Ebola’s initial outbreak in 2014 has left a deep scar on the DRC, ravaging the land and killing thousands.
Since the huge 2014 outbreak, smaller Ebola resurgences have persisted.
Authorities in DRC and Sierra Leone have been praised for their containment of the disease, preventing it from spreading across the rest of the world.
Despite efforts, anyone who contracts the disease will experience serious symptoms, and Ebola has a high death rate.
What are the effects of Ebola?
Ebola can be an extremely dangerous disease if contracted, and is possible to spread from person to person.
This kind of exposure is only possible with long exposure to sweat and other bodily fluids.
Ebola’s mortality rate is about 50 percent and a universal vaccine is yet to be created.
In order to progress to pandemic proportions, the disease would effectively need to evolve, giving up its high mortality rate for quick spreading.
Ebola symptoms are similar to a dangerous case of the flu, but far more severe.
The symptoms are:
-Fever
-Severe headache
-Muscle pain
-Weakness
-Fatigue
-Diarrhea
-Vomiting
-Abdominal (stomach) pain
-Unexplained hemorrhage (bleeding or bruising)
Ebola is a quick moving disease, usually taking about a week to start showing symptoms, and killing quickly.
People will usually die in a two-week period, from loss of blood and organ failure.
The disease also remains in the body in trace amounts for up to 10 years and can be sexually transmitted.
With no treatment or vaccine available, the main focus for those unlucky enough to contract Ebola is keeping the body functioning.
People who are affected by the disease are usually put in an induced coma, with life support helping to run organs while the body fights the infection.
Ebola survivors are left with long-term immunity which has been aiding developing treatments.
Before the full outbreak in 2014, an earlier event left a survivor of the 1995 Kikwit Ebola virus with immunity for 10 years.
Using these antibodies, researchers have been able to develop a treatment method which helps the body tackle the infection.
Doctor Rick Sacra, an American aid worker stricken with the disease was given the blood plasma of a fellow worker Doctor Kent Brantly, a survivor of the disease.
Doctors at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta believe that this helped kick-start his immune system, and Dr Sacra made a full recovery.