A Brief Note On Lujo Hemorrhagic Fever

* The Reston Ebolavirus was discovered during an outbreak of Simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV) in crab-eating macaques from Hazleton Laboratories (now Covance) in 1989. Since the initial outbreak in Reston, Virginia, it has emerged in Siena Italy, Texas, and among pigs in the Philippines. Despite its status as a Level-4 organism, it is non-pathogenic to humans although hazardous in monkeys.

12. Why is the Reston virus so much like Ebola Zaire, when Reston supposedly comes from Asia?

The mystery of the Ebola virus inspired this article that depicts the search for the virus’s source. Ebola is known as a zoonotic virus meaning it can affect many species of animals. This also means that its source comes from one or more species of animals that carry and transmit the disease without dying. This animal that holds the disease is known as a reservoir host. The article focusses on research on finding the reservoir host. Many cases of Ebola have been reported and studied. All reports have a common source of the initial sick individual having some connection with a cave or forest. This like another similar virus, Marburg, have its beginnings of its outbreaks with hunters or explorers. Marburg’s reservoir host has been determined to be a species of fruit bat. Many researchers agree that some form of bat is the host of Ebola, but with little research and not enough funding to conduct a viable research, this cannot be proven. Signs of bats include the viruses first know victim, Emile Ouamouno. A young boy, Emile was known to have played in and by a tree that later was discovered to be home to Angolan free-tailed bats. Later, research by Leendertz on different species of bats showed that RNA fragments of the Ebola virus were found in several species of fruit bats. While it can be concluded that bats serve as some chain in the Ebola infection,

The Hot Zone, written by Richard Preston is the true and dramatic story of the outbreaks of the frightening, unknown and incurable filoviruses; Marburg, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan and Ebola Reston. This book covers the first documented outbreak of the virus and continues to cover more outbreaks over the course of 23 years. These sisters viruses are highly infective and destroyed entire communities throughout Africa with the deaths of 50- 90% of their victims. The effects are similar and horrifying with the viruses penetrating every tissue and organ in the body of a person, primate or other animal. This book takes place in the late 1980s and is based on an outbreak of Ebola in a monkey house in the quaint town of Reston, Virginia. Richard Preston incorporates tales of several outbreaks that occurred in Africa years before to describe the potential destruction that the filoviruses could

The filovirus Ebola consists of 4 families: Marburg, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, and Ebola Reston. It is a rather simple virus in structure; each contain a single strand RNA strand and 7 different proteins, 3 which are only slightly understood and 4 that are completely unknown. The virus harms the immune system like the HIV virus, but Ebola causes an explosive attack. The virus is associated with the measles and mumps family, pneumonia viruses, parainfluenza viruses which include colds, and respiratory system related viruses. Unlike common viruses which are ball-shaped, Ebola’s shape represents that similar to a shepherd’s crook, a long snake-like thread that looks like a worm. Because the Ebola virus has a distinct structure, it has been classified as a “thread virus” in its own family of viruses, the filoviruses.

Ebola is described by the author in deep detail telling the progression of which it goes through. It starts with a headache and backache and ends with all of your internal organs failing “bleeding out” like Charles Monet. There are four filoviruses: Ebola virus (EBOV), Sudan virus (SUDV), Marburg virus (MARV), and Ravn virus (RAVV). They are all Level 4 biohazard, which means they are extremely dangerous to humans especially because they are so infectious, have a high death rate, and there are no medicines, treatments, or cures.

Several years later, the author visits with Dr. David Silverstein, who has gained a huge reputation in Nairobi. Silverstein relates a 2 a.m. phone call that informed him that Dr. Musoke's blood tested positive for Marburg, a virus about which little is known. It was named after a town in Germany where, in 1967, citizens contracted the virus from monkeys transported from Uganda to a local laboratory. Many of the monkeys had been brought in by a trader who was more interested in money than the health of the animals.

Ebola Zaire, arguably the deadliest known virus strain on earth, held a mortality rate up to ninety percent in the past, and is the hottest type of Ebola Viral Diseases. In addition, there are four other types of Ebola species: Ebola Sudan, Ebola Ivory Coast, Bundibugyo ebolavirus, and Ebola Reston. Notably, the earliest of Ebola outbreaks being from Ebola Sudan and Ebola Zaire, both erupted during 1976 in Africa. Previously known as the Ebola haemorrhagic fever, these virus are known to cause tremors and convulsions in its host, resulting in the splattering of blood which is used as its strategy for transmission. Other ways of contracting Ebola is through contact with patient’s bodily fluids and aerosolized secretions in the air. Furthermore, the novel The Hot Zone written by Richard Preston, along with online sources from Gale’s database also indicates that virus outbreaks are partly aided through factors such as close

In this thrilling novel, The Hot Zone by Richard Preston tells the story of a virus so notorious for its mysterious attacks that it is deemed a Bio-safety Level 4 virus. Richard Preston acquired his inspiration and insight first from his curiosity in his visit to Africa to study epidemiology and second from certain contacts, Dr. C.J. Peters and Nancy Jaax, whom have helped to further Preston’s knowledge of Bio-safety Level 4 agents. Preston incorporates historical facts, interview encounters, and scientific evidence in this nonfiction story of a virus known as Ebola infecting many people and displaying grotesque symptoms such as vomiting blood and pale blue skin. I recommend this book to young readers, epidemiologists, and those interested

The filovirus family encompasses two genera: Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus; note that filoviruses are zoonotic, and have recently been traced to some species of African bats (CDC 2014). Currently, there are four species of ebolavirus that cause disease in humans: Ebola virus, Sudan virus, Tai Forest virus, and Bundibugyo virus (CDC 2015 B, 1). For the purposes of this scenario, Ebola virus will be the agent of focus and use. Symptoms of Ebola virus infection range from common illness characteristics, such as fever and fatigue, to the more detrimental characteristics of unexplained bleeding, vomiting, diarrhea, and body pains; symptoms can appear anywhere from two days to three weeks after exposure (CDC 2015 B, 1). Transmission of infection occurs through direct contact between an individual’s mucous membranes or broken skin and body fluids of an infected person (CDC 2015 A). Body fluids can include sweat, saliva, blood, semen, and urine, amongst several others. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that “Although … the viruses display some capability of infection through small-particle aerosols, airborne spread among humans has not been clearly demonstrated”

To identify the spread of every infectious disease known to infect the human population is problematic. The whereabouts of how certain viruses migrated from its known origin in the Eastern Hemisphere over to the Western Hemisphere is still unclear in relation to West Nile virus (Nelson & Williams, 2014). There are only theories behind the routes on how the virus spread to North America, perhaps the migration of birds infected with West Nile virus, or through the means of creating bioterrorism of weaponizing a virus. West Nile virus, unlike most viruses, are not deadly, but is still considered a public health concern due to the lack of understanding of how the development of the disease is unclear. It is evident that further research needs

West Nile Virus is deadly enough to have health officials in Florida on edge as cases of the blood born pathogen emerge in startling numbers. According to the Florida Health Department’s

The Ebola Virus is an extremely deadly virus found in Africa. There have been multiple outbreaks across Africa and one in the United States. The Ebola virus basically causes uncontrollable bleeding externally and internally. Then your organs become liquefied. This usually results in death(www.encyclopedia.com). The following report contains info on the characteristics and history of the Ebola Virus.

These past years I spent my time tracking the virus of Ebola as well as its various strains all over the world. At first I didn’t know of the disease, only of the mysterious deaths. I had heard a rumor of a man by the name of Monet who had become mysteriously sick with a disease that none have seen. This information led me to Nairobi, Kenya where the man was supposed to be. When I arrived at Nairobi Hospital I didn’t encounter the man of my search. I questioned a nurse, who asked not to be named, and she stated “A very sick man named Monet came to the hospital looking very zombie like and died but not before exploding over the waiting room and the doctors and nurses who were operating on him. Also Dr. Musoke was infected and is now unconscious.” I then started to search for Dr. Silverstein who had cared for Dr. Musoke. When I found Dr. Silverstein I told him what I why I was there. Though he was reluctant to reveal information, I convinced him to tell me that Dr. Musoke was positive for a virus known as Marburg. Apparently He had never heard of Marburg so I went to investigate. My sources found out that Marburg is an African virus but was first discovered in Marburg, Germany. In 1967 a factory that was working with African green monkeys from Uganda. The virus spread throughout the monkeys causing monkeys to crash and bleed out, and soon after the virus jumped species and infect first a man called Klaus F. The virus spread killing seven of the thirty one people who were

The dengue virus (DENV) is a small, positive, enveloped RNA virus about 40-50 nm in diameter. DENV belongs to the genus flavivirus; a member of the Flaviviridae family (1). Its single-stranded genome codes for three structural proteins (capsid, precursor membrane, and envelope), and 7 non-structural proteins. There are four different serotypes of the virus, DENV-1 through DENV-4, that are all antigenically and genetically different. Although