Reflections on Ebola virus infection

Abstract

*Corresponding author: Carlos Miguel Rios González, Sargento Toribio Valinoti c/ Sgto. 1ro Lorenzo Ayala Rolon, 1721, Asunción, Paraguay. Tel: +595971708328 E-mail: carlosmigue_rios@live.com The journal implements double-blind peer review practiced by specially invited international editorial board members. Dear editor, The Ebola virus (EBOV) is the cause of Ebola virus disease (EVD), which is found in the Filoviridae family along with the Marburg virus (MARV). The virus is transmitted primarily by direct contact with blood or other body fluids such as vomit, urine, semen and sweat from infected patients or animals considered as natural reservoirs (fruit bats of the family Pteropodidae), and other wild animals (chimpanzees, monkeys, antelopes, etc.) thus increasing the risk of transmission during patient care, consumption of infected game meat or traditional burial practices[1]. The first recorded EBOV outbreak occurred in 1976 in Northern Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Southern Sudan where it resulted in approximately 430 deaths[2]. Since then, there have been other EBOV outbreaks, mainly in tropical regions of sub-Saharan Africa, including the 1995 Kikwit outbreak, which killed 245 of the 317 infected people and the 2000 Uganda outbreak that killed 224 of the 425 infected persons. The most recent outbreak (2014–2016) was the largest recorded to date, killing more than 11 316 people out of 28 639 infected, although these numbers are almost certainly underestimated due to difficulties in presenting epidemiological data, however according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), up to 2016 there have been 11 323 deaths related to this infection (Figure 1), and the WHO Consultative Group on Response to the EVD[3].