Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Ebola in US: First Ebola positive case diagnosed in Texas

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Despite all the efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the deadly Ebola virus is spreading rapidly and has now gained entry into the United States. US health authorities Tuesday confirmed the nation’s first Ebola positive case in Dallas, Texas.



The patient had come from Liberia to visit his family, earlier this month, reported Xinhua. Reportedly, he showed no symptoms of Ebola while leaving West Africa. However, four days after her reached US on September 20, he began to develop Ebola symptoms, confirmed Tom Frieden, director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).


The patient had been isolated on Sunday in a hospital in Texas. His blood samples were sent to a CDC laboratory and the results turned out to be positive on Tuesday.


Frieden noted the possibility of more Ebola cases in US, as those who came in contact with the patient including his family members and friends are at a greater risk. However, Frieden confidently said that the outbreak won’t spread beyond that. ‘There is no doubt, in my mind, that we will stop it here. I have no doubt that we will control… this case of Ebola so it does not spread widely in this country,’ Frieden said.


The US health authorities will be identifying people who might have come in contact with the patient. To ensure that it is controlled, US President Barack Obama and Frieden have discussed implementation of ‘stringent isolation protocols’ to mitigate the risk of additional cases.


According to the statement from White House, CDC was earlier well prepared for an Ebola case in the country, and that they have all infrastructure in place to respond safely to any such case effectively.


Earlier, there have been five Ebola patients in US hospitals but they acquired the infection in West Africa and were then brought home for treatment.


Here are a few reasons Ebola virus is deadly


It can kill within seven days: Unlike other viruses (like HIV) that can remain dormant in a person for years without causing the disease, Ebola violently multiplies until the viral particles are amplified to about 100 million viral particles in a droplet of blood. Further, without resting in a dormant stage the virus kills the host to find a new one. The fatality rate of the disease is 60 percent.



There is no vaccine or treatment available: What makes this virus deadly is the fact that researchers have not been able to find an effective treatment or preventive technique to combat the virus and the spread of the disease. The experimental drug Zmapp has shown promising results but the safety and efficacy of the drug are to be evaluated. So, as of now, neither do we have an effective form of therapy nor do we have a vaccine to prevent the disease. 


Attacks every part of the human body: Ebola only needs a host cell that can help it produce multiple copies of itself. What worsens the condition is the fact that the virus does not need a specific type of cell to multiply (unlike other deadly diseases). According to studies, except for skeletal muscles and bones, the virus is known to infect every part of the human body. Connective tissues, the ones that hold your internal organs in place, are primary targets of the virus.


Image source: Getty images


With inputs from IANS


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