The Ebola Virus

Ebola hemorrahagic fever is a 20 year old virus that, with a mortality

rate of 50% to 90%, is one of the world's deadliest viruses. Its causative

organism is called Ebola virus. Ebola virus is a member of filoviridae, a

family of negative-strained RNA viruses. The filoviridae family consists of

five known members, Marburg, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Reston, and Ebola

Tai.

Ebola virus is spread in a number of ways. An outbreak starts when an

infected animal or insect, called a vector, transmits the virus to a human.

Scientists know that monkeys are both a vector and victim of Ebola, but other

vectors are unknown. The natural reservoir for the virus, or organism that is

immune to it and carries it is also unknown. A search for the reservoir will

take a long time because there are so many possibilities, since Africa is in the

tropics. Another way that humans can get Ebola is by eating an infected animal

or drinking the milk of an infected animal.

Ebola is spread from human to human by contact with infected blood,

infected body fluids, or through sexual contact. Even after a person recovers

completely from Ebola, it may stay in the semen for up to seven weeks. In the

African outbreaks it has also been transmitted by the reuse of needles because

the health care systems are so under financed. Ebola wasn't thought to be an

airborne virus, but recent studies by the US Army Medical Research Institute of

Infectious Diseases and the CDC found that monkeys showed Ebola like symptoms

after being exposed to aerosolized Ebola. The studies also found that the virus

is many times present in the respiratory systems of Ebola victims. Although the

1989 outbreak in Reston, Virginia wasn't harmful to humans, it was found that

droplet and vomit transmission played a major role in spreading the disease

through the quarantine facility.

The onset of the Ebola virus is very quick. The incubation period

ranges anywhere from two days to twenty-one days. After signs of the virus

appear, the victim can die within days, or at the most, a week. There are a

few stages after being infected with the virus. The symptoms of the first stage

include headaches, fever, muscle pain, fatigue, chills, and loss of appetite.

The second stage consists of vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, sore throat,

and chest pain. The last stages are very ugly. They consist of severe clotting

and hemorrhaging. The clots form throughout the body and shut of blood to many

organs, especially the brain, liver, and spleen. These organs that don't