The Ebola virus, also know as Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a disease caused by
viruses from four different families of viruses: 1)filoviruses, 2)arenavirus,
3)flavavirus, 4)bunyaviruses. The usual host for most of these viruses are
rodents or anthropoids (such as ticks and mosquitoes). In some cases, such as
the Ebola virus, the natural host for the virus is unknown. All forms of viral
hemorrhagic fever begin with a fever and muscle aches. Depending on the
particular virus, the disease can progress until the patient becomes very ill
with repiratory problems, severe bleeding internally and externally, kidney
problems and shock. The severity of viral hemorrhagic fever can range from
relatively mild illness to death. The Ebola virus is one of the deadliest
diseases known to man. When magnified several thousand times by an electron
microscope, these viruses have the appearance of long filaments or threads.
Ebola virus was discovered in 1976 and was named for a river in Zaire, Africa
where it was first detected. The first case appeared from nowhere, it killed 340
people. The disease is spread to health care workers in contact with body
fluids, and also from patient to the person who cares for him or her in the home
.The disease is also spread among those who prepare the corpses for burial. The
disease is not as yet to be thought airborne .The only way to contract this
disease is from a vector or contact with infected body fluids. Illness occurs 2
- 21 days after infection but generally within 7 - 14 days, beginning with much
the same symptoms of that of the common cold or flu. . The virus causes an
unusual combination of clots and hemorrhages. The clots lodge throughout the
body, King 2 filling capillaries and shutting off blood to parts of the internal
organs, especially to the brain, liver, and spleen. This causes the affected
organs to begin to decay. Blood begins to leak through the capillaries and into
the tissues, but by this point the blood will not clot. The connective tissues
lose their elasticity and become mushy. The body's internal cavities fill with
blood, and blood leaks from all orifices and through the skin, which becomes
easily ripped. As the disease progresses, both humans and monkeys develop a
fixed and expressionless face, probably as a result of hemorrhages within the
brain. Usually during this stage there is rectal bleeding and the patient
finally goes into convulsions and dies. As of yet, no treatment exists outside
of supportive care. Mortality ranges from 50% to 90%. Upon necropsy (examination
of the dead body to find cause of death), the internal organs of the dead are
barely recognizable. the internal organs are liquefied and it looks like a big
thick red milkshake. This unstoppable virus is a member of RNA viruses known as
filoviruses. . Filoviruses form bricklike structures in animal cells. These
structures, called inclusion bodies, will often fill the cell completely. The
inclusion bodies then come apart as they move toward the cell's outer membrane.
The virus threads grow through the cell walls, bud off, and travel to
neighboring cells or to other sites throughout the host organism's body, where
the cycle is repeated. Filoviruses seem to overwhelm the body's immune system,
either by reproducing too rapidly for the body to react or perhaps by creating
substances that suppress the normal immune response. The most recent outbreak
was that of the one that was reported in Gabon Africa this particular Epidemic
claimed the lives of 45 people out of the 60 cases that were King 3 reported.
This outbreak was declared official in November of 1997 and declared official
over in early 1997. While I find no recent reports of any outbreaks I have found
much information on the research for the cure of this horrible disease. There
has been much success with a plant which seems to stop the Ebola virus dead in
its tracks. Scientists have yet to locate the resivior of this disease and
therefore making it harder to track down the source or exact cause of the virus.
So the discovery that the same forest that this disease thrives in also holds
the potential cure is quite exciting for all those involved in this study. They
have found that a compound from the Garcinia kola plant a plant which is
commonly eaten in West Africa has stopped the virus in its tracks in laboratory
tests. If this anti-Ebola compound proves successful in animal and human tests
it will be the first medicine to successfully treat the virus that causes Ebola
hemorrhagic fever.