Outbreak In the 1995 film 'Outbreak' directed by Wolfgang Petersen a deadly virus has appeared in different parts of the United States. A team combining of the Center for Disease Control and Army Medical Research Institute of Infection Diseases took the lead on the Motaba virus. Sam the Colonel of the institute took his team to a village in Africa where the disease had been located. The disease wiped most of the village out in a matter of two to three days and they found the possible host. Returning back to the United States Sam and his team came to the conclusion the disease is not airborne and cannot spread. The disease was created 27 years before but destroyed the Army decided to bomb the whole infected area.
Motaba virus Motaba virus or viral hemorrhagic fever which is a fever
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It was illegal shipped from Africa on a boat in September first by Jimbo Scott. The virus was found in Boston, San Jose, New Mexico, but killed the most in Cedar Creek. The mode of transmission was both direct and indirect. Africa strain was direct contact; Sam thought it was direct because when his team took off their masks nothing happened also the villages who did survive didn’t get infected (Petersen, 1995). We found out later there are two different types of virus strains due to the patient who was isolated in hospital getting the disease through the vents which made it airborne. The virus had to mutate in order to survive in another environment like Cedar Creek which created that second strain but only the monkey carries both strains of the virus. The incubation period of the Motaba virus was really short. It infected the cell within four hours of contact causing a fever. Later the virus will kill within the next 24 hours of that. Sam stated that if you do have a fever within 24 hours you do not have the virus (Petersen, 1995). The mortality rate of the Motaba virus was high
The exposure to the contaminated food happened during the Memorial Day service celebration, which was May 30th. According to the case study, onset of symptoms occurred from June 5th to June 28th. Therefore, the incubation period from this case ranged from seven days to thirty days. According to Heymann (2014), the incubation period for Typhoid fever ranges from 3 days to over 60 days, with the usual range from eight to fourteen days. A graph of the incubation period is provided in Figure
[1, 4, 5, 9, 13] There have been no documented cases where a human has contracted the disease from another human. [4] It appears, based on field and lab data, that infection requires direct contact with the virus through means such as contact with infective bodily secretions, urine, or tissues. [12] It is unknown to scientists how the virus can be maintained in the bat populations and avoids extinction as the host species becomes immune to its presence. [14] The incubation period from time of infection to the onset of symptoms is about 5-14 days in experimentally induced animals [4] and 8-14 days in natural field cases.
Zaire, Ebola, Sudan, and now, Reston. These are all level four hot viruses. That means there are no vaccines and there are no cures for these killers. In 1976 Ebola climbed out of its primordial hiding place in the jungles. of Africa, and in two outbreaks in Zaire and Sudan wiped out six hundred people.
that transmitted the HIV virus to humans through bites (Forsyth). As people migrated it reached Haiti and then spread to America (Clark p. 65).
Discovery of this virus divided scientist in two groups; the ones in favor of publication the virus and the ones are against the publication. According to Fouchier in the article “The Deadliest Virus” by Micheal Green, he says that if more people have access to it, it
...or children. The specific way of transmission is difficult to identify. Most common assumptions have been that transmission has occurred through skin lesions or by sharing blood contaminated objects. Infected saliva is another source of infection especially as a non-parental infection. The virus has the ability to enter a healthy body as an airborne disease by coughing and sneezing, from mouth-to-mouth kissing, biting or by sharing chewed toys and candies [2, airborn]
Ebola, a virus which acquires its name from the Ebola River (located in Zaire, Africa), first emerged in September 1976, when it erupted simultaneously in 55 villages near the headwaters of the river. It seemed to come out of nowhere, and resulted in the deaths of nine out of every ten victims. Although it originated over 20 years ago, it still remains as a fear among African citizens, where the virus has reappeared occasionally in parts of the continent. In fact, and outbreak of the Ebola virus has been reported in Kampala, Uganda just recently, and is still a problem to this very day. Ebola causes severe viral hemorrhagic fevers in humans and monkeys, and has a 90 % fatality rate. Though there is no cure for the disease, researchers have found limited medical possibilities to help prevent one from catching this horrible virus.
Recent research shows that, there are three major means by which infections can be transmitted and they include direct transmission, indirect transmission and airborne transmission (Hinman,Wasserheit and Kamb,1995). Direct transmission occurs when the physical contact between an infected person and s susceptible person takes place (division of public health, 2011). An example is a health care worker who attends to an Ebola patient, without gloves, gown and mask plus forget to wash his or her hand with soap and hot water and or a person having flu without the use of mask or washes his hand after sneezing easily passes the infection to the other through hand shake or surface touch, living the bacteria there for another vulnerable person to also touch if the surface is not disinfected with bleach. Studies makes it clear that, the spreads takes effect when disease-causing microorganisms pass from the infected person to the healthy person through direct physical contact such as touching of blood, body fluids, contact with oral secretion, bites kissing, contact with body lesions and even sexual contact. However, measles and chicken pox are said to be conditions spread by direct
The hanta virus can be found in the North America, South America, Europe and Asia. In North America, most cases are found in the United States (www.pharminfo.com). Most of the cases of hanta virus in the United States occur in the "Four Corners" region. This is a reference to the area in which Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet. As of March 17, 1997, there were 26 states that had confirmed cases of the hanta virus (www.bepestfree.com). In South America, cases can be found in Argentina (www.latinolink.com). The European cases mostly originated in Scandinavia, western Europe and the Balkan mountains. The strain of the hanta virus found here is comparatively mild symptoms. In Asia, the hanta virus is primarily found in China, Korea and the eastern part of the former Soviet Union. The symptoms of this strain of the hanta virus are more severe (www.pharminfo.com). There are, as of March 1997, four different strains of the hanta virus that have been identified (www.bepestfree.com).
For approximately three-thousand years, smallpox has ravaged and plagued the four corners of the globe. In fact, in the 17 th and 18 th centuries, it was claimed to be the most infectious disease in the West, with an astounding 90% mortality rate in America. It wasn't until 1796, with English surgeon Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination, that the world saw relief from this devastating virus. However, even with this inoculation in use, the world continued to witness death from both the virus and the vaccine. In the year 1966, it was estimated that 10-15 million infected citizens world wide had passed away from smallpox that year alone ( “History” 12). As a result of these devastating numbers, in the following year, 1967, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) created a program to eradicate the smallpox virus. Ten years later, in 1977, the estimated 10-15 million cases had dwindled down to one; a man in Somalia. Three years later, W.H.O. officially announced that smallpox had been eradicated, leaving the only remaining virus cultures stored and guarded in laboratories in Russia and the United States. Inoculations ceased, smallpox epidemics were non-existent, and the virus was no longer a concern. In order to ensure complete eradication of this deadly virus, the W.H.O. insisted that the remaining smallpox cultures be destroyed by 1999 ( “Smallpox Eradication” 2). However, despite the W.H.O.'s recommendation, the remaining cultures continue to be contained and protected to this day, five years after the suggested date of elimination.
Evidence pointed out that there were as many deaths in thinly populated areas as those areas that were highly settled and there were as many deaths in the winter as in the summer. The presence of fleas in winter months is highly unlikely. According to Twigg, a medical historian, tales were told that described death as occurring within three to four days after incubation which also was inconsistent with the three-phase stages of bubonic plague. (Cantor ) In some cases death occurred without the presence of fever or buboes. It was strongly speculated that anthrax, a cattle disease, could have been partially responsible for numerous deaths. Anthrax began with symptoms similar to bubonic plague. There were arguments for and against the idea that rodents and cattle were responsible for these deaths. Humans eating tainted meat from infected cattle explained how the cattle disease was transmitted to humans. Because of limited medical advances during that time period, it was not clearly determined whether bubonic plague and anthrax
The Ebola virus and Marburg virus are the two known members of the Filovirus family. Marburg is a relative of the Ebola virus. The four strains of Ebola are Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Reston, and Ebola Tai. Each one is named after the location where it was discovered. These filoviruses cause hemorrhagic fever, which is actually what kills victims of the Ebola virus. Hemorrhagic fever is defined as a group of viral aerosol infections, characterized by fever, chills, headache, fatigue, and respiratory symptoms. This is followed by capillary hemorrhages, and, in severe infection, kidney failure, hypotension, and, possibly, death. The incubation period for Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever ranges from 2-21 days. The blood fails to clot and patients may bleed from injection sites and into the gastrointestinal tract, skin and internal organs. Massive destruction of the liver is one distinct symptom of Ebola. This virus does in ten days what it takes AIDS ten years to do. It also requires bio-safety level four containment, the highest and most dangerous level. HIV the virus that causes AIDS requires only a bio-safety level of two. In reported outbreaks, 50%-90% of cases have been fatal.
The Hot Zone by Richard Preston is a true story about an outbreak of the Ebola virus, just outside of Washington D.C. in the 1980’s. Early in the story, the author describes a series of several outbreaks that took place in Africa, in order to describe the true destruction of this very lethal virus. The first appearance of this virus happens in a cave in Kenya. The virus infects Charles Monet, and then he is later taken to a hospital where his bloody death is described in detail. Later on the nurses that treated him also become infected with the disease, starting an outbreak. There are many more outbreaks to come later in the story.
Marburg virus belongs to the genus Marburgvirus in the family Filoviridae, and causes a grave hemorrhagic fever, known as Marburg hemorrhagic fever (MHF), in twain humans and nonhuman primates. Basic Safety measures for medical personnel and others who are taking care of presumed individuals who may be contaminated with Marburg disease. Marburg Virus, Akin to the more widely known Ebola hemorrhagic fever, MHF is portrayed by systemic viral replication, lowering the body’s normal immune response to invasion by foreign substances and abnormal inflammatory responses. Ebola and Marburg Virus are very similar in many ways Marburg virus was introduced first in the 1960’s. These pathological features of the disease subsidize to a numerous of systemic dysfunctions including
The setting of the movie takes places in the jungle of Zaire where an outbreak had already occurred. The monkey from the jungle was the carrier/host of the pathogen. The monkey was then captured and held in a government storage facility and then traded to a local pet shot in a small community. The infectious agent was the Motaba Ebola Virus.