The Ebola Virus
Ebola is a virus and part of the negative-stranded RNA family known as filovirus. It was discovered in 1976 in Africa and was named after a river in Zaire. When the virus is looked at under an electron microscope the filoviridae appear as being long, thin and occasionally they have 'branches' sprouting from one place or another. Ebola can also take the form of a 'U' or a 'b'. There are four known strains of the virus; they are Ebola Sudan, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Reston and Ebola Tai. Ebola Reston only causes disease in monkeys but as the rest of them take approximately 8 hours to duplicate itself.
How is it Transmitted
The Ebola virus can easily be transmitted through direct contact of blood, organs, secretions of any kind and semen from any person infected. Another method is that of used needles that have been infected. With all countries considered, the 3rd world and the reuse of needles are a common practice, due to lack of funds and supplies. Though recovered patients pose no serious threat, the virus is present up to 7 weeks after being treated. Vomit and diarrhea contain the infected blood and mucus so any contact with this, e.g. in poor drinking water can cause contraction of the virus. Luckily enough Ebola is not airborne and in some cases due to its self-limiting nature, it has been known to die out within a person before killing the host. In one case when a Swiss researcher found the Ebola Tai virus, she contracted it from a chimpanzee. This was during an investigation into the spur of deaths among them at the time. To this day, there is still no evidence as to what host carried the virus before humans and no location of the virus is known.
The Effect on the Body
Within the 4 to 16 days the Ebola virus starts to show its face with headaches, fevers, chills, muscle aches and a loss of appetite. As the virus progresses, patients start to experience diarrhea, rashes, a sore throat, vomiting, abdominal pain, and chest pain. The ability and functions of the liver and kidneys become limited, and internal and external bleeding starts. The blood no longer clots and that obviously causes serious problems.
Three years later, The United States Army Medical Research Institute is conducting research on monkeys injected with the Mayinga strain of Ebola Zaire virus in effort to develop a vaccine. Ebola, which is believed to be transmitted through blood and body fluids, somehow infects control monkeys across a room.
On November 28th, Dr. Peter Jahlring of the Institute was in his lab testing a. virus culture from the monkeys. Much to his horror, the blood tested positive. for the deadly Ebola Zaire virus. Ebola Zaire is the most lethal of all strains. of the Ebola.
In the New York Times interview of Richard Preston, the well renowned author of The Hot Zone, is conducted in order to shed some light on the recent Ebola outbreak and the peaked re-interest in his novel. The Hot Zone is articulated as “thriller like” and “horrifying.” Preston uses similar diction and style choices corresponding with his novel. By choosing to use these specific methods he is advertising and promoting The Hot Zone to the audience members that are interested in reading, and reaching out to those who read and enjoyed his novel. He continuously grabs and keeps the reader’s attention by characterizing and personifying Ebola as the “enemy [and] the invisible monster without a face” in order to give the spectators something to grasp and understand the Ebola virus. Along with characterization, Preston uses descriptions with laminate
The Hot Zone is a true story about how the knowledge of the Ebola virus was first developed and the background behind it. The Ebola virus kills nine out of ten of its victims and it kills quickly and painfully. It is extremely contagious and the blood and vomit the victim lets out can spread the virus quickly. The Hot Zone goes into detail of the experience of getting to the bottom of the Ebola Virus.
Also considered as a hemorrhagic fever, MVD can affect both humans and animals, specifically those of primate species. The virus is classified as a unique strand – so unique that it is one of five in the same family to include that strand of the Ebola virus. The virus can contain as little as one strand to be contagious and can survive up to two weeks in blood specimens at room temperature. The incubation period, which is the time between exposure and when symptoms begin to appear in victims, is 2-21 days. Research suggests that the RNA strand is a filo-virus and that the highest inter-human transmission takes place from contact with body fluids or injections. Subcutaneous transmission also occurs especially when caring for an ailing loved one and/or disposing or pr...
In the Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus by Richard Preston, published in 1995, is a novel about the origins and the development of viral hemorrhagic fevers, especially ebola and marburg. These diseases are all Biosafety Level 4 agents, which means that they are extremely dangerous because they are highly infectious, have a high case-fatality rate, and there are no known treatments or cures. Marburg Virus and Ebola virus are filoviruses belong to a virus family called Filoviridae and they can cause severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. Five species of Ebola Virus have been identified: Taï Forest, Sudan, Zaire, Reston and Bundibugyo. The book describes the history of these diseases by explaining
The Ebola virus can be passed from one person into another by bodily contact. Airborne transmission of Ebola has not yet been confirmed, as there is no substantial evidence of this occurring. Researchers are still to this day observing the ways of transmission of this virus from one person to the next. In previous outbreaks, this infection has often occurred among hospital care workers or family members who were caring for an ill or dead person infected with the virus. Blood and body fluids contain large amounts of virus, thus transmission of the virus has also occurred as a result of hypodermic needles being reused in the treatment of patients. Under-financed health care facilities in countries such as Zaire, Gabon, and Sudan find reusing needles a common practice. This contributes the vast amount of fatalities of this virus in these cities.
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a viral disease that was first recorded in 1976, when an outbreak occurred in Yambuku, Zaire, a country that was latter renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo (Walsh, Biek & Real, 2005). During the outbreak 318 cases were recorded of which 280 (88%) died. Later the same year, an outbreak occurred in Sudan where 284 cases were recorded with fatality rate of 53%. The disease and the virus that cause it are named after River Ebola that passes though Yambuku. In the USA, Ebola killed several monkeys in Reston, Virginia in 1989 (Barton, 2006; CDC, 2000). Despite several other outbreaks, the disease has neither medically approved pre-exposure nor post-exposure interventions. However, ongoing research shows optimistic signs.
This virus is similar to Ebola, because it started in the same place. Lab workers in Germany, in 1967, contracted the new virus while working with African Green Monkeys, which had the virus. The virus is described as a hemorrhagic fever. It has a fatality rate up to 90% and spreads through human to human contact. The first symptoms can be as simple as a fever and a headache, then can progress to organ failure, and fatal internal bleeding.
In 1976 the first two Ebola outbreaks were recorded. In Zaire and western Sudan five hundred and fifty people reported the horrible disease. Of the five hundred and fifty reported three hundred and forty innocent people died. Again in 1995 Ebola reportedly broke out in Zaire, this time infecting over two hundred and killing one hundred and sixty. (Bib4, Musilam, 1)
According to the World Health Organization (2014) “Ebola first took place in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks, one in Nzara, Sudan.., in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. [and the] latter occurred in a village near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name”. The disease has also started spreading through countries such as Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia (which are West African countries). The United States of America had their first case of Ebola on September 30, 2014, when a man traveling back from Liberia was diagnosed with the disease in Dallas, Texas (CDC 2014). The man did not show symptoms until he reached the United States.
During day 10, the person would suffer from vomiting blood, passive behavior, and high fever. During day 11, the person would have bruises, brain damage, external bleeding from the nose, eyes, mouth and anus. During day 12 (the final day), the person would pass out, have seizures, and internal bleeding, and most likely, death. In the other hand, if you do take the vaccine and it is most likely to work, the Africans would not have a major risk of getting Ebola. It would change how the world response to such emerging infectious disease threats, and it will destroy any Ebola virus cells that enters the body. Before it does any harm. According to the article “Fewer Ebola cases so far, this year, but the virus is still a threat”, it states, “The study means that it's ‘less likely than we thought that vaccines and treatment options would fail.’ He said” This shows that it is less likely for the vaccine to not work and the advantages empower the
Very little is known about these deadly viruses that can kills up to 90% of its victims. Most of the information known in the world today has been compiled in this article. Ebola is a filovirus of which there are 4 known strains: Marburg, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Zaire, and Ebola Reston. The origins of these viruses come from all around the world, however all of them are lethal.
The Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever, or Ebola for short, is the most feared virus of all time. During the late 1970’s, the international community was terrified by the finding of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) as the causing factor of leading outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever. (C.J Peters, J.W Peters, “ An introduction to Ebola: The Virus and the Disease”). The World Health Organization (WHO) reports the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) first appeared in year 1976 in two concurrent outbreaks, one
This virus lives within fruit bats, moneys, gorillas, etc. It was learned that this transmission occurred when these animals would release bodily fluids, blood, or other secretions into areas that are in contact with humans. Humans then contracted this virus and it spread to other humans by direct contact, contact with infected bodily fluids, or contact with other bodily fluids. Due to the lack of health care, health systems, and health resources, there’s no proper treatment for these people who contract the virus. This virus got into the U.S. by an individual who was infected with Ebola came to the U.S.