Ebola virus: the world is in a fever

The Ebola virus was discovered in the mid-1970s. The outbreak of fever in 2014 was the largest in its history. More than 1950 cases of infection have been registered, of which more than 1060 have become fatal. The disease is rampant in four West African countries: Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Liberia was the hardest hit, with 670 cases and 355 deaths.

(Total 11 photos)

1. Health workers affiliated with Doctors Without Borders prepare to distribute food to patients at the Ebola Treatment Center in Kailahun on July 20, 2014. In the clinic, patients are assigned an isolated room. Sierra Leone has now recorded 783 Ebola cases, more than during the February outbreak in neighboring Guinea. Photo: Tommy Trenchard

Dr. Kent Brantley worked in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, where he helped care for the sick with ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa). On August 3, Brantley, who contracted Ebola, was flown to the United States. He became the first person with this virus in the United States.

2. Kent Brantley prepares chlorinated water for disinfection at the ELWA hospital in Monrovia. Photo: Reuters Samaritan's Purse / Handout via Reuters

Several Ebola vaccines are currently being developed. But none is at the licensing stage. The difficulties are partly due to human trials. The virus is transmitted through contact with the blood, saliva and other fluids and secretions of an infected person. There is a Zairian subtype of the virus that can be transmitted through the air. Cases of infection from infected monkeys have been reported.

3. Kent Brantley in a protective suit at the ELWA hospital in Monrovia. Photo: Reuters Samaritan's Purse / Handout via Reuters

Symptoms of fever: general weakness, a sharp increase in temperature, headache, sore throat. The disease is accompanied by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, often internal and external bleeding.

4. This aeromedical biosecurity system was installed on the plane that brought Kent Brantley to the US. Photo: Reuters CDC / Handout via Reuters

Kent Brantley was admitted to a clinic at Emory University in Georgia. Here he is in a special isolated room. Brantley's condition has improved, but doctors cannot guarantee his recovery.

5. Photo: Reuters Jack Kearse/Emory University/Handout via Reuters

6. Image of the Ebola virus obtained using transmission electron microscopy. Photo: Reuters Frederick Murhy / CDC / Handout via Reuters

7. The representative of the organization Samaritan's Purse tells the people of Monrovia about the Ebola virus. The hospital for fever victims in the Liberian capital, where patients are kept in isolation, is running out of beds, and health workers have to care for nearly 20 patients at home. Photo: Reuters Samaritan's Purse / Handout via Reuters

8. A health worker with a disinfectant spray near a public hospital in Kenema, Sierra Leone, on July 10, 2014. Photo: Tommy Trenchard

9. Health workers take blood from a patient suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus, Kenema, July 10, 2014. Photo: Tommy Trenchard

10. Samaritan's Purse health workers spray disinfectant on the body of an Ebola victim in Foya, Liberia. Photo: Reuters Samaritan's Purse / Handout via Reuters

11. Girls look at a UNICEF Ebola prevention poster in Voinjama, Liberia, April 2014. Photo: Reuters Ahmed Jallanzo / UNICEF / Handout via Reuters