No abstract

Ebola hemorrhagic disease is a severe, an acute, often fatal disease in humans and non-humans which is caused by infection with a virus of family: Filoviridae, genus: Ebola virus. The incubation period of ebola virus disease (EVD) varies from 2-21 days, with an observed average of 8 to 10 days by following introduction of Ebola virus in the human population through animal-to-human transmission, person-to-person transmission by direct contact body fluids/secretions of infected persons. The most common symptoms include sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and at advanced stage both internal and external bleeding. The virus is transmitted by contact with body fluids of infected humans or an animal is primarily responsible for the virus outbreak. Fruit bats are considered as the natural reservoirs of the virus. The most general assays used for antibody detection are direct IgG and IgM ELISAs and IgM capture ELISA. An IgM or rising IgG titer (four-fold) contributes to strong presumptive diagnosis. Currently neither a licensed vaccine nor an approved treatment is available for human use. In this review, the Ebola virus: life cycle and pathogenicity in humans, diagnosis, pharmacotherapy and their prevention is summarized.

Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild small ruminants causing high morbidity and mortality (up to 100%) and thus, has serious socioeconomic implications. In Pakistan, estimated losses due to PPR during the year 2012-13 were worth Pakistan Rs. 31.51 billion. Close contact between infected and susceptible animal is an important route of transmission of PPR. Therefore, carrier animals play an important role in unnoticed transmission of the disease. Limited information is available about the persistence of PPR virus in goats. Hence, the objective of the study was to investigate the persistence of PPR virus (PPRV) in goats recovered from PPR. A suspected PPR outbreak in sub-urban area of Lahore district of the Punjab Province in Pakistan was investigated. The outbreak was confirmed as PPR after analyzing appropriate samples (nasal/ocular swabs, fecal and tissue samples) collected from the infected animals. A longitudinal study was conducted over a period of 16 weeks to ascertain the persistence of PPRV in the fecal samples of recovered goats (n=96) collected at 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks after the outbreak. Samples were analyzed using RT-PCR. Of the 96 fecal samples, 46, 37, 29 and 7 goats remained positive for PPRV genome at 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks after recovery, respectively. The results revealed the detection of PPRV genome in goats at 16 weeks after recovery. Therefore, it can be concluded that PPR disease has a carrier potential and goats recovered from PPR infection may act as source of carrier animals.