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| Year : 2014 | Volume
: 1
| Issue : 2 | Page : 53-57 |
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Ebola virus outbreak and its management: An overview
Shatavisa Mukherjee, Sukanta Sen
Department of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology, Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Correspondence Address:
Sukanta Sen
Department Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology, Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, 108, C. R. Avenue, Kolkata - 700 073, West Bengal
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/2225-6482.147656
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Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a severe, often fatal disease in humans and nonhuman primates (such as monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees). The current outbreak is in West Africa involving countries of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria (as on August 6, 2014). The infection is transmitted to humans through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other body fluids of infected nonhuman primates. Clinically, patient should be diagnosed based on signs and symptoms with history of travel from Ebola affected areas or exposure to EVD patients. All suspected patient should be investigated for IgM (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), antigen detection, and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction to confirm. Currently, no specific therapy is available that has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of EVD. In the absence of specific therapy, a number of modalities have been tried. General medical support is critical. Steriod therapy has no role. There is no role for antibiotics unless there is evidence of secondary bacterial infection. Nutrition is complicated by the patient's nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Good hydration is to be ensured with good amount of protein supplement. Experimental vaccines are under trial. |
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