EBOLA VIRUS - Ebola Virus Outbreak 2014: Probably Started with 2-Year-Old from Guinea

By Natalie Mieles N.Mieles@hngn.com | Aug 11, 2014 12:10 PM EDT

The news keeps getting worse for the West African countries that are suffering from Ebola virus outbreaks. 

International health officials are still experiencing trouble in halting the spread of cases and now Ivory Coast 

turned away 400 refugees who recently fled to Liberia. (Photo : Ted Sherarts)

The Ebola outbreak that his killed 961 people and caused an international health emergency may have started with a 2-year-old, according to CNN.

The toddler from a village in Guinea is believed to be Patient Zero. The toddler suffered fever, black stool and vomiting eight months ago and after showing symptoms for four days, died on December 6, 2013, according to a report published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

But tragedy struck again three more times for the family, who lived in the village of Meliandou in Guéckédou. The child's mother suffered bleeding symptoms and died on December 13, followed by the similar symptoms and the death of the child's 3-year-old sister on December 29. Then its fourth victim was claimed: the toddler's grandmother on January 1.

The illness spread outside their village after several people attended the grandmother's funeral, CNN reported. The area in southern Guinea is close to the Sierra Leone and Liberia borders.

Funerals tend to bring people in close contact with the diseased person. Ebola is known to spread from person to person through contact with organs and bodily fluids like saliva, blood, urine and other secretions.

After two funeral attendees brought the virus back to their village, it spread to health care workers and other family members who took care of the infected people, according to CNN.

The report said, "A health care worker from Guéckédou with suspected disease, seems to have triggered the spread of the virus to Macenta, Nzérékoré and Kissidougou in February 2014."

Clusters of the disease popped up in these areas in early 2014, with patients suffering from fever, vomiting and severe diarrhea, according to the report.

The Ministry of Health in Guinea and Doctors Without Borders in Guinea were notified about the disease clusters in March. Health investigators arrived that same month and began tracing the disease by examining hospital documents and conducting interviews with families and villagers of the affected, CNN reported.

Scientists don't know how the toddler contracted the virus, which is spread from animals to humans through infected fluids or tissue, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The report was authored by dozens of international doctors and researchers from institutions in France, Germany, Guinea, WHO and Doctors Without Borders.

Source: http://www.hngn.com