Ebola Crisis 2014
The most widespread epidemic of the Ebola Virus in history is currently going on in the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Many other cases have been reported in other countries from people traveling from West Africa to those regions, but thankfully, so far all have been isolated and contained before the virus was able to spread.
Thousands have died from the current outbreak and millions more are at high risk as the fatality rate of those who contract the virus is currently over 70%. Governments and humanitarian organizations are struggling to contain it and treat the sick while symptoms are in the early stages – which is crucial, as the disease is highly deadly once it gets to later stages.
Hidaya Foundation is partnering with local organizations on the ground and will be providing medicines, food, and other necessary supplies to help with the containment efforts and treating the sick.
How Does Ebola Spread?
It is believed that bats are the reservoir hosts for Ebola virus, and it is spread to land animals from fruit and pulp that bats eat in trees and drop to the floor. The disease can spread to humans when these land animals, especially monkeys, are hunted and consumed by rural indigenous people of the area.
The current outbreak is believed to be originated from a remote village in Guinea in December of 2013, and was spread to other villages in the area from there. Prior to this, no cases of Ebola had ever been reported in West Africa – so the earliest cases were wrongly diagnosed as other diseases more common to those areas, allowing the highly contagious and fast spreading disease to spread for several months until it was recognized as Ebola.
For more information about Ebola, please click here.