alessio Andronico ◽  
Ousmane Faye ◽  
Henrik Salje ◽  
Pierre-Yves Boëlle ◽  
...  

Vaccines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Schwartz

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak that began in Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in July 2018 is the second largest in history. It is also the largest and most deadly of the ten Ebola outbreaks to occur in DRC, the country where Ebola was first identified during the 1976 Yambuku outbreak. The Kivu region is one of the most challenging locations in which to organize humanitarian assistance. It is an active conflict zone in which numerous armed groups are conducting violent acts, often directed against the inhabitants, healthcare and relief workers and peacekeepers. EVD has been especially problematic in pregnancy—previous outbreaks both in DRC and other countries have resulted in very high mortality rates among pregnant women and especially their infants, with maternal mortality in some outbreaks reaching over 90% and perinatal mortality 100%. The development and implementation of the Merck rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine for Ebola infection has been a tremendous public health advance in preventing EVD, being used successfully in both the West Africa Ebola epidemic and the Équateur DRC Ebola outbreak. But from the start of the Kivu outbreak, policy decisions had resulted in excluding pregnant and lactating women and their infants from receiving it during extensive ring vaccination efforts. In June 2019, this policy was reversed, 10 months after the start of the outbreak. Pregnant and lactating women are now permitted not only the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine in the continuing Kivu outbreak but also the newly implemented Ad26.ZEBOV/MVA-BN vaccine.


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