Biological Facts---Distribution---History---Transmission---Symptoms---Treatment & Prevention---Future Challenges

Symptoms of Ebola Virus

The Ebola virus spreads through the bloodstream and is replicated in vital organs, including liver, kidneys, lymphatic system, ovaries, and testes. The central lesions appear to be those affecting the vascular endothelium and the platelets. The symptoms of Ebola virus generally surface about 4 to 16 days after infection.

Beginning symptoms are headaches, fevers, chills, muscle aches, and loss of appetite. When the disease progresses, the patients will experience diarrhoea, rash, sore throat, vomiting, abdominal pain, and chest pain. The patients have limited kidney and liver functions, and have internal and external bleeding. In fatal cases, the inability of blood to clot causes the capillaries to bleed into surrounding tissues, resulting in huge loss of intravenous volume, bleeding, shock, and acute respiratory disorder.

Ebola patients basically die of intractable shock, and they usually die approximately 8 to 17 days after infection. The Ebola virus is believed to not only destroy the cells it infects, but also suppress the immune system, as scientific evidence shows that the Ebola patients usually die without an effective immune response.

 

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