Resumo

MARRUFFO, Marco  e  GUEVARA, Milady. EBOLA: a risk for the population in a global world. Salus [online]. 2015, vol.19, n.2, pp.53-60. ISSN 1316-7138.

Ebola virus disease was first identified in  1976 in Nzara southern  Sudan,  and  in  northern  Yambuku  in  the  Democratic  Republic  of Congo  (DRC,  formerly  Zaire).  Since  then,  Ebola  epidemics  have been reported in other countries in Central Africa, in two different periods, with an approximate gap of fifteen years of silence. Recent outbreaks have been reported in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, that are generating global concern due to its spread by direct contact with a wide variety of bodily fluids from an infected person as blood or secretions (saliva, sweat, vomit) and objects (such as needles) contaminated with infectious secretions, which pose a risk to family and friends caring for sick people and especially the staff in health facilities, because generally they lack equipment or adequate biosecurity  measures  for  cleaning  and  disposing  instruments  for their protection. Currently, it is unknown how people become infected with the Ebola virus; there are measures for primary prevention, but there is no vaccine available. Due to the high case-fatality rates and possible spread and occurrence of cases in other continents, the aim of this review is aimed at describing the clinical and epidemiological characteristics  of  Ebola    in  order  to  update  the  knowledge  about this disease in both health workers and the general population and promote the adoption of measures to prevent and avoid its spread.

Palavras-chave : Ebola virus; hemorrhagic fever; filovirus.