Facts

Today we're going to be learning about Ebola, Ebola is a serious disease that comes from bats, then those bats move the disease on to another animal, which might move it on to a human, maybe even one of you! This disease is not to play around with, it could easily kill you, but there is some sort of cure for it. Hermione has been reading about it for the past months and she knows a lot about it, so maybe she can tell us some. Do you want to tell us some facts about Ebola, Hermione?

Alright, that face shows me that you don't want to answer the question, but that's fine, who else would like to tell us a fact about Ebola? No one? Okay, I'll do it myself, Ebola is a very, very dangerous disease that anyone can get if they go to Africa, but Ebola can also spread in different places. It starts by causing fever, soar throat, muscle pain, or head aches. Typically, vomiting, diarrhea and rash follow, along with decreased function of the liver and kidneys. Around this time, affected people may begin to bleed both within the body and externally. The virus may be acquired upon contact with blood or other bodily fluids of an infected human or other animal. Spreading through the air has not been documented in the natural environment. EVD is believed to have most probably first occurred in Fruit bat species, and to have first infected humans via their consumption of these bats. Fruit bats may spread the virus without being affected. Once human infection occurs, the disease may spread between people as well. Male survivors may be able to transmit the disease via semen for nearly two months. To diagnose EVD, other diseases with similar symptoms such as Malaria, Cholera and other viral hemorrhagic fevers are first excluded. Blood samples are tested for viral antibodies, viral RNA, or the virus itself to confirm the diagnosis. Well, that's enough for this class, we'll save the rest for the next class.