Ebola Outbreak 2021: 4 People Returning to the US from West Africa Being Monitored for Ebola in Oregon

After returning to the US from a trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea, four people are being closely monitored by Oregon public health officials after suspicion of exposure to the Ebola virus.

Although West African countries are in the midst of an Ebola outbreak, public health officials believe that the four people under watch after returning to the US are at low risk for exposure.

What is the Ebola Virus Disease?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Ebola virus disease is a fatal disease that will have outbreaks from time to time, primarily occurring on the African continent.

EVD commonly affects people and non-human primates such as gorillas, monkeys, and chimpanzees. It is caused by a virus infection within the genus Ebolavirus.

Out of the roughly 6 viruses in the genus, only four are known to cause diseases in humans.

Symptoms such as fever, severe headaches, and muscular pain, weakness, gastrointestinal symptoms, and unexplained hemorrhaging commonly manifest after about 2-21 days after exposure to the virus averaging at 8-10 days.

(Photo: Photo by Edward Jenner from Pexels)

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Ebola Today

Although Ebola is rare, if left untreated, it can be fatal for patients.

According to Dr. Michael Ryan, World Health Organization emergencies chief, there are 18 active cases of Ebola to date in Guinea. Public health experts believe that recent cases of Ebola were sparked by a survivor of the devastation of the West Africa Ebola epidemic back in 2014.

Ryan adds that a small percentage of people become mediums of the virus but aren't infectious to others, except for specific circumstances.

The World Health Organization sent roughly 30,000 vaccines to Guinea with additional therapeutic support heading to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Ebola outbreak in 2014-2016 swept across West Africa, killing more than 11,000 patients. Ryan says that more studies are required to better understand the virus genus, adding that based on current genetic sequencing, the current outbreak is unlikely to be associated with an animal--which is almost the case for all previous epidemics of the Ebola virus.

He explains that the current outbreak is more likely to be caused by the persistence of the virus or latency in human infection, which would probably be the longest period that a virus persisted between outbreaks.

According to the CDC, the Democratic Republic of the Congo's ministry of health declared its 12th Ebola outbreak in February in the Biena Health Zone and North Kivu Province.

According to a recent news release, the CDC has required airlines to provide contact information beginning March 4 for all US-bound travelers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea in the last 21 days--the longest incubation period for the Ebola virus.

CDC also issued a Level 3 travel advisory for the said countries, discouraging nonessential travel to the area.