“Scientists in Canada announced the successful treatment of Ebola viral infection in monkeys. The encouraging results were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine on June 13.” - www.healthmap.org
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.
The early symptoms of Ebola hemorrhagic fever are characterized by high fever, chills, malaise and myalgia. The next phase of the disease is characterizes by hematemesis, (the vomiting of blood), diarrhea with blood, abdominal pain, and drained of physical strength, sore throat, edema, confusion, and uncontrolled bleeding at venipuncture sites (Bardi, 2002; Hensley, Jones, Feldmann, Jahrling, & Geisbert, 2005).
The virus has direct impact on the immune system, and it is known to infect macrophages. It has been hypothesized that infection of macrophages is one of the causes for development of hemorrhage. The virus also causes high production of cytokines. Due to infection, lymphocytes die in large numbers, causing reduction of T-cells and natural Killers (Hensley, Jon...
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...nical Infectious Diseases, 42(5), 1. http://search.ebscohost.com
Sullivan, N., Geisbert, T., Geisbert, J., Shedlock, D., Ling, X., Lamoreaux, L., et al. (2006). Immune Protection of Nonhuman Primates against Ebola Virus with Single Low-Dose Adenovirus Vectors Encoding Modified GPs. PLoS Medicine, 3(5), e177-0873. http://search.ebscohost.com, doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0030177
Walsh, P., Biek, R., & Real, L. (2005). Wave-Like Spread of Ebola Zaire. PLoS Biology, 3(11), 1946. http://search.ebscohost.com, doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030371
“Scientists in Canada announced the successful treatment of Ebola viral infection in monkeys. The encouraging results were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine on June 13.” - See more at: http://healthmap.org/site/diseasedaily/article/did-scientists-just-discover-cure-ebola-62212#sthash.Yx397W5P.dpuf
The novel, “The Hot Zone”, by Richard Preston, is an extraordinary tale about a virus called the Ebola virus. The author interviews a number of different people that all had encounters with the virus and records their stories. He is very interested by what they tell him and throughout the novel he is always seeking to find more information about it. There were many different encounters in this book but in my summary I am going to explain the ones that interested me the most.
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.
...rticular protein, called MAVS, which is key to our innate ability to fight certain viral infections, acquires a self-perpetuating fibrillar form in cells that have become infected with virus and amplifies the cellular alarm signal. [7] This ultimately induces the production of interferons that recruit macrophages to combat the infection. [7]
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.
The virus is primarily spherical shaped and roughly 200nm in size, surrounded by a host-cell derived membrane. Its genome is minus-sense single-stranded RNA 16-18 kb in length. It contains matrix protein inside the envelope, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, fusion protein, nucleocapsid protein, and L and P proteins to form the RNA polymerase. The host-cell receptors on the outside are hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. The virus is allowed to enter the cell when the hemagglutinin/ neuraminidase glycoproteins fuse with the sialic acid on the surface of the host cell, and the capsid enters the cytoplasm. The infected cells express the fusion protein from the virus, and this links the host cells together to create syncitia.
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.
Updated Interim CDC Guidance for Use of Smallpox Vaccine, Cidofovir, and Vaccinia Immune Globulin (VIG) for Prevention and Treatment in the Setting of an Outbreak of Monkeypox Infections.” 25 June 2013. Center for Disease Control 20 Nov. 2014.
The Ebola virus was discovered in 1976. It has four strains, each from a different geographic area, but all give their victims the same painful, often lethal symptoms.
After this statement Trull states that in “April 15, 2016 the Journal Nature said the drug to fight Ebola had showed remarkable success when tested on rhesus” (para.2). An example of animal research that Trull stated is “Scientist were able to re-engineer viruses in the body that could be able to find another use for them for, example the polio virus was changed to be able to recognize and attack cancer cells” (para.3). Trull continues his point by saying that “While they were re-engineering the virus the researchers relied on years of previous primate research to be able to make the discovery” (para.5). Trull continues to restate his claim by saying “In 2000, a research team from Duke and Stony Brook showed how a genetically modified polio virus eliminated tumors bearing that special receptor in mice. This discovery led groundwork for the clinical trials that resulted in this breakout therapy” (para.6).
...1976, scientists have not developed a complete understanding of the virus, such as it’s natural reservoir. The non-specific symptoms make it difficult to clinically diagnose, though there are laboratory tests that can be done to help diagnose patients. Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever also spreads quickly and easily, especially in hospitals where the proper safety precautions are not taken. Thankfully, scientists and doctors have made a successful vaccination that worked on monkeys and are working on one that will work on humans, hopefully helping decrease the dangerously high death rate and help save many people that may one day become infected.
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.
Ebola from everyone’s point of view is seen as inferno. Dr. Steven Hatch’s memorable journey began with him volunteering to leave for Liberia in 2013 to work at a hospital in Monrovia to fight Ebola in one of its most affected areas. There were only a few patients with Ebola when he arrived. The number of patients rapidly increased over his time in Liberia. After six months Ebola was declared a world health emergency and not only were ordinary people outside of the hospital getting the virus but the medical personnel that were tending to the patients had caught it and some of them had even died.
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.