Ebola is considered to be the most deadliest of all viruses. There are currently 5 known types of Ebola with the deadlist being Ebola-Zaire. Its first appearance was in 1976 in Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and the outbreak had a mortality rate of 89%! Ebola was first recorded by Dr. Ngoy Mushola in the town of Yambuku where the virus was at. Since then cases of Ebola have been emerging in places like Sudan and Reston and then dissappearing for a long time and then reappearing again. It is currently unknown what causes the outbreak of Ebola to keep coming back; But a few leads are pointing towards fruit bats. Scientists are also looking for a cure for Ebola just in case of bio-terrorism attacks that could use Ebola as a weapon.
II. Ebola Virus
The Ebola virus was first encountered in Yambuku, Zaire (Fig #1) in 1976. In 1976, 318 people were infected with Ebola Zaire. Of these 318 about 280 of them died. In 1995, also in Zaire, there was another outbreak with 315 cases and 256 deaths. The one in 1976 became the most deadliest outbreak of Ebola to date with a 89% mortality rate. It is believed that these outbreaks became so bad because the hospitals that the people went to to get treated at spread the virus because of other people being in the hospital. Also lack of sanintation and reuse of dirty syringes and needles that were used on Ebola patients were then used on other patients therefore spreading the virus. Also family members who buried their family members also had the chance of contracting the virus.
Fig #1: Pictured to the left is the location of Zaire (DRC) in AfricaThese are the five types of known Ebola viruses(Fig #2):
SEV: Sudan Ebola Virus- 1979
ZEV: Zaire Ebola Virus- 1976
CIEV: Cote d'Ivoire Ebola Virus- 1994
REV: Reston Ebola Virus- 1989
BEV: Bundibugyo Ebola Virus- 2007
Fig #2: Pictured to the left is EbolaSo far there have been 27 events where Ebola has appeared. Though most cases happen near or around Africa, there was one case in Reston in 1989. Scientists were looking at primates from the Philippines and the primates happened to have had Ebola. Luckily the Ebola that was later called Ebola Reston had no effect on humans. Also in 1992 in Sienna, Italy they also had a Ebola scare from infected primates that also came from the same place in the Philippines. In 1994 and 1997, 3 more outbreaks occured in Gabon. The mortality rates ranged from 60%-74%. All 3 of these outbreaks were the same Ebola that occured in Zaire instead of being a completely different type of Ebola. So far Ebola has not caused an epidemic in America but those who travel to Africa or work with primates that may have Ebola are at risk(Fig#3).
Fig#3: Picture above is the amounts of cases/deaths involved with Ebola
As seen above Ebola is very deadly. But what would you do if you became infected? And how would you cure it? First of all the signs of being infected with Ebola are:
Day 3-4: Signs of fever, pharyngitis, and constitutional signs
Day 5: A maculopapular rash may appear
Day 6-8: Possible development of expressionless facies, bleeding from puncture sites and mucous membranes, myocarditis, and pulmonary edema.
The incubation period is about 3-8 days, but there have been other times when it is 19-21 days. Those infected that are terminally ill often die of tachypneic, hypotensive, anuric, and are in a coma. There are two different types of Ebola exposure, they are:
Primary: Primary is when they get the virus strait from the source, such as fruit bats which are considered to carry Ebola and spread the virus.
Secondary: Secondary is when they get it from human-human or primate-human. Also people who are in contact by treating/burying a person with Ebola also have a chance of getting it.
In this video it shows how scientist are trying to create a cure by using the Marburg virus (cousin of the Ebola virus) to cure victims:
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/sciencentral/2635-a-cure-for-ebola-video.htm
IV. Impact on the world
The Ebola virus is a very terrifying virus, due to what it does to a person that gets it. One book in particular, "The Hot Zone", talks about some Ebola outbreaks along with telling the reader the symptoms and what is happening to the person who has the virus. In the book it says how the guts inside of a person turns into a liquid form. Now if this were to be spread everywhere it would be very bad.
Many people have this same concern that if the virus could be harnessed, it could be used as a bio-terroism weapon. And due to it also being the most deadliest virus this wouldn't be good. Ebola is classified as a viral hemorrhagic fever which is made up of 4 families. These families are Arenaviridae, Bunyaviridae, Flaviviridae, and Filoviridae. Ebola is in the Filoviridae family. All of these families have the ability to be spread by aerosols, which make these virus's possible bio-terrorism weapons.
V. Journal Article
This journal article by Pierre E. Rollin talks about his trip looking for information about Ebola. In the begining of the article it talks about experiments that were done with Ebola and what the results of each of the tests were. Later on in the article it explains the symptoms of Ebola/what it does to a person and how long it takes till a person begins to get symptoms. He also travels to Kikwit to experience the Ebola victims himself. While he was there he saw people in hospitals that were abandoned by their families and with only three nurses attending all the patients with minimal supplies and protective gear. After seeing this they began to get new nurses and gear to treat all the victims. After they left Kikwit, he begins to go into detail about previous Ebola outbreaks such as the Ebola outbreak in Zaire in 1995. After this trip he came up with the conclusion that the consumption of primate meat may be a cause of the Ebola virus along with figuring out the life cycles of Ebola.
http://www.questiaschool.com/read/5001398462?title=On%20the%20Path%20of%20a%20Pathogen
VI. References
Fig#1:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://library.thinkquest.org/16645/media/maps/zaire.gif&imgrefurl=http://library.thinkquest.org/16645/national_parks/zaire.shtml&usg=__KUWGqBuSGQ29xecNQQ33WpzBp-A=&h=253&w=234&sz=3&hl=en&start=15&sig2=MpGrBucOBGUOpnUqsNq-sQ&zoom=1&tbnid=q6SUSTwWnkWcvM:&tbnh=158&tbnw=146&ei=jTy2TPakLMP48AbS5NDhAQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3DZaire%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1120%26bih%3D641%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=276&oei=hzy2TLWUDIL58Aac34TUAQ&esq=2&page=2&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:15&tx=94&ty=67
Fig#2:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/7/2010/05/ebola_virus_em.jpg&imgrefurl=http://gawker.com/5550316/scientists-cure-ebola-curse-movies-to-find-new-virus&usg=__Gz3knyL7Feu7GJhc8l-5nWXsMMQ=&h=1413&w=1000&sz=351&hl=en&start=105&sig2=PbSl7Wfjxs9gG1prIb1OiA&zoom=1&tbnid=vB6mZHzcg1Dk9M:&tbnh=164&tbnw=154&ei=KTm2TKWWCMOC8gbe85HUAQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Debola%2Bvirus%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1120%26bih%3D641%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C3449&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=905&vpy=279&dur=1476&hovh=267&hovw=189&tx=93&ty=191&oei=dzi2TPbRJcP88AbNh7XNAQ&esq=4&page=8&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:105&biw=1120&bih=641
Fig#3:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.chemistrydaily.com/chemistry/upload/9/9d/Ebola-zaire_chart.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.chemistrydaily.com/chemistry/Ebola&usg=__2yzGB445IzV9kS0B-tfstxdekDo=&h=379&w=535&sz=26&hl=en&start=0&sig2=CptFYOc8162GxdYjVtVGVg&zoom=1&tbnid=-cZ3zvpPsCbFYM:&tbnh=157&tbnw=222&ei=UD22TKDULML-8AaQm6jGAQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3DEbola%2Bdeath%2Bcharts%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26biw%3D1120%26bih%3D641%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=150&vpy=89&dur=728&hovh=189&hovw=267&tx=209&ty=97&oei=UD22TKDULML-8AaQm6jGAQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=14&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0
Journal Article:
Rollin, Pierre E. (1996) Ebola virus. On the Path of a Pathogen, 17+
Website:
King, John W. (2010). Ebola Virus. eMedicine Infectious diseases. Retreived October 7,
2010, from http://emedicine.medscape.com/articule/216288-overview
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