TRANSMISSION OF EBOLA VIRUS ON ANIMAL AND HUMANS TRANSMISSION OF EBOLA VIRUS ON ANIMAL AND HUMANS

Transboundary animal disease outbreaks can be attributed to increasing globalization due to better sea, land and air transport of people, animals and goods; normadism, transhumance and movement of refugees and their animals away from wars and civil disturbances. Outbreaks are also attributed to changes in livestock production systems due to intensification and commercialization of livestock farming leading to the spread of livestock farming into new ecosystems such as tropical rain forests placing human communities and their farm animals into close contact with a completely new range of infectious diseases which may have previously only circulated in wild life reservoirs and may be completely unknown. Global warming and the decline in government veterinary services and other infrastructures are also factors that contribute to the increased outbreaks of transboundary animal diseases (Chris et al 1999).According to World Health Organization (WHO) 2014, the Ebola virus outbreak was first recorded in Zaire (The Democratic Republic of Congo of Central Africa) in the year 1976. Outbreaks of Ebola virus disease with the exception of the Reston Ebola virus have mainly been restricted to Africa and its recent outbreak is classified as the largest ever in nearly four decades of history of the disease in terms of numbers of cases and deaths. The virus is highly virulent and contagious often consuming the population but government and individuals’ quick response to quarantine areas may help to contain an outbreak (WHO, 2014).TABLE 1: SHOWING SOME EMERGING/REEMERGING ZOONOTIC TRANSBOUNDARY ANIMAL DISEASES (NCEZID, 2014)DISEASES INFORMATION Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-Cov) It is caused by Novel Corona Viruses. First identified in April 2012 and has since been seen in 9 countries- France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom with all cases having some connection with the Middle East either directly or indirectly. Basic information such as the natural host, route of entry and mechanism of transmission remains unknown and about half of the human cases resulted in deaths. Nipah virus encephalitis Emerged from bats and caused epizootic in herds of intensively bred pigs which then served as animal reservoir from which the virus was transferred to humans. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Caused by Corona viruses. Emerged from bats and spread into human population through person to person transmission then human movement. Influenzaa)   H5NI Virusb)   H791 Virusc)   H6N1 VirusTransmitted from wild birds to domestic poultry then humans.First reported in poultry in China in 2013. Human infection occurs after exposure to infected poultry or contaminated environments. 137 cases with 45 deaths have been reported. No cases outside China have been reported.Commonly isolated from wild and domestic avian species with no human cases previously reported until May 2013 when the virus was isolated from a symptomatic 20-year old woman.

• OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this study are therefore:

1. To understand the nature etiology of the diseases and how it is manifested in both man and susceptible animals.
2. To review the various implications of the emerging/reemerging Ebola virus on livestock and human population.
3. To assess the possible ways by which the transboundary animal disease (Ebola) can be controlled.