Ebola virus disease - Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

What are the main symptoms of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)?
How is EVD transmitted among humans and from animals to humans?
What happens inside the body when the Ebola virus infects it?
How is EVD diagnosed and what is the gold standard for its diagnosis?
What treatments are available for EVD and how effective are they?
How can EVD be prevented and what strategies are currently being used?
What are the potential long-term effects for survivors of EVD?
What other diseases present with similar symptoms to EVD and could potentially be mistaken for it?
Why is EVD predominantly found in Africa and what are the challenges in controlling its outbreaks?
How does the Ebola virus persist in the body fluids of survivors?
Important highlights:

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a severe and often deadly illness caused by the Ebola virus, with a high mortality rate that can reach up to 90% in severe outbreaks.
Symptoms of EVD usually appear 8-10 days after exposure to the virus and include sudden onset of fever, fatigue, muscle pain, followed by vomiting, diarrhea, and in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.
EVD is transmitted through direct contact with body fluids of a person who's sick with or has died from EVD, or from contact with infected animals like bats or primates.
The Ebola virus takes over dendritic cells in the body, replicates, and spreads, causing widespread inflammation and tissue damage.
EVD is diagnosed primarily through RT-PCR testing on blood samples to detect the virus's RNA.
While there is no cure for EVD, supportive care including rehydration and a treatment called Inmazeb, approved for Zaire ebolavirus, can reduce the mortality rate to 33%.
Prevention strategies for EVD include avoiding contact with infected individuals and animals, good hand hygiene, safe sexual practices, and use of the rVSV-ZEBOV-GP vaccine in at-risk populations.
Survivors of EVD may experience post-Ebola syndrome with symptoms like joint pain and vision problems.
Diseases with similar symptoms to EVD include malaria, typhoid fever, severe sepsis, leptospirosis, and other viral hemorrhagic fevers like Marburg virus disease.
The Ebola virus is named after the Ebola River, near the village where it first appeared in DR Congo. Most EVD cases occur in Africa.
Ebola can persist in certain body fluids, like semen, of survivors for an extended period, potentially leading to new infections.

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