Ebola Essay, Research Paper

Ebola

March 1, 1996

Imagine traveling on holiday to a foreign state and when you come place you

are dreadfully ill. Your caput injuries, you have a highfever, and you start

purging. Opportunities are that you may havecontracted the Ebola virus.

Ebola was foremost discovered in the small town of Yambuku ( 1 ) nearthe Ebola River

in Zaire. Since its find, there have beenfour eruptions of this disease.

There are three known strains, ofvariations of Ebola hemorrhagic fever. There is no known remedy for

this disease ( 2 ) .Ebola has become one of the most cryptic and feared viruses

onthe face of this Earth.

Ebola & # 8217 ; s foremost documented visual aspect was in Zaire in 1976. Noone knows

where Ebola hemorrhagic fever comes from or what the original host is.However, scientists know

that adult male is non ebola & # 8217 ; s natural host ( 3 ) .The host was foremost suspected of being

carried by monkeys in the African rain woods ( 4 ) , but in one instance the monkeys

at a keeping installation broke out and had to be killed.

In the chase of a remedy and an beginning, there have beenseveral squads of

scientists whose top precedence is to happen theviruses origin ( 5 ) . The squads have

trekked through the rain forests of Africa to roll uping different species of

animate beings, bugs, and works life. Bugs are besides collected from the infirmaries and

from the environing huts of the small towns. So far 36,000specimens have been

collected. Once they have been gathered, the specimens are put into liquid

N and flown back to theUnited States, where they are studied at the

Centers for DiseaseControl in Atlanta Georgia and the Army Medical Research

Instituteof Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick Md. , ( 6 ) . Research workers have

discovered the beginning of human infection for all degree fourorganisms except

Ebola hemorrhagic fever ( 7 ) . This means that all organisns that cause lifelessly viruses have been

contained and studied, and have had antibodies created to guard of the unwellnesss

that are caused. Although Ebola is a enigma to worlds, the virus is

comparatively difficult to catch and it kills rapidly, decreasing the opportunity victims will

infect others. It is transmitted by contactwith bodily fluids like blood, puke

and seeds or contaminated panpipes and is non known to be passed along through

insouciant contact ( 8 ) .

When the first eruption of Ebola hemorrhagic fever occurred, it was in 1976 in Zaire and in

Soudan at the same clip. There were 318 instances reported in Zaire and 240 of those

instances proved to be fatal. In Sudan, there were 284 instances and 134 of those instances

proved to befatal. In 1979, there was another little epidemic in the same part

of Sudan. In 1989 there was a jailbreak in Reston Virginia, at a monkey keeping

installation, that killed over 400 monkeys thathad been shipped from the Phillines.

This strand nevertheless, is merely deadly to monkeys and id non a menace to worlds ( 9 ) .

In 1995, there was an eruption in Kikwit Zaire that claimed 233 lives. At

least7 people survived that outbreak becauses of a new discovery that is a

possible solution to the loss of lives that are suffered in a eruption. Blood

from one lasting patient can be transfusedto a individual of the same blood type

to perchance salvage the individuals life. Such was the instance in 1995 ( 10 ) . Scientists

were able tofind who the first individual to contract the virus was in 1995.

Theman & # 8217 ; s name was Gaspard Menga. Menga infected his household, and his household

infected others ( 11 ) . Menga is known as the index patient.The ground it is so

of import to hold the index patien

T is thatthis manner they can follow the patients

motions and seek to happen the beginning of the virus. Scientists are now reasoning

that if there wasn & # 8217 ; t so much intervention with the rain woods that

therewouldn & # 8217 ; t be new diseases emerging all the clip ( 12 ) .

The most recent eruption happened in January of 1996 in a little small town in

inland Zaire. Two kids were playing when the came upon a dead Pan troglodytes

and they took it back to the small town where the villagers celebrated for the

happening of such a fantastic thing. The ground this was so celebrated was

because meat is rare in that small town. Anyone who helped clean or cook the animate being

became sick with the deathly Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus. The concluding decease count was 16 people.

Villagers have been warned non to eat any animate beings that they find already dead

and to be careful non to eat any ill animate beings that they may meet.

Scientists now believe that monkeys are non the original host because they

look to merely every bit susceptible to the disease as worlds. Scientists are trusting

that they will do some significant finds with this eruption. ( 13 ) .

Scientists do cognize that Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a strand of seven proteins ( 14 ) that

belongs to a household of viruses called filovirusus. The virus consists of a

shell of proteinssurrounding familial stuff. The virus attaches itself to a

host cell, and changes the chemicals makeup to suit its ain so that itcan

reproduce ( 15 ) .

Ebola is a haemorrhagic virus that has a short incubation period of about

two yearss to two hebdomads ( 16 ) . It causes high febrility, icinesss, internal and external

hemorrhage, purging, the eyes turnred and the tegument becomes blotched and contusions

appear. The surfaceveins and arterias erode. Organs liquify and blood flows

from every gap in the organic structure including the eyes and ears ( 17 ) . This is

followed by a painful decease that normally occurs within threeweeks ( 18 ) . There are

three known strains of The virus. Ebola Zaire, Ebola hemorrhagic fever Sudan, and ebola Reston.

Ebola Zaire is the most deadly ofthe three followed by Ebola hemorrhagic fever Sudan and so

ebola Reston. EbolaReston is the least disquieted about because it has non proved

to be hostile to worlds. The inquiry of whether or non this virus could

become airborne has struck fright in many. Scientists say that it isunlikely that

it will go airborne, because it is killed by ultraviolet beams within seconds.

The lone manner that it could last is if it mutated to go immune to

ultraviolet beams. At this point, a individual is more likely to contract HIV

thanit is to contract the Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus, although it takes 10 old ages to impact a

individual the manner Ebola hemorrhagic fever does in 10 yearss.

Even though Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a really cryptic and feared disease, itis in the

procedure of going more understood. It can destruct an full metropolis in a affair

of hebdomads, and could pass over out an entirenation if it of all time became airborne, but it

is a really hard disease to contract so the united provinces is likely safe

from anynear hereafter epidemics. On the other manus many 3rd universe states

could hold serious jobs if there is an outbreak due to insanitary life and

medical conditions. The infirmaries and medical forces reuse acerate leafs that have

been infected and they don & # 8217 ; t uselatex or any other sort of baseball mitts which can be a

cause of widespread illness. Everyone hopes that diseases like Ebola hemorrhagic fever will non

acquire out of control before a remedy can be found. Such hopes seem unreasonable due

to the installations available in some countries of the universe.