The Ebola Virus

I chose to do my report of the Ebola Virus. Ebola hemorrhagic fever, also know as Ebola HF, is not a common disease. However, this disease is severe and often fatal in humans and also primates such as monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees. Up until 2014, there were only four reported sporadic outbreaks in humans since Ebola was initially recognized in 1976.

The first recorded outbreak of the Zaire string of the Ebola virus was in Zaire in the year 1976. Doctors didn’t know how to treat it, that also means they didn’t know how to contain it. The infected people would meet in public areas, and the virus would spread. In western Sudan, the same year, the Sudan string of the Ebola virus immerged with similar results. In both types of the Ebola virus, combined had 550 infections and 340 deaths, which is a 60% fatality rate. The viruses then laid dormant until 1979, when Sudan was hit again with a smaller infection rate of 34 infections and 22 deaths. As before the fatality rate was about 60%.

In 1987 a new string of the Ebola virus was discovered. This string was called the Reston string. This string was air born and it was a mutation of the Zaire string. A group of monkeys that where infected got sent to Virginia from the Philippines. Luckily the string doesn’t infect Homo Sapiens. A lot of workers came in contact with the monkeys, and none of them died, or even showed signed of illness.

In Kikwit, Zaire there was another outbreak in 1995. This time a patient was admitted to a hospital, the doctors thought he had Malaria. The surgeons decided to operate because of his worsening symptoms. The whole surgical team came in contact with the patients body fluids, and they were all infected. From this operating room, 293 cases were recorded and 233 deaths, which means a higher fatality rate. In the later part of 1995 another string of the Ebola virus was discovered. A Swiss researcher in West Africa was the first to get the Tai string of the Ebola virus. She got it from a chimpanzee in the Tai forest. She was taken to a hospital where she recovered well.

Ebola is found in the blood, so when blood tests are taken, the conditions are under a “maximum contamination condition”. If there is a suspicion of the Ebola virus, immediate isolation from the other patients is a must.