Ebola: A Personal Perspective as a
Short-term Clinician in Sierra Leone, West Africa
Vijay Aswani, MD, PhD, FACP
Grand Rounds: May 29, 2015
Notes and Handout
Link to Video of the presentation:
http://mediasite.mfldclin.edu/Mediasite/Catalog/Full/ccabc617b83848c8b0ceff43bf7e695d21/a719557fcd4e44459162ec5e59c5646f14/ccabc617b83848c8b0ceff43bf7e695d21
1. Personal account of the discovery of Ebola by Peter Piot can be found at:
http://news.sciencemag.org/africa/2014/08/part-one-virologists-tale-africas-first-encounter-ebola http://mediasite.mfldclin.edu/Mediasite/Catalog/Full/ccabc617b83848c8b0ceff43bf7e695d21/a719557fcd4e44459162ec5e59c5646f14/ccabc617b83848c8b0ceff43bf7e695d21
1. Personal account of the discovery of Ebola by Peter Piot can be found at:
2.
Link to
original paper describing 1976 Ebola outbreak: Report of an
International Commission (1978). Ebola
haemorrhagic fever in Zaire, 1976. Bull World Health Organ. 1978;
56(2): 271–293.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2395567/pdf/bullwho00439-0113.pdf
3. Article from NEJM about Ebola Virus Disease
among Children in West Africa.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1415318
4. Ebola Virus Disease Case Definitions (Source: WHO)
(http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/ebola/ebola-case-definition-contact-en.pdf) SUSPECTED CASE:
Any person, alive or dead, suffering or having suffered from a sudden onset of high fever and having
had contact with:
- a suspected, probable or confirmed Ebola case;
- a dead or sick animal (for Ebola)
OR
any person with sudden onset of high fever and at least three of the following symptoms:
• headaches • vomiting
• anorexia / loss of appetite • diarrhea
• lethargy • stomach pain
• aching muscles or joints • difficulty swallowing
• breathing difficulties • hiccup
OR
any person with inexplicable bleeding
OR
any sudden, inexplicable death.
Ebola case contacts:
Any person having been exposed to a suspect, probable or confirmed case of Ebola in at least one of the following ways:
· has slept in the same household with a case
· has had direct physical contact with the case (alive or dead) during the illness
· has had direct physical contact with the (dead) case at the funeral
· has touched his/her blood or body fluids during the illness
· has touched his/her clothes or linens
· has been breastfed by the patient (baby)
Contacts of dead or sick animals:
Any person having been exposure to a sick or dead animal in at least one of the following ways:
· has had direct physical contact with the animal
· has had direct contact with the animal’s blood or body fluids
· has carved up the animal
· has eaten raw bush-meat
Laboratory contacts:
· has had direct contact with specimens collected from suspected Ebola patients
· has had direct contact with specimens collected from suspected Ebola animal cases
