Guinea declared free from Ebola after 2,500 deaths by WHO

Guinea has been declared Ebola free after more than 2,500 people died from the virus in the West African nation.

A country is declared Ebola free 42 days after the recovery or death of the final patient and if there are no new infections.

Liberia the only country still counting down for an end to the ruinous epidemic.

Sierra Leone officially ended its epidemic in November.

People in the Guinea capital, Conakry, greeted the declaration by authorities and the UN World Health Organization with mixed emotions given the huge number of deaths, and the damage the virus did to the economy and the country’s health and education sectors.

They will also pay tribute to the 115 health workers who died fighting Ebola and eight members of an Ebola awareness team who were killed by hostile locals in Womey, in the country’s forested southeast.

There were more than 3,800 Ebola cases in Guinea out of the more than 28,600 cases during the epidemic.

A total of about 11,300 people died, according to WHO figures.

Ebola has been combated by a classic health strategy of identifying people with the virus, containing those who were in close proximity to them, and ensuring that health workers rigorously follow a strict protocol on wearing protective clothing to prevent direct contact with the patient.

What is Ebola?

Ebola is a viral hemorrhagic fever and one of the deadliest diseases known to humanity.

The Ebola virus disease is a viral hemorrhagic fever that was first discovered in Africa in the 1970s.

The current outbreak in West Africa, with Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone worst hit, is the largest in history. It has sickened more than 5,300 people and killed more than 2,600.

With a death rate of up to 90 percent, Ebola is described as “one of the world’s deadliest diseases” by Doctors.

Symptoms:

Many of those infected with the virus quickly get flu-like symptoms such as fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.

The symptoms are non-specific, making the disease difficult to diagnose. The symptoms can appear from two to 21 days after exposure.

Treatment:

There is no vaccine or cure available for the disease.

The most serious cases require intensive care and a drip to combat dehydration.

How does it spreads?

Ebola can be caught from both humans and animals.

It spreads by direct contact with blood, body fluids or tissues of the infected.

Funeral rituals in which relatives and friends touch the body of the dead play an important role in transmission, as does handling dead or living animals carrying the virus.

In Africa, particular species of fruit bats are considered possible natural hosts for Ebola virus.

Infected bats are thought to transmit the disease to humans, or indirectly through other animals which are hunted for their meat.

Ebola first appeared in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks, in Sudan and in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The outbreak was near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name.

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