A 41-year-old member asked:
what exactly is the ebola virus?
3 doctor answers
Dr. Larry Lutwick answered
49 years experience Infectious Disease
Bad: Ebola virus is a filovirus found primarily in central africa that causes a hemorrhagic fever that is frequently fatal. One strain called ebola-reston caused quite an outbreak in monkeys imported from the philippines in reston, virginia that did not cause disease in people. Spread by contact with blood and body fluids, an outbreak is currently occurring in uganda (july 2012).
Answered on Sep 28, 2016
3
3 thanks
Dr. Richard Bensinger answered
52 years experience Ophthalmology
Small virus: All viruses are defective organisms lacking the ability to self reproduce. Instead they invade a host cell, take over the duplicative machinery and make copies of themselves eventually bursting the cell and sending copies all over the host to do it over again. Ebola does this as well and apparently very successfully once it gets inside. It is also on the small side for a virus.
Answered on Nov 11, 2014
Dr. Heidi Fowler answered
25 years experience Psychiatry
Ebola Virus: Ebola has been found in West African Countries of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal since the start of the 2014 outbreak. According to CDC, incubation period is 2 to 21 days with average of 8 to 10 days. Early sx's: high fever, chills, sore throat, weakness, fatigue, malaise, headache, lack of appetite,low back pain & muscular /joint aching. Sx's may progress to nausea, vomiting,
Answered on Nov 11, 2014
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1 comment
Dr. Heidi Fowler commented
25 years experience Psychiatry
Provided original answer
abdominal pain, diarrhea (potentially bloody), marked weight loss, chest pain, coughing, hemorrhagic rash over the body, bruising, red + swollen eyes & bleeding /hemorrhaging from multiple sites (eyes, ears, nose, mouth & rectum), genital swelling, ^'ed skin pain sensation, coma, shock & disseminated intravascular coagulation. It is an RNA viral infection.
Oct 4, 2014
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A 40-year-old member asked:
Dr. Heidi Fowler answered
25 years experience Psychiatry
Ebola Virus: Ebola is a filovirus (Filoviridae). The genomic fossils of filoviruse family that impact mammals have likely existed tens of millions of years. Viruse ... Read More
A 17-year-old male asked:
Dr. Ankush Bansal answered
17 years experience Internal Medicine
No: But there was scare about an airborne ebola virus (that luckily didn't cause illness in human) outside washington, dc in the early 1990s. Read richar ... Read More
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2 comments
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A 17-year-old male asked:
Dr. Larry Lutwick answered
49 years experience Infectious Disease
Not likely: Transmission from person to person is not from casual contact.
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1 thank
A 44-year-old member asked:
Dr. Heidi Fowler answered
25 years experience Psychiatry
Not as of MAR 2015: See https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/ghana
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