The Hot Zone By Richard Preston And The 1995 Movie Outbreak

Ebola virus disease is the kind of thing that horror writers dream about, it brings the most frightening of infectious disease symptoms to mind. Just imagine victims bleeding from their eyes, ears and nose. The nonfiction book The Hot Zone by Richard Preston and the 1995 movie Outbreak, are excellent examples of our perception of the disease. Ebola is highly infectious, rapidly fatal, deadly disease with a death rate of up to 90%, after the onset of symptoms. It is transmitted through direct contact with an infected person or primates bodily fluids like blood, saliva, urine, sperm, etc. or by contact with contaminated surfaces or equipment, including linen soiled by the infected person's body fluids. The disease is caused by members of a family

Infected bats can transmit the virus to monkeys and apes, so humans can become infected while killing or butchering these animals. Cooking destroys the virus, so the risk from infection comes from the preparation of bat or ape meat, not in eating cooked meat. Humans and animals may also become infected through contact with infected bats or fruit contaminated by infected bats droppings. However, the vast majority of people that contract the virus through direct exposure to the body fluids of an infected person. Family, friends and healthcare providers caring for Ebola patients are at the highest risk of getting sick because they may come in contact with infected body fluids. Ebola also can be spread through direct contact with objects, such as clothes, bedding, syringes or medical equipment that have been contaminated with infected body fluids.

The Effect. Once a person is infected the incubation period would be 2-21 days. During this time a person is not contagious until the onset of symptoms. The initial symptoms would be The first symptoms of Ebola virus infection are a high fever, strong headaches, and joint and muscle pain. Progressing to bloody diarrhea, vomiting blood and stomach cramps, and internal and external

The Ebola virus attacks several types of immune cells in the blood that represent the first line of defense against invasion. The virus infects dendritic cells, which normally activate T lymphocytes, so they could destroy the infected cells before the virus can replicate anymore. With defective dendritic cells failing to give the right signal, the T cells don’t respond to infection, and neither do the antibodies that depend on them for activation. Ebola, also inhibits interferon, a type of molecule that cells use to stop further viral reproduction. Lymphocytes do not become infected with the virus, but other factors, prevents these primary immune cells from putting up a