Ebola virus disease in the light of epidemiological triad

Abstract

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is one of the most virulent pathogens among viral hemorrhagic fevers affecting economically deprived countries of the world with reported case fatality rates of up to 90% due to multiorgan failure and severe bleeding complications. The most recent outbreak of 2014 has set the alarm bell ringing across the globe for increased focus, funding, research, and development toward the control and management of this emerging viral communicable disease that has a potential pandemic threat. This manuscript review and update current knowledge with regard to epidemiology of EVD problem statement, historical perspective, agent, host, environment, reservoir of infection, routes of transmission, pathogenesis, clinical features, laboratory diagnosis, management, and control. The review was undertaken using the key words epidemiology, public health, outbreak control of Ebola virus, EVD, emerging disease, and/or pandemic disease through medical search engines and abstracting databases such as Pubmed, Google Scholar, and websites of international health agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).