Synopsis of the Ebola Virus
Synopsis of the Ebola Virus
One of the deadliest viruses known to man could quite possibly be the virus that lies dormant in Africa called Ebola. The Ebola virus is a member of a family of RNA viruses known as filoviruses. Ebola made its first human contact in 1976, which during this outbreak caused the death of 340 people. Because the outbreak was in Zaire, This particular strain was called Ebola Zaire. Since there isn’t a cure for Ebola, people were left to die, without hope for survival. After this major outbreak, researchers have searched for the origin and cure of the virus. Unfortunately there has not yet been a cure for the Ebola Virus, but if the virus is detected in it’s early stages and the patient receives appropriate medical attention, there may be a chance of survival. There has only been one small Ebola outbreak in North America, which occurred when monkeys were transported to Virginia from the Congo region. Luckily these monkeys carried an Ebola strain which was non-harmful to humans. Besides other Symptoms, the most common symptoms include hemorrhaging, internal bleeding and violent vomiting. The virus can be spread easily through an infected patient’s body fluids, which only gives the new infected person two to twenty one days to live, unless he or she is lucky enough to survive.
Most viruses are spread to organisms through other organisms that are infected with a virus. However, The natural hosts of the Ebola virus in nature are not yet identified. Experiments on animals such as guinea pigs, mice, and monkeys show that some strains of the Ebola virus could be present in these animals, but no real evidence has been given to indicate where the Ebola virus originated. Many scientists believe that most patients were infected from the Ebola virus from either Green monkeys or Rheas monkeys. Such a case has been thought to be the cause in the most recent outbreak of Ebola that occurred in Gabon 1996. No conclusive evidence has been given to support this theory, but many scientists were infected while handling monkeys. Although there has been no concluding evidence as to which organism carries the virus, the following strains of viruses indicate the areas from which they originated: Ebola Reston, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Tai and Ebola Sudan.
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