Random Analytica

“Our priority is to continue to care for the people infected with the Ebola virus,” Henry Gray, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Emergency Coordinator, Guinea (18 April 2014).

The latest outbreak of Ebola Zaire, which is ongoing, has now infected up to 230-persons and taken the lives of 142. Guinea has borne the brunt of the disease with 203 infections (129-deaths) and Liberia 27 infections (13-deaths). Previously reported cases in Mali and Sierra Leone have shown to be negative. These numbers are still likely to change.

The World Health Organisation has a comprehensive update issued on the 17 April 2014 (care of FluTrackers).

As part of a post-graduate program I am undertaking to build a five-minute Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) lesson utilising just four graphs and six-dot points. Here is the final chart! I’ll update the other three chart(s) to align the information as the next update becomes available:

New Chart – Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak (Guinea/Liberia 2014)

***** Please note that this infographic of the EVD was updated with public source information to 2345hrs 20 April 2014 (EST) *****

The most impacted area of this EVD outbreak is in the Guekedou Prefecture with the outbreak spreading over the border to neighbouring Liberia.

Notes: The map graphic was taken from public source data from Wikipedia (and amended).

Key Facts: (source: Fact Sheet 103, WHO, last updated March 2014)

• The Ebola virus causes Ebola virus disease (EVD; formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever) in humans;
• EVD outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%;
• EVD outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests;
• The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission;
• Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered to be the natural host of the Ebola virus;
• No specific treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals.

Acknowledgements:Data for this infographic was sourced from official reports from the World Health Organisation. I have also utilised resources from the CDC, CIDRAP, H5N1, Virology Down Under and National Geographic.