Ebola: separating fact

from fiction

Dr Siouxsie Wiles

Senior LecturerDept. Molecular Medicine & Pathology

University of Auckland

@SiouxsieWwww.sciblogs.co.nz/infectious-thoughts

What is Ebola?

https://engtechmag.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ebola-infographic.jpg

Image: FA Murphy CDC

What are the symptoms?

Incubation period

References: Leroy et al (2011) Clin Microbiol Infect. 17(7):964-76. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-0691.2011.03535.x.Towner et al. (2008) PLoS Pathog 4(11): e1000212. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1000212Image credit: http://www.vidiani.com/?p=10953

5 ‘types’ of Ebola

How is Ebola spread?

http://www.euronews.com/2014/08/14/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-ebola-virus/

Why bats?

Why bats?2147 bats belonging to at least nine species sampled between 2003 and 2008 in

three regions of Gabon and in the Ebola epidemic region of north Congo

Reference: Pourrut et al (2009). BMC Infect Dis. 9:159. doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-9-159.

Why bats?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao0dqJvH4a0

How contagious is Ebola?

Airborne?

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/infections-spread-by-air-or-droplets.pdf

“But those experiments…..”

Droplet spread

http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/121115/srep00811/full/srep00811.html

Days post infection

No overt clinical disease….

Six Four-week old piglets oronasally inoculated

Had to be euthanised….

Days post exposure

Macaques housed in individual cages inside the pig pen

Reston in pigs

How to tell if you have Ebola

Ebola in west Africa

http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1404505

Ebola in west Africa

How did the outbreak start?

http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1404505

Where has the outbreak spread to?

How many cases to date?

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/case-counts.html

Ebola deaths in west Africa

http://ebolacount.com/#death-count

New case in Mali

Reference: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/24-october-2014/en/

Image credit: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/africa/mali/

How many doctors?

http://www.vox.com/2014/10/24/7059743/why-is-ebola-virus-outbreak-american-africa-nina-pham

Gomes MFC et al (2014). PLOS Currents Outbreaks. doi: 10.1371/currents.outbreaks.cd818f63d40e24aef769dda7df9e0da5.

Will it spread to NZ? Unlikely!

http://news.softpedia.com/news/World-Health-Organization-OKs-Ebola-Drug-Trials-457419.shtml

Experimental treatments/vaccines

‘Pharming’ - ZMapp

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/guinea/qa-experimental-treatments.html

Image credits: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Monoclonals.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nicoatiana_benthamiana_plant.jpg

ZMapp

Homeopathy petition

My response!

http://bit.ly/1yP9uy4

Homeopathy in Liberia

eRemedy?!

http://www.plosntds.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pntd.0003056

Further reading!