This Daily Doodle is a collage of the pathogenesis and clinical presentation of Ebola Virus Disease.

As described on the Government of Canada Ebola Website Page [1]:

“Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a severe disease that causes hemorrhagic fever in humans and animals. Diseases that cause hemorrhagic fevers, such as Ebola, are often fatal as they affect the body’s vascular system (how blood moves through the body). This can lead to significant internal bleeding and organ failure.”

Ebola belongs to the family of viruses known as Filoviridae, which is derived from the Latin word “filum” meaning “thread-like”. It was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo [3].

The Ebola virus is transmitted through DIRECT contact with infected blood, body fluids or tissues. It can also spread through direct contact with infected animals as well as contaminated medical equipment, such as needles [1]. The virus enters the body through mucous membranes, breaks in the skin or parenterally. After entering the body, the virus infects and replicates readily within different cells, in particular macrophages and dendritic cells. In the doodle, macrophages are represented by the pac-man like drawings. They are a type of white blood cell that is involved in cellular debris and foreign substance clean-up. Dendritic cells have several outstreatched “arms” and they are responsible for communicating between innate and adaptive immune system. After the virus replicates, the infected cells break down, releasing large numbers of the new viruses into the extracellular fluid [2]. The virus continues to infect new cells, eventually leading to extensive tissue damage which triggers a systemic inflammatory response. This systemic inflammatory response “May play a role in inducing gastrointestinal dysfunction, as well as diffuse vascular leak and multiorgan failure that is seen later in the disease course” [2].

The Government of Canada’s Healthy Canadians Website states that “As long as precautions are taken, there is low risk of contracting EVD in a country where the disease is present”. There has been no cases of EVD in Canada [1].

References:

1. Government of Canada Website. “Ebola Virus Disease”. http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/diseases-conditions-maladies-affections/disease-maladie/ebola/index-eng.php
2. M. Bray and C. Chertow. “Epidemiology and pathogenesis of Ebola virus disease”. Uptodate. http://www.uptodate.com/contents/epidemiology-and-pathogenesis-of-ebola-virus-disease
3. Center of Disease Control and Prevention. “Ebola (Ebola Virus Disease)”. http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/about.html
4. “Ebola test negative on Kelowna, B.C., nurse Patrice Gordon”. CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ebola-test-negative-on-kelowna-b-c-nurse-patrice-gordon-1.2886866

Ebola Daily Doodle by Michiko Maruyama 2014