Guinea has just ordered a ban on eating bats, which are considered a delicacy, for fear that the fruit eating bat is the natural reservoir for the Ebola virus, which has caused a sudden epidemic that has already killed 62 and is spreading to neighboring African states.
Because they are so sought after, the bats are shared in communal meals, and the capture, and handling of the bat during the cooking process is believed to be the reason for the recent outbreak. In some cases, the bats are let dry over fire, a cooking practice that does not destroy the virus.
There is no vaccine or treatment for Ebola and it is highly contageous. The mortality rate for Ebola can reach 90% in infected patients.
Because the disease causes diarrhoea and vomiting, it can be easily spread when other people care for the infected person. All bodily fluids, blood and open wounds are infectious.
A few cases or Ebola are suspected in Liberia and Sierra Leone, which share borders with Guinea.
Guinea is not usually a place where researchers have tracked Ebola outbreaks in the past. It is usually the Congo or other countries deep in the heart of Africa that have experienced outbreaks. However, there have been outbreaks in both the Congo and Uganda just recently.
The aid organization Medicines Sans Frontieres has already mobilized 33 metric tons of medication to the area, in an attempt to stem the spread of the disease and to set up triage and medical quarters in case the epidemic does widen. Quarantine sites have been put up in Southern Guinea. The WHO is also coordinating efforts and organizing information packets and going on the radio to inform the public on how to avoid becoming infected.
Although at first suspected to be Marburg, a much more virulent and deadly virus, the Ebola epidemic took everyone by surprise in Guinea. In neighboring Sierra Leone, health authorities have still not confirmed that the few suspected cases they have are actually Ebola, altough at least in one case, the person who died was part of a family that was stricken by Ebola in neighboring Guinea.
Five more people have been reported dead in Liberia but their cases have not been confirmed as being Ebola infections yet. Those people had come to Liberia from Guinea to seek medical treatment when they fell ill.
What is worrisome is the finding that this particular Ebola epidemic in Guinea is of the Zaire Strain, which is the most lethal among known Ebola strains, raising the highest level of concern at the Pasteur Institute in Paris that has confirmed its type and in the aid organizations now mobilized in Guinea.
The Zaire strain in this case is believed to have been passed directly from bats, since Ebola is a zoonotic virus, and the only way it crosses the animal barrier is when man interacts with the animals or eats it and comes in contact with the virus. Bats are carriers of many extremely deadly virusus, but they are healthy carriers so that they do not display symptoms, leading people to think they might be safe to eat.
In the meantime, the number of suspected cases is rising. As of Monday, the total number was up to 86 cases.
An information campaign has been launched that sends SMS messages to inform the public on how to avoid becoming infected.
One case of Ebola connected to the Guinea outbreak, was suspected to have been detected in Canada, when a man had traveled from Guinea to Canada this week. But Canadian authorities have said that the illness was not Ebola.
Guinea authorities insist that the epidemic has been contained.
For now, public funerals have also been banned to avoid people touching the infectious corpse.
Source: Theglobeand mail/bbc: 3.27.14
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