{"id":238774,"date":"2022-10-01T02:48:10","date_gmt":"2022-10-01T00:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/ebola-what-are-the-symptoms-how-does-it-spread-and-where-did-it-come-from\/"},"modified":"2022-10-01T02:48:10","modified_gmt":"2022-10-01T00:48:10","slug":"ebola-what-are-the-symptoms-how-does-it-spread-and-where-did-it-come-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/ebola-what-are-the-symptoms-how-does-it-spread-and-where-did-it-come-from\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebola: what are the symptoms, how does it spread and where did it come from?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Uganda health authorities have declared an outbreak of Ebola disease. Ebola outbreaks emerge periodically<\/a> in several African countries, most notably in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Public health expert Yap Boum, who has been involved in managing Ebola outbreaks in the past, answers some key questions about Ebola\u2019s history, treatment, and how to keep safe.<\/em><\/p>\n

What are the origins of the virus?<\/h2>\n

Ebola is an old and deadly disease that was discovered in 1976<\/a> near the Ebola river in northern DRC. The virus was named after the river. It was discovered by scientists<\/a> including Jean-Jacques Muyembe \u2013 a Congolese microbiologist and general director of the DRC Institut National pour la Recherche Biomedicale<\/a> \u2013 and researchers from the Institute of Tropical Medicine, including Stefaan Pattyn, Guido van der Groen and Peter Piot. <\/p>\n

Professor Muyembe was called to the village of Yambuku in northern Zaire (now DRC) where a mysterious illness had broken out. He took a sample and sent it to<\/a> the Institute of Tropical Medicine laboratory in Belgium, where the virus was isolated.<\/p>\n

Since then, there have been five identified<\/a> Ebola virus strains, four of which are known to cause disease in humans: Ebola virus (Zaire ebolavirus); Sudan virus (Sudan ebolavirus); Ta\u00ef Forest virus (Ta\u00ef Forest ebolavirus, formerly C\u00f4te d’Ivoire ebolavirus); and Bundibugyo virus (Bundibugyo ebolavirus). <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a zoonotic disease (animal-borne) though the natural reservoir host of Ebola virus remains unknown. However, bats are the most likely<\/a> reservoir.<\/p>\n

What are the symptoms of Ebola?<\/h2>\n

While the signs and symptoms may appear between 2 and 21 days after contact with the virus, they usually appear between 8 and 10 days. <\/p>\n

They are quite similar to many tropical diseases, especially malaria and typhoid fever, with which they share symptoms such as:<\/p>\n