A patient prepares to have blood drawn for a test at General Referral Hospital of Mongbwalu (Image: Getty)
More than 130 people are believed to have died following an Ebola outbreak in Africa. Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have reported nearly 600 cases and 139 deaths thought to be connected to the virus. Cases have also emerged in neighbouring Uganda, prompting the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare it a “public health emergency of international concern”, although the organisation has stated that the risk of global transmission remains low.
An A&E doctor has now outlined why the virus warrants serious attention. Dr Ahmed, who boasts more than 560,000 followers on TikTok, where he describes himself as the “healthcare Gordon Ramsay”, detailed the potential severity of the outbreak.
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Opening the clip, he stated the virus was “not a laughing matter”. “The WHO has declared this a cause for international concern, but not – not – a pandemic-level concern,” he said.
“The Ebola virus spreads from faeces, vomiting, bodily fluid, semen, sweating, all that kind of stuff, through bodily contact and surface contact with stuff that is contaminated with those fluids. Once it’s inside your body it causes viral haemorrhagic fever.”
“First it attacks a part of the immunity that would normally attack the virus itself, completely kills it. Now that it has suppressed it, it causes an extreme overreaction of your immunity inside your body, basically causing viral sepsis, which then results in DIC, Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation.”
He described DIC as: “Little clots, going everywhere in your body, causing loads of mini strokes and depleting your clotting factors, your platelets and everything else. You can no longer form clots, you start bleeding from everywhere – gums, eyes, nose, bum, pee, everything. And finally, this extreme and very painful bleeding episode causes death. And DIC has a very low, less than 10 per cent survival rate.”
Concluding, he said: “Just like hantavirus, there is no vaccine, there’s no real treatment other than wipes and prayers, that’s it, which is what all of us should be doing for the people of Congo and Uganda where this outbreak is mainly focussed.”
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is set to contribute £20 million towards global efforts to contain the virus through backing for frontline health workers, enhanced infection control measures, and disease surveillance, reports the Mirror. Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said: “It is vital we act now to save lives – outbreaks like Ebola do not stop at borders, and neither can we.”
Ms Cooper is expected to chair a meeting alongside new health secretary James Murray on Thursday to co-ordinate the UK’s response, including efforts to safeguard British nationals abroad. She added: “This outbreak is a stark reminder that global health threats require a global response. The UK is working hand-in-hand with partners – boosting much-needed funding but also sharing our technical expertise to contain the outbreak, protect our security and support those most at risk.”
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has activated its “returning workers scheme” to keep track of those travelling from the UK to the affected region for work, and is assessing the entry routes used by travellers coming into the UK to ensure information regarding Ebola symptoms is readily accessible to those who require it.
Dr Mike Reynolds, incident director at the UKHSA, said the current outbreak was “serious” but posed a “low” risk to the UK population. He said: “UKHSA continues to monitor and assess the situation closely and the NHS has safe procedures in place for any such cases and specialist centres where they can be looked after.”
What is Ebola?
Ebola is a rare, highly contagious, and often fatal disease, generally transmitted via bodily fluids.
- a high temperature
- extreme tiredness
- vomiting
- diarrhoea
- muscle pain
- bleeding
Outbreaks of the disease appear periodically across Africa, with the most devastating occurring in West Africa between 2014 and 2016, claiming more than 11,000 lives. That particular outbreak also saw three British nationals – two nurses and an aid worker – contract the virus. All three made full recoveries, and to date there have been no recorded cases of human-to-human transmission in the UK.
