Meseko Clement Adebajo, Egbetade Adeniyi Olugbenga, Fagbo Shamsudeen
Regional Center for Animal Influenza and Trans boundary Animal Diseases, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Nigeria.
College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.
Pan Afr Med J. 2015 May 4;21:6. doi: 10.11604/pamj.2015.21.6.6587. eCollection 2015.
The 2013-2015 Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in West Africa had similar nuances with the 1976 outbreaks in Central Africa; both were caused by the Zaire Ebola Virus strain and originated from rural forested communities. The definitive reservoir host of Ebola virus still remains unknown till date. However, from ecological perspective, it is known that the virus first emerged from forest ecotypes interfacing with human activities. As at March 2015, the outbreak has claimed over 9000 lives, which is unprecedented. Though it remains unproved, the primary sources of infection for past and present outbreaks are forest dwelling, human-hunted fauna. Understanding the ecological factors at play in these forest ecotypes where wild fauna interface with human and causing pathogen spill over is important. A broad based One Health approach incorporating these ecological concepts in the control of Ebola Virus Disease can effectively ameliorate or forestall infection now and in the future.
2013 - 2015年西非埃博拉病毒病疫情与1976年中非疫情有相似之处；两者均由扎伊尔埃博拉病毒毒株引起，且都起源于农村森林社区。埃博拉病毒的最终宿主至今仍不明。然而，从生态学角度来看，已知该病毒最初源自与人类活动交汇的森林生态类型。截至2015年3月，此次疫情已造成9000多人死亡，这是前所未有的。尽管尚未得到证实，但过去和现在疫情的主要感染源是栖息在森林中的、被人类猎杀的动物。了解这些野生动物与人类交汇并导致病原体外溢的森林生态类型中起作用的生态因素很重要。在控制埃博拉病毒病方面纳入这些生态概念的广泛的“同一健康”方法可以有效改善或预防现在及未来的感染。
