1. Ebola Factsheet
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What Is It?
What It Looks Like
Myths and Facts
Ebola is a viral haemorrhagic fever. It’s serious but very rare.
In the UK we are not at risk from Ebola. The threat of Ebola arriving in the UK is very low. It’s only transmitted via direct contact with blood or bodily fluids from someone who is already infected.
Four types of Ebola cause human disease, all can evade our immune system and eat up blood clotting factors – leading to internal and external bleeding, coma and rapid death in % of cases.
I True. We are all going to die - just not from Ebola Virus Disease. It’s a Pandemic False. It’s now an epidemic rather than an outbreak and numbers still can’t be predicted but it’s not spread by casual contact and its biology makes it an unlikely candidate for uncontrolled, global spread. If It Arrives Here It Will Spread Like Wildfire False. This is the ‘Zombie Plague’ fallacy. We are far better equipped to identify and treat any cases that might come to the UK. This has already happened and probably will again. In West Africa the healthcare infrastructure is breaking down, sources are not isolated as they would be here, plus education and awareness of basic hygiene and how Ebola spreads are all shockingly poor. These factors all play their part in propagating the disease Is There a Cure? False. Science is developing a number of treatments: experimental drugs are already in use with more on the way. A vaccine is being tested. This strain is killing 60-70% of those infected in W Africa. But still the Internet is awash with ‘cures’: homeopathy, colloidal silver, turmeric, faith healing, salt water - all total nonsense, utterly useless and mostly sold by crooks taking advantage of the desperation of people who find themselves in an unimaginably dreadful situation.
It’s a filamentous -ssRNA virus with a branched structure and a variable length – which is really unusual
We’re All Going to Die
Each virus particle can be up to 14,000nm long
– or just over 1/100th of a mm
It’s a Pandemic
If It Arrives Here It Will Spread Like Wildfire
Your Ebola Risk Assessment Tool
Are you worried about Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)?
Electron micrograph:100,000x magnification – thanks to Cynthia Goldsmith at CDC Atlanta for the image
How Contagious Is It?
YES NO
It depends how you look at it. Body fluids from someone with the active disease are highly infectious and must be avoided BUT:
People don’t shed the virus before they have symptoms
It’s not foodborne, waterborne or spread via airborne droplets from coughs and sneezes (like ‘flu or TB are, for instance)
We don’t have the animal reservoirs or vectors for Ebola in the UK
An infected person coming to the UK won’t spread the virus before symptoms show. Primary healthcare staff are on alert for anyone presenting with possible EVD and will isolate them (and if necessary people they’ve been in contact with) - so it’s very unlikely to spread.
Excellent! Carry on! 
It’s Fatal and Incurable
In the last 21 days have you:
Visited an endemic area and been in contact with body fluids from an infected person?
Nursed an infected person, or worked in a lab with tissue specimens from an infected person? or
Ebola in Context
YES NO
But I Work In Healthcare…
Yes, it’s a ghastly disease causing death and misery and it is causing many preventable deaths - which is always a tragedy. But to put Ebola in perspective its all-time death toll remains in thousands yet…
Malaria kills 1.3m a year – 500,000 in sub-Saharan Africa alone
Tuberculosis kills 1.6 million a year
HIV / AIDS still kills 2.8 million a year
H1N1 infected 60m and killed about 250,000 in a single season
Over 3 million people still die from vaccine-preventable diseases each year – half are children under 5 years old
And don’t forget that there are plenty of other diseases that can present as a fever of unknown origin with very similar initial symptoms: other viral haemorrhagic fevers, malaria, typhoid, meningococcal disease and many bacterial infections.
Even if you’re just back from Africa and suddenly come down with flu-like symptoms it’s still more likely to be malaria…
Don’t worry. You’re not at risk from EVD 
…and if anyone says you are they’re an idiot
With diseases like this health care workers are at a higher risk: also A&E or ambulance staff may have contact with EVD patients before their illness is formally diagnosed.
The guidance from the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) is that pre-diagnosis, EVD patients can be safely managed by following Standard Precautions for infection control but…
If EVD is subsequently diagnosed all healthcare workers who have been in contact with the patient will undergo surveillance for up to 21 days - but with no restriction on work or movement within the UK
Surveillance is just daily monitoring of body temperature and the reporting of any suspicious symptoms
During surveillance those with a temperature >38°C should stay at home and if pyrexia persists for more than 24 hours, seek advice from an infectious disease consultant
No direct oral resuscitation - only bag and mask or resus pack
Do you have a temperature greater than 38°C?
YES NO
Repeat the question above for 21 days
STILL NO?
You’re fine. Phew! 
Go to the hospital.
The Infection Control Experts   chemexuk.com
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