Suspicion of Ebola in Brazil: is the risk of contagion of the disease low?

A 37-year-old man is hospitalized in São Paulo with suspected Ebola virus disease. He is in isolation at the Emílio Ribas Institute of Infectious Diseases and is undergoing tests.

According to the state's State Department of Health, the patient was in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) recently and developed a fever, one of the symptoms of the disease caused by the virus.

The country is facing an Ebola epidemic, with around 170 deaths recorded. Uganda, a country that borders the Democratic Republic of Congo, has already recorded three cases.

The Ebola virus is considered highly transmissible and occurs after contact with secretions from someone infected. But, compared to Covid-19, for example, in which the infection occurs through the air, the risk of contagion is lower.

Another thing that makes the risk of transmission lower is that, with Ebola, infection usually only occurs when the patient already has symptoms, which makes contact tracing and disease control easier.

"The outbreak is worrying, but the risk of a pandemic like Covid is small. This time, the outbreak took a long time to be detected because the United Nations suffered a dismantling of program resources in Africa", said infectious disease doctor Mirian Dal Ben, from Hospital Sírio-Libanês, in a recent interview with CNN Brasil. "When we compare the current outbreak with previous ones, the number of cases is increasing significantly."

Symptoms, which appear between two and 21 days after infection, include high fever, headache, body aches, vomiting and diarrhea. In more serious cases, the patient may progress to hemorrhagic fever, with a risk of bleeding.

One of the ways to combat the disease is to send water and hospital and sanitary materials. "If public health measures are installed and borders are monitored, if there is tracking, it facilitates control of the disease."

Ebola: what it is, symptoms and treatment

Source: CNN